Is it WotC’s responsibility to bring people to the hobby?

[Nytmare]

That would be a nail in their coffin. Haven't researched it, but I'd love to hear a similar situation in which a company promoting its market and not just its services has gone from rags to riches.

The Selfish Gene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[El Mahdi]

To be told "your opinion about this subject seems to lack even basic research." sounds pretty dismissive to me.

It may have sounded that way to you, but I don't believe it was.

It is what amounted to me, and I also found it to be rude and derogatory.

Fair enough.

I have responded quite politely to any and every post I have written in this thread...

I don't feel that's true. Many of your posts in this thread have seemed to me to be dismissive, defensive, and containing a lot of "absolute" statements. However, with lack of clear cut proof that such was occuring, I chose instead to ignore those aspects, and just concentrate on the subject of the conversation.

...and this has been the only one that's made me feel I had to be defensive, and I think I am entitled to defend myself if I feel that way.

No, I don't believe one is. Just because one feels defensive, is not proof that something wrong was done to you. And if you really felt his posts rose to that level, then at ENWorld, one is only allowed to report it, ignore it, or politely respond to it. I've learned the hard way here that taking it into one's own hands is not accepted here at ENWorld.

If he had a problem with my response (he obviously did) he could have told me about it and discuss it rather than just leave the conversation.

He could have, but leaving the conversation is not only an accepted way of dealing with this, but one that's encouraged by the moderation. He didn't do anything wrong by leaving the conversation, and in the eyes of this sites moderation, he did the right thing.

I have no problems apologising if someone tells me I have offend them.

Well, there's always PM'ing.

 

[Warbringer]

Yes... Brand marketing .. Key tenant for a category leader


"Educate the market. A category leader is responsible for setting the market trends and helping the consumer make informed decisions. Your brand should not only be number one in terms of sales but also the most respected brand in terms of knowledge and leadership."

 

[Herschel]

I think encouraging people outside the hobby to give it a try is perfectly fine. So long as you are not pressuring people to play who have no real interest.

(Herschel whispering from the shadowed alleyway at passersby): "Psst, hey you, yeah, you. Come over here. I've got this Elf you know you wanna try. Come on, it'll be easy. Just take this. It's just a d20, what can it hurt? Let it roll around your hand, yeah, like that, feel its grooves, yeah, now let it roll. Oh look, it's a 17, you just killed a goblin. Can you feel it? Can you feel the power? The glory? You're a hero, man, a hero. That's what this stuff can do for you, make you feel like a hero...."

 

[Desdichado]

Maybe for me is that I know a lot of the amazing people who make a living out of writing, editing, illustrating and publising games and I don't want that to end.

If they're that good, then things tend to take care of themselves. Heck; most of the best, tend to get out of RPGs and go into computer game design, or some other creative endeavor before too long anyway. Where they tend to flourish even more. I think that there's a fundamental disconnect with the notion that talented people are involved in the RPG industry therefore I should assume responsibility for promoting the hobby so that they can remain employed. Or that for any other reason, me talking about RPGs with co-workers, or neighbors, or people at church, or whatever, is going to make a significant impact on anything, other than to turn me into an even more annoying person than I already am. Even in the aggregate, if gamers all over attempted that.

Like I said, whenever these "call to action" type discussions come up, it seems like a compelling reason for "why?" never seems to really get articulated.

 

[Li Shenron]

Dude, relax. You sound far from any of that!

That's because while writing I have been self-editing and self-moderating so the final result was much more harmless than I originally planned

 

[Leviatham]

Yes... Brand marketing .. Key tenant for a category leader


"Educate the market. A category leader is responsible for setting the market trends and helping the consumer make informed decisions. Your brand should not only be number one in terms of sales but also the most respected brand in terms of knowledge and leadership."

Looking at it that way, I'd say Paizo has positioned itself to become the category leader for a while now, probably even become so. DnDNext feels like WotC attempt to regain that position.

 

[Leviatham]

The Selfish Gene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not familiar with the book. Could you give some insight as to how it relates to the thread? (It'd be quicker than me reading the book when I've finished with the queue of books I currently have...).

Thank you.

 

[Leviatham]

It may have sounded that way to you, but I don't believe it was.



Fair enough.



I don't feel that's true. Many of your posts in this thread have seemed to me to be dismissive, defensive, and containing a lot of "absolute" statements. However, with lack of clear cut proof that such was occuring, I chose instead to ignore those aspects, and just concentrate on the subject of the conversation.



No, I don't believe one is. Just because one feels defensive, is not proof that something wrong was done to you. And if you really felt his posts rose to that level, then at ENWorld, one is only allowed to report it, ignore it, or politely respond to it. I've learned the hard way here that taking it into one's own hands is not accepted here at ENWorld.



He could have, but leaving the conversation is not only an accepted way of dealing with this, but one that's encouraged by the moderation. He didn't do anything wrong by leaving the conversation, and in the eyes of this sites moderation, he did the right thing.



Well, there's always PM'ing.

This is a bit too off topic for the thread I feel.

I'll keep what you say in mind, even though I don't agree with all of it.

 

[El Mahdi]

I'm not familiar with the book. Could you give some insight as to how it relates to the thread? (It'd be quicker than me reading the book when I've finished with the queue of books I currently have...).

Thank you.

The basic idea is that individual competition, and altruistic cooperation, are both hard-coded into our genetic structure. It's a concept in evolutionary biology that has also been applied to economics.

The idea is that if an economic market is based on purely individual competition (each company for itself), then the market cannot reach it's true potential.

But, if the companies involved in a specific market, also cooperatively work together to expand the entire market, while also competing individually (by trying to make better and cheaper products than the other companies), then everyone benefits from a larger market (there's more pie to be shared).