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<blockquote data-quote="joethelawyer" data-source="post: 4572752" data-attributes="member: 55764">So, I've been active here for maybe a year.&nbsp; Been playing D&amp;D for maybe 25 yrs.&nbsp; Never played another RPG, other than a brief few month stint with MERP in the late 80's.&nbsp;&nbsp; I've played D&amp;D with the same basic group of people most of those 25 yrs.&nbsp; My D&amp;D experience is somewhat narrow, but longer than most (though not most here, it seems).After being here a year, I am amazed at the diversity of opinions, views, likes, dislikes, prejudices, biases, breadth of RPG experiences, games styles, house rules, experiences, and on and on and on.&nbsp; Basically, I don't think there is a D&amp;D gamer demographic that you can broadly stereotype for purposes of marketing and sales.&nbsp; The only thing I think most of us have in common, is that we eat chips and drink soda when playing. That, and we tend to be, on average, smarter than most people.Tha being said, how does a game company develop a product with the goal of high sales in mind?&nbsp; Whats the middle-ground sweet spot in terms of style/approach they try to appeal to?&nbsp; If there is no middle ground for broad appeal, what are the niche markets?&nbsp; For example, Goodman with the good old fashioned dungeon crawl, C&amp;C with old school flavor, Paizo/Pathfinder for the 3.5 feel and adventure paths, 4e for a more tactical approach, etc.?&nbsp; Are the niche markets adequately represented by the various 3pp's?&nbsp; Are there others not identified and not satisfied?&nbsp; If there is not a broad demographic for &quot;gamer&quot;, specifically &quot;D&amp;D gamer&quot;, are there other ways to break us down?Lets say I wanted to write an adventure module.&nbsp; If I do it because I like it, and do it in the style I like, it probably won't sell well.&nbsp; If I work for WOTC and am told to write a module to appeal to some sub-demographic, how do I even identify that group's likes and preferences?There's ths idea out there of &quot;The Great American Novel.&quot;&nbsp; Some people have called the Great Gatsby, or A Separate Peace the epitome of that Great American Novel. Whether you agree with those choices or not, at least most people think there is some sort of book that will appeal to most everyone.&nbsp; I don't think that's the case for modules, or any other RPG product.&nbsp; I think we're too diverse a group with to many sub-demographics.&nbsp; I doubt there will ever, or could ever, be an RPG product&nbsp; published that will have 85% of the ENWorld members say &quot;Holy Crap!!!&nbsp; That's one of the coolest things EVER!&quot;I don't really think I had a point to this post, other than to try and articulate what has been churning around in my head for a few weeks, and maybe start a discusion about it, if anyone is interested.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="joethelawyer, post: 4572752, member: 55764"] So, I've been active here for maybe a year. Been playing D&D for maybe 25 yrs. Never played another RPG, other than a brief few month stint with MERP in the late 80's. I've played D&D with the same basic group of people most of those 25 yrs. My D&D experience is somewhat narrow, but longer than most (though not most here, it seems). After being here a year, I am amazed at the diversity of opinions, views, likes, dislikes, prejudices, biases, breadth of RPG experiences, games styles, house rules, experiences, and on and on and on. Basically, I don't think there is a D&D gamer demographic that you can broadly stereotype for purposes of marketing and sales. The only thing I think most of us have in common, is that we eat chips and drink soda when playing. That, and we tend to be, on average, smarter than most people. Tha being said, how does a game company develop a product with the goal of high sales in mind? Whats the middle-ground sweet spot in terms of style/approach they try to appeal to? If there is no middle ground for broad appeal, what are the niche markets? For example, Goodman with the good old fashioned dungeon crawl, C&C with old school flavor, Paizo/Pathfinder for the 3.5 feel and adventure paths, 4e for a more tactical approach, etc.? Are the niche markets adequately represented by the various 3pp's? Are there others not identified and not satisfied? If there is not a broad demographic for "gamer", specifically "D&D gamer", are there other ways to break us down? Lets say I wanted to write an adventure module. If I do it because I like it, and do it in the style I like, it probably won't sell well. If I work for WOTC and am told to write a module to appeal to some sub-demographic, how do I even identify that group's likes and preferences? There's ths idea out there of "The Great American Novel." Some people have called the Great Gatsby, or A Separate Peace the epitome of that Great American Novel. Whether you agree with those choices or not, at least most people think there is some sort of book that will appeal to most everyone. I don't think that's the case for modules, or any other RPG product. I think we're too diverse a group with to many sub-demographics. I doubt there will ever, or could ever, be an RPG product published that will have 85% of the ENWorld members say "Holy Crap!!! That's one of the coolest things EVER!" I don't really think I had a point to this post, other than to try and articulate what has been churning around in my head for a few weeks, and maybe start a discusion about it, if anyone is interested. [/QUOTE]

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