The silly part of this though, is that this is in no way isolated to the tabletop RPG arena. Heck, every segment of popular culture has their 'hardcore' fanbase, and in practically every single instance the company trying to build a sustainable business in that arena doesn't want to cater to just that fanbase, because there isn't enough money to be made there. They want to "expand" their business and try to pick up the elusive "casual" person.
If you're creating a new MMO, what do you think you'd get if you went to the hardcore raiding scene and talked with those people about what you were doing? You'd get the same alienating reaction, and all kinds of information that would be important to them, but not to the public at large that you are really trying to court.
All us hardcore pro wrestling fans (aka the 'internet smart marks') bang our heads against the wall every single week when we see absolutely ridiculous storylines and behaviors on WWE Raw or TNA Impact, and we just wish they'd listen to us and make wrestling "good" again. But they for the most part ignore us, because our hardcore definition of "good" wrestling just doesn't lend itself to the wider fanbase the companies are looking for and hoping to make money off of.
And the hardcore movie nerds? Yeah, Battle Royal or Let The Right One In or Oldboy might be hands down better films than the newest Fast & The Furious movie... but it's been proven time and time again that FatF or Sex In The City 2 will be generating the box office.
The best you can hope for is for a producer of content to have an ear towards what the hardcore fanbase wants... but able to temper that with a more mainstream approach. THAT'S how you generate the large bank that companies of product are striving for. Sam Raimi and Jon Favreau didn't worry about every nitpicky thing the hardcore comic fans would have wanted included when they made Spider-Man and Iron Man... but they kept just enough to make the core feel like their property was being honored and respected. And that's really what any company dealing with a property or arena with a devoted fanbase can hope to do.
If you're creating a new MMO, what do you think you'd get if you went to the hardcore raiding scene and talked with those people about what you were doing? You'd get the same alienating reaction, and all kinds of information that would be important to them, but not to the public at large that you are really trying to court.
All us hardcore pro wrestling fans (aka the 'internet smart marks') bang our heads against the wall every single week when we see absolutely ridiculous storylines and behaviors on WWE Raw or TNA Impact, and we just wish they'd listen to us and make wrestling "good" again. But they for the most part ignore us, because our hardcore definition of "good" wrestling just doesn't lend itself to the wider fanbase the companies are looking for and hoping to make money off of.
And the hardcore movie nerds? Yeah, Battle Royal or Let The Right One In or Oldboy might be hands down better films than the newest Fast & The Furious movie... but it's been proven time and time again that FatF or Sex In The City 2 will be generating the box office.
The best you can hope for is for a producer of content to have an ear towards what the hardcore fanbase wants... but able to temper that with a more mainstream approach. THAT'S how you generate the large bank that companies of product are striving for. Sam Raimi and Jon Favreau didn't worry about every nitpicky thing the hardcore comic fans would have wanted included when they made Spider-Man and Iron Man... but they kept just enough to make the core feel like their property was being honored and respected. And that's really what any company dealing with a property or arena with a devoted fanbase can hope to do.