Olaf the Stout
Legend
I think it is more just a case of a few bad apples and all that jazz. As always though, BiggusGeekus's posts make me laugh. 
Olaf the Stout
Olaf the Stout
Are we gamers an ungrateful lot?
- Thread starter Glyfair
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First Post
I was so grateful to all the companies that put up free stuff that I decided that if (and I hope they do) the Free RPG gameday happens again next year, I would go out of my way to hit the FLGS up (who did not participate this year) with an offer to stay at the store all day and run a couple demo sessions of the various free products.
The reason I decided this is that the FLGS I went to had a bunch of warhammer guys setting up for a tourney, and a folding table with the free stuff sitting on it. That wasn't what I envisioned, I had hoped to sit in on a session with my non-rpg playing brother and get him hooked. So I decided that I too needed to gve a little bit of free stuff.
The reason I decided this is that the FLGS I went to had a bunch of warhammer guys setting up for a tourney, and a folding table with the free stuff sitting on it. That wasn't what I envisioned, I had hoped to sit in on a session with my non-rpg playing brother and get him hooked. So I decided that I too needed to gve a little bit of free stuff.
Midknightsun
Explorer
shilsen said:
A handbasket? Man, what a gip . . .
Nareau
Explorer
I dunno if it's gamers, per se. I'll be Captain Obvious here for a moment, and point out that people are generally much more rude on the Net than they'd ever be in person.
You could probably find evidence to support that young males tend to be more vocal in their displeasure of things than the general population. And as "gamers" have a higher percentage of young males than the general population, there's bound to be a correlation there.
All that said, I'm still surprised to see just how much folks complain about free stuff.
Nareau
You could probably find evidence to support that young males tend to be more vocal in their displeasure of things than the general population. And as "gamers" have a higher percentage of young males than the general population, there's bound to be a correlation there.
All that said, I'm still surprised to see just how much folks complain about free stuff.
Nareau
Kahuna Burger
First Post
Might be harsh but looking at the specific complaints, I more wonder if game producers are a thin skinned lot. 
I mean, you advertise something as one day only, can't handle the demand you create and are surprised at complaints when your site go down? (you're ever surprised at complaints when any site goes down? 
) You put an item on sale but people can't actually buy that item alone and you insult someone (possibly with cause but we won't know since he just paraphrased the complaint) when they aren't thrilled to get to the end of the buying process and get a "pay 30% more than the original price to get it with something else you may or may not ever look at" message? It's a learning expereince for the vendor, learn from it. I'm not familiar with the munchkin game, but I can't recall hearing about a promotional card or token before that was defined as single use. Oh no, people feel that our promotional item is of limited use and they are saying so on a forum where people discuss the game, and even indicating that they wish it were not so. The NERVE! 
Seriously, the weight of complaints may be disheartening to see, but I don't think its actually ungrateful to expect what you were offered and came looking for. You can be more or less polite taking into account that the provider is making a good faith effort, you can let it go entirely if you feel the effort of going looking was in this case pretty minimal, but there is nothing intrinsicly shocking about any of the complaints I see in the first post, unless you have a rose colored veiw of what serving the public should be like.
I mean, you advertise something as one day only, can't handle the demand you create and are surprised at complaints when your site go down? (you're ever surprised at complaints when any site goes down? ) You put an item on sale but people can't actually buy that item alone and you insult someone (possibly with cause but we won't know since he just paraphrased the complaint) when they aren't thrilled to get to the end of the buying process and get a "pay 30% more than the original price to get it with something else you may or may not ever look at" message? It's a learning expereince for the vendor, learn from it. I'm not familiar with the munchkin game, but I can't recall hearing about a promotional card or token before that was defined as single use. Oh no, people feel that our promotional item is of limited use and they are saying so on a forum where people discuss the game, and even indicating that they wish it were not so. The NERVE! Seriously, the weight of complaints may be disheartening to see, but I don't think its actually ungrateful to expect what you were offered and came looking for. You can be more or less polite taking into account that the provider is making a good faith effort, you can let it go entirely if you feel the effort of going looking was in this case pretty minimal, but there is nothing intrinsicly shocking about any of the complaints I see in the first post, unless you have a rose colored veiw of what serving the public should be like.
It seems that people in general (and especially the gaming subculture) have a sense of entitlement. Why? I don't know exactly, but it seems to be that because the customer has the money, the company is supposed to bend over backwards and kiss their behinds to get it.
Maybe this is just my observation, but it seems like we can be better customers some times. The talk radio channel I listen to was going on about customer service yesterday, so I've been mulling this over for a while- many of the customer service horror stories seem to boil down to people either making really dumb mistakes or just flat-out being jerks and expecting companies to accomodate them.
I realize that people I buy stuff from have mortgages to pay, groceries to buy, and gas tanks to fill. The vast majority of companies want you happy, because happy customers buy more stuff (or at least don't bitch about what you did wrong). If you're cool to customer service people, they're usually extremely cool to you in return.
Now beyond these generalities, gamers have alot of special considerations. Most gamers are literate, educated, detail-oriented, smarter-than-the-average-bear types. It's also one of the very few industries where the consumers make at least as much of their own content as they buy from professionals. Could you imagine video game fans making their own games? Or movie fans making their own movies? Sure, it happens, but not on the scale and level of quality that gamers make their own adventures and source material. I can understand having high expectations, but the fact is, alot of gaming material isn't made for great DMs. They don't need it. More of it is made for novice or time-strapped DMs, and sometimes it shows. Many DMs take this as condescension or "dumbing down" the game.
Maybe this is just my observation, but it seems like we can be better customers some times. The talk radio channel I listen to was going on about customer service yesterday, so I've been mulling this over for a while- many of the customer service horror stories seem to boil down to people either making really dumb mistakes or just flat-out being jerks and expecting companies to accomodate them.
I realize that people I buy stuff from have mortgages to pay, groceries to buy, and gas tanks to fill. The vast majority of companies want you happy, because happy customers buy more stuff (or at least don't bitch about what you did wrong). If you're cool to customer service people, they're usually extremely cool to you in return.
Now beyond these generalities, gamers have alot of special considerations. Most gamers are literate, educated, detail-oriented, smarter-than-the-average-bear types. It's also one of the very few industries where the consumers make at least as much of their own content as they buy from professionals. Could you imagine video game fans making their own games? Or movie fans making their own movies? Sure, it happens, but not on the scale and level of quality that gamers make their own adventures and source material. I can understand having high expectations, but the fact is, alot of gaming material isn't made for great DMs. They don't need it. More of it is made for novice or time-strapped DMs, and sometimes it shows. Many DMs take this as condescension or "dumbing down" the game.
Fifth Element
Legend
Dykstrav said:
Because we have every right to be, dammit.
Chaos Disciple
Explorer
Personally I feel a little disturbed that a publisher feels like they should charge a lot for a pdf. As far as I can tell a pdf. holds no market value because they can be replicated and distributed with very little or no effeort or resources. In my opinion this infinite supply is a problem and basically makes them worthless.
There may be some confusion in this thread with "gamer" and the more general term of "consumer"
There may be some confusion in this thread with "gamer" and the more general term of "consumer"
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