Expanding the Pie: Thoughts on Retaining and Attracting People to Gaming

[William Ronald]

Recently, I chatted with thalmin at Games Plus about getting more people into our hobby. He mentioned that one of the problems that the historical game industry suffered from was that companies became so intent on serving their present customers they made little effort to attract new ones. The net effect was that it seemed for some time that relatively few historical gamers were joining that hobby. In effect, thalmin said, it was as if they lost a generation of gamers.

One suggestion that thalmin offered was that the RPGA and other organizations could try to encourage more gaming demonstrations. (He mentioned that the RPGA once awarded points for such activities. I am not sure if the RPGA still awards membership points.)

I have seen some fairly young people at EN World Game Days and other events. However, I know that some people on these boards have wondered if more people, particularly young people, are joining our hobby. Currently, gaming seems to be in a golden age with a wide variety of companies and great products. However, it is wise to have an eye to the future.

What can we do to attract more people, of all ages, to role-playing games? What can we do as players and game-masters? What can companies of all sizes, game stores, and organizations like the RPGA can do to make sure our hobby is alive and flourishing in the future?

Personally, I think that the reintroduction of the boxed set is a good idea. It is easier for someone to invest $10 or $20 on a single game to check out a new hobby than investing $90. Perhaps expanding on this product line a little might help attract some new gamers.

In Monte Cook's Line of Sight Article, Covering Ourselves has some interesting thoughts on keeping and recruiting gamers.

Monte Cook wrote:
When we worked on 3rd Edition, the designers had various goals. One goal for the game was to recruit new players (and thus customers). Of course, encouraging new players to try the game is the holy grail of the industry. There are lots of theories on how to do it best, but it's just not as easy as it might seem. One of the things I brought to the table involved customer retention. In my years of working with games other than D&D, I'd talked to thousands of gamers who had left D&D to play something else. I had a good idea of how to meet some of the needs of those types of gamers, and thus to retain them as D&D players/customers.

Look at it this way. If the average player plays the game for three years, and there are 100,000 active players buying lots of products, getting each one to play an extra year is almost the equivalent of recruiting 33,000 new gamers.

What makes this even better is that we determined that one of the best ways to recruit new gamers is to encourage existing gamers to keep playing. The best recruiters for new players are existing players, and there's no bigger incentive than the desire to play. If you're a gamer and you move to a new town, one of the first things you might do is to try to introduce your new friends to the hobby. Or you might teach your younger sister to play, or whatever.

The point here is, it's in everyone's best interest to keep people actively playing the game -- whether you're a gamer, a small publisher, or Wizards of the Coast. Especially if you're Wizards of the Coast, in fact, since they've got the most at stake.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

 

[Telperion]

I do my bit by recruiting new players fresh to the city from the local university. Since there are always new people showing, looking all curious and a bit lost, I tend to pick the best from the top and show them a good time: RPG style .

I don't think I'm doing anything like a big contribution, but I have introduced a whole lot of players to D&D over the last 10 years, so I suppose it should count for something...

 

[Arnwyn]

He mentioned that one of the problems that the historical game industry suffered from was that companies became so intent on serving their present customers they made little effort to attract new ones.

And, speaking as a consumer, for me this is a good thing. I want to be catered to... as long as my needs are met, I don't care about anyone else. (Selfish? Heck yeah - but again, this is my consumer side speaking. I spend money to have my needs served.)

What can we do to attract more people, of all ages, to role-playing games? What can we do as players and game-masters?

What are your thoughts on this topic?

As a game-master, I'm not doing anything, nor do I want to do anything. I'm happy with my group of friends that I game with on a regular basis. Since I only care to game with friends, if my group ever had to split up, I likely would spend time on my other hobbies (lord knows, I could use the extra time).

So my thoughts are: this "issue" is not a concern of mine.

 

[buzz]

So my thoughts are: this "issue" is not a concern of mine.

In some ways, I have to agree with this. Expanding the RPG customer base is really the publishers' and retailers' concern; that I often see threads like this asking what we (the consumers) can do to expand the hobby, IMO, is sort of unique to RPGs. What maybe we need to be asking is: what can publishers and retailers do to expand the hobby?

That said, I *do* have an interest in expanding the hobby, and am willing to do things to aid the effort, even if I am just a consumer. While I don't think it should be expected, I agree with Monte that it's in all our best interests.

What makes this even better is that we determined that one of the best ways to recruit new gamers is to encourage existing gamers to keep playing. The best recruiters for new players are existing players, and there's no bigger incentive than the desire to play. If you're a gamer and you move to a new town, one of the first things you might do is to try to introduce your new friends to the hobby. Or you might teach your younger sister to play, or whatever.

Very sage words. I posted some polls about this a few weeks ago and, despite an admittedly small sample size, the overwhelming indication was that people get introduced to RPGs by friends more than any other method. Ergo, by producing games that I want to play, the industry encourages me to be the kind of person who will seek out other players, and maybe even make some new ones.

E.g., if 3e had been just a revised version of 2e, I probably woulnd't have bought it, subsequently not had my love of gaming re-ignited, never hooked up with my three current game groups, and never joined the ENWorld community or attended any cons. Disaster!

As for what people can do: be active in the hobby. Play your favorite RPGs. Buy product. Got to cons. Tell people you game. Participate in online communities. Help out at Game Days.

If you want to give 110%, start actively recruiting. Run demos. Solicit your friends. Put links to ENWorld or other gaming sites in your .sig file. Start your own mini-con. Create your own gaming Web site.

[Evil]
It also can't hurt to precent yourself as a well-groomed, together person. Shave, bathe, get a haircut, and watch an episode of Queer Eye once in a while.
[/Evil]

Kidding! Sorta...

 

[Zappo]

I wonder if one of the main problems here is how alien RPGs are to someone who hasn't had any experience with them. I can always easily explain what a new sport is, because everyone knows what a sport is. Same thing with card games and board games. And fruits, cars, computers, paintings, whatever; when you have a category, you can understand easily. With RPGs... not so easy. You start with "it's a game", and then the problems begin.

Yes, you could just get people to buy the PHB without telling them what the game is about - you can get people to buy anything. But then the vsat majority of them will say, "whoa! this is, like, 200 pages of rules, and there is no board, card or pieces, just a book? wtf?", and goodbye potential new player. No chance of telling them that of those 200 pages of rules the ones you actually have to memorize before starting are maybe a handful. No chance of demonstrating how the imagination works better than a board, cards and pieces.

If you had 30 seconds to explain what an RPG is to someone who has only seen a friend playing Baldur's Gate once or twice while chatting about this cool new disco that has opened in town, what would you say?

 

[Desdichado]

And I thought you were expanding the Orc and Pie adventure to bring in new gamers!

Bringing in new gamers isn't really that hard; I've had a lot of people recently express interest in joining my group. Of course, they're mostly former gamers, so I don't know if "new" really applies to them.

 

[SinisterMinister]

This reminded me of a column in Entertainment Weekly I read last year:

There are a few things one should never admit in print. I've already owned up to watching porn, being bad in bed, listening to Bruce Hornsby, and having a mullet. But everyone has limits, and, at best, I will imply that I am somewhat familiar with the basic rules of Dungeons & Dragons. I may have even owned metal figurines and about 50 official books that I may or may not have kept in a box I painted black with stenciled silver lettering reading ''Welcome to the World of Dungeons & Dragons.'' I also may not have realized it was still in my parents' basement the first time I brought a girl down there. I may hate that box like no man has ever hated a box.

But somehow being into The Lord of the Rings is now acceptable, so I thought it might be okay to revisit my involvement with role-playing games. I called Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Dungeons & Dragons, and asked them to send an expert to run a game for me. Then I asked all my friends if they'd play. When that didn't go so well, I called the man who made it acceptable to take the threat of orcs seriously, Elijah Wood. Actors, it turns out, have quite a bit of free time.

As I flew to Los Angeles to play D&D with Elijah Wood, I realized that EW editors don't really have a firm grasp on what makes a good story. However, with Elijah Wood playing, I was able to get several people to come, including my friend Adam, Elijah's publicist's brother, and a woman named Ali, whose presence officially doubled the number of women who had ever played D&D. The guy the company sent to be in charge of our soiree was Jonathan Tweet, 37, who designed the latest version of the game. Jonathan was not at all what we expected. Sure, he was geeky and balding and heavy and told us he invented his own linguistics, but he was married.

Jonathan, who was our Dungeon Master (just one of many terms I once used regularly and now realize sound homoerotic), told us we had gone to see Venor the druid to get instructions on an adventure, but his hut was burned down and there were arrows with a mysterious substance on their tips littered about and a mute girl pointing down a set of stairs. Jonathan didn't laugh once during this speech. In fact, Jonathan, who obviously got into the whole dungeon mastering thing as a power trip, didn't really like when we talked about things out of our wizard and druid characters. The only time we got to digress was when room service came, and a maid opened up a bottle of Coke and asked Elijah, who is not a particularly tall man, if it was his. ''Is this for little boy?'' she said. The room got very quiet. ''Yes, for little boy,'' she repeated, handing it to him. ''I'm 21!'' Elijah yelled. ''I haven't heard 'little boy' since I was 10.'' I offered to roll the 20-sided die to see if I could kill the maid.

We returned to the game, now slightly uncomfortable, when we came across a female goblin, whom, without bragging, I'll just say that I helped take care of. This greatly excited Elijah. ''Let's loot the bitch. Can I slit her throat?'' he asked. Ali looked a little startled. This is why guys usually don't let women play. Men work out a lot of anger issues when they're alone. Sometimes those anger issues stem directly from comments made by housekeepers.

After the game, Jonathan asked Elijah to sign his character sheet, which I feared would be put up on their website. I haven't felt this much guilt since I screened my mom's last call. But I felt a lot less guilty when, for the next hour, Elijah and his publicist's brother stayed in my room talking about videogames and collectible toys, some of which may have been called Pogs and Kubricks. It was like my remote control didn't work and I was stuck on a public access show. ''You mention anything to a geek that is made in limited edition and they've got to have it,'' he explained. ''I get shaky when I think about things like that there's an Amelie Kubrick!'' I'm pretty sure, seriously, that he was talking about an action figure from the movie Amelie.

After they left, I remembered all the things I once collected: baseball cards, those bogus CDs that were somehow plated with gold, phone numbers of women I had no shot with. But I've matured into a lazier type of geek who annoys people by collecting obscure facts and acting superior about them. I'm sure, though, that I could easily revert back to that place, even playing D&D, if I was in with the right crowd and lost my ability to ever have sex again.

I think it speaks well to the challenges one faces when trying to change the perception of D&D and RPGs in general. Just based on box office numbers, it's clear that the appeal of the LOTR trilogy far exceeded that of a core group of fantasy fans. Ditto the success of video games like Baldur's Gate, et.al.

But there's definitely a big hurdle that most people are uncomfortable crossing to go from playing a video game to sitting around the kitchen table with a bunch of friends rolling dice.

If there was going to be a big embracing of RPGs, it probably would have happened by now. Increasing the number of players is going to happen at a grass roots level with experienced gamers teaching new people. I don't think WOTC or any other publisher is going to have much success increasing the potential market by a significant enough percentage to justify the cost.

 

[barsoomcore]

More people gaming == more money spent on gaming products == RPG publishers make more money and release more products == good for me.

It does no-one who cares about the hobby much good to have companies that serve only them, the hardcore fans -- if those companies can't afford to keep releasing products. Then nobody's getting what they want.

That said, the number one stomp-down way to attract new players is:

Run Great Games.

You can't explain an RPG to someone who's never experienced it in reasonable terms that don't make it sound weird. I have tried and tried. It can't be done. What can be done -- get someone to agree to TRY it. All it takes is one demonstration and people, if the DM is any good, are usually hooked. Or at least they get why it's fun and are usually willing to play again.

But only if the DM rocks sufficiently. Nothing will turn off an experimenting "civilian" faster than a game they don't enjoy, about subject matter they don't care about, with goals and challenges they can't understand. You don't have to be the greatest DM ever, but you have to at least have some ability to provide a good game that suits the players.

Is there a big need to recruit more players? No. There's lots of players. I certainly don't have any trouble filling my game slots up -- heck, I turn people away. Stewardesses, even.



Run Great Games. You'll meet stewardesses. Worked for me.

 

[Gunton The Terrible]

Barsoomcore is right.

Run good games and people will get interested.

However, I had a random bad thought or maybe I am playing devil's advocate. I am speaking from personal experience only here, but I as a DM, and those in my group that do DM, like to keep the number of players down. Eight being the maximum. It’s easier on us this way.
Now we do occasionally have new players and to keep the number down we often let the better players stay and the others we turn away. Now if other groups are doing the same thing, keeping the cream of players for themselves that will leave the most socially inapt gamers constantly looking for a game.
Now to appease their hunger for a RPG they will turn to recruit new players in to the hobby.
So, what if the curious newcomers’ first contact with the RPG world is with this bottom rung, if you will, of our glorious hobby?
Is this where the perception that only “geeks” play RPGs comes from?

As a side note I do not mind the geek label. Our gaming night has been affectionately labeled “geek night.” A label given to us by the daughter of one gamer. Who now games with us.

 

[FireLance]

As an economist, let me add to barsoomcore's reasons why getting more people into the hobby is a Good Thing.

More gamers => more books, etc. sold => lower average costs* per item => lower costs for the consumer => good for me

Note: "=>" means "will probably lead to". It is not definite as human greed and stupidity sometimes get in the way.

* [economics]Economists divide the cost of making a product into fixed costs which are paid only once (e.g. machinery, design of product, etc) and variable costs which are paid for each product (e.g. paper, ink, electricity to run the printing machine, etc). Making more of a particular product generally means that the fixed costs get divided up among more items, and this lowers the cost of each item.[/economics]