D&D 5E Hope for an open GSL?
Mark CMG
Creative Mountain Games
You'll have to define "a lot" because aside from a few retailers who overbought without doing some basic research on products and publishers as well as a few publishers who got in way over their heads with staff, freelancers, and product commitments, I'm not sure "a lot" of people lost money in the 3.XE Era. I know of some retailers who had discounts bins toward the end of the d20 period but they made so much more during the heyday that they really didin't lose a thing overall and actually came out well ahead. Most publishers scaled back when things started to flag rather than double down, though I suppose a few didn't follow the signs and tried to force the market in ways it wasn't ready to go. So, I'm sorry if it caused some people you personally know some difficulty but I'm not sure "a lot" of people were hurt by that period in gaming overall so maybe you could clear that up for me.
You won't hear anything for at least a year yet, I'll warrant. I wouldn't hold your breath!
Hussar
Legend
Well, considering that, at least according to Mr. Dancey, some 75% of gaming stores went out of business in the 3e era, I'm not sure that you can say that they did well. Granted, it's not fair to blame 3e for all of that. But, it certainly wasn't keeping anyone afloat either.
75% of game stores always go out of business. During 3E, before 3E, and now. Mainly because they' run by gamers who haven't the faintest idea how to run a shop.
The good ones tend to survive.
Hussar
Legend
But, that's not what was being said by Ryan Dancey though.
What he said was that in the US, during the Oughts, the total number of gaming stores has been reduced by about 75%. IOW, a heck of a lot more than 75% of stores actually went out of business because that total number doesn't count new start ups. What is says is that in about 2000, we had about 2000 gaming stores in the US. By today, we're down to about 500.
I don't believe that 3E had one iota to do with that.
Hussar
Legend
I was more responding to MarkCMG's response that people didn't lose any money on 3e or that anyone who did lose money only did so because of incompetence.
If the total number of brick and mortar gaming stores has plummeted to the point that Ryan Dancey claims, then it's not exactly unfair to say that 3e's lack of sales had something to do with that. Granted, the bigger question to me is, how did B&M gaming stores fare in comparison to other niche B&M stores.
It's not like book stores in general have been printing money.
Obviously there's some serious issues going on here and things are far more complex than any single issue.However, if the 600 pound gorilla, fully supported by the OGL couldn't save the B&M gaming store, then it's safe to say that the gaming store simply couldn't have been saved at all.
Which rolls right back around to my original point of, does the OGL actually matter?
I was more responding to MarkCMG's response that people didn't lose any money on 3e or that anyone who did lose money only did so because of incompetence.
If the total number of brick and mortar gaming stores has plummeted to the point that Ryan Dancey claims, then it's not exactly unfair to say that 3e's lack of sales had something to do with that. Granted, the bigger question to me is, how did B&M gaming stores fare in comparison to other niche B&M stores.
It's not like book stores in general have been printing money.
However, if the 600 pound gorilla, fully supported by the OGL couldn't save the B&M gaming store, then it's safe to say that the gaming store simply couldn't have been saved at all.
Which rolls right back around to my original point of, does the OGL actually matter?
The factors involved were more related to the meteoric rise of Amazon and a host of smaller online retailers. Nothing to do with 3E, or the OGL. Or even game stores, particularly (although niche stores are obviously more vulnerable than general book chains, which - as you point out - have been failing also).
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