Being threatened by products you aren't interested in

[Glyfair]

I was involved in a few conversations recently and I noticed a trend that seems to be becoming more common in the hobby industry (at least from my vantage point). There seems to be a lot of hate thrown towards products that "aren't what you are looking for" from companies the person patronizes.

I saw it with WizKids. Whenever they put out a new product a lot of people who followed an old product complained because they weren't throwing those resources at their favored game line (Mechwarrior having a very strong presence of this - "They shouldn't put out Pirates of the Spanish Main, they should be focusing on Mechwarrior"). When WotC put out Eberron, I saw a number of people complaining about Eberron, not because of it's merits, but because WotC wasn't instead putting out more Forgotten Realms or other game line materials.

I don't see this much in any other area. I don't see people complaining that Random House is putting out a Tami Hoag and not putting more effort in getting George R. R. Martin to produce more. I don't see complaints that Sony is putting out Across the Universe and not putting enough into a new Spiderman movie.

Is it just me, or is this becoming more common?

 

[MerricB]

I'm with you.

It's not just with settings, either. It's "Why did they put out Complete Mage? What a waste!" and "Why the Book of Nine Swords? Why can't they write innovative material!"

Cheers!

 

[Pants]

"Why the Book of Nine Swords? Why can't they write innovative material!"

Cheers!

Heh, which is funny because Bo9S is pretty innovative.

 

[Stalker0]

I'm guessing part of the reason is rpgs are a pretty niche market, there aren't a whole lot of vendors out there catering to our needs. And when that vendor moves resources away from a product we like to a different product, that's cause for concern.

Not saying new material like ebberon is a bad thing, but I can understand some people's sentiments.

 

[MerricB]

Heh, which is funny because Bo9S is pretty innovative.

Yep. Ditto Magic of Incarnum. Books like that get released, and you hear calls of "Wizards isn't being innovative". Apparently they're the wrong kind of innovative.

Cheers!

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Probably more prevelant here because the RPG industry is pretty small, with a finite amount of resources. A big publishing house will put out hundreds or thousands ot titles a year; there's no sense that when you buy a book by author X that it means you don't get one by author Y. Although, to be honest, when I see some of the crap authors that put out a book every other week, I really have to wonder what unpublished masterpieces aren't seeing the light of day.

But when a company like WotC decides to publish an Eberron book, that's a siginificant investment for them. That's not to say that they sacrificed an FR book to do it -- they're making their decisions based on what will sell -- but there is inarguably less room for the niche and experimental products in the RPG industry than in book publishing in general. That just makes those exceptions (Bo9S, Incarnum, etc) more special.

Where this does start to irk me a little, though, is when a company won't devote the resources to something, and then won't let others fill that niche out of fear of competition or whatever.

 

[Glyfair]

And when that vendor moves resources away from a product we like to a different product, that's cause for concern.

Except in a lot of cases it's not moving resources away from the product line. The product line is supported the same as before. They are just doing something else and they want their line to get that support in addition.

 

[Pants]

Yep. Ditto Magic of Incarnum. Books like that get released, and you hear calls of "Wizards isn't being innovative". Apparently they're the wrong kind of innovative.

Cheers!

The most common complaint about MoI was that people were having trouble trying to figure out to use it since it didn't stick very close to normal fantasy tropes (that and the flavor was abhorrent or something, I seem to recall lots of complaints about that too).

Can't please everyone I s'pose.

 

[Glyfair]

Can't please everyone I s'pose.

Yeah. For every "this doesn't stick close enough to classic fantasy" you have a "I'm tired of classic fantasy" (OK, it's probably 2 to 1 at least). No product will appeal to both.

 

[Banshee16]

Yep. Ditto Magic of Incarnum. Books like that get released, and you hear calls of "Wizards isn't being innovative". Apparently they're the wrong kind of innovative.

Cheers!

One man's trash is another man's treasure..

Banshee