Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="PJ-Mason" data-source="post: 1688344" data-attributes="member: 12285">I largely agree with you here. There are little things the "Industry" can do to help things along, though. Things like demos and fan clubs. A few of the bigger companies do this, but many of them are just lip service and don't have aggressive polices. This problem is grounded in a bigger problem, as i see it (see bottom of post).All in all, its up to us to get it done. The problem is that most agree with this premise, but few of us do it. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I'm guilty of that as of late. A number of factors contribute to it beyond laziness, but the guilt is there none the less.Great in theory, much tougher to pull off in practice. The average gamer is living in the dark ages as compared to us. No less smarter, they are just not the "gotta know all about it" fanatics we are. They are not nearly as informed when they walk into a LGS. They have no way of knowing whether a product was playtested. Returning books is not as easy, most stores will only let you exchange it for another book or store credit. Of course, if you were uninformed about the first book.....A lot of LGS are not that great of an envoirnment (see below), they don't know anything beyond Money: The Gathering or Warhammer these days (generally the case). Even if they were the rare store clerk who had a clue, my experience (both as a gamer and as a former gamer clerk) has been that they wouldn't tell a prospective buyer if a book was bad. They wouldn't want to lose the sale and/or don't care. LGSs have become a poor enviorment these days. Sure there are shining examples of LGS, but i hear more and more about deficient ones these days. I live within a half hour of about 5 game stores and this is the case all around. Maybe if it were one or two it could be called a localized problem, but 5?Join the club, brother!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> On to my rant.....Enviornment.<These is little more than grognard ramblings at this point, but please bear with me.>I think many of the problems can be backtracked to Gamer Enviornment. Which is more than just your Local Game Store. Its the community in general that needs to improve. If we cleaned up a bit, we wouldn't NEED big recruiting drives. I think new gamers are interested in the rpg community all ready, we don't have to club them and drag them off. They are our to LOSE.Game Stores: -In my experience, Games stores have become as much as a liability as they are a help. 1) The ones around here at least, are quite ignorant in regards to PNP rpgs (comics too, if you can believe it!). They either don't know or don't care. Usually both. MTG and Warhammer make them a lot more money and have defnitely siphoned a chunk off the rpg crowd (only hurting those of us trying to get something going). I know from experience. 2) Another aspect is the hosting of game groups. The biggest of the LGS in my area does this (the others are too small to try it, in their defense), but the throngs of mtg/warhammer players completely kills any kind of gaming atmosphere you'd usually want for PNP game session. Few want to be oggled at when trying to game (those games outside of demos of course).3) Service - As i said before, return policies aren't great (right down to hostile in some places!). Most game stores use to have gamer clubs where you could get small discounts on books (or other such considerations) for a yearly fee. Only one of the LGS in my area does/did this, but discontinued it after a short while. There is no "Will to Succeed". If the owner sees no immediate results, the endeavor dies. This is all indicative of a the new breed of Game Stores who honestly don't really give a crap about the customers other than to get the next buck. Sure they have always existed, but i think they are now the majority. They have all become the Waldensbook of gaming servive. Heh, in fact, even waldenbooks gives discounts and club prices. go figure.All of these factors really do not create the enviornment needed to attract new gamers. Or at least avoiding scaring away any that might walk in the door to find out what this "gaming thing" is about. The LGs is the only real face the rpg industry has to the average consumer and quite often these days, its a face not even a mother could love!I, Gamer:The average gamer (this means me too) doesn't provide a great enviornment for new gamers. This diatribe is really only relevant to the fringe gamer introduction. Most players seemed to be introduced to gamer from family and friends. I think that method is still the dominant one today. The other methods seem to be more 1) We are too damn clannish. Its a little hard to tell, but i think its much worse now than it ever was. At least the gamers in my area cocoon in their homes and don't come until dark and keep to the shadows. Its bad enough that we are afraid of our own shadow, but now we keep pigeon-holing each other by "favorite" gaming systems. There didn't used to be such a huge divide between game fans. You'd play whatever someone brought to the table. Now there is maybe split-second before lines are drawn and people start bitching ands screaming about whose game is better than anothers. I've seen this happen more than once in a LGS and almost constantly online. Most prospective gamers to be shy away from this sort of nonsense, if not outright run! Bad enviorment. Not much cultivation going on here.2)Some gamers smell. No way around it. The number 1 enviornmental hazard of gaming is icky gamers. It never hurts to tell someone to wash up. Or at least, it usually hurts worse to stay near them if you don't. Its a problem that has always existed and still exist. Sure the hobby appeals to a lot of socially challenged people. If your not one, help out those who are. It might be a little uncomfortable at first, but it usually brings dividends in the er, end.3)A little promotion never hurt anyone. Although I think most gamer people will either get there through friends and family, or that they will gravitate naturally to the hobby....Its our demeanor and the enviornment that will determine if they turn around and walk away. Don't hesitate to ask them to game if they look interested. If your open-minded about the newbie, the newbie will likely be the same in return. Be sure to pick your spots, though. Just don't bum-rush them with a nervous, jerky, unsure "Hey...do you want game with me" in the mens room.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!    :eek:"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":eek:" /> Anyway, i am really starting to ramble now, so i am gonna quit. I'm not even sure if i stayed on topic at this point. I'm out! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification