D&D Point Card?

[Ogrork the Mighty]

So I was thinking about Dungeon and Dragon magazine and whether or not they truly were loss-leaders for TSR/WotC (but that's another thread!) and it got me thinking...

The mission purpose of WotC seems to be to broaden the fan base by bringing in new players. Nothing new there, I've heard that for at least the past decade (probably more).

WotC seems to be trying to encourage new players via its store promotions (e.g., D&D Encounters) and giving them points and swag via its DCI membership.

So why doesn't WotC take the next big step and issue a more general "D&D Points Card." Think Air Miles but for D&D. You get points for buying books, playing sanctioned events, going to conventions, signing up for D&D Insider, playing D&D Online, etc. But most importantly of all, you get premium points for referring new players to D&D.

Yes, I realize there are all sorts of logistics that would have to be worked out (e.g., fraud), but instead of having a DCI membership that very, very few people actually know about, you have a generic "D&D Points Card" that is used for anything and everything D&D related. Heck, when they put out a new D&D film (and you know they will!), you could mail in your ticket stub and get points for it.

So what's in it for WotC besides all the overhead of running such a system? Well, people LOVE accumulating points (aka, "XP") and getting associated ranks that go along with it ("I have 30,000 points, I'm an ARCHMAGE, you're just a lowly MOOK"), but give them swag to go along with it and maybe even a badge (think Boyscout patches) and you'll have D&D players everywhere scrambling to up their point totals.

And as I mentioned earlier, recruiting new players gets you premium points/swag. Heck, WotC could institute all sorts of rewards for accomplishments (think World of Warcraft where you get special recognition for doing all sorts of weird stuff).

I just don't see the current DCI membership as doing all that much to reward new players as opposed to existing players who would probably be playing anyways.

 

[Morrus]

As you allude to, I can't see a way of verifying the system. Give me such a card, and I'll provide WotC with a dozen fictional new customers (who are all me buying the stuff I would have bought anyway) within a week.

The fraud aspect you mentioned strikes me not so much as one of the logistics which needs to be worked out as an insurmountable obstacle. Heck, banks and credit cards haven't beaten it, and they've been spending millions on it for decades!

 

[Troll Slayer]

Am I wrong for being uncomfortable with point card incentive programs? I don't really need extra incentive to motivate me to have fun, and I'm not sure I'd like any product developer to put time into such a program. Time that could be better spent making the core product as good as it can be.

Sales these days seems to be all about gimmicks rather than the product anymore. Maybe I'm getting old, and maybe I really hate my job in retail management, but darn it I really want to see them making things more accessible rather than more collectible. Point cards just add to the "gotta buy more!" mentality that I've seen turn off people with a casual interest.

I want to see more digest rulebooks like the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition and the Wild Talents Essential Edition. A $10 price tag on a completely playable game? Now that's something I can get a new player on board with! Boxed sets with everything you need to play the game, and packed with interesting bits like maps, tokens, dice. The sorts of trappings that scream board game fun, rather than lots of reading. (Mind you I love RPG books, but nothing draws the newbies eye in my experience, like a freshly opened boxed set.)

Anyway, not meaning to be a negative Nancy. I'll back up any attempts to bring new blood into the hobby, I just think there are better ways to make that happen.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

The fraud aspect you mentioned strikes me not so much as one of the logistics which needs to be worked out as an insurmountable obstacle. Heck, banks and credit cards haven't beaten it, and they've been spending millions on it for decades!

Insurmountable? They why do we have plenty of point cards out there right now?

The point is that no system is foolproof but letting that fact keep you from doing something means a whole lot of things would never get done.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I don't really need extra incentive to motivate me to have fun...

But there's the beauty of it. You don't need to participate! You're going to anyways.

 

[Troll Slayer]

But there's the beauty of it. You don't need to participate! You're going to anyways.

Ah but in the case of WotC I haven't bought any of their 4e materials and a point card won't change that. I am however, very interested in Gamma World because it sounds like a game I can get even the most casually interested to sit down and try.

 

[Umbran]

Insurmountable? They why do we have plenty of point cards out there right now?

All the ones I can think of are points from the retailer, not the producer. The retailer has the authority and infrastructure to control point-accounting at the point of sale, while the producer does not.

Barnes and Noble can do this sort of thing, because your card gets scanned at a B&N store, into a B&N computer. WotC doesn't have computers at every store that sells their products, and while your local donut or sandwich shop might have a "buy ten, get one free" card that they check off or hole-punch when you make a purchase, WotC cannot trust their retailers to not just punch all the cards flat out and send them back.

You brush off the logistics, when the entire thing is a matter of logistics. You've swept the difficult part under the rug.

 

[Sunseeker]

My assumption is you've never worked in retail.

Point-Cards, Rewards Cards, Membership Cards, these are forms of punishment, not reward. Corporations don't use them and look at how many people are buying, they use them and look at how many people stores are failing to sign up. Stores that fail to sign people up get punished, products become "harder" to get, prices become steeper, support for events becomes weaker. Unless they push that card harder.

No my friend, "Rewards Cards" are never incentives for the customer, but a form of punishment on the retailer.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

All the ones I can think of are points from the retailer, not the producer.

Air Miles???

I know people who go to outlandish ends to rack up points. So to say it's punishment for the retailer, sorry, just don't see it.

 

[Umbran]

Air Miles???

Is typically run by credit card companies - folks who has a very direct connection to the data at point of sale.

Again, WotC does not know when you buy. They don't have a reliable source of data to track points.