RPGNow Expanding...

[Vigilance]

Im also still not clear on why being a vendor at RPG edge is such a bad thing.

 

[Roudi]

In the market as it currently stands, is that really a bad thing?

As someone who knows first-hand the wealth of incredibly good writer & publishers waiting to break into the scene, and in my own self-interest...

Yes.

Im also still not clear on why being a vendor at RPG edge is such a bad thing.

If RPGNow Edge was the only site, then there wouldn't be a problem. Thing is, the relationship between RPGNow mainsite and RPGNow Edge will unavoidably be tiered. RPGNow will contain "the best" in terms of sales and quality. Even if it's not explicitedly stated, RPGNow Edge must therefore contain "the rest." That means, by implication, that the vendors on RPGNow Edge must somehow be lacking a quality in their products that would otherwise allow them to be mainsite vendors. Regardless of whether that is true or not, that is the image that having two sites will create. RPGNow Edge will have a implicit negative stigma simply for the fact that it is not the main site.

So if you were a new vendor, would you want to debut your product among "the best" or "the rest"? Unless you're already a major print vendor, chances are you will have no choice but to debut on RPGNow Edge. Thus, you enter your products into an enviroment that already appears to be the lesser of two markets. That doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.

 

[Vigilance]

So if you were a new vendor, would you want to debut your product among "the best" or "the rest"? Unless you're already a major print vendor, chances are you will have no choice but to debut on RPGNow Edge. Thus, you enter your products into an enviroment that already appears to be the lesser of two markets. That doesn't appeal to me in the slightest.

Would I *want* to debut on the main site? Absolutely.

Would I have earned it? Not really.

And for the record, I am an edge vendor.

I still sell the two products that got me started (out of nostalgia more than anything else) and they are going to the edge site.

Chuck

 

[IronWolf]

I am not a publisher, but an occasional consumer of PDF products. I guess I don't see this as a bad thing at all. When I am looking for a product I have no issues looking at either site, it just doesn't sound like that big of deal. Does it sound like the main site is going to mainstage some of the more popular publishers? Yep. But on the alternative does that mean the Edge site might have a chance to higlight some publishers who might not otherwise be highlighted? Yep.

If people won't take the time to check out the Edge portion as well as the main portion, they probably weren't the ones buying the products from the little guys even now.

In any event, I know I will still check out the Edge and not think lesser of that section just because its not the main site. If I am looking for something in particular when it comes to RPGs the publisher can be less of a concern than the topic *and* the reviews that product gets on sites like EN World and comments in discussion.

 

[BryonD]

In the market as it currently stands, is that really a bad thing?

Keeping new entries out of the market is always a bad thing.
Not that I think this REALLY does that......
And not that I think RPGnow has any obligation to put the market at large ahead of its own interests, even if it did.....

 

[Mouseferatu]

Keeping new entries out of the market is always a bad thing.
Not that I think this REALLY does that......
And not that I think RPGnow has any obligation to put the market at large ahead of its own interests, even if it did.....

I never said it was a good thing to keep newbies out. I was a newbie myself not too many years ago.

What I said is that it's a good thing to "discourage" newbies from entering. It means that only the people who really plan to take it seriously are likely to get involved.

That's better for the market, better for the people getting involved, and even better for the people who are talked out of it.

 

[BryonD]

Nope.
Doesn't change anything.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Im also still not clear on why being a vendor at RPG edge is such a bad thing.

Two words - Reduced exposure.

The Auld Grump

 

[Vigilance]

Two words - Reduced exposure.

The Auld Grump

Even if I agree that the new site will necessarily have less exposure (which given the amount of free publicity its getting from just THIS thread is by no means certain), Im not sure how anyone is OWED the maximum exposure possible.

But I dont believe anything like that is going to happen.

The new site is going to get a lot of interested eyes on its pages in the days following its debut. That will give a lot of vendors on the site a chance to attract attention by being on the front page (a place they would get very little exposure on RPGNow).

That will equal sales, and the chance to get off to a strong start, attracting regular customers and a chance to CONTINUE to gain exposure. Gamers have shown a willingness to support companies they like in far LESS convenient ways to checking a second website in the past.

In other words, I think plenty of companies will benefit from the site expansion, which is hard for me to apply the "bad" label to.

Chuck

 

[eyebeams]

The best place to break into the RPG industry has now become much more of a gauntlet.

Good.