Polygon: Indie TTRPG Companies are "sitting in their own little corners of the internet and wringing their hands"

[Ruin Explorer]

Nothing wrong with being youthful, but anyone can have a 'point of view' and integrity and clear-sighted-ness have nothing to do with it.

The 'world weary 23 year old' is not a view I need to read. I'll take more of the really world weary 40+ year old.

I think it's worth hearing what intelligent 20-somethings think of TTRPGs today, regardless of their attitude (and everyone on Rascal is pretty nice). Also I suspect you were "world weary" at 23. I know I was!

 

[Bae'zel]

I think it's worth hearing what intelligent 20-somethings think of TTRPGs today, regardless of their attitude (and everyone on Rascal is pretty nice). Also I suspect you were "world weary" at 23. I know I was!

I had been playing RPGs since I was a young teen and saw a lot of terrible things, so yeah, by 23 I certainly had a perspective. Maybe not aged like fine wine but still genuine.

 

[talien]

In a weird article, Polygon, which covers D&D extensively, has suddenly turned on Wizard of the Coast AND the indie RPG community.

[LINK REMOVED SO I DON'T PROPAGATE THIS]

This has of course exploded on social media with small TTRPG companies saying things like "We have sent you [Polygon] 50 emails over the last 5 years asking for coverage of our games and you've ignored them every time in favor of the latest pointless D&D fluff piece and now you're saying it's OUR fault that we aren't heard?"

The article about indie TTRPGs mentions D&D about a dozen times, and... count them... one indie game (Mothership).

Irony, you have a name, and it is Polygon.

The fact that the article was launched the same day as the D&D Monster Manual preview is no accident.

Can't break through the coverage that everyone else is doing (we're all covered by the same embargo)? Write something different that goes against the grain, baiting the numerous indie TTRPG creators into sharing it over and over as they criticize the article for all the mistakes it makes -- while at the same time driving up sweet, sweet click rates.

Basically, counterprogramming for "news" outlets. It worked.

 

[Bae'zel]

Basically, counterprogramming for "news" outlets. It worked.

A lot of people don't understand that any kind of engagement, including "hate clicks, angry comments, angry re-shares" generate money.

And if the engagement gets stale? Deliberately write a controversial comment to start up the fires. Bonus points if you just get a bot to do it automatically after a certain time passes.

It's blatantly obvious on Facebook (which is why I don't use it anymore). People are suckers at times (we all are).

 

[TiQuinn]

A lot of people don't understand that any kind of engagement, including "hate clicks, angry comments, angry re-shares" generate money.

And if the engagement gets stale? Deliberately write a controversial comment to start up the fires. Bonus points if you just get a bot to do it automatically after a certain time passes.

It's blatantly obvious on Facebook (which is why I don't use it anymore). People are suckers at times (we all are).

Even when you’re blocking all the ads on their site?

 

[Velderan]

A lot of people don't understand that any kind of engagement, including "hate clicks, angry comments, angry re-shares" generate money.

And if the engagement gets stale? Deliberately write a controversial comment to start up the fires. Bonus points if you just get a bot to do it automatically after a certain time passes.

It's blatantly obvious on Facebook (which is why I don't use it anymore). People are suckers at times (we all are).

Sports writers cracked the code on this one a long time ago with weekly power rankings. Every week you get to rile up the fanbase into clicking your article and sharing it on social media to tell everyone "you have to read this article, this guy is so dumb".

 

[Scribe]

I think it's worth hearing what intelligent 20-somethings think of TTRPGs today, regardless of their attitude (and everyone on Rascal is pretty nice). Also I suspect you were "world weary" at 23. I know I was!

I mean I was several years married with a kid by then...

 

[Theory of Games]

In a weird article, Polygon, which covers D&D extensively, has suddenly turned on Wizard of the Coast AND the indie RPG community.

"Turned on" is an odd choice of words: Polygon has written many articles in the recent past that slammed WotC/D&D (see OGL)

It’s time for independent tabletop role-playing games to get loud

The dragon is wounded, and it’s time to throw yourselves into the breach

www.polygon.com

This has of course exploded on social media with small TTRPG companies saying things like "We have sent you [Polygon] 50 emails over the last 5 years asking for coverage of our games and you've ignored them every time in favor of the latest pointless D&D fluff piece and now you're saying it's OUR fault that we aren't heard?"

The article about indie TTRPGs mentions D&D about a dozen times, and... count them... one indie game (Mothership).

Irony, you have a name, and it is Polygon.

The usual media nothing-burger. Polygon wants to draw attention to their site so they start slamming people. Newspapers (the remaining ones) have done the same thing for ages. TV news media play the same game. As long as they get you clicking onto their site, Polygon (and any ttrpg mentioned) profits. Now if people just ignored Polygon THEN they would have a problem

 

[Von Ether]

Considering the first thing these mergers do is cut ttrpg coverage, we need to click on something soon and often on the outlets were we like the coverage. Any suggestions?

 

[Christian Hoffer]

Considering the first thing these mergers do is cut ttrpg coverage, we need to click on something soon and often on the outlets were we like the coverage. Any suggestions?

To be honest, when you find coverage you like, share it on other platforms. More exposure is very helpful.

Also - when sites cut extensive coverage and replace it with cheap click farming, don't give them the engagement.