RPGNow EDGE Opens!

[Vascant]

Steve Conan Trustrum: You have missed the bigger picture, I can choose where and when to spend my money how I desire. You do not have the right to tell me how to or when I will. My own wife won't even tread that ground with me.

Now, I have expressed the reasons as to why I won't be back to RPGNow, pretty plain and simple. Yes, if I do not like the way a store looks, I won't be back. You can also look at it like this, I spent over $4,000 in 3 years at RPGNow without a single complaint or issue. They changed the site and now I have an issue, it is normal. I got over it and made a decision. If you agree with it or not, thats not my problem, it is yours because you lost a customer.

 

[Roudi]

Technically, Mr. Trustrum hasn't lost a customer, since he doesn't represent RPGNow. Unless, of course, Vascant was buying Misfit Studios products exclusively through RPGNow, in which case Mr. Trustrum has lost a customer. Also, given these experiences, Vascant probably now has a negative opinion of Misfit Studios, and likely won't buy their products again over RPGNow or anywhere else.

In any case, behave. Steve, you don't really have a right to tell Vascant whether his reasons for taking his business elsewhere are inconsequential. He is providing the administrators of RPGNow with customer feedback, which is valuable to them whether they act upon it or not. In all honesty, he doesn't have to have a good, logical, sensical, or sound reason for taking his business elsewhere. He is simply letting RPGNow know what he is doing, and why he is doing it; otherwise they might not even notice the missing business, might not realize they lost a customer, and might not realize why. If I ran RPGNow, I would want to hear opinions like this, even if they were outrageous or silly. No matter the quality, it is customer feedback, and it always has a use in some capacity.

Vascant, as far as I'm concerned, this argument is resolved. You made your statement, and nothing is going to sway you. My advice is to not be goaded by Steve or anyone else to continue this line of discussion.

I'm no authority on this boards, but I think it's pretty silly that this particular debate has gotten so hot today. There are far more important things to discuss.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

Steve Conan Trustrum: You have missed the bigger picture, I can choose where and when to spend my money how I desire. You do not have the right to tell me how to or when I will. My own wife won't even tread that ground with me.

You seem confused. Nobody is trying to tell you how, where or when to spend your money. You've presented your reasons for your choice here, in a public forum, without the intention of doing so so that someone could change your mind. Equally, people are welcome to publically address those reasons without the intent of trying to change your opinion. As you say, you're welcome to your opinion and reasons but as soon as you make them public, especially in a messageboard created for the express purpose of discussing things, you pretty much deny yourself the ability to then say "oh, I didn't expect people to address what I said." So, you do indeed have a right to spend your money as you like, but once you go public with that you have absolutely no right as to how people speak concerning that decision.

If you agree with it or not, thats not my problem, it is yours because you lost a customer.

It's not my problem in any way whatsoever, but when you express your opinion in a public place don't then complain if people address that opinion from a contrary position.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

In any case, behave. Steve, you don't really have a right to tell Vascant whether his reasons for taking his business elsewhere are inconsequential.

"Behave"?

Excuse me, but please point out where I'm not "behaving." Last I checked, this is a place to hold discussions. The fact that someone has an opinion doesn't make that opinion sacrosanct and beyond response.

He is providing the administrators of RPGNow with customer feedback, which is valuable to them whether they act upon it or not. In all honesty, he doesn't have to have a good, logical, sensical, or sound reason for taking his business elsewhere.

No, he doesn't have to have a good reason, but then why should RPGnow care if that reason is illogical? It doesn't do RPGnow any good to know that reason if it's not a practical reason. Someone could say they won't shop at RPGnow because it doesn't have the word "DOODLE" flash across the top of the screen every 10 seconds in 48 pt font. While that may be personally valid for that customer, it is hardly a practical reason and it definately has no value to RPGnow. A customer who says "I'm not shopping at RPGnow anymore because of the background color" isn't offering anything of value to RPGnow because for every other color he changed it to he's just as likely to have someone with the same opinion of that color. This is why white is the safest background color to use during web design: it goes with everything and is most likely to appease the majority.

His dislike of the search function, however, a very reasonable reason to state that his shopping experience is not what it used to be. Color change? Not so much.

He is simply letting RPGNow know what he is doing, and why he is doing it; otherwise they might not even notice the missing business, might not realize they lost a customer, and might not realize why. If I ran RPGNow, I would want to hear opinions like this, even if they were outrageous or silly. No matter the quality, it is customer feedback, and it always has a use in some capacity.

Actually, no it doesn't. Customer feedback only has value if it may be acted on in a practical fashion. An opinion that cannot is just that: an opinion. An opinion isn't even remotely the same as valuable customer feedback, unless you think the hypothetical "DOODLE" advocate is providing a solid, valuable piece of advice...

Having an opinion does not mean everyone else is beholden to agree with, respect, or accept that opinion as a matter that is beyond response, critique or disagreement.

My advice is to not be goaded by Steve or anyone else to continue this line of discussion.

Your mistake is to believe anyoen is trying to goad anyone. I am employed as a market researcher, so I am approaching his reasons from a very experienced position that has no personal stake in the matter. As I've said, his position on the search feature is very reasonable, the stance on color not at all. There is a definate void of rationality between saying "I don't like the color but I like the products so I'll stick around" and "I don't like the color so I'll go elsewhere despite having previously given $4000 to the site." Saying so in response to such a post is not "goading."

I'm no authority on this boards, but I think it's pretty silly that this particular debate has gotten so hot today. There are far more important things to discuss.

Your second mistake: do you honestly think that because I've voiced disagreement with another poster's opinion that it makes the discussion "hot"? I'm expressing a response without any emotion or personal investment at all. If you feel otherwise, perhaps you should be asking yourself why that is.

 

[jaerdaph]

You guys really need to let this go.

 

[DaveMage]

No, he doesn't have to have a good reason, but then why should RPGnow care if that reason is illogical? It doesn't do RPGnow any good to know that reason if it's not a practical reason.

As an aside, many customer decisions are not based on logic - they are based on emotion.

IMO, all criticisms, be they logical, illogical, emotional, etc. should be paid attention to by a seller - if for no other reason to gain insight into potential customers.

I'm not saying a seller should base every (or even many) decisions on such criticisms, but ignoring them outright does not seem wise to me.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

As an aside, many customer decisions are not based on logic - they are based on emotion.

IMO, all criticisms, be they logical, illogical, emotional, etc. should be paid attention to by a seller - if for no other reason to gain insight into potential customers.

I'm not saying a seller should base every (or even many) decisions on such criticisms, but ignoring them outright does not seem wise to me.

Yeah, I know that customers make decisions based on emotion. I've overseen market research wherin customers say they'd rather spend $300 more on a digital camera just based on the color.

However, be clear on one thing: that offers no insight into the customers beyond the fact that you can't cater to everyone. For every person who pays $300 more for a blue camera, there's someone who won't because the one that costs less comes in red, which is their favorite color. There's absolutely no further insight to be gained save judging the degree of your market that has a primary consumer concern that isn't reasonable and is illustrating there's nothing you can really do to please them without ticking off someone who has a like irrational concern coming at you from a different direction. You can't use that data to address the matter in any way. Have you ever seen the episode of the Simpsons where Homer's brother lets him design a car? Yeah, that's pretty much what would happen.

Ignoring them may not seem wise, but ignoring impractical consumer decisions is about the only recourse a company has if they want to serve what their hard data is telling them. People like to believe that because something is a make or break point for them that it must be important beyond their personal scope. That isn't necessarily so.

 

[rpghost]

For what it's worth, to make the search check both sites instead of just one is only 3 clicks of the mouse... Click CUSTIMIZE in the header, Click the checkbox by SEARCH ALL SITES? and click UPDATE.

Then you don't have to think about it again.

If you like the what's new lists so much, just click to set your home page to the NEW PRODUCT page. Then click the icon for EDGE and it'll take you to the same page on the opposite site.

As for the white background... well I typically set my windows PC to an off-white background. I hear and feel your pain. It's just that we had that thought too late in development. We might still go through and update all the images to be on an off-white background, but that's many hours of work.

James

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

As for the white background... well I typically set my windows PC to an off-white background. I hear and feel your pain. It's just that we had that thought too late in development. We might still go through and update all the images to be on an off-white background, but that's many hours of work.

Off-white brings about the same effect in one's vision as white. You'd have to go into an entirely different color range, which brings about different issues. White- and white-based backgrounds with dark text is the combination that causes the least strain on the majority of eyes. If you're going to do any adjustments at all, I'd suggest making the images unreliant on background color and add a CSS color aspect to user customization in much the same way as you see with messageboards, otherwise you're playing roulette with which person you're pissing off.

 

[WilliamAndersen]

But in the end, Vascant, you're only just hurting those up and coming publishers on the Edge site. Many of them don't have the pull yet to get on drivethrurpg.com. And I can't even think of a third alternative of where you can purchase PDFs.

e23 is a very good site. They do review for quality, and don't have nearly the number of customers that a site like RPGNow has (but, as I understand it, no RPG pdf site has as many visitors as RPGNow). The site is pretty well organized (which to me makes it preferred to many sites that are very poorly organized), and their customer service is the best I have personally dealt with in the games industry.

Paizo publishing (publishers of Dragon and Dungeon magazines) are branching out into selling RPG pdfs. Since they are very new, I really don't know anything about them.

There are alternatives...

However, RPGNow still offers the best combination of selection and ease of organization. I certainly respect a customer's right to choose not to shop there, and there certainly are alternatives (which I look forward to seeing grow.. the more alternatives, the better it is for all of us customers), I do not think anyone is quite up to RPGNow's level **yet**.

Just my opinion...

William