Pathfinder 1E Lisa Stevens, CEO of Paizo, commenting about ENWorld

[joethelawyer]

David Marks wrote:

ENWorld, I know, said there store saw a huge loss in 3E book orders after the announcement, but of course that's only anecdotal. Sorry if that came across otherwise. Cheers!
​

Lisa Stevens wrote in response:

Yeah, I remember when Morrus posted that on ENWorld as a prelude to one of his support drives to keep the website open. I think a big part of the reason why the ENWorld PDFs lost their luster is the all-in mentality that ENWorld went into in regards to 4e. If Morrus could have kept things on a more neutral ground, providing an environment where pro-3e and pro-4e folks could have felt equally loved, his sales wouldn't have dropped off as much. But by pitching his tent so firmly in the 4e camp, he drove away the folks who would have bought his 3e PDFs in the last year. -Lisa






just for the context of where it came from, got the quote from this thread....
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboard.../wizardsReorganizesLayoffsAhead&page=4#708431




interesting. i post this not to start an edition war, or a war between Paizo and Enworld, but to stimulate a discussion on whether or not there is truth in her comment that enworld is firmly in the 4e world. even though there are 3e threads, that doesnt mean the place is necessarily "friendly" to 3e like it used to be. the whole "back of the bus" thing comes to mind.

 

[Ourph]

Actually, right after the 4e announcement, I remember ENWorld being pretty anti-4e. Then, as news began to trickle in about the new edition, I think there was a backlash from people who were excited about 4e and got tired of people trashing what they thought was pretty cool. Now, I'd say ENWorld is divided pretty evenly between people who like and don't like the new edition. Unfortunately, a division right down the middle means there are lots of opportunities to start poo-flinging if that's the kind of thing you're into.

 

[Hussar]

Well, I would say that compared to the Paizo boards, EN World is a whole lot more 4e friendly.

Whether or not it's "pitched firmly in the 4e camp" is very much up for debate.

Looking at it another way, how much 4e material does Paizo sell?

 

[Filcher]

I believe it is balanced, but that might be my 4E bent. But even if it isn't 100% balanced, it certainly isn't whole hog 4E. (The "4E reminded me how much I love 3.5" thread has been going on for weeks now.)

 

[megamania]

I don't frequent other sites so I'm not sure how much EN World caters to either edition as compared to the other sites. I would imagine certain sites are more pro/con by their nature and aimed audience.

The Folks here at EN World I thought did a great job trying to keep the editions equal and avoid a lot of the negativeness. (whether it worked is another matter).

As for his sales dropping, I believe a lot of it has due with a mixture of the general ecomony and folks concern spending money on an edition that is being "discontinued". Many others are just waiting it out to decide still. I don't see it being a reaction to anything he did or didn't do.

 

[Obryn]

People who like 3e and dislike 4e think ENWorld is anti-3e.

People who like 4e and dislike 3e think ENWorld is anti-4e.

I'd say things are fine, and any supposed "bias" is completely in the observer's head.

-O

 

[Treebore]

As for his sales dropping, I believe a lot of it has due with a mixture of the general ecomony and folks concern spending money on an edition that is being "discontinued". Many others are just waiting it out to decide still. I don't see it being a reaction to anything he did or didn't do.

I would think this too, but I don't go to lots of Cons, talk to lots of customers, nor am I involved in the RPG business. Lisa does and is, so I would suspect she knows better then I do.

Plus I would bet Lisa would say this quote was definitely part of the big picture too.

My perception of ENWorld was that it got very anti 3E for a good while, there were even posters saying that 3E should get dropped from ENWorld completely.

Fortunately Morrus has a cooler mind then those posters did.

There is still a lot of the pro/anti edition stuff going on, but its largely controlled/limited.

There are only a couple of threads proving gamers cause rifts, not games.

 

[Mouseferatu]

People who like 3e and dislike 4e think ENWorld is anti-3e.

People who like 4e and dislike 3e think ENWorld is anti-4e.

I'd say things are fine, and any supposed "bias" is completely in the observer's head.

This.

There were times I felt like the boards were pretty anti-4E. (I no longer feel that way, except for a few specific people.) I know people who felt they were anti-3E. I'd have to say that, with so many disparate views, the truth really does have to lie somewhere in the middle.

 

[Stalker0]

I think enworld sees a lot more 4e posting activity than it does 3e. But that is expected, 4e is new and we have a lot to talk about. 3e...well we've gone through every rule with a fine toothed comb, gone through all the popular topics at least 100 times, most of what needs to be said about 3e has already been said.

 

[Jack99]

I wouldn't put too much stock in Lisa's words. They are merely the latest in the pretty blatant Paizo marketing machine (if it is big enough to be called a machine).

The more people who become convinced that ENworld hates 3e, the more people will migrate to places like [drumroll] Paizo's boards, and let's face it, be more likely to buy Lisa's products.

Either way. I do not see ENworld as anti-anything. If you want to consider the numbers of fans, I think 4e is a vast majority, but there is plenty of 3e fans around still. It is a small minority (in both "camps") that constantly stir up things. I know I myself had some blame at a point before the launch of 4e, but I have been trying really hard for a while now, to not get into the flame wars.

Cheers