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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cbas_10" data-source="post: 3820899" data-attributes="member: 55767">2 points...First...what is a grognard?  A person who simply prefers something old over the newest lastes thing?  A person who prefers the old way for wierd reasons?  Or....something else?Next thing.  Nobody has mentioned the internet's role in the decline of pen and paper RPGs (i'm not jumping on the PnP players vs. MMO players slugfest; keep reading).  Hobby/Game Stores are essential to the RPG industry.  Computer RPGs and MMOs can survive without Target and Walmart, but D&D could not survive with periodic conventions alone.  RPGs are social games.  People sit at a table (or wherever) together, become friends, and have to meet new people to keep gaming groups active.  Without a place to meet like-minded people, there may be limited ways to attract groups of existing players, but new players will trickle in very slowly by word-of-mouth.  Usually in the form of close friends or family members.  In those cases (as we have all done before), how often will the phrase, "Don't worry about buying the book...use mine" be uttered?  Groups and players will slowly erode away, because it is hard to find new players that have departed and hard to find new games when you have departed.Why is it becoming harder to find players?  There are fewer stores that not only sell the games, but also find it profitable to promote them.  Game stores are essential to the future of games, as that is the best way to get the word out - not about introducing a new game - but about touting the fact that other people are playing it.  Computer games have no such issue.  There is an entire world at the other end of the ethernet cable waiting to play.  RPGs require a bit more of a personal touch (I have little faith in the idea of playing D&D over an online digital table.  technology is not yet advanced enough to make such a game experience casual enough that the proper attention could be applied to the role-playing aspect).  RPGs require a bit of time, physical space, and manpower to convince new/potential players that the game is not going to be gone and unsupported as soon as the first suppliment is purchased.  A number of factors figure in to this lack of profitablity: this is where I tie the internet back into the picture.  In no particular order, a couple of items have put the hurt on store owners.  First of all, we have discount internet sellers.  Yes, I know the economics of mass quantities/lower prices, not needing a storefront on the internet, other reduced costs and all that.  It is not the fault of the store owner for charging too much (they have to pay certain amounts from distributors and then have to make a fair profit - otherwise, why be in business?), and it is not the fault of internet conspirators.  It is the fact of how economics roll.  Only one thing could alter this:  most (75%) of groups and players I game with still intentionally support the more expensive local stores.  We find value in the extra dollars spent: a place to hang out, a place to meet new people for the hobby, and a store owner that will go "an extra mile" for us when we ask him to search for an old book...hold copies of Dragon until we can get back in town from a work trip...and other personal touches that you will be hard pressed to find online.Second: file-sharing and hard-disk bookshelves of pirated books.  Admit it, people.  It happens more than anyone wants to say it.  If I didn't own so many of the books, I might have done it for a hardcover here or there.  I admit that I searched for module pdfs so that I could cannibalize the maps for my own game.  Then I found the map-a-week on WotC's site.  But you can certainly see it happening if you get on any of the networks.  We can use all of the same arguments and precedents and excuses that have been used in the music industry.  This is the same thing.  Unfortunately, these games are not broadcast to everyone everywhere, saturating people's awareness with at least a fair idea of what is going on.  The music industry is recovering and changing; music is not going away.  However, there is nothing at all wrong with probing the internet for what you want and listening to a song by yourself.</blockquote>

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