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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 8333038" data-attributes="member: 7023840">Saying that you think a problem is not solvable ... means you don't want to solve the problem. All problems that aren't impossible to solve (because, you know, SCIENCE) can be solved; some people just find it more convenient not to.In the instant example, we can look at solutions alluded to in the OP (and I apologize, but I will be addressing this from a US-centric point of view given that I am most familiar with that):1. [SPOILER=Structural Change, Part 1, contains brief information not particular to RPGs] Obviously, a sweeping change that provides for reasonable security (health care, direct payments, etc.) and allows people to "do what they want" to supplement this would suffice, but is not particular to RPGs.[/SPOILER]2. [SPOILER=Structural Change, Part 2, , contains brief information not particular to RPGs]Changing the law (FLSA, for example) to prevent abuse of independent contractor status would also work. There is currently a push-pull regarding this, and related issues (use of unpaid intern work, being an example). This is an easy one- the retort that there are always people willing to work for free has been used to prevent all positive changes in the past that you currently take for granted, from the FLSA (minimum wage, overtime), to the FMLA (leave), to the standardized work week, to child labor laws.[/SPOILER]3. Agitating for the big players to make changes. You are correct- TikTok doesn't necessarily have writer's unions, but Hollywood does. The Avengers? Unionized. But not just the movies. Your TV shows too. There is an entire well-paid industry (not just the writers, but the entire industry ... ) based on this creative enterprise. Yeah, RPGs are not blockbuster movies. But D&D? D&D is owned by Hasbro. D&D is incredibly successful.Why don't we spend a little time demanding that Hasbro employ great writers and great artists, and pay them? Not just keep a skeletal staff and pay some independent contractors a desultory rate per word? Hasbro is profiting immensely from us, the consumers, on this product. We should demand that the company put some of those profits into the labor pool.And if Hasbro ups their game, other players will too. That won't stop the "tiktoks" of the world (people publishing independently) but it will provide creatives (writers and artists) a stable income, and will provide a guidepost for the industry.(EDIT- I should add this- none of these proposed solutions, and these are not the only possible ones, are "costless." Changing things ... changes things. There are always tradeoffs, and, for example, increased costs for labor means either decreased profits for the company/shareholders or increased costs to the consumer.)</blockquote>

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