D&D General D&D's Utter Dominance Is Good or Bad Because...

[UngeheuerLich]

Playing BG 3 on honour mode.

But your goal is still to beat that game on honour mode. Not to fail.

 

[Minigiant]

Well, the fact that TTRPGs themselves are not "huuuuge" money?

The fact that the gaming population, even if they had oodles of free cash, probably don't have oodles of free time to play, and so most of us don't have much call to buy multiple systems and their supplements

Yeah, kinda.

TTRPGs is not a big enough money industry to maintain itself at its current level without leaning or pooling on other industries to create its moneybase.

 

[Minigiant]

So what? This fear is not IMHO a good reason to keep feeding the 800 lb. gorilla.

The point is that if you kill one gorilla, you must feed another gorilla.

The TTRPG subgenres that don't at least have a 600lbs orangutan are extremely tiny or mostly dead.

The benefits of D&D's dominance can be replicated. But many of the the bad consequences of the Dominance will likely still come with the new leader along with new bad things.

 

[Swanosaurus]

Mabye someone needs to be the biggest, but does anyone have to be big? To me, I don't think it would significantly impact my hobby if RPGs as a whole would be smaller fish once again.

 

[Aldarc]

The point is that if you kill one gorilla, you must feed another gorilla.

Why must I or anyone else do anything of the sort?

The benefits of D&D's dominance can be replicated. But many of the the bad consequences of the Dominance will likely still come with the new leader along with new bad things.

Let's find out together if this is true or not. My goal, however, is to play what games that I find to be fun regardless of fears you may have about what happens if we stop feeding the 800 lb. Gorilla.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Mabye someone needs to be the biggest, but does anyone have to be big? To me, I don't think it would significantly impact my hobby if RPGs as a whole would be smaller fish once again.

I think this is an industry and hobby that is always going to be dominated by someone. The network effect is powerful. New players will enter by the easiest route which is a mix of availability, ease and other players. The more dominant the leader is the more dominant the leader gets.
The OGL reinforced that dominance because it created a similar dynamic on the creator side.

 

[TheSword]

Why does a discussion about the value of having different sorts of games on these boards always end up in a discussion about how to mass market?

Mass market, or just market?

Because a game without players is just pretty cardboard and paper.

The crux of the discussion was D&D was suffocating competitors. My point was without adequate marketing you don’t even get to call yourself a competitor.

 

[Minigiant]

Why must I or anyone else do anything of the sort?


Let's find out together if this is true or not. My goal, however, is to play what games that I find to be fun regardless of fears you may have about what happens if we stop feeding the 800 lb. Gorilla.

This is a thread about the good and bad of D&D dominance.

These are the good and bad of dominance.

 

[GrimCo]

No, they are a hobby first and foremost. Long after the business of TTRPGs dies, the hobby will remain. You can see it in a hundred other hobbies that went from obscurity to fad to obscurity. People still wargame and build model trains, even if it is a lot harder to find businesses built around those things in your home town.

For us players, maybe. But for people who design and sell games and gaming accessories for living, they are business first. There are still companies that produce stuff for niche hobbies. Those companies may not be multinational corporations, but they make enough for their owners to keep them in business.

Somebody mentioned about marketing budgets. If you want to compete with the big boys, you need big boys money. Small companies don't have large sums of money to burn on marketing, that's true. But let's be honest, without marketing, it's hard to capture market share. What good is excellent product if nobody knows that product exists? So they need to be creative how they use their money and shoot for biggest ROI. Or, you know, couple of smaller companies can merge into a bigger one with more funds. Corporate mergers are not that uncommon even with smaller companies.

TTRPGs have harsh competition. It's not just other TTRPGs. It's all forms of entertainment, and we are living in the times with more entertainment options than ever in history. They compete both for customers money and free time.

 

[TheSword]

No, they are a hobby first and foremost. Long after the business of TTRPGs dies, the hobby will remain. You can see it in a hundred other hobbies that went from obscurity to fad to obscurity. People still wargame and build model trains, even if it is a lot harder to find businesses built around those things in your home town.

War gaming is massive business, it’s just also dominated by one 900lb gorilla that is very good at marketing.