Are we gamers an ungrateful lot?

[Glyfair]

I was reading a post on Chris Pramas' blog about his Free Day experiences. Much of it deals with the various difficulties. However, the following quote caught my attention.

I wish this was the end of the story, but the pain continued. On Free RPG Day way more people than we expected came to the GR site to download the freebies. Gamers, they love free stuff. Our server was choked all day. While a lot of people did get the freebies, many did not and our custserv address was flooded with complaints. I sure didn’t expect we’d get complaints about giving stuff away for free! The next day I decided to turn Free RPG Day into Free RPG Week. We offered the freebies again, but one at a time on different days, and combined that with a PDF sale. That chapter at last ended on a happy note.

Monte Cook responds later on:

Never once--not ONCE--did we (at Malhavoc) give away something for free, hold a special sale, or otherwise do something nice for customers without getting at least one angry complaint. The whole list of these outrageous complaints is incredible, but I think my favorite was the conspiracy theorist who years ago publicly cried that a sale we were having that took 33% off the price of all our pdfs was a plot to force people to buy more than they wanted to, because it put the prices of most of our products below RPGNow's minimum order amount. The Grinch's heart shrunk three sizes that day, let me tell you.

and

Right now on the SJG forums, someone is bitching that the freebie Munchkin bookmarks require you to destroy them or give them away to someone else to activate their in-game powers. Apparently he thinks the power is way too cool to give up -- which is nice for him, I guess, but defeats the purpose of a promotional item.

Are we that ungrateful that we complain about discounts & free items (even if it's a free item we can't get)?

Edit: By "we" I mean to ask if the gaming population have a higher percentage of these ingrates than normal.

 

[Piratecat]

It's not a "we", I think. Some people find it easier to find the negative side of a situation, I think. *shrug*

 

[blargney the second]

It ain't just gamers - it happens in all walks of life, unfortunately. Some people just really like to bitch & moan.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

A significant percentage of people suck. That percentage is no higher or lower among gamers, I don't think.

 

[blargney the second]

On a more positive note, sometimes it's more constructive to think of those people as canaries. They identify potential problems by keeling over dead.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It may not be a universal "we," but it sure ain't uncommon, unfortunately.

Let me just say that Free RPG Day was a tremendous gift that I greatly appreciated. I bought a bunch of great stuff from Noble Knight as a result and, to thank Green Ronin for Free RPG Week, bought a $40 sourcebook, will be buying a $30 sourcebook soon and will also be preordering their $20 freelancer support module in the next week or two.

I know I don't say "thank you" often enough, so thank you, everyone who participated in Free RPG Day. It was definitely appreciated and I hope you consider doing it again next year.

 

[Glyfair]

It's not a "we", I think. Some people find it easier to find the negative side of a situation, I think. *shrug*

True, I meant to word it in such a way to show that it's a minority. However, it seems to be a larger minority than standard.

 

[IanB]

Yes. It extends to anything people get personally invested in, and games inspire a lot of personal investment in people.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

I shall echo Whizbang and say a public "Thank you" as well. I managed to grab True20 on Free RPG day as well as D0: Hollow's Last Hope from Paizo.

It's an opportunity for me to look into products that I otherwise wouldn't have considered due to a limited budget.

So, thank you Green Ronin, Paizo and other companies who participated.

 

[SavageRobby]

Its not just gamers. Some people are just 'wads. And while I dislike the company in general, I find myself liking Sprint's approach to that sort:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/SprintDumpingCustomers.aspx
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19681390/