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Submitted for Your Consideration: Changes to ORIGINS Awards
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<blockquote data-quote="Anubis the Doomseer" data-source="post: 984557" data-attributes="member: 12455"><p><em>Originally posted by Fast Learner </em></p><p><strong>I don't think your analogy works in gaming, though. Do you really buy a gaming product that you think might be inferior to another because you'll buy the other one... when?</strong></p><p></p><p>This situation breaks down in one key area. Unless you are into pdf file-swapping you have to buy a book before you can read it and use the material - and therefore judge its value.</p><p></p><p>I can hawk a book and (through, for example, a house organ mag or incredible retailer penetration) sell a billion copies. But every single one of those buyers are disastisfied with their purchase. Am I the "best" or not? If you go by sales then yes I am, if you do some sort of follow up with the buyers - after they have time to read or play the material, the result may be very different. Many people buy games that end up being bad buys - they become almost cult hits because of their kitch value.</p><p></p><p>The problem is further compounded with FLGS' that polybag (and don't allow peeking), and internet sales (which you cannot peruse the material before buying).</p><p></p><p>Then comes along the problem of print run and the bias toward large publishers. If you go by copies sold = popularity then you are all but handing nominations to Hasbro, White Wolf et.al. because they can get the larger print runs - it's more cost effective for them. Factor in certain deals at the retailer level (for example, Exalted may be kick ass, but because you can't find it in a Toys R' Us, whereas you can find a copy of the PHB, which is going to have more "sales"). You are penalizing small presses twice - they can't afford to print many copies of their product, and they lack the weight with distributors and big box retailers that other companies may have.</p><p></p><p>And if you allow online sale figures... who are you going to trust? I can say I sold a billion copies of my pdf on my homepage, and nothing short of an audit of my books will prove otherwise.</p><p></p><p>Number of sales is a flawed way to measure quality or popularity.</p><p></p><p>- Ma'at</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Anubis the Doomseer, post: 984557, member: 12455"] [i]Originally posted by Fast Learner [/i] [B]I don't think your analogy works in gaming, though. Do you really buy a gaming product that you think might be inferior to another because you'll buy the other one... when?[/b] This situation breaks down in one key area. Unless you are into pdf file-swapping you have to buy a book before you can read it and use the material - and therefore judge its value. I can hawk a book and (through, for example, a house organ mag or incredible retailer penetration) sell a billion copies. But every single one of those buyers are disastisfied with their purchase. Am I the "best" or not? If you go by sales then yes I am, if you do some sort of follow up with the buyers - after they have time to read or play the material, the result may be very different. Many people buy games that end up being bad buys - they become almost cult hits because of their kitch value. The problem is further compounded with FLGS' that polybag (and don't allow peeking), and internet sales (which you cannot peruse the material before buying). Then comes along the problem of print run and the bias toward large publishers. If you go by copies sold = popularity then you are all but handing nominations to Hasbro, White Wolf et.al. because they can get the larger print runs - it's more cost effective for them. Factor in certain deals at the retailer level (for example, Exalted may be kick ass, but because you can't find it in a Toys R' Us, whereas you can find a copy of the PHB, which is going to have more "sales"). You are penalizing small presses twice - they can't afford to print many copies of their product, and they lack the weight with distributors and big box retailers that other companies may have. And if you allow online sale figures... who are you going to trust? I can say I sold a billion copies of my pdf on my homepage, and nothing short of an audit of my books will prove otherwise. Number of sales is a flawed way to measure quality or popularity. - Ma'at [/QUOTE]
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