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4 Hours w/ RSD: Who Am I?
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<blockquote data-quote="RyanD" data-source="post: 5433908" data-attributes="member: 3312"><p>Well you're asking several inter-related questions. I'll try to answer as best I can. Remember, I don't have access to unit volume or revenue figures anymore so I have to treat the TRPG business as a black box and do my analysis from the outside.</p><p></p><p>First, I honestly believe that there's no way we'll see anything close to the 3.x era of sales for D&D ever again. The whole TRPG market is being affected by the rise of MMOs and that's an external factor that no company, not even Hasbro, can really resist. So the fact that 4e isn't outselling 3.x shouldn't surprise anyone, and that isn't a commentary on its quality or lack thereof.</p><p></p><p>Second, I have no clue what Wizards thinks it is doing with the "red box". The Intro product for D&D has one, and only one purpose: To introduce 12-14 year old kids to the roleplaying hobby and start them on the path to become purchasers of the core books. That product must be designed to sell in mass market stores where it can get the widest possible distribution outside of the hobby core (where you can safely assume that gamers are teaching gamers without the need of a special product to do it). It must be priced correctly vs. the other games it is shelved with, and it must be packaged and presented in a way that a mother would be comfortable buying as a gift for the son or daughter of a friend.</p><p></p><p>The "red box" looks like a nostalgia product designed to be sold to 40 year-olds who want to relive a moment of their childhoods. I don't get the art or the font - neither will appeal to either kids or moms in CE2011. It doesn't look like any other products in the 4E line so how will people know that it connects? Doesn't even matter what's inside the box - this is one of those things that has to sell on its presentation on the shelf.</p><p></p><p>As to 4e as a product line, I'm equally confused. If I want to start playing this game today, what do I buy? How "Essential" is "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms"? Is there still a Player's Handbook? Is it more or less "Essential" than the Rules Compendium? Wait, there's three Player's Handbooks? And 2 Dungeon Master Guides? Do I need to buy 5 300+ page books to play this game? And is the "Essentials" game the same game, or a dumbed down game?</p><p></p><p>Oh, there's an on-line product too? Is that an MMO? No? What is it then? Magazines? Can I read them on my iPad? No? So it's digital tools. OK, that sounds interesting. Can I use those tools on my iPad? No? Requires <strong>Silverlight</strong>? You gotta be kidding me! Do I get PDF or eBook versions of the physical books? No? In fact, Wizards removed all the PDF support from D&D from the internet? Srsly? How about a way to organize my campaign, track my NPCs, record the actions of my player characters, manage their inventories and experience points, and make clear what parts of the game are and are not used in my game? No? But there's a "Virtual Table" in Beta? The irony of a tabletop hobby making a digital playspace doesn't seem to have produced any cognitive dissonance...</p><p></p><p>(The above might sound sarcastic, but it's the closest I could come to my stream of consciousness thoughts as I read through Wizards' DDI pages just now...)</p><p></p><p>Three years ago I told people that it didn't matter if 4e was successful or not, because it was likely to be the last version of D&D that would be based on paper based tabletop gaming. I've seen nothing so far that changes my opinion about that. How it can become a digital product and still compete with MMOs is something I'd be happy to have Wizards pay me a lot of money to research but again, nothing I've seen yet shows me that they're on the right path so far.</p><p></p><p>RyanD</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RyanD, post: 5433908, member: 3312"] Well you're asking several inter-related questions. I'll try to answer as best I can. Remember, I don't have access to unit volume or revenue figures anymore so I have to treat the TRPG business as a black box and do my analysis from the outside. First, I honestly believe that there's no way we'll see anything close to the 3.x era of sales for D&D ever again. The whole TRPG market is being affected by the rise of MMOs and that's an external factor that no company, not even Hasbro, can really resist. So the fact that 4e isn't outselling 3.x shouldn't surprise anyone, and that isn't a commentary on its quality or lack thereof. Second, I have no clue what Wizards thinks it is doing with the "red box". The Intro product for D&D has one, and only one purpose: To introduce 12-14 year old kids to the roleplaying hobby and start them on the path to become purchasers of the core books. That product must be designed to sell in mass market stores where it can get the widest possible distribution outside of the hobby core (where you can safely assume that gamers are teaching gamers without the need of a special product to do it). It must be priced correctly vs. the other games it is shelved with, and it must be packaged and presented in a way that a mother would be comfortable buying as a gift for the son or daughter of a friend. The "red box" looks like a nostalgia product designed to be sold to 40 year-olds who want to relive a moment of their childhoods. I don't get the art or the font - neither will appeal to either kids or moms in CE2011. It doesn't look like any other products in the 4E line so how will people know that it connects? Doesn't even matter what's inside the box - this is one of those things that has to sell on its presentation on the shelf. As to 4e as a product line, I'm equally confused. If I want to start playing this game today, what do I buy? How "Essential" is "Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms"? Is there still a Player's Handbook? Is it more or less "Essential" than the Rules Compendium? Wait, there's three Player's Handbooks? And 2 Dungeon Master Guides? Do I need to buy 5 300+ page books to play this game? And is the "Essentials" game the same game, or a dumbed down game? Oh, there's an on-line product too? Is that an MMO? No? What is it then? Magazines? Can I read them on my iPad? No? So it's digital tools. OK, that sounds interesting. Can I use those tools on my iPad? No? Requires [b]Silverlight[/b]? You gotta be kidding me! Do I get PDF or eBook versions of the physical books? No? In fact, Wizards removed all the PDF support from D&D from the internet? Srsly? How about a way to organize my campaign, track my NPCs, record the actions of my player characters, manage their inventories and experience points, and make clear what parts of the game are and are not used in my game? No? But there's a "Virtual Table" in Beta? The irony of a tabletop hobby making a digital playspace doesn't seem to have produced any cognitive dissonance... (The above might sound sarcastic, but it's the closest I could come to my stream of consciousness thoughts as I read through Wizards' DDI pages just now...) Three years ago I told people that it didn't matter if 4e was successful or not, because it was likely to be the last version of D&D that would be based on paper based tabletop gaming. I've seen nothing so far that changes my opinion about that. How it can become a digital product and still compete with MMOs is something I'd be happy to have Wizards pay me a lot of money to research but again, nothing I've seen yet shows me that they're on the right path so far. RyanD [/QUOTE]
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