D&D 5E The Monetization of D&D and other Role Playing Games

[Scribe]

Am I wrong to find something distasteful in consumerism in the hobby (even my own)?

Not at all. The quest for ever greater profits is distasteful.

 

[overgeeked]

All the evidence I can see is that heavy monetization produces a product-centric approach that really doesn't produce better games.

Exactly. There will inevitably come a point where you have to make a decision that can only serve one of these two priorities: profits or game design. Businesses, by definition, choose profits over everything. Their goal is to make money and stay in business. If they also happen to be able to make good games, wonderful. But the priority is profits. So whatever sells the most is what gets focused on. Hence the current 5E glut.

 

[el-remmen]

There are still communities of zinesters and terrain builders and home brewers who are not making products for money (despite having etsy stores) but to share and trade and collaborate to make their own games and others' more fun.

The uber-commodification of the game can be distasteful, but I also think a rising tide lifts all boats and if it helps bring more people into it, those are more people who might stumble onto those peripheries that otherwise would not have.

 

[payn]

 

[Ancalagon]

One thing to consider is "meta-roleplaying"

Basically, a number of RPG products are not meant to be played - but IMAGINED to be played. Someone reads the book, goes "wow cool" and spends time imagining how it would be to play or run such a fantastic adventure/material/character etc etc... (this notion is from a great post from the Monsters and Manual blog, but I cannot find his specific post, sorry)

I'm sure a LOT of us have done this - I've certainly have! But I think it's important that we are aware of this, because ... well I would rather actually play.

As the number of books I've purchased and never used has grown over the years, I've been scaling back on my buying because well, it's not a wise use of my money is it?

@Ruin Explorer : I 100% agree that a lot of the best gaming material is not coming from WotC. The last few years I've purchased a few products I considered exceptional: UVG, Troika!, Yoon-Suin and Drakkenheim. The latter is the most "WotC -like" product I've gotten (it's a 3rd party 5e campaign) and it's remarkably better than any WotC adventure I've purchased (certainly a lot more usable).

 

[MGibster]

I mention the above because it’s my personal version of what might be a problem with the TTRPG hobby, namely it’s relationship with consumerism, collecting, and exhange.

What exactly is consumerism, collecting, and exchange in the context of this discussion? If you're using it in the derogatory sense that we're overly concerned with acquiring consumer goods, then collecting seems superfluous here, and what is exchange even mean?

This dynamic goes back to the origins of the hobby, when dnd evolved from a very DIY practice with very different cultures of play to it’s codification for the sake of commodification in AD&D.

I am told in threads on this very board that D&D is very much still a DIY thing. That your campaign is a lot different from my campaign which is also different from another person's campaign. And as far as codification is concerned, that happened with the very first rulebook. That ship sailed a long, long time ago.

The contemporary version of this would be the explosion of 5e as a “lifestyle brand,” and along with it all the deluxe products people are making for it (I’m thinking, for example, of the announcement today of the Beadle and Grimm’s platinum Spelljammer set).

Where's your argument that this is harmful in some way? I know you posted links to Reddit and other places, but in your own words what's the problem with this? Why should I be concerned? I haven't spent any money on the D&D deluxe products available now, but I never thought, "The availability of this product is bad for gaming." If I hadn't already run Curse of Strahd twice, I would have considered purchasing the deluxe version of that campaign.

I realize this is perhaps an irrational worry—if other people want to spend their excess capital on deluxe editions and $600 DM screens, how does it affect me? Yet I do see aspects of this that mirror monetization in video games—i.e., fine for most people, but predatory for some.

Which companies do you think are engaging in predatory practices? And what are those predatory practices exactly?

At its most extreme, the mindset of buying and collecting opens the door to “products” like NFTs that are truly exploitative. At its least extreme, and most intangible, it turns a hobby that’s about DIY and creative imagination into yet another corporate product.

D&D has been a corporate product since 1974 and during the entirety of its existence has been published in order for its owner to make a profit. And, okay, you're talking about the extreme, but why not dial it back a bit and think of some of the benefits? It's a hobby we can all pretty much enjoy with a community we can participate in.

Personally, I think there's been no better time to be a RPG enthusiast than now. We have access to a wider array of games that are better produced than what was available in the 80s and 90s. Nothing has been ruined, I've only seen improvement.

 

[Oofta]

I have no issue with people expecting to get paid for their work. If people want to make gold inlaid mahogany DM screens and people are willing to buy them, more power to them. The person making the DM screen makes money, the person who receives the product (hopefully) gets satisfaction from the purchase, even if I would not see the point.

Compared to all of my other hobbies, expenses and leisure time activities, D&D is incredibly cheap per hour of enjoyment. Nobody is forcing me to buy anything. If people don't have the money they can legally download the core rules for free, with a little effort they can find years of campaign material, monsters and custom classes.

I don't see what the issue is. That businesses, some owned or associated with WOTC are making money? That people spend money on products? How is any of that a bad thing?

 

[jasper]

Laughs in 2E.

Laughs in 1e, Radio Control planes, Radio control cars, chain mail, jewelry, HO and O gauge railroad, Hallmark ornaments kitten and puppys.

Hey OP. You can spend as much money as you want or as little money as you what. In Any Hobby. And as with any hobby people will gripe about spending.

 

[MGibster]

Laughs in 2E.

Laughs in Games Workshop. Maybe this skews my perspective a bit....

 

[GSHamster]

I have no issue with people expecting to get paid for their work. If people want to make gold inlaid mahogany DM screens and people are willing to buy them, more power to them. The person making the DM screen makes money, the person who receives the product (hopefully) gets satisfaction from the purchase, even if I would not see the point.

Compared to all of my other hobbies, expenses and leisure time activities, D&D is incredibly cheap per hour of enjoyment. Nobody is forcing me to buy anything. If people don't have the money they can legally download the core rules for free, with a little effort they can find years of campaign material, monsters and custom classes.

I don't see what the issue is. That businesses, some owned or associated with WOTC are making money? That people spend money on products? How is any of that a bad thing?

Who your customers are informs your strategy. A WOTC which makes the bulk of it's revenue from PHBs will have a very different strategy than a WOTC which makes $10k DM screens.

I believe that there's a sort of assumption in your post that a company can easily serve two masters. I am not sure that's true. I think one of the customer groups will dominate your strategy, quite possibly to the detriment of the other group.