Sean K. Reynolds talks RPG salaries, puts his on record.

[Myrdin Potter]

Um... no.

Data from 2015 - Median income workers see a rise in their income of about 38% from ages 25 to 55, with most of that rise packed in the first decade. From age 35 on, income tends to flatten out for median range workers.

Workers in the top 5% will see a rise of about 250% over the same 30 year span. Those in the top 1% will see a rise of about 1450%.

Most folks don't so much as double their salaries, much less see a 10x increase.

Professionals, not all workers in general.

 

[Deset Gled]

Depends. Is representative of the industry actually reasonable?

I might not be answering this in the form intended, but my gut instinct is "no" because there's not a large enough sample size to draw reasonable conclusions. I suspect that the number of professional, full time TTRPG game devs may be too low to get any info that is statistically meaningful. To get numbers worthy of a full analysis, you'd probably need to get data from both TTRPG game devs and a number of other similar industries/roles. And honestly, I'm not completely certain what those comparisons would be. Computer games and board games are too different industry-wise to be meaningful. The closest might be fiction writers, with the benefit that you probably have a similar spread of full-timers vs. contract workers.

The numbers are still anecdotally interesting, though.

Professionals, not all workers in general.

10x increase over 20 years is averaging more than a 12% salary increase each year. With current levels of inflation, that's pretty unrealistic for most occupations.

 

[Umbran]

Professionals, not all workers in general.

Even if you are in the top 5% of wage earners, you see about a doubling of your income over the span. Only the very top end of wage-earners see a 10x rise over their careers.

There is an exercise for the reader in unpacking that "professionals" only refers to the top 1% or so - everyone else... isn't professional? They're amateurs?

 

[Jd Smith1]

They should both be questions - if representative salaries are not reasonable, that is very bad for the industry.

Not at all. The reality is that there is a labor glut in the RPG industry, and as long as it exists, it will be very good for the hobby.

 

[Umbran]

Not at all. The reality is that there is a labor glut in the RPG industry, and as long as it exists, it will be very good for the hobby.

I am not convinced that it is great for the industry, largely because I don't believe that the designer's salaries are the bulk of the cost of the product.

Hey, @Morrus ? On your kickstarter work, how much of the overall cost of production is paying the game designers? As opposed to printing, shipping marketing, and the like?

 

[Jd Smith1]

Even if you are in the top 5% of wage earners, you see about a doubling of your income over the span. Only the very top end of wage-earners see a 10x rise over their careers.

That's not true. For unskilled and low-skilled labor, and those who choose either mediocre career fields, or are poor performers, sure, a 10x increase is unlikely.

Over the course of my career I exceeded the 10x span.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I am not convinced that it is great for the industry, largely because I don't believe that the designer's salaries are the bulk of the cost of the product.

Hey, @Morrus ? On your kickstarter work, how much of the overall cost of production is paying the game designers? As opposed to printing, shipping marketing, and the like?

Note I said hobby, not industry.

 

[Morrus]

Hey, @Morrus ? On your kickstarter work, how much of the overall cost of production is paying the game designers? As opposed to printing, shipping marketing, and the like?

It depends how many units we're printing. That's a ratio that can vary widely.

That said, assuming we don't explode with a million dollar campaign or something, I expect the development cost to be about 5-10 times the manufacturing cost. The shipping costs -- don't even ask at the moment!

Someone like Avatar who are manufacturing and shipping for 80,000 backers, the ratio is assuredly very different.

 

[Jd Smith1]

It depends how many units we're printing. That's a ratio that can vary widely.

That said, assuming we don't explode with a million dollar campaign or something, I expect the development cost to be about 5-10 times the manufacturing cost. The shipping costs -- don't even ask at the moment!

Someone like Avatar who are manufacturing and shipping for 80,000 backers, the ratio is assuredly very different.

Wouldn't you ultimately sell more e-books than printed?

 

[Morrus]

Wouldn't you ultimately sell more e-books than printed?

Sometimes. Hard to predict. It's usually about even.