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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CharlesRyan" data-source="post: 1896955" data-attributes="member: 5265">This has been an interesting thread, with a lot of great points. I'm sorry I didn't cotton on to it until yesterday, but I'll try to catch up. Here are a few thoughts; I've tried to address a bunch of stuff, but it's hard to catch it all (or even keep track of it all):Erik’s call for companies that are doing well: We’re doing great! 2004 was probably the best year ever for D&D (that's right: ever), as measured by a wide variety of standards. All of our key trends are up and continuing to accelerate upward. We expect 2005 to be the next best year ever for D&D.The So Cal panel: With all respect to the members of the panel (two of whom are among my closest friends), any panel that doesn’t include WotC, and purports to be talking about the RPG business, isn’t. The panel’s findings may or may not accurately speak to the state of a portion of the industry, but WotC is two-thirds of the business, and without it, you aren’t even close to talking about the RPG industry as a whole.Market research: Some have commented on the market research WotC conducted in the couple years prior to the release of 3e. It was groundbreaking at the time, but it’s routine now. We do major studies every year, along with many other initiatives; we work hard to understand our marketplace and the needs and desires of gamers and potential gamers. (This shouldn’t be a surprise—some of the people on this thread have commented in other threads on their own participation in our new market research panel!)As I mentioned above, the overall trends are very strong: that 2 million or so regular players from 1999 has grown to over 4 million in 2004. (Monte mentioned that the market research number is probably larger than reality, and I tend to agree--but the trend has been consistent.)New players: All of our data and experience tells us that, thankfully, new players are entering the marketplace. Indeed, the increase in players clearly tells us that new players are entering the hobby faster than old ones are leaving.It shouldn't be surprising that this is a very important issue for us at WotC, and one major thrust of our business and marketing activity is the acquisition of new players.Complexity: The right balance of game complexity is a tricky issue. (And Sholari is on the mark in his observation on market segmentation and the need to meet the specific needs of each segment.) As posters here have pointed out, complexity is sometimes more desirable to teen and tween players than simplicity--but not always. Interestingly, it’s often key concepts that are hard for new players to grok, rather than complex rules. Take initiative, for example. Non-roleplayers are so used to the idea one player starts, then play passes to the player on his left, and so on (like a game of Monopoly), that it’s very difficult to get them to parse the idea that turn order is set by a roll of the die and changes over the course of the game. (That’s why initiative is one mechanic that was simplified in the Basic Game.)This ties back in to the issue of market research: We do tons of focus group playtesting for any new game that’s intended to reach a nonhobby audience; it’s critical to understand the learning path that leads players successfully into an understanding of the game.I’m happy to talk more on any of these topics (or anything else in this thread that I might have overlooked), but I won’t be able to keep up with this thread. Feel free to post followup questions over on the WotC D&D General forum, which I can keep up with. (Follow the WOOF! directions for best results.)</blockquote>

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