Love the Game, Hate the Marketing

[S'mon]

It's a generational thing. Geeks in their early 40s getting pissed at geeks in their late 20s cause they use slightly different language.

Hmm, good point - I'm 35 and I definitely get a "This isn't your D&D, dadio!" vibe off WoTC now.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'm not too bothered by the (relatively mild, IMO) marketing missteps, but I am concerned about the Online Initiative. As someone who had been planning on buying in for a year at launch, I'm concerned by the dropped balls on that end of things. I'm hoping to hear some more information once they go into Beta, which can't be far off, right? I remember seeing something about that not all that long ago.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Hmm, good point - I'm 35 and I definitely get a "This isn't your D&D, dadio!" vibe off WoTC now.

I don't get that vibe, myself. I'm 42, started gaming in '79, so I'm pretty much at grognard status, too. I'm down with the cool.

 

[Lackhand]

A Google search revealed these number of entries for each word

"Cool" 81,400,000
"Sweet" 37,600,000
"Awesome" 20,100,000
"Bitchin" 1,990,000
"Dope" 1,190,000
"Phat" 1,179,000
...
Clearly we are under using vowels, pets, and the lords name but seem to be on par with use of positive adjectives

Please don't use your thesaurus to go use any of the other adjectives. Well, "sweet" and "awesome" are okay -- but "sweet" in the sense of "the players made the DM brownies for her birthday".

I'm *begging you*. I'll buy every sourcebook, even the Gnomonomicon, so long as you only use Bitchin or Dope ironically -- and at most once.

 

[theredrobedwizard]

... Gygax's writing style...

*shudder* I judge you not for your like of his style. To me his style always seemed elitist and excessively wordy. I like the informal tone taken in the preview books so far, as well as some of the later 3.5 books.

-TRRW

 

[WhatGravitas]

I don't get that vibe, myself. I'm 42, started gaming in '79, so I'm pretty much at grognard status, too. I'm down with the cool.

Whereas the youngest player in my group, aged 18, decries it as "anti-RP" and very "powergamery". And hates the new fluff. But then, he has bouts of being a "real roleplayer" and said PrCs were for powergamers. Grognardism can occur everywhere at any age. And he plays Lineage II. Because of the staged RP with some other friends (i.e. they plan in advance, but they're not my friends).

Cheers, LT.

 

[Anthtriel]

The current state of DDI is probably not marketing's fault though, is it? Something has gone terribly wrong there, and it certainly isn't a good omen for the future of the platform, but I suppose the problem lies with their online team, not their marketing.

 

[TerraDave]

It is worth noting that the harshest reactions I have seen have been the kids over on the WotC forums. That sense of "betrayal" that can only come with your first change of edition.

 

[SteveC]

Since I started the 'Former 4E Doubter now has High Hopes' thread, I thought I'd balance things out a bit.

I am really looking forward to playing 4E. But my thoughts are in spite of, not due to , WoTC marketing efforts and marketing-related decisions.

Everything about the 4E launch has been ham-fisted.

The lousy D&D promotion videos

The over-use of the word 'cool'.

The killing of Dungeon and Dragon prior to having an acceptable replacement.

And now we have playtesters and freelancers given permission to speak of 4E, but only in a positive way. The negative PR from this move , I think, must far outweigh any benefit to WoTC.

In the long run, I suppose none of this will matter, because eventually the game will sink or swim based on the strength of the rules and their ongoing support from WoTC.

But really, what's going on here?

Ken

I must regretfully agree with this. I like the people who are behind marketing the new edition, but I can only think of a worse way to do this with a lot of work. Game design skills aren't the same as marketing skills, and it looks like 4E is being marketed by gamers. That isn't intended as a slam on anyone involved by the way ... it's more of a complement on the personality of a typical gamer.

While I was watching Metalocalypse a couple weeks ago, I saw a commercial for the new series of Magic cards. An actual TV spot. It was reasonably well done. The release of a new edition of D&D deserves at least as much attention.

--Steve

 

[jaer]

I think having all my Dragon articles in a searchable format would be nice. I hate it when I get a great idea for some bad guy from something in Dragon, and before I get to use it, I end up reshelfing the issue. Or when I recall that some issue has the PERFECT monster for the current dungeon...and I have to look through every one on the shelf to find it!

I don't think their marketing flubbed. I think they though the designer-to-fanbase model would work, that fans would be responble, understanding in this approach, and would enjoy that the actual developers, not some marketing guy or PR rep (who might not even play the game) was the one talking to them. It seems, however, they misjudged how much people would prefer smooth words and sweet prose over information and even some interaction with the designers.

Shame, really, that they are getting slammed for trying to be direct with the fans and not going through some major marketing machine.