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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 1566004" data-attributes="member: 177">My advice, mythusmage, is that you not go into marketing.&nbsp;&nbsp; You are correct that role playing games can be much more than games.&nbsp; They can stretch a great distance over into live-action role playing, off into live-combat role playing.&nbsp; But &quot;more&quot; is not necessarily better.&nbsp; You need to be somewhat more specific before you'll attract adherents.&nbsp; When you do so, remember that even in our own comunity, there's a limit to what folks think is reasonable.&nbsp; A great many folks here feel that live-action role playing is too weird for them, for example.&nbsp; You are correct that for many of us, &quot;role playing hobby&quot; is a more accurate description than &quot;role playing game&quot;.&nbsp; But, in trying to reach the public or current gamers, accuracy may not be the issue.Technically, the definition of &quot;hobby&quot; fits.&nbsp; However, it has altogether the wrong connotations.&nbsp; As others have pointed out, it has connotations of extreme amounts of time, effort, and money placed into the activity.&nbsp; Furthermore, I expect that the activities that most people think of when they hear the word &quot;hobby&quot; are not particularly dynamic.&nbsp; They think of coin collecting, railroad models, birdwatching, and suchlike.&nbsp; If you're trying to attract people to the dynamic role-play, adventure and story-telling aspects, you've really picked the wrong word.Most folks who don't play RPGs don't really know what &quot;role playing&quot; is.&nbsp; Everybody has at least a vague notion of what a &quot;game&quot; is.&nbsp; It is an activity you undertake.&nbsp; It has some rules.&nbsp; There will be choices to make as they play.&nbsp; They may be fooled that it also has victory conditions, but you can disabuse them of that notion soon enough.&nbsp; All in all, that's not a bad starting point.If you call it a &quot;hobby&quot; though, what are you telling them about the activity?&nbsp; Exactly zero.&nbsp; &quot;Hobby&quot; covers everything from sailing and hiking to reading to stamp collecting.&nbsp; So, &quot;role-playing gmae&quot; tells the person a lot more than &quot;role playing hobby&quot;, even if for most practitioners, the latter is more accurate.And, to be honest, RPGs are different enough from most activities that I'm of the opinion that you should not introduce folks to them by tossing them into the deep end of the pool.&nbsp; It swamps them with more than they can comprehend at once.&nbsp; This only works as a learning tool if you're rather forced to continue.&nbsp; For a leisure activity, making things too complicated at the start scares people off.&nbsp; It is better to start them with a game, a thing they comprehend, and then teach them other things later.So, leave it a &quot;role playing game&quot;.&nbsp; Those who don't know about them will find that easier to grasp.&nbsp; Those who do know about them are not really limited by the term.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 1566004, member: 177"] My advice, mythusmage, is that you not go into marketing. You are correct that role playing games can be much more than games. They can stretch a great distance over into live-action role playing, off into live-combat role playing. But "more" is not necessarily better. You need to be somewhat more specific before you'll attract adherents. When you do so, remember that even in our own comunity, there's a limit to what folks think is reasonable. A great many folks here feel that live-action role playing is too weird for them, for example. You are correct that for many of us, "role playing hobby" is a more accurate description than "role playing game". But, in trying to reach the public or current gamers, [i]accuracy[/i] may not be the issue. Technically, the definition of "hobby" fits. However, it has altogether the wrong connotations. As others have pointed out, it has connotations of extreme amounts of time, effort, and money placed into the activity. Furthermore, I expect that the activities that most people think of when they hear the word "hobby" are not particularly dynamic. They think of coin collecting, railroad models, birdwatching, and suchlike. If you're trying to attract people to the dynamic role-play, adventure and story-telling aspects, you've really picked the wrong word. Most folks who don't play RPGs don't really know what "role playing" is. Everybody has at least a vague notion of what a "game" is. It is an activity you undertake. It has some rules. There will be choices to make as they play. They may be fooled that it also has victory conditions, but you can disabuse them of that notion soon enough. All in all, that's not a bad starting point. If you call it a "hobby" though, what are you telling them about the activity? Exactly zero. "Hobby" covers everything from sailing and hiking to reading to stamp collecting. So, "role-playing gmae" tells the person a lot more than "role playing hobby", even if for most practitioners, the latter is more accurate. And, to be honest, RPGs are different enough from most activities that I'm of the opinion that you should not introduce folks to them by tossing them into the deep end of the pool. It swamps them with more than they can comprehend at once. This only works as a learning tool if you're rather forced to continue. For a leisure activity, making things too complicated at the start scares people off. It is better to start them with a game, a thing they comprehend, and then teach them other things later. So, leave it a "role playing game". Those who don't know about them will find that easier to grasp. Those who do know about them are not really limited by the term. [/QUOTE]

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