Ken Hite Re: The RPG Industry

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, I might just be unlucky, but I've run into a number of people with similar stories. Even if there's only a minority of folks out there running into this (and I assume there must be, otherwise the roar of the outrage would be deafening), these sorts of experiences can't help their bottom line; if nothing else, I'm unlikely to ever go near them again except to toilet paper the joint.

 

[kenobi65]

Try and quit.

Heh. I've been a member of SFBC for a long time, and recently decided that I was going to quit, since I haven't bought a book from them in a long time. Now, these days, you can do everything on your account online (decline featured selections, buy books, pay your bill)...except for quit. To quit, you have to send them a letter. What a pain.

 

[WayneLigon]

Eh, maybe. If there is somethng that kills gaming as a hobby for me, it'll be doing all the books as PDFs. I don't like anything that makes the computer more of a neccesity than it already is; I will not be GMing with a laptop until you can put one in my head. Likewise, only finding new games at cons (and having them be even more expensive than they are now?) might kill it for me. I usually have to drive 3 hours to the closest con, plus all the expense of a hotel room and entry fees.

 

[Mark]

I will not be GMing with a laptop until you can put one in my head.

I had an ex-girlfriend try that once. Fortunately her aim from our third floor apartment was awful.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Interesting. I've been a member of the Sci-Fi Book Club for years and have had very few issues (other that a couple of technical issues at their website). In general I have found their customer service to be very good. After fulfilling my commitment, I suggested they stop the autoshipment of books when I don't respond by a certain date. They agreed and put me on a program where I only get books I order.

 

[Umbran]

Are they known for doing something really poorly or ?

Let's see...

In the experience of the five people I have known to be members of the club, they frequently:

1) Fail to acknowledge or otherwise muck with the process of quitting.

2) Fail to acknowledge or properly process the request to not send the month's selection (including using the web interface).

3) Fail to acknowledge or properly process (and credit) returned merchandise.

4) In two cases, they failed to acknowledge that customer had reached their required quota.

5) Fail to record/acknowledge previous complaints and correspondance.

In general, I find that if they can try to bill you for money by claiming that they didn't get your request, they will do so. It is nasty.

 

[Seeten]

Eh, maybe. If there is somethng that kills gaming as a hobby for me, it'll be doing all the books as PDFs. I don't like anything that makes the computer more of a neccesity than it already is; I will not be GMing with a laptop until you can put one in my head. Likewise, only finding new games at cons (and having them be even more expensive than they are now?) might kill it for me. I usually have to drive 3 hours to the closest con, plus all the expense of a hotel room and entry fees.

I just purchased a Laptop for the sole purpose of using it to hold characters for games and to make GMing easier by no longer needing to bring books. Now instead of 97 books at a weight of 600 pounds, I bring a single laptop and plug it in wherever I go.

I love it. $300 for the laptop, by the by. Its the year 2006, and yes, I'm old, but not so old I cannot adapt. Times are a changing, I mean to change with them.

 

[Vocenoctum]

I think the whole model of RPG marketing needs to be re-thought. There won't be a "blockbuster" that brings hordes of new players into the hobby.

I think the distribution method needs to change. Game shops are going to regress a bit, or expand so that gaming is not as significant an investment, but the distributors are still a decent sized problem with RPGs. Paying late or never, not reordering stock when it sells through, not ordering enough for even the initial sell through...

Myself, I think a niche market may be small enough for more Game Store direct from Publisher (or publisher group) type deals. Game stores may offer plenty of "services", but they also need to compete on price. Online is 30-37% off retail, bookstores are retail.

I also think the Print on Demand stuff will help the hobby quite a bit, from what I've read here.

Though, I must disagree with the "5-10% of RPG business was PDF". There's no qualifications of the statement (5% of total number of products? Excluding WotC? Dollar value?), but it seems to be one of those "I guess" numbers that are a bit too prevalent. It's possible that there were thousands of PDF products bought, and that number is about 5% of the total number of RPG products purchased, but when a significant number of them were little 4 page pamphlets that cost $2, I don't think it's quite the same as saying "5% of the RPG business". No slight to the PDF guys, that 4 pages might be great, but it's a bit different than a book.

(also, that would mean every single Ptolus product is like, 20 "products" sold.

 

[philreed]

It's possible that there were thousands of PDF products bought. . .

More than possible. Ronin Arts sold over 10,000 PDFs in 2005.

 

[Mark]

Nice, Phil. CMG can be counted for having sold over one thousand more PDFs in 2005, as well. I won't even guess the total number of freebies downloaded from CMG.