Does a publisher/author's interaction here influence your purchases?

[Dave Turner]

If an author has a big ego and flaunts it, as if he has the perfect solution to the d20 System and begins to compare his work to others, mainly WotC's, I roll up my eyes and ignore him and his works.

How else are we to compare games except to one another? This confuses me.

 

[Roudi]

Yes.

And, actually, I'm quite surprised to see "Yes" with the majority of votes. Actual sales data seem to prove otherwise, in some cases.

I don't like giving money to jerks. In my mind, buying something published by a jerk affirms their behaviour (like praising a dog after she chews up your couch). There are at least four publishers I will not buy a thing from (Alternate Reality Publications, Adamant Entertainment, Bloodstone Press, and Misfit Studios) because of their behaviour on this message board and elsewhere. I was also pretty turned off of anything from Monte Cook after his comments on the ENnies a couple years back, and even though he's ammended those comments, I'm still wary about supporting him with my dollar. And let's not get started about Sean K. Reynolds.

Still, the line I always seem to get is that bad behaviour either doesn't actually affect overall sales, or it can even boost them. I have to wonder if the results of this poll hold true for the majority of RPG-buying customers, and not just those who have taken the time to vote in this thread.

 

[diaglo]

Conversely, if someone comes across as a bastard (not a rat bastard ) I am much less likely to be interested in supporting them.

ditto.

i buy a lot of books each month. and when i see guys being total pri..asses i have second thoughts about buying from them.

Sean K Reynolds falls in this category for me from watching him maul a bunch of tweens on the WotC boards.

 

[GMSkarka]

There are at least four publishers I will not buy a thing from (Alternate Reality Publications, Adamant Entertainment, Bloodstone Press, and Misfit Studios) because of their behaviour on this message board and elsewhere.

First off, this is not an attempt to get you to change your mind, or to invalidate your opinion. You have your policy, and that's cool with me.

That said: Assuming that your policy of not purchasing Adamant Entertainment product is because of *my* behavior, how does that effect those products from us that are not written by me, or products from other publishers that I have written?

I guess my point here is that the industry is too small and incestuous for that sort of policy to make much sense beyond being arbitrarily applied. Unless you're actually willing to check the credits page of everything you buy, before you buy it, I just don't see it working.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

It affects my buying decisions, but it's not the sole criteria.

I don't like to give money to jerks, especially since I don't have a whole hell of a lot of it. On the other hand, if a jerk produces something that makes my gaming experience better, I will swallow my irritation.

I have been lucky, because most of my experiences with creators being jerks have been with creators being jerks in defense of lousy products; this has been enough of a trend that I've started to automatically make a connection between a creator being a jerk and his work being drivel. I haven't had to make any really hard choices on account of this.

 

[JustKim]

Yes. Absolutely.
I might be forced to buy products from Microsoft despite not agreeing with their practicies, but gaming books are a completely voluntary purchase. This is especially true in the d20 market where there are usually a dozen different books on a given subject. There are so many options out there that it would be ridiculous for me to expressly support the authors I don't care for. This is something we've talked about in my gaming group before writers starting coming to message boards and venting industry frustrations on the consumer, so it would seem this is common sense.

 

[KB9JMQ]

Absolutely! It isn't the only decision, not by any means. But it definitely has an impact at some point. Interacting with the author and publisher gives me insight into which people have thought processes that complement mine. This makes things easier to integrate into my games. It is kind of like reading reviews and assessing which reviewer has tastes that match mine. As well, knowing that I can easily ask an author to clarify how something works is a nice benefit.

If I might use Adamant Entertainment's Hot Pursuit as an example, this is a product that at it's face value might appear to be of dubious value to me. Chase scenes are something that I once tried, didn't do well, and decided wouldn't work in gaming like it does in the movies. But Barsoomcore is the author! I like his storyhours. I like most of his posts. It would be a privelige to play in a game he was running. So maybe I ought to take a look at this Hot Pursuit product and see if he can show me how to improve things? Besides he was enthusiastic about promoting it and I know I can ask him questions.

A nice guy whom I respect, trying to sell a product on a topic that is exciting and I have implemented poorly in the past, who I can ask questions of if I have trouble. Where is the downside? But if I didn't know Barsoomcore from his posts, and if he wasn't promoting the product, I probably wouldn't have bought it.

Interaction with an author or publisher can be good.

Exactly what I was thinking when I voted yes. Perfect example for me also.

 

[RangerWickett]

I was also pretty turned off of anything from Monte Cook after his comments on the ENnies a couple years back, and even though he's ammended those comments, I'm still wary about supporting him with my dollar.

As someone who has been closely associated with the ENnies, I sense absolutely no ill will toward him, nor do I think there ought to be. He had a complaint in the past, and his complaint was discussed and resolved. He wasn't a mean person about it, except that a lot of us saw the ENnies as our baby, and didn't want anyone criticizing our cuddle-licious toddler.

And for the record, if I have ever pissed someone off or given them a bad opinion of me, I'd prefer to be told so, so I can hopefully not repeat the problem. Perhaps some of my attempts to promote my books have grated on the nerves of posters, and if that were the case, though I cannot guarantee I would change my behavior, I would certainly like to be told if I'm being a jack-ass.

Now, I don't buy that many books because I'm a struggling college graduate [super]tm[/super], but most of the ones I've bought have been from people who've been on these boards, or whom I've with at Gen Con. After talking to Erik Mona this year, I really want to get a subscription to Dungeon, because he was such a nice guy (even if he did diss my pdf homies).

 

[BryonD]

That said: Assuming that your policy of not purchasing Adamant Entertainment product is because of *my* behavior, how does that effect those products from us that are not written by me, or products from other publishers that I have written?

I guess my point here is that the industry is too small and incestuous for that sort of policy to make much sense beyond being arbitrarily applied. Unless you're actually willing to check the credits page of everything you buy, before you buy it, I just don't see it working.

I'll answer for myself.

I don't buy anything with Adamant's name on it.

And this is not a new policy of the past few days. I bought some stuff in the past. But that stopped a while ago.
I also avoid stuff with your name on it or an association. If something got under my radar and I saw your name after I bought it, I'd roll my eyes and be over it in about 2 seconds. But I know enough authors that I generally check as part of my buying choice anyway. My attitude is usually hopeful that it is someone I like.

Anyway, there are a couple others I avoid and at least as many that I actively seek out. And there are many that at least get a favorable second look. All in all I'd say the chance to interact with publisher's is a great thing, very rewarding and has had a significant impact of increasing my total spending into the industry. It is just that, like so many things in life, the negative experiences tend to get more attention than the positive.


Phil,

I agree with your comment about entertainers. My opinions of musicians and movie-makers, authors, etc... has very minimal impact on my purchasing of their products. But, then again, I don't spend time on message boards getting regular interaction with Peter Jackson and George R. R. Martin. If I did and they were really cool or really jerks, it may be a different story. Who knows?

 

[No Name]

Definately.

I don't really need any of this stuff, it's entertainment. I got by with the core for years, and even that is not a necessity. If someone is an ass, I won't buy their book(s).

On the other hand, if the author is the friendly and polite sort, I'll at least give a book a second look even if I'm not interested in the subject, and likely buy it if it's remotely interesting.