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Owen Stephens Continues 'Real Game Industry' Posts
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<blockquote data-quote="Pleroma" data-source="post: 8211628" data-attributes="member: 7029838"><p>This is the only competent response so far. Well, this and Haffrung's comment about not being able to tell the difference between four offerings, which is damn astute and recognizes that marketing is the distinguishing factor, something every other industry on earth knows.</p><p></p><p>Issue is, Morrus, you're an expert. You have a distinguishing sense, i.e. you can recognize Stafford or Laws from an anonymous sample. (Not as confident about Laws' genius ranking, but OK.) You have that true genre familiarity as someone who's pretty immersed in RPGs and RPG products, since you run this board. But the hard truth--and tell me if I'm wrong--is that that <em>doesn't matter</em> even to you. You buy things that turn out to suck, and I'd be willing to bet that you buy things that you KNOW will suck. Now, part of this is because you sort of have to keep a pro eye out, kinda have to know what's going on as an editor, and just reading reviews won't cut it. But part of it is...what? Believing things will be better than they are. I'm talking stuff you buy rather than stuff you get for free as a pro, but even the free stuff counts here too. (@Whizbang, it's not that I'm tired of paying $0, though I am, it's that I'm tired of paying $5 or $10 and hoping it will be different this time.)</p><p> </p><p>Most people don't even have your level of expertise, Morrus. So they have correspondingly less ability to judge. And so "quality" becomes less and less valid of a concept. Because it should be obvious that RPG products are, on the whole, a flaming tsunami of hot garbage. It's a whole garbage chain: people don't take it seriously because it's garbage, which means nobody will pay for it, which means people who try to change it don't get paid, which means the people who keep making it learn to love garbage or leave. --I might add there are a lot of fans of garbage, the same sort of people who think it's rude to complain when they get served a poop sandwich by their boss or mom or Congressperson or other authority figure, and get REALLY mad when someone points out how terrible poop sandwiches are. We've met a few already on this thread. OK. You do you.</p><p></p><p>To bring it back around: if game design required a high degree of skill, it would be taken more seriously, in no small part because it would attract more talented people--people who could make a lot of money in other fields. It doesn't attract 'em, folks. Look: if you're a truly genius RPG designer, you should be pitching spec scripts to TV, full stop. No better time in history. Running media campaigns for national audiences. Hell, even breaking into <em>comics</em>. And oh um yeah, video games.</p><p></p><p>Throwing the parties, not waiting for invitations.</p><p></p><p>And yes, first post. Entering the arena at 112 mph is also an excellent Car Wars strategy.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Pleroma, post: 8211628, member: 7029838"] This is the only competent response so far. Well, this and Haffrung's comment about not being able to tell the difference between four offerings, which is damn astute and recognizes that marketing is the distinguishing factor, something every other industry on earth knows. Issue is, Morrus, you're an expert. You have a distinguishing sense, i.e. you can recognize Stafford or Laws from an anonymous sample. (Not as confident about Laws' genius ranking, but OK.) You have that true genre familiarity as someone who's pretty immersed in RPGs and RPG products, since you run this board. But the hard truth--and tell me if I'm wrong--is that that [I]doesn't matter[/I] even to you. You buy things that turn out to suck, and I'd be willing to bet that you buy things that you KNOW will suck. Now, part of this is because you sort of have to keep a pro eye out, kinda have to know what's going on as an editor, and just reading reviews won't cut it. But part of it is...what? Believing things will be better than they are. I'm talking stuff you buy rather than stuff you get for free as a pro, but even the free stuff counts here too. (@Whizbang, it's not that I'm tired of paying $0, though I am, it's that I'm tired of paying $5 or $10 and hoping it will be different this time.) Most people don't even have your level of expertise, Morrus. So they have correspondingly less ability to judge. And so "quality" becomes less and less valid of a concept. Because it should be obvious that RPG products are, on the whole, a flaming tsunami of hot garbage. It's a whole garbage chain: people don't take it seriously because it's garbage, which means nobody will pay for it, which means people who try to change it don't get paid, which means the people who keep making it learn to love garbage or leave. --I might add there are a lot of fans of garbage, the same sort of people who think it's rude to complain when they get served a poop sandwich by their boss or mom or Congressperson or other authority figure, and get REALLY mad when someone points out how terrible poop sandwiches are. We've met a few already on this thread. OK. You do you. To bring it back around: if game design required a high degree of skill, it would be taken more seriously, in no small part because it would attract more talented people--people who could make a lot of money in other fields. It doesn't attract 'em, folks. Look: if you're a truly genius RPG designer, you should be pitching spec scripts to TV, full stop. No better time in history. Running media campaigns for national audiences. Hell, even breaking into [I]comics[/I]. And oh um yeah, video games. Throwing the parties, not waiting for invitations. And yes, first post. Entering the arena at 112 mph is also an excellent Car Wars strategy. [/QUOTE]
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