How many poor-quality books can a company produce . . .

[TheGM]

I voted two, but that's not really realistic because...

That's why, as a prospective buyer, I find a forum like En World so helpful. I try to hold off on buying anything until I've seen some early reports from reputable posters, and this has been a great help.

I go down to my FLGS and look before I buy. I've got enough money to spend on gaming books, but I play a lot of games, so I'm cautious. I don't buy PDF at all, or at least haven't yet, because I can't look at it first.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Then again, perhaps I should resort to the sort of vicious beatings such as only a 185-lb man can inflict on a 10-lb dog.

God, grant me patience.

 

[Psion]

My damn Yorkie (quite characteristically, actually) has proven almost impossible to house break. Perhaps I should try rewarding his correct behavior at random intervals instead of every time.

Dredging up my old psychology again, here is how it supposedly (and my experience seems to verify) it works.

If you reward a behavior every time, and then stop rewarding the behavior, then the behavior will diminish quickly. For example, if you give your dog a treat every time they come when you call, and you stop giving you a treat, they tend to stop fairly quickly.

But if you only occassionally reward them for coming when you call, and you stop rewarding them altogether, it will take a much longer time for the behavior to extinguish. Because, well, on some level they beleive they could be getting a treat.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Because, well, on some level they beleive they could be getting a treat.

If only I could get him to believe that he could be getting a vicious beating, and to scamper his little ass directly into his litter box instead of stopping just outside in the hallway.

 

[d20Dwarf]

I voted no limit, because fan input has so little to do with a company's ability to sell, and quality has so little to do with a distributor's willingness to buy.

 

[Ace]

. . . before you'll stop buying their products?

We've all seen it happen. A company releases a book that is of . . . questionable . . . quality. Messageboards buzz with statements to the effect of "I'll never buy their books again!" and then the noise slowly stops. A few months later it happens again -- with the same company.

Well, how many books filled with poor writing, little to no editing, and ill-conceived concepts will you buy from one company?

Intresting question. If you count print books -- none, I peruse everything thoroughly before I buy it. I don't automatically chuck a company on the no list just because I though XYZ uber splat volume 27a3 was crap -- its case by case. OTOH I won't buy anything that has had serious bad editing mentioned on line. Print products need to be edited properly without exception

PDF's are a little different -- I usually am willing to spend about $10 (at most) on PDF's that I think I might like. If I get burned more than once I just won't bother with that company. That hasn't happaned yet as I am a choosy customer and cheapoften buying only on sale ($3 or so) -- My threshold is a lot lower there.
Editingwise I wish more folks in the game industry understood editing and production and not just stat blocks and flavor text
Your Ronin Arts stuff is clean and well edited, every product I have seen is well laid out and editied. I don't know why other companies can't do half as well.
Now I can forgive some tiny part time hobby PDF company but there is no excuse for the big guys to gaff up. Mongoose I am looking at you

 

[SteveC]

This is an excellent question.

For me, it depends on how the company reacts. If I buy a book that is substandard or doesn't meet my needs, I'll look much harder at the next book that the company comes out with before buying it. An example of this would be the Complete Divine, which had many problems with spells not being updated or having errata applied to them. As a result, I've bought far fewer books from WotC as a result. I stopped buying from them at all, actually, until they had reps come by (I think this was Andy Collins) and talk about how they were making fundamental changes to the editting process, but we would not see the effects immediately.

Since then, I've bought some additional books, but it really did cut down on what I buy.

For another example, look at Mongoose. Matt has come by here and publicly apologized for problems with their books, which made me look at some of the new things they have come out with. Again, I've ended up buying some product.

On the other hand, there have been a couple of other game companies that basically have said, "don't like our quality? It's too hard to edit and format books, and no one cares about it anyway, so just deal with it." I don't buy anything from these companies at all.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you want me to buy your books, quality has to be a priority for you. I know that should be obvious, but I'd also bet that most ENners have a stack of bad products collecting dust somewhere--if they didn't already sell them on E-Bay. I know I do!

--Steve

 

[GMSkarka]

• 25% crazy, super-vocal haters who think that everything ever produced is the Worst. Product. Evar.

The ironic thing about that 25% (and, honestly, I think it's more like 10%...but they're really vocal about it), is that they'll keep buying, even if only to grouse about it.

 

[jgbrowning]

But if you only occassionally reward them for coming when you call, and you stop rewarding them altogether, it will take a much longer time for the behavior to extinguish. Because, well, on some level they beleive they could be getting a treat.

Hrm, sounds like my first girlfriend.


joe b.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Hrm, sounds like my first girlfriend.


joe b.

But were you the puppy or the master?