Price-Sensitive Gamers

[Inconsequenti-AL]

teitan - I'm completely with you on the typos and errors - It irritates me the more expensive the book is. In a cheap module I can live with it, but I expect a £25 hardback to be properly proofread. There are one or two companies I wouldn't buy anything from again, but not the time for that now!


Anyway, I feel the price/hour of entertainment ought to be slightly adjusted. Because an hour of roleplaying is actually an hour of entertainment for every player at the table?

Similar can be achieved with a film, but (my sort of) computer games are generally one player...

Supose it's a moot point if, as many groups seem to be, the DM pays for all the game books!

I've been lucky, I splurged on the core books but the players have bought most of the splat stuff they're interested in.

Although, as a DM, I probably spend more time with my books than just the session - got to prep - I enjoy that, so figure I do get 'extra value'...

 

[Teflon Billy]

I wish Spacecrime would chime in on this...his posts to threads of this nature are always eye-openers.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Heard and witnessed. Just you wait, buckaroo.

I call dibs on a seat at that table.

 

[Psion]

Example in action.

Over last few weeks, saw these items at FLGS:

Blood Magic
EA Compendium
Tome of Horrors II

Finally purchased ToH II; the others are still at said FLGS.
ToHII took me much debate to buy. A bit less pricey (e.g., still had room to buy lunch after I took 2 20s out of the bank) and I would have purchased it on the first visit.

I have yet to purchase the first two items but was considering it. With a tacit agreement between myself and DW not to spend more that $50 a paycheck on games, they seemed like too much of a hit for what they offerred me.

 

[Mr. Lobo]

Yes, I would buy more RPG products if they were cheaper. In price that is. But again, most of the stuff I buy is story oriented fluff and not really crunchy hard core rules.

After re-reading my last post in this area I want to clarify a point I made about the value of the 3.5 rules increasing for me as the price decreases, meaning that I would pay $14.95 for the SRD3.5 PDF from creative mountain games vs $90.00 for the three core rulebooks from WotC. I don't think my subjective value for having the 3.5 rules has actually increased, I just want to be able to keep up with the players that want to play 3.5 in case I have to get into that situation because no one else wants to play an earlier version. So, what I really mean is that the value hasn't really gone up, rather the activation barrier for purchasing this rules set has gone down.

What I really would like to do is get a group together that wants to play a pre-3E version (preferably 1E) where you can get all the core rules in PDF format for about $15.00. All the add-ons are about $5.00 each. Not only are these prices cheap but they are reasonable for me and my budget.

By the same token I think it would be great if all the 3E and 3.5E books were converted to PDF format and avalable for download at a cheaper than hardback book cost. I would definitely buy more of the 3E generation of RPG products if this were the case. In fact, PDF's are all I buy right now. (edit)

So the big questions for me are (if I go the "cheap" route and play an older system):

1. How much will I be losing out on by not playing 3.5E?

2. Will I be boxing myself into a corner as far as player base is concerned?

3. Will it really be worth it to spend less on an older system rather than
spend more on the new system which may eventually be replaced in the next 2-3 years (ie 4E)?

4. Am I just a cheap lazy bum because I don't want to have to nitpick over all the changes that need to be made to get my ~$600.00 worth of 3E stuff up to 3.5 standards? How many are there anyway?

5. How many movies could I have seen for $600.00? What if I just rented the DVD's?

Done rambling,

Mr. Lobo

 

[BlackMoria]

We are told that the majority of D&D players are the 20-30yrs of age crowd.

I find it odd the number of people who think a $40 and up price tag is extreme and proclaim that they will not spend that unless the product or item is exceptional.

I personally know several 20-30yr old people who don't think twice about dropping $40 or more in a Friday or Saturday of drinking in a bar and don't complain about what it costs. And all they got to show for it the next day is some memories (maybe good, maybe bad) and a hangover.

Yet these same people grumble about a $40+ RPG product being too expense. A product which could give months and maybe years of enjoyment or practical use.

They complain about the price of a music CD but don't say a word about how much money is spent on taking the wife/family or girlfriend to a restaurant or to the movies.

Odd that they place value on spending $40 on a transitory experience (food at a restaurant, or liquor for a night of partying) and yet complain when they get a tangible object (a RPG book which should last years) to show for their money.

I frankly don't get the mindset and don't understand the complaint. :\

 

[EricNoah]

People get used to a certain price being attached to a certain product or service. I drop $80 a month on my internet service, but I still squirm at paying over $2 for a loaf of bread and am thrilled when I have a 50 cent coupon. I paid cash for a late model used car, but am still feeling like I might get ripped off if I invest $400 in a better lawn mower. People are just plain weird about that kind of thing.

 

[Ghostwind]

People get used to a certain price being attached to a certain product or service.

Eric hit the nail on the head. It's not such much the price of RPGs as it is the perception of price by the consumer. Many gamers still feel that prices should be the same as they were for first edition ($20 for a hardcover book). In fact, one of the internet reviewers likes to penalize any product that is 96 pages and costs more than $19.99 because he feels that anything other than that is charging too much. After all, if Wotc could produce a $19.99 splatbook, then why can't everyone else?

Everyone has a bottom line that they feel RPG products should be worth. Some are realistic, most are not. Plain and simple.

 

[Umbran]

I frankly don't get the mindset and don't understand the complaint. :\

part of the issue is perception. A book is a small thing, a single physical item. A great many books go for under $10. So, when looking at their prices, $30 or $40 seems pretty steep, by comparison.

A night on the town contains many things - drinks, dancing, movie, food, and the like. Usually it is spent piecemeal. while the overall experience has a cost, it is perceptually broken down, so no single part seems terribly expensive.

Also, perhaps you don't get the mindset because of a difference in relative values. You find the gaming book to be valuable. Others (even other gamers) may find them less so. For some folks, a night out at the movies is their one release for the week, and for them this is a very valuable thing. If you don't find going out to the movies to be a big deal, you would think they are being unreasonable.

In essence - while prices paid for entertainment are somewhat uniform all over the country, the value of that entertainment varies from individual to individual. The standard price for a movie is $8, but some folks find that cheap, and others pricey.

 

[teitan]

See, WE ARE GAMERS, Nancy Drew isn't a gamer and the prices of RPG products going up affects Nancy Drew's decision to buy a product. This hurts the industry overall and gamers as well as our favorite, price gouging publishers go out of business or games we enjoy become unavailable because the gaming community decreases on a consistent timeframe, much like the comic book industry...

The prices might be something a GAMER is willing to pay but nonGamers see a tag of 40-50 bucks and they won't buy it. That is why D20 Modern failed as an entry level project, the price tag. That is why Urban Arcana failed as a setting book, not a large enough install base on the core product because of the high price.

A product like Conan features a cross-over audience, much like STar Wars... not only will gamers buy, but so will non gamers. While Conan is a poorly edited product, Star Wars is more than worth the cost at about ten cents a page, it is a MASSIVE book PACKED with information for Star Wars in general and for the game. Most STar Wars books are worth the price for more than just the gaming material because they are so well researched that they work for a SW fan as a resource of SW information. What makes them better is that they are also a GAME and work as an entry product to gaming and possibly getting the buyer to expand into D&D etc. Then again so many D20 players are griping because of the reprinting of the core rules in the book! AGHH! Shut UP already. If the core rules weren't reprinted that would be 130 dollar for Nancy Drew to buy into the game and now we get back to the bursting of the D20 bubble ordeal.

D20 was bound to implode, with a 90 dollar buy in to play the game AT LEAST because you really need all three core rulebooks to play the game in a group. One player is going to HAVE TO buy the core rules... Most games require 30 bucks and there sales do not seem to be falling and their supplements don't seem to be higher priced than the core rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They also seem to do just fine in paperback releases... imagine that.

Jason