Are Table Top RPGs Dying?

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

[video=youtube;93mDkUZNMlM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93mDkUZNMlM[/video]

 

[Gaming Tonic]

Sorry about the double tap on the enter button folks, obviously not as tech savvy as I thought.

 

[Gaming Tonic]

I don't think they are dying at all. I think players just now have access to different outlets and are probably getting in more gaming because of it. I know a lot of people, myself included who game face to face and then get in a web based game via Google +, Skype, on and on and on. I think gamers are getting access to materials electronically and that might not bode well for brick and mortar stores. It is also easier to find some players because of the wealth of internet access we all enjoy, that is something that brick and mortar also use to help facilitate. This is one of those topics that is thrown out there somewhat chicken little style but I know many gamers who live in my area that I don't play with but are active in their own groups. Things change and fortunately gamers tend to lean to the techno-savvy side of things so the hobby just shifts over time into different mediums. Just last week I ran a Pathfinder game with six face to face players and one attending electronically using face time and the ipad. Yes, that is seven players and I am a glutton for punishment as a DM, but it is also a fellowship in that way.

 

[nnms]

Also, there has been a move towards skype or google+ gaming using voice over IP. If you're playing a game online like that, PDFs are often more useful than a printed book. Add in tablets and ereaders and you have even less incentives to buy a printed rulebook. As well, you have the internet connecting those making an RPG and those selling an RPG even more directly than ever before.

Then add in print on demand reducing the capital needed to launch a game and you have a great setup for those abandoning the traditional distribution model. And once you have local stores selling less physical books and distributors selling less physical books, it can certainly appear that the hobby is in trouble, when in actuality, it's simply becoming more decentralized.

 

[Morrus]

One thing to remember is that our (as in us folks who hang about online and talk about RPGs) might see a very skewed view of the marketplace. We'll see all the online stuff, but we can't see into peoples' homes. We don't know who's playing face-to-face. And increase in online play doesn't necessarily translate to a decrease in offline play. Certainly I don't know anyone locally in real life who plays RPGs online, and I know a bunch who play face-to-face. That doesn't mean anything, either, of course, but I don't think we can leap to any conclusions based on a partial evidence.

There are probably tens of thousands (or more) out there who haven't even heard that playing online is anything more than "WoW".

It would be great to get some actual numbers, but those figures don't exist. The closest we can get is sales of rulebooks, which measures something different (and besides - you can buy a hardback book and use it online; or you can buy a PDF and use it offline; even digital vs. print doesn't really tell us anything useful).

Whatever the case, at least we can all hope that people are playing RPGs somehow.

 

[nnms]

For sure. It's really hard to get a good picture of what's going on. We have a few large publishers and a ton of tiny ones, but it's never been easier for players and publishers to be connected directly. My money is on the internet being the future of RPGs. Whether it's for sale of content to be played face to face or for playing games on things like Skype or Google hangouts. I think physical books sold through distributors to stores and then finally to the end user is going to be less and less viable as the years go by. And industry sales numbers are going to be less and less reliable of an indicator.

 

[Mark CMG]

One thing to remember is that our (as in us folks who hang about online and talk about RPGs) might see a very skewed view of the marketplace. We'll see all the online stuff, but we can't see into peoples' homes. We don't know who's playing face-to-face. And increase in online play doesn't necessarily translate to a decrease in offline play. Certainly I don't know anyone locally in real life who plays RPGs online, and I know a bunch who play face-to-face. That doesn't mean anything, either, of course, but I don't think we can leap to any conclusions based on a partial evidence.

There are probably tens of thousands (or more) out there who haven't even heard that playing online is anything more than "WoW".

It would be great to get some actual numbers, but those figures don't exist. The closest we can get is sales of rulebooks, which measures something different (and besides - you can buy a hardback book and use it online; or you can buy a PDF and use it offline; even digital vs. print doesn't really tell us anything useful).

From my personal experience, I know very few gamers who are not online, and that certainly means for more than email. It's hard to imagine anyone who is a gamer, who is also online, that hasn't done some poking around to look at gamer sites including ways to play or store info online, our interfaces and clouds in the gaming world.

I do have one gamer currently in his mid/late 30s who had an email address but told me he doesn't get online much yet when I mentioned I was housing some maps for the campaign on Obsidian Portal, he was registered on there within 24 hours with no need to prompt or coach. I get the impression, from having spent much of the last decade back in school, that many folks who say they aren't online mean they don't have a smart phone in their hand every waking hour and aren't constantly texting and sending status updates to their accounts. However, those same people tend to be online for personal, business, and academic uses that aren't tied to social media; they just don't think of it as "online" because of the trends of usage types among others.

Given the advances with Skype (in terms of multiple person/group calls) and the introduction of G+ Hangouts, as well as many other online camera-and-mic-using interfaces, and given the splintered market that makes it more and more difficult to find players of any particular game (or gaming style) locally, I can only imagine that the raw numbers of online gamers will continue to increase and the crossover will rise of those who traditionally played offline. And I think I'm done calling offline gaming "face-to-face" since that is no long a clear distinction.

 

[Morrus]

Mark, I wasn't saying that gamers don't have computers. I think you've gotten the wrong end of the stick there.

 

[Mark CMG]

Mark, I wasn't saying that gamers don't have computers. I think you've gotten the wrong end of the stick there.

Naw, I was springboarding off your post to point out some things we know for sure and then take them in the direction of my own suppositions.

 

[avalkauskas]

I think the gaming market has hit a renaissance since the launch of Kickstarter. There are so many great ideas that have been floating around for dacades, but due to lack of funds, never got to see the light of day. When I attend conventions, I often see monolithic blocks of game tables dedicated to Pathfinder or D&D, but more and more I see pickup games of indie RPGs going on in various corners. Just like the internet brought variety to the music scene (instead of big record labels having a choke-hold on what you are exposed to) I think the internet has had the same effect on RPGs. Incresaingly players know more and more about alternative sources of gaming.

It's easier now than ever before for a basement operation to make it out of the underground scene. With print on demand (POD), there is no longer a need to succumb to archaic print runs and supply chains. And from a designer's standpoint, its a veritable pleasure to pick up more games in digital format (more than I can possibly play, and no need for real life bookshelf space), but instead just for the pleasure of reading a great design or creative idea.