Price-Sensitive Gamers

[JohnNephew]

That's a short sighted view though.

Do you want long term customers or short term buyers that don't come back?

If I buy two books I feel that I have greater buying power than if I buy one.

If I can only afford one then in future months I don't look as hard and may even decide I've been pushed out.

My group is full of people like this.

If I buy two then my perception is that I can afford more of this stuff. Even if in reality I spent the same amount of money in both cases.

I come away thinking I can afford to stay in the market and I keep looking for more that I can buy.

I think the person who buys the one expensive book IS the long term customer. That's the person who is ready to commit with dollars, and is much more likely to actually use the material, and is thus more likely to be interested in more quality materials, and is more likely to have a "brand loyalty" to the producer of the expensive book -- as opposed to the folks who will pick up something on a whim because it's cheap.

The reaction I've seen from most people who bought the FRCS, for instance, was "Well, I thought it was really expensive, but after deciding to take make the investment and put it to use in my game, I realize it would even be worth more than I paid." And frankly, the sales reported by distributors and retailers bear this out. There's a reason nobody is making the $3-$4 minimodules anymore -- people want value, and are willing to take the high dollar pricetag that comes with it, rather than getting two (smaller, less useful) books for the price of one.

 

[mmadsen]

The reaction I've seen from most people who bought the FRCS, for instance, was "Well, I thought it was really expensive, but after deciding to take make the investment and put it to use in my game, I realize it would even be worth more than I paid." And frankly, the sales reported by distributors and retailers bear this out.

That's a problem with trying to sell RPG products. Many of us probably never would've picked up the original three books if they'd been more expensive -- and then everyone else would've had even less incentive to pick them up either (network externalities).

It's only after we bought the three books that we realized how much we valued them.

 

[Tiefling]

More of your market research, mmadsen? You're lucky most of the ENBoards aren't on to you yet.

 

[mmadsen]

More of your market research, mmadsen? You're lucky most of the ENBoards aren't on to you yet.

You've got a smiley there, but I have say, I've been getting a lot of almost angry snipes from people declaring that I must be doing some kind of dastardly, underhanded market research. I'm not sure what would be dastardly or underhanded about learning what people like, but that's not an issue, since I'm just asking questions about topics that interest me.

I mean, people were treating my question about Animal Characters as market research! Riiiggghhht.

 

[JohnNephew]

That's a problem with trying to sell RPG products. Many of us probably never would've picked up the original three books if they'd been more expensive -- and then everyone else would've had even less incentive to pick them up either (network externalities).

It's only after we bought the three books that we realized how much we valued them.

Sure, and that's why WotC priced them so incredibly low -- to make it a "well, duh" choice when gamers decided whether to upgrade or not. However, essentially no one else is selling an entry-level core rulebook for D20, so the same considerations don't really apply. And, now that they've moved a whole network to the new edition, they're able to bump up the prices from $20 to $30 -- there may be fewer people checking the game out on a whim, but people who see the value in playing the game will still find the books a very good value at today's price.

How many people who picked up the original three books will buy the FRCS, let alone a D20 book from another publisher?

 

[KnowTheToe]

Pricing can definitely hurt the sale of a product. I look at the new Star Wars for $40. I would have purchased it for upto $25, maybe $30, but with the forty dollar tag, I will not buy it or any of the supporting books.

$40 is a lot of money to ask for someone to try something without already being a die hard fan. I actually own two other versions of SW and a few suport books and never played. I enjoy reading the rules and world inofr, but not for that $$.

Also how do they expect to get young players into the games for that $$$. I know many parents are ify about role playing as is, now ask them to drop $80-100 for the rules, a few mini's and a support book. Ouch, you just lost another sale.

 

[Dark Jezter]

As far as gaming prices go, I think that the 3 core rulebooks (PHB, DMG, and MM) are great values. For about $20 a piece, you get a hardcover book with loads of information, beautiful full-color artwork, and rules that you will be referencing often in your games. The PHB even comes with a character generator and extras on a CD-ROM. Wizards of the Coasts obviously knew what the fans wanted when they created the core rulebooks.

I consider FRCS to be a bit on the pricey side. It is still a very excellent book with a wealth of useful information and wonderful artwork, but $40 is about as much as I'm willing to spend on a gaming product. Still, it is a very nice product and a must-have to fans of the Realms, so I found myself shelling out the money to buy it.

Sword and Fist, Living Greyhawk Gazateer, etc. are ripoffs in my opinion. They are expensive, softcover, printed on cheap paper, and only have boring, black & white artwork. I usually don't bother with these products. I did buy the Living Greyhawk Gazateer, but I have regretted that purchase ever since.

 

[Mistwell]

Pricing can definitely hurt the sale of a product. I look at the new Star Wars for $40. I would have purchased it for upto $25, maybe $30, but with the forty dollar tag, I will not buy it or any of the supporting books.

$40 is a lot of money to ask for someone to try something without already being a die hard fan. I actually own two other versions of SW and a few suport books and never played. I enjoy reading the rules and world inofr, but not for that $$.

Also how do they expect to get young players into the games for that $$$. I know many parents are ify about role playing as is, now ask them to drop $80-100 for the rules, a few mini's and a support book. Ouch, you just lost another sale.

And yet, those kids will have no trouble buying that $40 video game for their PC or Xbox or Playstation or Gamecube. Or 4-5 Star Wars figures. Or 4 movies this summer, or admission to an amusement park. Or any of a thousand things that parents will pay for this summer.

I think you are unrealistic about the cost of producing these products. The cost of production for these books is high, and if they had priced it at $25, they would have been pricing it fairly near their cost. If you are going to attract, and keep, the best writers of RPG material in the industry, you must pay them more. To pay them more, you have to charge more money for the products. If that means losing a couple of impulse buys from someone who wasn't even going to end up playing the game (IE would never buy the accessory items to that product, like modules), then so be it. It's much healthy for the industry to produce higher quality products for the core group of buyers than shabby ones for maybe-buyers looking for a novel in the form of an RPG rulebook.

 

[mmadsen]

$40 is a lot of money to ask for someone to try something without already being a die hard fan.

Right, but maybe getting $40 from every die-hard fan is worth more than getting $30 from every die-hard fan and $30 from every casual fan too. What if the book costs roughly $25 to create and distribute? Then you need to sell three times as many copies (netting $5 apiece) to make as much money at the lower price.

(Those numbers are all made up, of course.)

By the way, I'm a casual fan who might buy the book at $25 but not at $40.

Also how do they expect to get young players into the games for that $$$. I know many parents are ify about role playing as is, now ask them to drop $80-100 for the rules, a few mini's and a support book. Ouch, you just lost another sale.

As I mentioned before, to my surprise, the Decipher guys are selling their Lord of the Rings Adventure Game for $30, and it's selling quite well.

I know there's a Star Wars Adventure Game, and if it's anything like the D&D Adventure Game, it should be very nicely done and very cheap ($10).

Really, I think they should tie in with the Star Wars Epic Duel game I saw at Target. That thing came with 31 painted plastic figures, game boards, playing cards, etc. for $18. That could be a great segue into roleplaying.

 

[hong]

You've got a smiley there, but I have say, I've been getting a lot of almost angry snipes from people declaring that I must be doing some kind of dastardly, underhanded market research. I'm not sure what would be dastardly or underhanded about learning what people like, but that's not an issue, since I'm just asking questions about topics that interest me.

Don't listen to them, mmadsen! They're just jealous. There's absolutely nothing wrong with either pimping quiche OR munching quiche, contrary to what some bleating malcontents may think. Just ignore them all, I say.

I mean, people were treating my question about Animal Characters as market research! Riiiggghhht.

Well, naturally. I mean, there are so many things to consider when choosing an animal companion, that it's natural that people would be thinking you were trolling the boards for advice on which one to choose. Each animal is different from every other animal in so many ways it would take several pages to list them all. (Web pages, that is; don't forget that Google is your friend.)

In a way, of course, it doesn't really matter, because any animal -- human or otherwise -- has the capacity to return the love, tenderness and affection that its carer ("owner" is such a rude word) shows to it. But really, it's the little things that count. Some people like dogs, others like sheep, and others, sickos that they are -- this is of course a joke, since I am not judgemental at all about alternative lifestyles -- prefer goats. Really, what works for one person may fail completely for another, and it's very hard to give advice on what are in the end highly personal lifestyle decisions, except to say that your tetanus shots should be up to date.

Hope this helps!