Are we gamers an ungrateful lot?

[Particle_Man]

This reminds me of the "Alms for an ex-leper!" sketch from Monty Python: The Life of Brian.

In short: there is just no pleasing some people.

edit: how could I have forgotten?

 

[Kahuna Burger]

It seems that people in general (and especially the gaming subculture) have a sense of entitlement. Why?

In the stated cases, I'd say because they were offered something. I mean, it's a straightforward chain of events. You offer X. Offer of X sets up an expectation of X (you can call it entitlement, if you want). X is not provided or comes with fine print Y or unannounced bundled Z. Expectations were not met, so there is a sense of disapointment. People voice their disapointment, otherwise known as "complaining".

Sometimes expectations are unrealistic. Hey I've been there on the customer service end. "Yes sir, I know this is slightly more than the estimate I gave you for de-skunking your dog, but you didn't mention over the phone that you had soaked him in chunky style Ragu before coming in... If you had asked about the additional 'de-pasta-saucing' fee I could have told you, and you didn't answer your phone when the groomer tried to let you know how things were going..." But I don't see that in the opening post and only your general assessment of that in your post.

 

[Master of the Game]

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

I once had an employee who used to ask for his check early every pay period. Often before he had even worked the entirety of his schedule.

Once, I had to say no, and he told me that he refused to work again until he could get paid when he wanted to.

At least I had the power to fire him.

There are people who will feel victimized by every kindness, no matter where you go.

 

[Tewligan]

I can easily believe that gamers are, as a group, a bit ungrateful. This may elicit indignant gasps, Gentle Reader, but I think it has something to do with the fact that a lot of gamers are kind of socially retarded. No, not ALL of us - no need to respond with how you have zillions of cool friends and are adored by the opposite sex. However, I don't think that anyone who's been to a game store or a gaming convention can say that they haven't noticed a higher than normal ratio of people there who are lacking in normal socialization skills. Ever notice how message board threads about horrible people you've gamed with rack up posts at an astounding rate? I think that this, combined with our notions of ourselves as smarter than the non-gaming masses, can make it seem okay to some people to be wince-inducing jerks when we don't get something that we want.

 

[Mark CMG]

This reminds me of the "Alms for an ex-beggar!" sketch from Monty Python: The Life of Brian.

In short: there is just no pleasing some people.

That's just what Jesus said, sir.

 

[billd91]

I'd like to think that gamers are no different from the general population but gamers do seem to run quite a gamut between being extremely ungrateful to being fawning fanboys. Maybe it's just because both extremes grate on me so much as a fellow gamer.

I want the gamers around me to be normal, laid back folks, dagnabit. And then I see gamers bitching about free stuff or mistakes made with game rule Q&A, writing off a game company because of one bad experience, or fawning over Gygax and Arneson like love-struck puppies. A lot of people in the gaming community seriously need to get a grip.

And then I think back to my days working retail and figure that gamers probably aren't really worse than anybody else. If there's anything wrong with retail it is the grossly mistaken belief that the customer is always right or that 10,000 Elvis fan's can't be wrong. You better believe they can be wrong and they should be called on it when they are... and they should ACCEPT it when they truly are wrong. But because you really can't count on that last part, it just ends up being better to skip the former and suck up the abuse.

 

[Glyfair]

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 plans are to do Free RPG Day next year. They hope to have learned from the process. In fact, in the linked post Chris states he plans to participate even after this year's headaches. Steve Jackson Games intends to participate next year as well, since they'll have enough lead time.

 

[Aus_Snow]

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.

Sure, but can they be made with "very little or no effort or resources". . .?

Considering that virtually the only thing that separates the kind of work that goes into making these, and that which goes into making printed RPG books is um, the printing, which is done elsewhere in just about every case. . . I doubt it.

It's essentially down to: paying others for their work, as you might reasonably expect to be paid for yours.

 

[WayneLigon]

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"

Ehhh, no. You still need to pay a person for their time - both for writing and concieving of the material, and in the better PDFs the time and effort it takes to do layouts and design work. You don't just produce these suckers out of a Word document, you know. And the other expenses they incur. Then they need a slight profit on top of that to make it worth their time.

Value comes from many things, many of which are non-tangible. A name or reputation creates value, for example. Monte Cook or Ken Hite would command more for a PDF of their material because they have extensive and positive repurations for imaginative content of high quality. In general people perceivce their work as being worth more than Joe Blows's d20 Book of 17th Century Tavern Names, so they can command higher prices.

Usefulness is another way of creating value. If I have no use for Monte Cook's PDF, it has no value to me, but if I'm running a Freeport campaign, a book of 17th Century Tavern Names might be exactly what I need at the time: it has value to me that has nothing to do with it being a PDF, or a non-physical product.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

never mind.