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

[kenobi65]

You know what? RPGs (like a lot of industries) may well be cyclical. It was down (really down) in the early 90s; it's been up for several years now, probably since the release of 3E. The release of 3.5 probably forestalled the downward end of the cycle for a few years, but there probably *will* be a downturn again.

Personally, I think the biggest thing that we, as players, should make sure we do is the last point that the original poster made -- bring new players into the hobby. Teach your kids (or your nieces and nephews) the game. See if your non-gaming friends (if you have such ) might be interested in trying it. Run "open" games at your FLGS every now and again. DM at a convention.

 

[wingsandsword]

RPG's aren't going to die, or even strongly fade. They've got a certain generational strength that protects them. They can become popular, become a fad, but there is a distinct core there that will be through the ups and downs, and it recruits more gamers, slowly and steadily.

So not as many 12 year olds are learning D&D because they can plug in and play EQ? Well, it's only anecdotal evidence (but as has been said, that's all we've got now), but our college gaming club has recruited several dozen people into being gamers who had no interest or real knowledge of RPG's beforehand over the last few years. People who wander by a session in a dorm and wonder what's up, or roommates or girlfriends who get involved. Gamers have non-gamer friends, and they can be easy recruits. The average age of entrance rises, but that is just cultural evolution.

Also, I know there are gamers who game not because they discovered it themselves as adolescents or were taught by their friends in college, they were raised to it. One player in my game has gamed since childhood because her mom is a vintage OD&D player (circa 1975) and she was raised on 1e (and I get the honor of being her introduction to 3e today, since she refused 2e when it came out but wants in on the game that her daughter is enjoying).

As much as TSR, and later WotC have tried, you really can't teach D&D straight out of a box, at least not quickly nor easily. The method of recruitment and propagation for RPG's is interpersonal, friends recruit friends. It isn't highly efficient, but it is our way, and it does work. Should some horrible economic cataclysm happen and WotC fold, White Wolf collapse, and the RPG market go completely in the tank, those of us out there will still keep playing. Thanks to the permanent nature of the OGL & SRD's someone can even come along and resurrect D&D (with a different name) like a phoenix from the ashes. Even without that, it would be just a matter of time before more fans went out on a limb and started publishing their own games again. Getting it into bookstores and distibution chains doesn't mean as much when it's on the web for free and a worldwide network of people is recruiting and encouraging people to check it out.

We are a niche, a subculture, and while we can grow and expand, we should be aware that we aren't going to be "big time", even under the best of circumstances we can only grow so large. We should worry more about the quality of our games, the memberships of our gaming groups and clubs, and growing the hobby at the grassroots level instead of expecting any company to do it for us.

 

[Erik Mona]

First, I'll say that I don't think that the RPG industry is anywhere NEAR being on life support. In fact, I think its doing absolutely great.

I don't mean to be a dick, but I'm guessing you don't work at an RPG company.

I'd love to see five prominent _print_ industry professionals post a message to this thread saying that their business is doing "absolutely great."

Love it.

--Erik

 

[philreed]

I don't mean to be a dick, but I'm guessing you don't work at an RPG company.

I'd love to see five prominent _print_ industry professionals post a message to this thread saying that their business is doing "absolutely great."

Love it.

--Erik

Man, Erik, I think you hate me. I quit my day job at Steve Jackson Games to run Ronin Arts full-time and it was the smartest move I made in 2004.

I doubt you're going to find five print publishers that say things are great because they're not. The overabundance of products combined with the lousy distribution system is slowly killing publishers. I _wish_ people would be honest about the sad state their business is in -- I feel that if more customers knew the reality they would be a little more likely to support their favorite publishers.

 

[billd91]

One thing I've noticed is that there seems to be fewer and fewer places to "drop in" on a roleplaying game. Admittedly, there weren't too many when I started playing in the late 70's. However, in the 80's, there were different campaigns and different games being run at local gaming stores almost every night of the week. A majority of those games were open to new players.

Today, I see more and more wargames and less and less roleplaying games. Of those games, most are D&D and very few are other roleplaying games. Of the campaigns, only a small few are open to new players.

One of the reason I'm sure you see more board games being played than RPGs is the almost astonishing renaissance in board games that's been going on for the last several years. High production values, simple designs, and reasonable prices have really encouraged board game expansion. When you consider that you can easily play a game of Settlers of Catan at a game store or student union in about 3-4 hours compared to the relative hassle of coming up with a character and getting through long encounters in order to play an RPG, which would you choose if you also have to get some work done at the office, finish a paper, finish reading the latest assignment on Hegel, pick up groceries, or balance the checkbook hoping that you'll be able to cover the mortgage?
There are a lot of board games that can fill relatively short idle times in ways that RPGs can't do as easily and for many people that's quite attractive. There are also many high quality games cheaper than the Player's Handbook. Add in the DMG and Monster Manual (both of which someone will certainly need) and you find that board games are a pretty inexpensive alternative.

Now, if it's truly the hardcore wargame (like Microarmor, Fire in the East, Advanced Squad Leader, PanzerBlitz, anything Napoleanic, etc) that you're seeing more of than RPGs, then I'd be surprised. I think old wargame grognards are still smarting that they've been in decline for 30 years now... and yet they're still surviving somehow.

 

[wedgeski]

One thing I've noticed is that there seems to be fewer and fewer places to "drop in" on a roleplaying game. Admittedly, there weren't too many when I started playing in the late 70's. However, in the 80's, there were different campaigns and different games being run at local gaming stores almost every night of the week. A majority of those games were open to new players.

I think this is symptomatic of changes in society's attitude to 'back-room activities with kids' than of changes in the RPG industry as a whole, but I agree with your point. There *are* plenty of ways to hook up with new roleplayers (oh blessed internetwork, how I worship thee), but I have found that local gaming shops are no longer one of them (at least for me).

 

[Glyfair]

One of the reason I'm sure you see more board games being played than RPGs is the almost astonishing renaissance in board games that's been going on for the last several years.

Perhaps. However, I'd say the #1 reason you see other games dominating the gaming store scene is the recent explosion of Organized Play. Thanks to WotC (primarly Magic & Pokemon) & WizKids (with Mage Knight, Mechwarrior & Heroclix), every game company wants to support a game with organized play. There are only so many slots to run them at most gaming stores. I know at my local stores, finding a slot to run a roleplaying game is very trying because of literally dozens of tournaments for different games being run every week.

 

[Glyfair]

The problems E-Tools and similar software has should give you a clue to how difficult writing it is. Coding a program to cope with all the variations that 3E throws up in its rules is exceptionally difficult - more so if you want to make it work past the core books.

I've been saying for a while that developers of character creation software have a major hurdle - game designers. Focusing on d20, I doubt there are very many game designers who consider how a prestige class, feat or magic item will work in a character creation program. They just design something they think is "cool." Indeed, something tends to be more "cool" if it works differently than other things that have been published before.

Along comes the character creation software designer. A user of his program asks how to do this cool neat thing in his program. He looks and sees that it's something that will requires a major rewrite of his program. By the time he rewrites it, tests it, gets approval (if needed) and releases it, something else comes up that requires some sort of updating.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Sooner or later someone will do a study on the value of table top games, just look at the studies being released on the value of eatting dinner together.

The table top/RPG industry shares market with computer games, internet games, movies, and TV, those are the rivals of the industy.

 

[Desdichado]

Having seen some of the challenges facing the PDF market, I'd have to call that innacurate. People like books and will continue to use them for some time, until the reader technology improves significantly (among other hurdles.) (Remember what happened to notions of a "paperless office"?)

I've had a relatively paperless office, both at work and at home, for more than five years.

But I agree with your point anyway.