Forked Thread: Monte Cook's new Dungeonaday.com?

[jmucchiello]

A pension fund for retired RPG designers would probably not be worth the 3 cents a month it sends out.

 

[Jack99]

I think most of the 3PP's from the 3.x era would be lucky to get 50 subscribers, hell even half that. Monte is one of the few exceptions, and I wouldn't be surprised if he even got 20 times that number.

But I think you should prove us wrong and start up your own Dungeonaday. You seem to think it is a great idea based on your "numbers", so go ahead.

 

[lmpjr007]

I think your forgetting a couple of things.
1.) An editor, you need an editor. Now I belief he's married to one, but that doesn't mean she works for free.

True.

2.) Art assets aren't produced for free, he needs to pay his artists, there is non-stock art on the site.

But he can use artwork that he may already own and have already used in other Malhavoc projects. This in addition to taking new pictures of the dungeon.

3.) Hosting costs money.

The service he is using (SubHub) hs a $97 per month cost.

4.) The writing also needs to be placed on the site, it needs to be organized, formatted, etc. As Monte has already mentioned, he needed to learn a whole new set of computer skills. This time invested needs also to be calculated into the hourly wage.

Agreeed

5.) There are photos on the website of the dungeon with dwarven forge material, this also takes time to set up and photograph, manipulate, and upload.

Agreed.

On the other hand, I think the estimate of 'only' 200 subscribers for the first year is relatively low. Especially with the charter member subscription of $84...

Just with these numbers alone, Monte makes it very profitable IF he does it. I think other people or companies the numbers would be very different. But the actual ability to release the product in this fashion seems very interesting to many.

 

[lmpjr007]

But I think you should prove us wrong and start up your own Dungeonaday. You seem to think it is a great idea based on your "numbers", so go ahead.

This is not a "prove us wrong" situation. This is a great chance to expand one's knowledge base. This is examining a business model and learning how you can add parts of it to your own business to help expand it. What Monte is doing looks to be a variation of the DDI for 4th edition and what Phil Reed did with his DM's Idea Pipeline in 2004 & 2005. For me, it is nice to see ideas and concepts that seemed to do well, get changed and modified and used in a different way. Personally as a RPG publisher I think more RPG businesses need to get more educated in various business models that can be created in this industry and used to their advantage. A stronger RPG industry is a good thing for all of us.

 

[Jack99]

This is not a "prove us wrong" situation. This is a great chance to expand one's knowledge base. This is examining a business model and learning how you can add parts of it to your own business to help expand it. What Monte is doing looks to be a variation of the DDI for 4th edition and what Phil Reed did with his DM's Idea Pipeline in 2004 & 2005. For me, it is nice to see ideas and concepts that seemed to do well, get changed and modified and used in a different way. Personally as a RPG publisher I think more RPG businesses need to get more educated in various business models that can be created in this industry and used to their advantage. A stronger RPG industry is a good thing for all of us.

Hang on..

You write

So the question you have to ask is, when are you doing your own DungeonaDay.com business?

This certainly sounds like your "analysis" "concludes" that is is a great idea, that everybody should do. Well, if it is, why aren't you doing one?

Aside from that, I must admit that I hope no one takes your advice. Your analysis seems based on guesswork and very few facts. You are guessing on how many people he will attract. You are guessing on how much he sells. You are guessing on how fast he writes, you are guessing on the amount of material that will be published etc, etc.

Look, I know it's a blog and you are entitled to whatever opinion you wish, I just think it's wrong to call something an analysis when it's based on guesswork.

 

[lmpjr007]

This certainly sounds like your "analysis" "concludes" that is is a great idea, that everybody should do. Well, if it is, why aren't you doing one?

Actually that is a question, not a conclusion. I think you have mistaken that.

Aside from that, I must admit that I hope no one takes your advice. Your analysis seems based on guesswork and very few facts. You are guessing on how many people he will attract. You are guessing on how much he sells. You are guessing on how fast he writes, you are guessing on the amount of material that will be published etc, etc.

All new business ventures are guess work. No one knew the iPod would sell as well as it did. They hoped it would, but no one knows for sure. And even when you have all the facts that doesn't mean it is going to be an automatic success.

Look, I know it's a blog and you are entitled to whatever opinion you wish, I just think it's wrong to call something an analysis when it's based on guesswork.

It is true, it is my opinion. But to say you can not analysis something due to guesswork doesn't make sense. Remember they call it the Theory of Relativity because it is a theory and not the Law of Relativity, because it has not been proven. Everyone believes it is correct, but since it has proven it, it still just guesswork. Thank for your comments.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Look, I know it's a blog and you are entitled to whatever opinion you wish, I just think it's wrong to call something an analysis when it's based on guesswork.

I'll just say this:

LPJ knows how to make a buck.

 

[Jack99]

Actually that is a question, not a conclusion. I think you have mistaken that.

You are telling people that this is the best thing since pumpkin pie, not asking when they will do it.

All new business ventures are guess work. No one knew the iPod would sell as well as it did. They hoped it would, but no one knows for sure. And even when you have all the facts that doesn't mean it is going to be an automatic success.

Actually, only fools or desperate people base their business on guess work. Most other use such things as market research and customer analysis as base for a new business venture.

It is true, it is my opinion. But to say you can not analysis something due to guesswork doesn't make sense. Remember they call it the Theory of Relativity because it is a theory and not the Law of Relativity, because it has not been proven. Everyone believes it is correct, but since it has proven it, it still just guesswork. Thank for your comments.

You should look up the definition of analysis and put it into context. If you have no facts, you can not analyse. You can only assume and guess. And you know what they say about assuming.

 

[Cergorach]

Actually, only fools or desperate people base their business on guess work. Most other use such things as market research and customer analysis as base for a new business venture.

Market research and customer analysis are a guess, a relatively educated guess, but a guess none the less. If it worked like 1+1=2, marketing and advertising would be easy, it isn't.

3pp can only do so much market research and customer analysis, they don't have the budget to do it the big corporate way. So for RPG 3pp it is more guess work then anything else...

As for the Ipod example, if apple had the equation for success since then, every product they made would be golden. That is just not the case, they've discontinued products that didn't sell well.

 

[Jack99]

Market research and customer analysis are a guess, a relatively educated guess, but a guess none the less. If it worked like 1+1=2, marketing and advertising would be easy, it isn't.

Of course, but we are splitting hairs. Would you agree to say that there is a fairly big difference between guessing and basing a decision on research/analysis?

3pp can only do so much market research and customer analysis, they don't have the budget to do it the big corporate way. So for RPG 3pp it is more guess work then anything else...

There is probably still a lot they can do, instead of just taking a wild guess.

As for the Ipod example, if apple had the equation for success since then, every product they made would be golden. That is just not the case, they've discontinued products that didn't sell well.

Well, obviously. I never claimed that either was foolproof. I merely stated that most businesses do not risk everything on a hunch/guess.