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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5725371" data-attributes="member: 177">I have to wonder a bit at this myself.&nbsp; I am not sure it behooves anyone, including WotC, to worry about the &quot;base&quot; so much as to worry about gamers, in general.I'm gamer.&nbsp; I moderate a predominantly D&amp;D message board.&nbsp; I think my devotion to games and gaming and D&amp;D is not really in question, right?&nbsp; In my history, I've played a lot of D&amp;D.&nbsp; I've also played a lot of other things.&nbsp; I think in total hours, non-D&amp;D games might well predominate.&nbsp; I'm not currently playing or running D&amp;D.&nbsp; I'm running Deadlands, and playing Star Wars Saga Edition - a WotC product, but not D&amp;D, per se.So, am I in the &quot;base&quot; or not?&nbsp; By the way the OP is talking, I was split from the &quot;base&quot; not by a D&amp;D edition change, but instead when TSR released Marvel Superheroes, and we stopped playing D&amp;D for a while because we wanted to play supers more.&nbsp; Ever since then I've basically alternated playing D&amp;D with playing other games. This is not to say that all players are, or should be, like me.&nbsp; Merely that not being a devoted &quot;base&quot; player doesn't necessarily prevent one from being a valuable customer.&nbsp; From WotC's perspective - I've bought a lot of their products over time.&nbsp; I can probably be assumed to buy more in the future, if the quality is high.&nbsp; They don't need me to be a fully devoted &quot;base&quot; customer to be able to sell me books.&nbsp; They don't need me to be a devoted &quot;base&quot; player to have me as part of their gaming community.They don't need me to be a devoted &quot;base&quot; player to have me think positively about their work, and recommend it to others.So, they don't need me to be a &quot;base&quot; player at all.&nbsp; While this does not immediately translate to them not needing a 'base&quot; at all, it does at least make me wonder.It looks to me that the comic book industry understands this - the lifetime of the usual comic book buyer is something between two and four years, I'm told.&nbsp; Folks pick up comics, buy and read for a while, and then they tend to drop off.&nbsp; And that's okay - they pick up new readers as they go.What if RPGs admitted the same - the timescale is a little longer, but the general flux may be very similar.&nbsp; Players come and go a bit.&nbsp; That's okay.&nbsp; Let them.&nbsp; Don't get bent out of shape over it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 5725371, member: 177"] I have to wonder a bit at this myself. I am not sure it behooves anyone, including WotC, to worry about the "base" so much as to worry about gamers, in general. I'm gamer. I moderate a predominantly D&D message board. I think my devotion to games and gaming and D&D is not really in question, right? In my history, I've played a lot of D&D. I've also played a lot of other things. I think in total hours, non-D&D games might well predominate. I'm not currently playing or running D&D. I'm running Deadlands, and playing Star Wars Saga Edition - a WotC product, but not D&D, [I]per se[/I]. So, am I in the "base" or not? By the way the OP is talking, I was split from the "base" not by a D&D edition change, but instead when TSR released Marvel Superheroes, and we stopped playing D&D for a while because we wanted to play supers more. Ever since then I've basically alternated playing D&D with playing other games. This is not to say that all players are, or should be, like me. Merely that not being a devoted "base" player doesn't necessarily prevent one from being a valuable customer. From WotC's perspective - I've bought a lot of their products over time. I can probably be assumed to buy more in the future, if the quality is high. They don't need me to be a fully devoted "base" customer to be able to sell me books. They don't need me to be a devoted "base" player to have me as part of their gaming community. They don't need me to be a devoted "base" player to have me think positively about their work, and recommend it to others. So, they don't need me to be a "base" player at all. While this does not immediately translate to them not needing a 'base" at all, it does at least make me wonder. It looks to me that the comic book industry understands this - the lifetime of the usual comic book buyer is something between two and four years, I'm told. Folks pick up comics, buy and read for a while, and then they tend to drop off. And that's okay - they pick up new readers as they go. What if RPGs admitted the same - the timescale is a little longer, but the general flux may be very similar. Players come and go a bit. That's okay. Let them. Don't get bent out of shape over it. [/QUOTE]

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