Holy Cow! Wizards delegates...

[mythusmage]

I got the form reply. No answers to my questions, just a thanks for writing and an application.

Well, I've got news for Wizards. If you aint got the time to answer my questions, I aint got the time to rep you. Deal.

 

[MojoGM]

Does anyone know when we need to have these applications in by?

I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow, and I didn't want to have to rush through it tonight, but if there is a deadline...

 

[woodelf]

Well, I dunno about too little benefit. I'm sure there are gamers out there who would love to broaden their horizons with new games and schmooze with the owner of the FLGS. I don't think cash payment is necessary; freebies are enough.

Besides, for someone to truly be a "delegate" for the game, I would imagine financial gain should be well down the list of priorities. The way they've structured it is so that those who will do it "for the love of the game" will be most attracted to the position.

IOW, an employee they don't have to pay, just like others have said. The fact that there are people willing to do it doesn't mean you're not taking advantage of them. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that there's no adult in this country whose time is worth less than minimum wage. And the fact that they might love doing this is a moot point, because there are plenty of jobs that people love doing that actually pay something. If it's a job that people don't love doing, it should pay more--minimum wage (or, really, a living wage) should be the *baseline*. I suppose, if the resale value of the freebies racks up to minimum wage, or at least a reasonable approximation, then maybe this is reasonable (and, yes, i mean resale, not retail--unlike food, games are not a reasonable substitute for wages).

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

As far as I'm concerned, all the people that are complaining about the program are exactly the people WotC doesn't want repping them anyways. So no biggie. Just don't do it. I'm sure WotC isn't losing any sleep over it. They've got applicants coming out their ears, many of whom would probably do it for a lot less than they're offering.

Not everyone is motivated by personal gain, financial or otherwise. Consider it volunteer work... with perks!

 

[viscounteric]

Hmmm... show up and demonstrate and field questions for close to $1,000 in product? While I believe the product is for demos and general promotion and shouldn't (all) be ebayed, even a small display of CCGs run $100+ (display=box) Is a case of minis 10 or 20? (I can't remember). Not too shabby.

And it looks like they only want to promote people playing new games, hence the D&D core books and no other swag. Remember folks, even crappy second-tier CCGs can out sell D&D. Wotc is going to support it's cash cow, while trying to develop new ones.

D&D? Merely a side project with pretty decent returns. In most cases the best Wotc can hope for is a new player buying the basic game and the three core books. The people who buy the supplements are a thin gravy over the meat and potatoes. Despite the adult arguements than D&D is self-contained in the three core books, I think more kids care about the "kewl" new stuff out of the latest card set. (And most parents in game stores seem to have a need to please their children, so the self-contained arguement falls on deaf ears also).

So who would wizard's rather have, a staunch D&D player who will promote that game and a few board games, and have a trickle of book/mini sales to "show for it," or a CCG fanatic promote new games for the kiddies/adults and move more product (Those $3-$4 impulse pack sales are always a bigger revenue source, than the impulse RPG book sales)?

Wizards is most certainly looking towards hard-core CCG players, then board gamers, then role-players, in that order. Anything else would be disaster.

Delegates will be expected to eventually know all Wizards of the Coast products and programs.

For those of you who are submitting apps, good luck... and good luck reading the GI Joe and Neopets rulebooks... And you don't even get a copy of Diplomacy game with Monopoly pieces.

 

[Maggan]

Other companies demo teams?

Hi!

What are your opinions regarding other companies' efforts in this area?

I know Atlas has a Demo Team program that promotes their games (http://www.atlas-games.com/specialops/), and sort of figured that this practice was common in the gaming industry?

Anyone know of other companies doing things like this?

What are the differences between WotC "Delegates" and Atlas "Special Ops"? Is it the survery thing?

Is there an "established" standard of compensation within the industry for this kind of work, ie "free stuff and no cash"?

Has anyone here done a company demo thing, and would like to share the experience?

Cheers!

Maggan

 

[Maggan]

Hey, I found an answer to my own question

Anyone know of other companies doing things like this?

Checking on my own link to Atlas Games, I found something called the Game Demo Exchange.

http://www.game-demo-network.com/about.html

So it seems that this is a more widespread phenomena than I would have thought... or is it only the companies looking for free labour?

I think it's kinda cool. Many people do demos anyways, and now they can get something for their time.

I might apply, if I lived in the US.

Cheers!

Maggan

 

[Driddle]

Not everyone is motivated by personal gain, financial or otherwise. Consider it volunteer work... with perks!

Well, yeah. It's volunteer work -- volunteering to help a for-profit company make more profit off the backs of free labor.

I'm all for volunteering to help civic organizations, or even businesses in which I have a personal stake (my EMPLOYer, for example, or a family biz). But to give up my time and effort so that a faceless corp. can make more money? That's just nuts.

 

[Belen]

I see this as an opportunity to help my friends who own the local FLGS. I spend a few nights there a week anyway and I run D&D demos there once per month, so I am not actually losing anything. Heck, I can actually take a lunch break from work for change and visit the stores near me to fill in the other requirement.

I signed up because my main goal is to get new gamers into the fold. I love to teach people how to play DnD and I want to help my friends at the game store increase their customer base.

So I am not doing it for the product, although it is a bonus, and the free stuff will make good gifts for some of the people who play these TCGs etc. Heck, I already have friends willing to run TCG demos at the FLGS.

And anyone who knows me can probably attest to my non-stereotypical gamer appearance as polo shirts and slacks are my main form of dress.

If some good friends did not own a game store, then it would not be such a draw, but they do, so I applied.

The aplication did take around 4 hours to fill out though.

 

[Li Shenron]

I think this is just a casual attempt by WotC. They probably realize that the majority of the people who would want to do this "job" for free products is teen-agers (or at best university students) fans of these games. I don't think WotC is seriously looking for professional figures, which might even be countereffective in this hobby: imagine a jacket-and-tie sales rep of D&D with business case, does he look appropriate? I think they don't even expect applicants to stay reliable on the long run.

In any case, this doesn't definitely qualify as a "job". Rather it could be a semi-informal agreement between the person and some WotC higher representative who is well happy not to have to do this himself. Would be nice to know later from the ones who accept to do this, if a real contract is used...
Finally a 1000$ sale price is equivalent to what cost for WotC? I guess not more than 200-250$. In the eyes of a kid it sounds like a huge sum, but for even a small company it's crumbs.

[Long ago, when I was a child, me & my friends used to bike half an hour to the next village where ice cream costed 50Lire (~3cents) less...]