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

[Odhanan]

Yes, personal opinions of authors affect my purchases.

 

[jaerdaph]

By far it works the other way. A number of designers have made every effort to accomodate fans and I have bought things I would not have otherwise because of their positive presence.

I think this needs repeating - it's far more the norm.

 

[GQuail]

A better question for me would have been whether the opinions of other Board members (these Boards or others) affect my purchase decisions. (If someone makes such a poll, I will vote in it).

Man, there's always someone wh complains about your poll, no matter how you phrase it. ;-)

I was specifically interested if an authors behaviour on message boards, blogs, interviews etc affected people because in a couple of recent threads (specifically, stuff to do with the Fiendish Codex stuff) my opinion of one or two posters went downhill when I saw how they conducted themselves. When I voiced my opinion to a PDF author that I'd rather he didn't rehash the subject because I didn't want to risk my opinion of him going downhill as well, he didn't think that was really a big factor: but I've seen enough threads on this board to indicate that there are people here who either don't buy from people they see as "rubbish people". Alas, I was unable to find a previous thread, hence starting this up.

Like other posters here, I'm usually more influenced by good experiences than bad. I rarely actively look at an author's name on a book, but from reading the posts of several people here on ENWorld I've gained a lot of respect for the way they explain their ideas. So whilst I still don't actively look for Ari's name when I buy a book, I do feel more confident picking up a book when Mouseferatu has explained some of his thinking and designs on this message board.

 

[WayneLigon]

offtopic Wayne can you elaborate or point me to Orson's opinions that you are talking about? /offtopic

You could do a Google search on his name, and read the wikipedia article, or his own personal site.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I think this needs repeating - it's far more the norm.

Absolutely.

 

[SWBaxter]

Depends entirely on the opinion. I generally don't care about somebody's politics, so that has no effect on my buying habits. I do care about their opinion of their customers; there are some writers and publishers who appear to believe that RPGers are idiots or hopelessly inept or whatever, and freely express their disdain. Those folks don't get my business.

 

[Henry]

I generally don't care about somebody's politics... there are some writers and publishers who appear to believe that RPGers are idiots or hopelessly inept or whatever, and freely express their disdain. Those folks don't get my business.

Ditto to this. However, I do respect someone's right to not puchase based on perceived image - just because I would never boycott Crothian's products because of his unholy fascination with siimes and oozes doesn't mean that someone else shouldn't have that option.

 

[shaylon]

You could do a Google search on his name, and read the wikipedia article, or his own personal site.

Thank you for responding. I read the wiki. Wow!

 

[blargney the second]

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.

I love it when I want to say something, but somebody's already come along and prepackaged it prettily.

-blarg

 

[Celtavian]

re

I generally don't care one way or the other unless the work I intend to buy will subject me to those personal opinions. Then I will avoid purchasing a book, film, or item because of it.

Also, I won't purchase from racists. Racists are an evil I cannot tolerate and I will not support them in anyway.