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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Adso" data-source="post: 656174" data-attributes="member: 6706">The business logic is simple, and a mainstay for every company with a business plan—know your market, support that market, and trim the fat where you can in lean years. We know what people are playing through our reporting. Less than 1% of the membership is playing non-d20 System games. As for Virtual Seattle, both Ian Richards and I talked to Wes Nicholson about this. While disappointed, he does understand the reasons why we made the decision. VS numbers have been slipping consistently for the past couple of years. For every game of VS reported to us there are 500 tables of other, d20 Living events (that is not counting D&D events, just other d20 Systems). Living Rokugan's numbers are similar, falling well below younger d20 System (and non-WotC-owned setting) campaigns. The RPGA is a 20+ year organization, filled with enthusiasts who have stuck with this hobby long after the Johnny-come-lately packed it up to play Everquest 8 hours a day. And with each member there is a fond story of finding a great game or program, and a desire to keep the nostalgia alive. My personal favorites are team events. More than 10 years ago, before Living City hit our conventions, my gaming group played those events religiously. We loved them. We won a lot. And we all joined the RPGA to participate in them. I would love team events to be a strong a vital part of the RPGA, but the fact is, with the exception of the D&D Open, which is the largest and longest-running D&D organized play tournament in history, it just isn’t. While there is a part of me that would love to see everyone share the same enjoyment that I had playing team events, is it smarter to launch a new program that I doubt will be played, or put those resources into working with the D&D Open team to make their event the best it can be? Every once in a while I get an e-mail from someone asking to bring home Dawn Patrol events—that’s right Dawn Patrol. Why? Because early in its history the RPGA ran some great Dawn Patrol events, and the players of those events look back fondly at them. But tastes change, and we have a larger organization to support. You pick your battles. And you go for giving the best time to the most players. The RPGA is not, and never has be a stagnate organization.When we have tens of thousands of active members playing Living d20 events each month, and less than a hundred playing non-d20 System games in the same amount of time, how can the decision to focus more on the programs members play most not be a member-supported decision? They have made their decisions with their play patterns. And we have listened to how they are playing RPGs. Just like every other department at Wizards of the Coast we have been affected by cuts. We have had our budget cut as our membership soars. When I first started working at Wizards of the Coast the RPGA had eight full-time employees, and a much larger budget. Now two years later we have over double the amount of members (and events run each year) with two full-time employees. We have to maximize what we do best. Will a small group of people be disappointed? Yes. Do I deeply respect the opinions of the people in that group? Yes. But even they must know that it is our goal and our mandate to provide the programming that players want to play. That, coupled with the fact that Wizards of the Coast should not do the organized play and marketing for games owned or run by other companies unless we have a deal in writing with those companies, I submit makes this decision the best and smartest one for the organization.</blockquote>

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