If you could, would you work in the RPG field?

[Olive]

i said yes, but i won't work as a game designer...

i work as a mac operator/production person for a design company. if i could work on RPG products doing the same stuff, that would eb cool! i'd get to play with my workmates, work on stuff i care about and probably not take to much of a pay cut...so if anyone from wizards is reading: i'd love to be on your book production team! i ahve publication experience (mostly on newspapers, but also on books) and i'd be happy to move to the US as soon as you work out my work permit...

 

[corndog]

I would contend that, if you REALLY wanted to be in the RPG business, and weren't already - something is wrong.

Yeah, there is. It has something do do with '4 cents a word for some company (that may or may not even survive to print the thing and thus pay me) aint payin my rent'

Sure, I could do it part time, but that means less attention to the lady of the house, which again, isn't justified by a few pennies a word.

Until this industry decides to quit paying the big money to overrated (and oftentimes underskilled) "celebrities" and actually reward talent (which I am not saying neccesarily includes me) instead of ego, I'll have to pass.

 

[corndog]

That, and I suspect that a corporate web guy for WotC has somewhat smaller budgets for hardware, software, and salary than I've got.

Consider that this is only hearsay, and for obvious reasons I won't qoute where the info came from:

I hear the 'webmaster' job at WotC is a sub 30k a year position. If this is true, and I really have no reason to doubt that it is considering the crappy navigation design and connectivity problems with the boards and chat that have plagued the site off and on for almost 3 years, it is sad. The fact that a multi-million dollar company, which is a subsidiary of a billion dollar company, that generates the amount of traffic that site does, won't pay top dollar for someone to run their site and servers, is just sad.

Again, they won't pony up the cash for the people with the skills, and the industry suffers, in some way, for it.

 

[adndgamer]

I sure would wanna work in the RPG industry! Though, at the time, I'm just a high school student, so we'll see

My Idea of the Top Professions:

1) Owning a gaming shop -- You're your own boss, get to play a lot, etc
2) Writing RPGs -- Do I need to say more?
3) Comp tech -- Yeah, it sucks, but it makes good cash, and isn't as boring as programming.

 

[der_kluge]

Writing is hard work. I think everyone has some good ideas under their belt, but to keep coming up with good stuff over and over is difficult.

If you really want to do freelance work - test yourself first.

Tell yourself that you are going to write 10 new prestige classes - they can be anything - and give yourself a month to do it in.

If two months goes by, and you've only got 6 of them done, probably writing isn't for you.

 

[Damror]

Writing is hard work. I think everyone has some good ideas under their belt, but to keep coming up with good stuff over and over is difficult.

If you really want to do freelance work - test yourself first.

Tell yourself that you are going to write 10 new prestige classes - they can be anything - and give yourself a month to do it in.

If two months goes by, and you've only got 6 of them done, probably writing isn't for you.

I agree. Writing is hard work. Being your own boss requires a lot of motivation too. I think those two things are what keep a lot of people out of the RPG industry.

Someone earlier was also complaining about a 4 cent per word rate "some" publishers are offering. Well, I would just point out that 4 cents a word is pretty standard throughout the publishing industry. It not just RPG publishers that pay 4 cents a word.

That's why if you want to make any money at it you have to be able to type 1-5 thousand words per day, 7 days a week. A lot people can't do that.

 

[Dr_Rictus]

Well, having worked in CRPG's before, I'd do it again. I mean, I'm still in videogames, just not CRPG's. It's stressful and underpaid compared to a lot of "straight" computer jobs, but it can also be a lot of fun.

Pen-and-paper RPG's though? I may be willing to make a little less money to work on games, but I'm not prepared to starve for my art.