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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dedekind" data-source="post: 5631308" data-attributes="member: 63968">We've tossed around the question of whether Enworld (or more generally, any forum) represents the true user base for RPGs. Mostly without any data. Maybe the following is relevant (hang with me, TL; DR. version a bottom). Ben Cousins, a general manager for a free-to-play video game division of EA, posted the following slide show:<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bcousins/paying-to-win" target="_blank">Paying To Win</a>As you can tell by the title, it is really about getting players to pay money for extras in the video game. What does this have to do with us? They can link their player's log-in credentials to their forum activity and they found some interesting trends (these results come from around 25:00 and 35:00):1) About 20% of users read forums but don't post.2) About 2% of users post.3) Those 2% who post spend FORTY TIMES more than those who don't post.One of the conclusions they drew was that when everybody was upset on the forum (and it got picked up by the gaming press), it actually only represented a very small portion of their customers. In fact, the changes with the most rage had little effect on business performance measures. I found all this very fascinating and I think there are things that port to RPGs. Do the forums represent the user base? The small sample isn't the issue. The self-selection bias of the small sample is the issue. If you post, you are passionate about it and invested, but not necessarily representative or even a profit center for the company. Does this port? Side note: I don't care about the "unfairness" stuff from people buying better stuff. Can we keep commentary on that out of the thread?TL; DR version: EA found that forum posters pay more money to play a game, but don't represent the opinions of the full customer base. Does that apply to RPGs?</blockquote>

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