Steps to Demonetize the TTRPG Hobby

[Mannahnin]

Are you in New England? Me, too!

New Hampshire. You?

 

[GothmogIV]

The Mighty Commonwealth of Massachusetts!

 

[Emerikol]

There are more people than ever trying to make money in this hobby, which has grown in size over the past 12 years into a multibillion dollar industry. If that's your jam, go for it! If you make things people want to buy, and make some scratch selling it, fantastic.

I've always been baffled that people are so against anyone making money. It's the lie that all people who buy something have been ripped off somehow by the company. Most things we buy are vastly beyond our ability to make for ourselves.

 

[eudyptes]

Except beginners sets, there are pretty much no fully playable RPG boxed sets which include everything needed to play and a way to store the progress (character and game) in the box.

You can pay a lot of money for RPGs, but you dont get the high production value of just having 1 fully playable box which 1 player can have at home.

Is this really a thing that (many) people want? The one or two starter sets I had, I got rid of. I'd much rather have books than a box. Maybe it's because I'm anchored on my history of, y'know, AD&D, etc., but I don't like the trend I've seen with RPGs coming boxed. I don't see it as a production value, I see it as addition of stuff I don't need that adds cost (specialized dice, a poster that's never coming out of the box, etc.). But maybe your point is that these sorts of boxes COULD be done well but aren't. For me, I don't see how I would ever prefer the box to the book.

 

[Fenris-77]

RPGs coming boxed isn’t iexactly a trend though, is it? Unless by trend you mean since the late 70s.

 

[VashVet]

IMO, box sets allow for more player handouts and full spread maps in a much more usable form factor versus having it in a book, so that’s one thing in their favor.

 

[Desdichado]

I've always been baffled that people are so against anyone making money. It's the lie that all people who buy something have been ripped off somehow by the company. Most things we buy are vastly beyond our ability to make for ourselves.

There are, generally, pretty easily explainable reasons for why people think that way. To wit:
1) they don't want to spend any money, so people shouldn't charge them anything.
2) they are entitled narcissists and/or psycopaths who don't care about other people, only getting what they want with as little inconvenience as possible.
3) they literally have no understanding whatsoever what is involved in making things happen. Kind of like people who turn on the faucet and just expect water to come out of it without any understanding of the water system, plumbing and the water bill; it just happens if you turn the knob!

None of them are good reasons in the sense that they are sustainable or sensible, but they are good reasons in that they go a long way towards explaining why people think that.

 

[billd91]

Tale as old as time. People value something enough to want it or access to it (music, cheap food delivery, being waited on at tables, games, art, clean bathrooms, etc) but not enough to pay a fair or sustainable price for it (and that goes for producers/employers as well, not just consumers).

That said, I think there are arguments to be made that some of the things people want (even need) are inflated in price beyond sustainability. But this isn't a discussion about either health care or higher education...

 

[Umbran]

2) they are entitled narcissists and/or psycopaths who don't care about other people, only getting what they want with as little inconvenience as possible.

Suggesting someone who doesn't want to pay for a game has a mental health issue is not acceptable behavior around here. No, the fact that you don't name individuals doesn't make it okay.

Please keep your amateur armchair psychiatric diagnoses to yourself.

 

[delericho]

I've always been baffled that people are so against anyone making money. It's the lie that all people who buy something have been ripped off somehow by the company. Most things we buy are vastly beyond our ability to make for ourselves.

I have to agree. I quite like the idea that people who make things I like can afford to continue making those things.