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Is it WotC’s responsibility to bring people to the hobby?
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<blockquote data-quote="Console Cowboy" data-source="post: 6002964" data-attributes="member: 100388"><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: silver">When you hit this situation it is time to redraw or redefine your market – and, subsequently, your marketing budget focus. It is not merely a semantics thing. It is sea change. It is about vision. It is about the kind of leadership D&D has not seen since the mid-80s.</span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: silver">It was a death-stroke level mistake for WotC to try to compete with video games. When they did that they disowned the strongest unique selling proposition (USP) of tabletop games that Gygax-era TSR had developed. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2Fgaming%2Fvirtualworlds%2Fnews%2F2008%2F03%2Fff_gygax&session_token=zCHq39fOWwu8bNJNdSMOnbZSxiR8MTM0NjI3NTgwN0AxMzQ2MTg5NDA3" target="_blank">Gygax knew it. </a></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: silver"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/arts/05gygax.html?_r=1&ex=1220331600&en=6b910a3df6c3a946&ei=5087&excamp=GGGNgarygygax&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id=GN-S-E-GG-NA-S-gary_gygax" target="_blank">And he was outspoken about it. </a></span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: silver">I will take one ailing and aging Gygax over the whole bunch of young MBAs at WotC any day.</span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: silver">Consequently, this vision leads to WotC’s marketing calculation that the market is mature and the comparison to the declining model train market is concluded. There once were three blind men who stood touching an elephant along three different parts of its body, and it became an often quoted <a href="http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/blind_men_elephant.html" target="_blank">parable</a>. What it means is: what you perceive can lockstep you into a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glo2c7M5h4A" target="_blank">very different vision than possible reality</a>. </span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: silver">How far back does this perception go? Two words: <span style="color: yellow">Lorraine Williams</span>.*see my comment below* (This speaks to Acaeum’s numbers and timeline you provide because nothing results in a vacuum.) This well predates Ryan Dancey and will have shaped his views and the understandings of his colleagues. His words serve to echo the foreshadowing TSR’s bankrupt had on the industry.</span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: silver">Psychological Operations in PR, my field, does this stuff all the time and is often called perception management. But what we can do for the benefit of the company can also negatively affect it. </span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: silver">I do not buy-in to the paradigm that the disappearance of so many traditional distributors is the death knell. I do see WotC’s contribution here through its stranglehold policies and practices euthanizing marketing partners.But WotC is into toys not publishing like TSR was back in the day. This is the very elephant in the room I am talking about, is it not? A company that does not understand the RPGs hobby and subsumes, in that lack of understanding, the hobby exists to serve the industry. </span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: silver">Whose responsibility is it indeed!</span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: silver">D&D does continue to enjoy great brand recognition, and that is the whole equity in the product. D&D Next is attempting to own the news cycle for the next year in preparation for a big launch, but that alone will not turn around the brand’s misfortune. I have seen things first hand in Europe, when I was pitching PR for the brand, and watched the relationship between Hasbro Be and the franchise D&D holder in amazed horror. </span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: silver">That is the tip of the iceberg and informs me why talent does not stay. But correct me if I am wrong, Monte.</span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: silver">This post is going long past my bedtime here but I had to speak out because my passion for both my hobby and my profession has me neck deep in this quagmire. </span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: silver">I agree with <strong>Rogue Agent</strong>’s observation about advertising R.O.I.. at this stage of the game and the fact that any reasonable media buying is not going to be profitable. I am not stuck to an advertising paradigm for communications, however. WotC would better serve itself by hiring a senior PR person for $75,000 with the sole specific objective to grow the hobby and steer well clear of gamers. WotC should also redefine its market.</span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: silver">In my own efforts to attracted new-to-the-hobby players, I have successfully accumulated English-speaking, first time D&D players who are expatriates in a non-English speaking country. But this has been accomplished outside of all the industry fairs and trade shows; far, far away from gaming magazines; and solely by selling the experience of the USP through the appropriate channels. </span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: silver">I am not the only person to notice the missed opportunities here. Again, I throw the ball at Monte Cook for commentary on his Kickstarter. </span></span></span></p><p> </p><p><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span style="color: silver">But what I have yet to see is WotC acknowledge, let alone imagine, a bright future for its product. I only see a marketing culture of fear, of circling the wagons and of new iterations that resemble a fish flailing for breath on the beach.</span></span></span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Console Cowboy, post: 6002964, member: 100388"] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=silver]When you hit this situation it is time to redraw or redefine your market – and, subsequently, your marketing budget focus. It is not merely a semantics thing. It is sea change. It is about vision. It is about the kind of leadership D&D has not seen since the mid-80s.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=silver]It was a death-stroke level mistake for WotC to try to compete with video games. When they did that they disowned the strongest unique selling proposition (USP) of tabletop games that Gygax-era TSR had developed. [URL="http://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2Fgaming%2Fvirtualworlds%2Fnews%2F2008%2F03%2Fff_gygax&session_token=zCHq39fOWwu8bNJNdSMOnbZSxiR8MTM0NjI3NTgwN0AxMzQ2MTg5NDA3"]Gygax knew it. [/URL][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=silver][URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/05/arts/05gygax.html?_r=1&ex=1220331600&en=6b910a3df6c3a946&ei=5087&excamp=GGGNgarygygax&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_id=GN-S-E-GG-NA-S-gary_gygax"]And he was outspoken about it. [/URL][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=silver]I will take one ailing and aging Gygax over the whole bunch of young MBAs at WotC any day.[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=silver]Consequently, this vision leads to WotC’s marketing calculation that the market is mature and the comparison to the declining model train market is concluded. There once were three blind men who stood touching an elephant along three different parts of its body, and it became an often quoted [URL="http://www.noogenesis.com/pineapple/blind_men_elephant.html"]parable[/URL]. What it means is: what you perceive can lockstep you into a [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glo2c7M5h4A"]very different vision than possible reality[/URL]. [/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=silver]How far back does this perception go? Two words: [COLOR=yellow]Lorraine Williams[/COLOR].*see my comment below* (This speaks to Acaeum’s numbers and timeline you provide because nothing results in a vacuum.) This well predates Ryan Dancey and will have shaped his views and the understandings of his colleagues. His words serve to echo the foreshadowing TSR’s bankrupt had on the industry.[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=silver]Psychological Operations in PR, my field, does this stuff all the time and is often called perception management. But what we can do for the benefit of the company can also negatively affect it. [/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=silver]I do not buy-in to the paradigm that the disappearance of so many traditional distributors is the death knell. I do see WotC’s contribution here through its stranglehold policies and practices euthanizing marketing partners.But WotC is into toys not publishing like TSR was back in the day. This is the very elephant in the room I am talking about, is it not? A company that does not understand the RPGs hobby and subsumes, in that lack of understanding, the hobby exists to serve the industry. [/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=silver]Whose responsibility is it indeed![/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=silver]D&D does continue to enjoy great brand recognition, and that is the whole equity in the product. D&D Next is attempting to own the news cycle for the next year in preparation for a big launch, but that alone will not turn around the brand’s misfortune. I have seen things first hand in Europe, when I was pitching PR for the brand, and watched the relationship between Hasbro Be and the franchise D&D holder in amazed horror. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=silver]That is the tip of the iceberg and informs me why talent does not stay. But correct me if I am wrong, Monte.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=silver]This post is going long past my bedtime here but I had to speak out because my passion for both my hobby and my profession has me neck deep in this quagmire. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=silver]I agree with [B]Rogue Agent[/B]’s observation about advertising R.O.I.. at this stage of the game and the fact that any reasonable media buying is not going to be profitable. I am not stuck to an advertising paradigm for communications, however. WotC would better serve itself by hiring a senior PR person for $75,000 with the sole specific objective to grow the hobby and steer well clear of gamers. WotC should also redefine its market.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=silver]In my own efforts to attracted new-to-the-hobby players, I have successfully accumulated English-speaking, first time D&D players who are expatriates in a non-English speaking country. But this has been accomplished outside of all the industry fairs and trade shows; far, far away from gaming magazines; and solely by selling the experience of the USP through the appropriate channels. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][COLOR=silver]I am not the only person to notice the missed opportunities here. Again, I throw the ball at Monte Cook for commentary on his Kickstarter. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman][COLOR=silver]But what I have yet to see is WotC acknowledge, let alone imagine, a bright future for its product. I only see a marketing culture of fear, of circling the wagons and of new iterations that resemble a fish flailing for breath on the beach.[/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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