Do Personal Opinions Of Authors, Etc Dissuade You From Purchases?

[GQuail]

We've had a topic like this not that long ago, I know: but I can't remember if it was pre or post crash, and I'm still a mundane user so unable to search until the Great User Re-Add is complete: ergo, we're getting this again, since another thread or two have made me think of it.

Have you ever avoided purchasing a product because of personal feelings regarding the/a designer or company? When you're considering a product, as well as the cover, the topic, the system, the setting, the print quality, the binding and all those other silly geeky things... does your opinion of the company or individual designer(s) involved make you pass it up?

I'm not so interested in tales where people's chatter on message boards or blogs has made you /more/ eager to buy their products: though I suspect it'll be the same people who are both turned on and off people in such a way. But when you might otherwise be interested in or pick up a product, would you give it a berth because of your general opinion of people involved? And if so, does it take something in paticular to offend you enough to "blacklist" someone?

I'll confess that I, personally, don't usually pay a huge amount of attention to the name of the game designer when I grab a book: as much as I enjoy watching them chat on here or reading their websites, my interest in such a book comes from the topic, not the author. However, as I've been picking up more PDFs, I've started to see a lot more of the people whose products I'm buying active on this message b oard, and this increased consumer/creator chat can sometimes lead to bad feelings.

I can think of one person who, as much as I enjoyed their product, I wasn't too chuffed with their attitude when people felt the wording on some sections wasn't clear: in fact, any problem they were asked about, they would reply in a slightly condescending way which implied it was your fault. It wasn't so much that I didn't buy their next product, because I enjoyed what they had created: but it /did/ make me strongly reconsider giving them money.

 

[delericho]

Personal opinions have never meant a lost sale - so far. Generally, provided a product is well-made, properly supported, and so forth, I'm willing to buy, and don't put too much stock in the views of the author. Chances are, I disagree with something they believe.

However, I can see some cases where an author (or company) might express an opinion I disagree with so strongly that I outright refuse to buy anything from them again, but there are fairly few hot topics that would make me make that decision.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Bottom line? Me buying your product means I'm supporting you in some way.
If you have an opinion which is personally offensive to me that I know about, why would I want to give you my money?

Taken at it's most extreme example, it's like me walking up to a Neo-Nazi and buying Lemonade from him. It might be the worlds BEST LEMONADE, but I'm not going to give him money for it.

I havent blacklisted anyone in the gaming world because of personal opinions, but comics? There are a few people that I will never give a dime of my money to ever again.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Not the opinions, per se, but there are some whose manner of expressing those opinions I find obnoxious, and from whom I've made a decision not to buy there product. Pretty few and far between, though.

I don't mind a contrary belief or one I find disagreeable in some way so long as its expressed in a civil manner.

 

[Aus_Snow]

They haven't so far. However, said opinions and attitudes do matter to me, yes. To some extent, anyway.

 

[wmasters]

Now it's interesting how you've asked this. The answer for me is.. kind of. There is an element of me liking a company that makes me decide whether I buy a product.

I'm much more likely to buy from a company that I know, or believe, produces good quality stuff. The corporate brand name is important - I'm more likely to trust a WotC, AEG, Fantasy Flight (or many others) product than 'Joe's DnD book' because they're companies that I trust to produce quality.

Equally I don't get along with White Wolf games (I don't know why, just not my thing), so even if they were to branch into D20, I'm probably less likely to buy their products. Now that's not because of a personal opinion or because I've read something by one of their designers. It's just because I didn't click with the World of Darkness, and now a part of me thinks their products are just not for me.

Now the posts that I read on here do affect that corporate image to me. As does advertising, word of mouth, past products I've bought and, hell, whether I've had my cup of coffee yet. I haven't blacklisted a company because of it, but it does affect my opinion.

 

[jaerdaph]

It really depends.

If you belong to major political party A (and talk about it openly in appropriate places like your personal blog and not inappropriate ones like on your company Web site or EN World) and I belong to major political party B, I'll probably still buy your products. I don't expect publishers to have to wear their company hat all the time. However, if you are going to review other publisher's material, I expect you to be fair like any reviewer would, and it's probably best if you avoid reviewing products that directly compete with your own.

If you engage in plagarism or copyright violations, especially against other publishers in the industry, and if your asked to stop and you don't, well, I won't be buying from you ever again.

And if you want to be snarky back to a snarky customer or non-customer troll, I could care less. Contrary to popular opinion, the customer is not always right. Respect is a two-way street.

It's really not a big industry, and in many ways we are all like one big disfunctional family. I expect to see some public disagreements between publishers and other industry pros now and then.

But ultimately, your products have to be good for me to buy them. Thank goodness there are so many of you who provide so much useful, innovative and imaginative products.

 

[Shadowslayer]

Nope, no lost sales. If a product looks like the sort of thing I'll get some mileage out of, I'll buy it. I don't care if everyone thinks the designer or owner of the company is a goof or not. (I only beleive about a quarter of what I read on the net anyway.)

I will admit that if I'd met someone face to face, and I knew that person to be a good guy, it might make me more predisposed to buying his/their products. But it doesn't necessarily work the other way around.

 

[diaglo]

if i have never bought a product from a company/ author and all i have to base my opinion upon about whether to buy one of their products is their conduct on a message board or face to face meeting.

then yes, it can have an effect. i don't buy from s. and i do buy from good guys.

 

[Umbran]

Generally not. I don't usually even look at who wrote or published a book - I look at the contents. I don't look for, or generally listen to, authors general personal or political opinions. If they have something specific to say about gaming, I might listen, but I don't particularly worry about their opinions about other things.