RPG Evolution: RPGs Have a Health Problem

As the game industry ages, our iconic game designers are aging with it. Increasingly, they are turning to crowdfunding campaigns to fund their medical costs. Although gaming hasn't always been a lucrative field for designers, it's clear that even our most experienced designers aren't making enough to manage a medical crisis. Can we do anything about it?

The Scope of the Problem​

For some designers, yearly deductibles have crept up to the $10,000 range; with game designers often working as freelancers without insurance, costs are even higher. Incidental expenses, like wound care supplies, specialized diets, and transportation all add to these costs. To address these expenses, GoFundMe (and it is usually GoFundMe, which accounts for 1 in 3 crowdfunding campaigns for medical costs) has become the crowdfunding platform of choice, with over 250,000 medical campaigns raising over $650 million each year.

Is it possible to make a living working on games? We have some notable data points.

It's Not for Everyone​

Fred Hicks shares his perspective:

Through a combination of: Running Evil Hat (I made $0/month for several years; then we got a little success, enough to justify $450/month for a while; I’ve gotten to increase that since, but I am pretty sure I’m still not quite rating McDonald’s wages, and unless Evil Hat can improve its product output over the next few years, I’m not sure the increase can be sustained; behold part of my motive to grow the company! I should note I don’t charge the company anything else for any writing, development, or layout work I do beyond this monthly draw.) Running Jim Butcher’s online presence (the site has amazon referrals, other referral programs, the occasional ad revenue, cafe press gear, all of which funnels to me to pay the website costs and then pay myself the remainder for doing the work of creating & running all that over the past ten-plus years) Freelance layout work (which is bursty, unpredictable, and can sometimes wind up with late or very late or never-happened payment if you’re not careful)… I am just in the last year or two finally at the point where I’m making about what I made when I started in the internet industry back in 1996. Only without any benefits (save those that I get as a spouse), which is a lot like saying that I am making 30+% less than what I was making in 1996.

Louis Porter Jr. responded to Fred's post:

But there is another side to this. The side of what is "making a living"? I live is South Florida where I own a house, two cars, have a wife, one year old son and mother-in-law all living in the same house. My wife and I do well financially (She's a therapist and I am a graphic design / web designer) and LPJ Design gives me extra money to do a few fun things. But can I live off of it? No. But do I work it like a 40 hours a week job where I get full medical, weekly paycheck, 401k retirement planning, free use of internet, copier fax machine and roughly four and a half weeks off and 2 weeks of sick time? No. But I do know if I worked the LPJ Design business as well and hard as I work my "real" job the out come would be different.

Louis mentions the 1,000 fans theory, and given the success of crowdfunding in role-playing games it seems there's some merit.

The 1,000 Fans Theory​

The 1,000 Fans Theory espouses the belief that creators don't need to have a large number of fans, they just need a highly-engaged base that will support them:

Here’s how the math works. You need to meet two criteria. First, you have to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, $100 profit from each true fan. That is easier to do in some arts and businesses than others, but it is a good creative challenge in every area because it is always easier and better to give your existing customers more, than it is to find new fans. Second, you must have a direct relationship with your fans. That is, they must pay you directly. You get to keep all of their support, unlike the small percent of their fees you might get from a music label, publisher, studio, retailer, or other intermediate.

If each fan provided $100 per year, that would amount to a $100,000 year income. It's worth noting that a percentage of this number also covers things like insurance and medical bills. The total number of fans can be adjusted up or down according to the individual's needs and goals -- those creatives who live in areas where they can get by on $50,000 need only 500 fans, while those who have fans with less disposable income may need double that amount. Where do RPG fans fit in this model?

There are two constraints that working against game developers hoping to make a living using this model. For one, tabletop RPG fans are not nearly as large a market as video games or other creative outlets. For another, gamers are accustomed to lower price points than other entertainment, including the aforementioned video games.

As the market continues to expand, we're seeing movement on both of these factors that may give future designers hope. The market is growing -- Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner told Mad Money that "people are more into Dungeons & Dragons today than ever before. In fact it's enjoying its best year ever, it's been the last couple of years where it's grown. People are reengaged with that brand because it's a face-to-face game, it's immersive, and it's a game that people really enjoy playing with one another. We have more new users coming on board -- double digit, new user growth."

Along with that growth is a fan base willing to spend more, as Andrew addressed in his article, "How Expensive is Too Expensive?" This in turn means creatives can get paid more. Russ has written an excellent reference piece on EN World that every writer should read. It's worth noting that when it comes to paying fairly, Russ is a leader in the industry -- and I speak from personal experience working for him.

A third factor to consider is that the barrier to entry into role-playing games has dropped considerably. Thanks to digital platforms like DriveThruRPG and the DMs Guild, creators can make and sell games at very little cost. By keeping their expenses as low as possible, game designers can net more profit from their games. There are also more platforms to allow fans to directly contribute to creators, like Patreon.

Adding this all up, the 1,000 fan theory seems more achievable for game designers than ever before. But until the market expands enough to support more creatives in the field, economic conditions will continue to push everyone in the tabletop RPG field to test the 1,000 fan theory in the worst way...when they have a medical crisis.

 

[Xenonnonex]

America has +50% or more higher medical costs due to administrative costs that countries like Australia do not have in their system. Americans also pay more because the American medical system is a for profit industry. The care that the poor get is minimal, but that too gets price gouged when the palliative care costs 100 times the preventive care would have. The rich leave the US for medical care, going to places like Singapore for medical tourism. Ryan went to Canada for example.

Careful though. You might get Aebir-Toril saying "People. Receive. The. Same. Quality. Of. Care. Regardless of income in the US" again.

 

[dragoner]

Careful though. You might get Aebir-Toril saying "People. Receive. The. Same. Quality. Of. Care. Regardless of income in the US" again.

Right, because the rich would be fine with going to some crumbling, understaffed, mersa filled bedlam. Certainly people in America are in denial about how bad poverty is in America, tens of millions live in 3rd world conditions. Extreme poverty in America: read the UN special monitor's report

 

[Xenonnonex]

Right, because the rich would be fine with going to some crumbling, understaffed, mersa filled bedlam. Certainly people in America are in denial about how bad poverty is in America, tens of millions live in 3rd world conditions. Extreme poverty in America: read the UN special monitor's report

That is quite damning. And extremely alarming.

 

[Reynard]

This topic is not about either of them.

You try to make a career out of something that pays very poorly and this is what happens. You become unable to handle financial hardship when it happens.

Trying to blame politics and the current medical system because it does not allow you to follow your dreams no matter how poorly funded those dreams are does not mean the system is broken.

This actually helps bring the thread back on topic. Thank you.

Careers in the arts are often considered bad choices and people are expected to willingly receive substandard compensation for choosing careers in the arts compared to, say, finance? Why? Well, our culture worships money, so that's part of it. But video games make billions, and still most of the rank and file designers - most extremely talented in their disciplines - are terribly under paid for their efforts ( especially during lead up to launch "crunch") and are stymied at every turn to organize.

It isn't just that America has a bad health care system. It's also that America devalues the arts and therefore people in the arts are more impacted than other industries.

 

[Greatwyrm]

We are paying all sorts of things with our higher taxes. Roads, schools, the healthcare system, the military, etc. The imbalance is where the taxes are going. In America they are not going to the healthcare system. They are even really going to schools. They are going to the military.

I don't care where anybody is on the health insurance part, but this "all the spending is Military" thing is a very popular misconception.

USAspending.gov select FY 2018, since that's the last year with complete data.

Medicare (generally healthcare for old people) $1.1T
National Defense $995.6B

So, we spend very similar amounts for Defense and Medicare. This doesn't include spending on Medicaid (generally for the poor or disabled) which is funded jointly by the Federal and State governments.

"But the U.S. only spent $129.5B on Education!" Yes, at the Federal level. Most Education spending is by State and Local governments. The most recent official document I could find quickly is for FY 2017.

U.S. School Spending Per Pupil Increased for Fifth Consecutive Year

"In 2017, public elementary and secondary education revenue, from all sources, amounted to $694.1 billion, up 3.4% from $671.2 billion in 2016."

Which is roughly 2/3 of Defense spending, and doesn't include college spending.

 

[Sacrosanct]

.

The average cost of an ER operation is (I believe) $350, not including the fraction of cost deducted as a result of deduction eligibility.

This is simply not true. I have what is considered good insurance (the most expensive Kaiser plan). Last October, my son had to go to the ER for splitting his nose open. 15 stitches. 15 minutes of work. The hospital billed $4000 and then the doctor billed $2000 additional. My deductible is $6000 a year per family, and since they happened to be out of network, I was pretty much stuck with the whole thing. For a minor procedure. My situation isn’t that uncommon. An ambulance ride costs $10K, god forbid if anyone has to take one.

Sorry, but you’re grossly mistaken on your assumption.

 

[Ace]

This is a sad outcome for all

This is a combination of our so called RPG industry actually being a hobby with only a miniscule number of decently paid positions and the fact the US (and note other nations do not have this issue) not having a national health care system like pretty much every other developed and many less developed nations do.

The industry itself is beyond changing and going back to the 90's say where a small RPG publisher of something like Talislanta could make a decent living is simply not possible for a great many reasons.

As for changing the US healthcare system? That isn't impossible buts it's difficult as soon as any real change looks to take place a flood of money from vested interests puts an end to that. You need to have people in office who are smarter than the current crowd, resistant to campaign contributions and the rest of our essentially legalized bribery well liked enough to avoid the massive flows of money that every challenger will get when they try and dedicated to actual reform.

Keep in mind that national health care will gut the profits of big pharma (cost controls are integral to such systems) and the health insurance industry both of whom are larger than actual industry

That's a lot of opposition and vested interests and limitless cash opposing you. They can and would spend billions so the opposition would have to be more plucky than any resistance.

Basically to do this you need FDR 2 x 400 or so

This is not a party issue however

Certainly the Democratic party has been proven more amenable to national health care that the Republicans but the Affordable Care Act which demonstratively showed the Democrats can't do it right either.

After all the Democrats on a party line vote controlling the House, Senate and Presidency could not manage a good bill and the health care problems we have may have even gotten worse. The bill was essentially rewritten by lobbyists and in order to pass something, they passed a bill they didn't read and that isn't working as intended.

 

[Ace]

Absolutely agree with this. It really comes down to what is the market willing to pay a person for X. Love it or hate it, it’s capitalism.

This is why many nations have a national health care system and a welfare state, This serves to buffer the effects of the market and someone in the UK for example won't go without basic healthcare or food no matter how they make a living.

The US culture is rather different though. It's not European and it may not be possible to impose solutions that would work great in the UK or Sweden or France here.

There are a ton of reasons for this, none of them up for discussion but I think it's not too controversial to say that nearly everyone agrees that the US political system is poor at problem solving.

Massive amounts of political involvement might be able to fix it but this won't help folks now and that leaves aid up to this community.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Americans also pay more because the American medical system is a for profit industry.

This is another fundamental difference with the Australian public healthcare system. Our KPIs are patient focused and patient driven.

 

[Xenonnonex]

This is simply not true. I have what is considered good insurance (the most expensive Kaiser plan). Last October, my son had to go to the ER for splitting his nose open. 15 stitches. 15 minutes of work. The hospital billed $4000 and then the doctor billed $2000 additional. My deductible is $6000 a year per family, and since they happened to be out of network, I was pretty much stuck with the whole thing. For a minor procedure. My situation isn’t that uncommon. An ambulance ride costs $10K, god forbid if anyone has to take one.

Sorry, but you’re grossly mistaken on your assumption.

Something that requires $6000 is a massive blowout from the $350 average that is being disingenuously claimed.

Even discounting the cost of an ambulance ride that is an absurd amount just for stitching. Imagine if it was a transplant or an ORIF operation. Imagine if it was a more serious OR operation.