Monte on Origins awards and ENnies

[Mark]

...and, if I may add, one of the true strengths of the PDF side of the industry. The "three-month window/life cycle" thing just isn't a factor at all.

FWIW, I'll confirm that as my experience, as well.

 

[Clueless]

Really? Wow - that's surprising - I would have thought it'd be the complete opposite of that. Any idea why it's like that?

 

[Psion]

Not in any location I've ever lived ... But then, I'm a military brat, so take that with a grain of salt.

Well, I'm ex-military, and I let people at my last job know that it was not okay to simply refer to me by my last name (which someone suggested, because someone in our division shared my first name); I was not in the military anymore and didn't care to be reminded of that lifestyle.

 

[Psion]

Really? Wow - that's surprising - I would have thought it'd be the complete opposite of that. Any idea why it's like that?

One publisher I know likened the (in print) gaming market to magazine sales.

I would guess it has to do with availability (which has to do with impulse shopping... if what you want is right there and you can have it in 10 minutes download time, why wait?) and stocking (no brick and mortar store can stock everything you might want and is taking a chance in buying something they don't know they can sell, so they tend to be fad-followers.)

 

[Erik Mona]

And do so with a scheme that allows him to make money off of other people's work, with no payment of any sort to those other people.

Is that "scheme" called the "d20 License," by any chance?

--Erik Mona

 

[Rasyr]

Sure, there's a "new shiny toy" spike during the first couple of months, but unlike the print business, where sales plummet and often disappear entirely after that, the PDFs settle into a steady sales pattern, that, at least as far as we've seen so far, is perpetual.

We have seen the same thing since ICE started selling PDFs last summer. When we first begin, I asked Phil Reed how many sales would indicate that a PDF is successful. He gave me a number (for the first three months), and it shocked me cause HARP exceeded that number in its first weekend. Since then, sales have been pretty steady (a few minor ups and downs - but that is expected).

 

[Clueless]

What sort of advertisement do you folks do for PDF releases? I wouldn't think it'd be as easy to let people know that it's there as it is in printed form stuff where you can just walk up and pick it up because it 'looks neat'.

 

[Erik Mona]

A lot of problems with the Origins Awards, I think, stems from the fact that they are/were quite often changed at the whim of the Chair, who was appointed at the whim of the GAMA Board.

A lot of problems with this year's Origins Awards came from the fact that they were handed out by bellydancers and stormtroopers.

Despite the hard work of the academy or anyone else, the 9:30 AM Thursday ceremony instantly ceded any claim that the Origins Awards are the most prestigious awards in gaming.

The most prestegious award in gaming _cannot_ have a ceremony like the one we got at this year's show. No matter what policy changes must be made at the "behind the scenes" level (and I am sure there are many of them), the public image problem is the #1 problem facing the awards today, and this year's ceremony actually made things considerably worse than they have been since I started paying attention to the awards several years ago.

Whether the Ennies are an "industry" award show (by your definition) or not, judging by last year's ceremony, they are most certainly not pathetic, which is a courtesy I can no longer extend to the Origins Awards.

You've got your work cut out for you, that's for sure.

--Erik Mona

 

[Rasyr]

Is that "scheme" called the "d20 License," by any chance?

Actually, no. Though, I do think you actually mean the OGL, not the d20 license, but I wasn't talking about that either as neither license allows for the use of a company's IP (their non-OGC, their product identity, as defined by the OGL) content, which this does.

 

[Rasyr]

Really? Wow - that's surprising - I would have thought it'd be the complete opposite of that. Any idea why it's like that?

One publisher I know likened the (in print) gaming market to magazine sales.

I would guess it has to do with availability (which has to do with impulse shopping... if what you want is right there and you can have it in 10 minutes download time, why wait?) and stocking (no brick and mortar store can stock everything you might want and is taking a chance in buying something they don't know they can sell, so they tend to be fad-followers.)

If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that Psion is quite likely correct here.