Is the RPG Industry on Life Support? (Merged w/"Nothing Dies")

[Fedifensor]

No offense, Barsoomcore, but since when are stewardesses part of the "creative, educated" elite set? Stewardesses may be hot, but if they had an ounce of education they wouldn't be serving cheap wine to drunk businessmen on airplanes.

That said, I'll rather have a stewardess in my game instead of a professor any day!

Okay, I have to reply to this one.

My mother was a stewardess (or the politically-correct term of 'flight attendant') for 28 years. She's been a MENSA member since I was two years old, went back to school after taking early retirement from American Airlines, and is now a college English professor.

Granted, she doesn't play D&D...but I'd definately consider her creative and educated.

 

[Tav_Behemoth]

Dude, all you need is a few arms, maybe some legs, a vague ability to speak English, and a burning desire to feel important become a game convention guest of honor.

Having been on that panel at SoCal, I'm living proof that Mike does not lie!

At the end of the seminar, someone asked what each of us thought we'd be doing in 10 years. Afterwards, I started thinking: that's 2014, an absurdly futuristic date. If you'd asked me in 1994 what I'd be doing in 2004, prognosticating on the future of the gaming industry at Gen Con would have seemed about as likely as "eating dog food from the can in the ashes of civilization" or "becoming the first man to smoke pot on the Moon".

Once I get off work at my dad job, I'll post my short list of ways the gaming industry could have a zippy, science-fictional future instead of the grim "all natural resources will be depleted by 1985" kind of future. I'll also read through this thread in more depth & see if there are specific details about what was said at the panel that I can fill in; if you have questions between then and now, post 'em here!

 

[Krypter]

One -- go read my Wild Stewardess Action Story Hour and tell me who's creative now, bucko. These ladies are MASSIVE on the creativity front. They kick butt with wit, humour and clever thinking. Some of the best players I've ever had.

Sure, your particular stewardesses may be creative geniuses with IQs of 200+, but in the real world most of them are not considered (fairly or not) to be working in a profession requiring creativity or education. Exception proves the rule. You'll note that the point was about the perception of stewardessing as a profession, not who they really are. I have a great, intelligent, super-creative friend who works in a bad job. If I said his job is lousy, or considered so by the general public, that has nothing to do with him personally.

Two -- Free travel anywhere in the world, the chance to party it up in Hong Kong, Berlin, Paris, Rio, and New York on a regular basis, the need to speak three languages (that's for Air Canada, anyway), and good money for what is sometimes only a few days' worth of work per month? Guess your job must be pretty frickin' awesome if you can sneer at somebody with a gig like that.

Never said it was a boring job. Just not one requiring creativity or a lot of education. There is a difference.

It's not for me, but it's a heckuva long way from the worst job I ever heard of. MOST jobs I've had are worse than theirs. Three -- these are my friends you're pissing on, so maybe you could scale it back a little, there. Not real funny, even if it was meant to be.

Well, I was trying to be lighthearted, but I guess I did come off as a smug jerk. Oh well. I'd better not make fun of roleplayers around here either, or I might really get it...

Myabe I should preempt that: "All roleplayers visiting enworld are super-intelligent and super-creative, bar none!"

 

[Krypter]

oops, double-post.

 

[MerricB]

Exception proves the rule.

The proper translation is "The exception puts the rule to the test of proof."

Because there is a smart stewardess, you then need to demonstrate why your rule is still true.

"All stewardesses are average" is then clearly wrong - and the rule fails as a result, having failed the test of proof.

Cheers!

 

[Crothian]

Dude, all you need is a few arms, maybe some legs, a vague ability to speak English, and a burning desire to feel important become a game convention guest of honor.

This could be me!! I'm perfect for this...I have a few arms and occasionally have legs. My verbage passes for english on occasion, and I want to feel important!!

 

[barsoomcore]

You'll note that the point was about the perception of stewardessing as a profession, not who they really are.

Well, you'll note that you're mistaken about what the point was, since what you said was that if stewardesses were educated they'd be doing something else -- the direct implication being that those who work as stewardesses are uneducated. So no, you weren't talking about the occupation, but about those who choose it.

Back-pedal some more, buddy. It's fun to watch. Or just apologize and say you didn't quite mean what you said.

/hauls mightily on the wheel in an effort to return to topic.

I'm frankly not convinced that there's ever going to be much of a RPG industry. There just isn't that much incentive buy more goods. It's not like golf, where buying a better golf club will improve your play and make the game more fun for you. Half the fun of the game is making it up yourself, so in effect, publishers are always competing against their own customers. Who can supply their own material for FREE. Competing against FREE is not impossible (when you factor in time and effort and so on), but it's tough.

That said, is the RPG publishing business harder than, say, the book publishing business? It's not like inexperienced yobbos are going out, starting up their own book publishing companies and making gobs of cash easily. Or, say, the toilet manufacturing industry. Or, say, the software industry. Making it in ANY industry is HARD WORK. And a healthy dose of good luck.

Startup businesses are very very very very very hard to succeed at in any industry. Something like 80% of all restaurants fail in their first year of operation. I'm sure that's not out of line for most industries. It's tough to run a business and most people who try will fail. That's reality. Why should RPG publishing be any different?

 

[barsoomcore]

This could be me!! I'm perfect for this...I have a few arms and occasionally have legs. My verbage passes for english on occasion, and I want to feel important!!

If only we can figure out a way to let you speak and post at the same time...

 

[Toben the Many]

I definitely think we need to try and recruit younger players. The reason a lot of older gamers don't play as much is because of families, kids, and responsibilties. I really think that to keep the industry going, we need to keep getting as much new blood as possible.

I will grant you that this is true. Now, in my earlier posts, I said that I didn't believe that specifically targeting younger kids would work - that they would come on their own. Let me refine my statements:

I've never seen direct marketing to younger audiences to work for RPGs. When TSR released their "younger audiences" products in the 90's...oy. They were bad.

Now, things that I have seen bring in younger blood are things like computer games. If kids have played the video game, they are more likely to investigate the actual product, because D&D still has a mystique to it. CCG also seem to be a bridge to RPGs for kids nowadays.

 

[Mark]

I will grant you that this is true. Now, in my earlier posts, I said that I didn't believe that specifically targeting younger kids would work - that they would come on their own. Let me refine my statements:

I've never seen direct marketing to younger audiences to work for RPGs.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085011/

1983

Worked very well, if sales figures from that period are anything to judge by. Animated shows are nothing more than extended commercial advertisements in many, many cases these days; direct marketing to younger audiences. I'm surprised they haven't done it again, and further surprised that they have botched the film attempts (direct marketing for older-than-younger audiences).