Why Wizards Has Lost Touch w/ Its Base

[Reynard]

Well, the 18-23 year old bracket is largely full-time students and people who went straight to work out of high school. With few exceptions, these guys have little income at all, disposable or otherwise. I mean, when I was that age I was going to college on borrowed money and paying for books and my other expenses out of meager summer job earnings. I mean, I spend a much lower percentage of my income on gaming materials now (at age 31) than I did when I was 20, or even 25, but it ends up being a lot more money in absolute terms. Granted, I'm single and live alone, but still...

Every corporation that pays for advertising on MTV, the CW and Fox disagrees with your anecdotal evidence.

 

[Vigilance]

Yeah yeah. Nobody's ever responsible, right? It's always somebody else to blame.

Sorry pal. I'm not buying into that line of crap this time.

I'm not going to give people who make a business decision premised upon cancelling a 30+ year old tradition that they perceive is too good a value - and is preventing them from picking the pockets of even MORE money from fans than ever before.

And what's this is about - nothing less. Dungeon was too good a deal and when it hurts more profitable adventure sales from WotC - better to just kill it and give the players something less for more $$.

I said so yesterday - and so did Monte Cook on another forum actually - premised upon the exact same analysis.

Except neither of us were prepared ot forgive the people who made these decisions so blithely as you are.

I take it you think this is all "just business", right?

Wrong. Dead frickin wrong. This is not "just business" - this concerns a deep and abiding passion for a hobby that is part of our lives and the fabric of who we are.

If that does not appear on a balance sheet for you - the look under the asset column under "goodwill". It's called trading upon a relationship and a deep and abiding affection that hundreds of thousands of customers have for a product line that the present powers that be had nothing to do with building or maintaining.

Instead, they have cynically spent that goodwill in order to maximize their short term bottom line. That may well be in the best interests of Hasbro - but it is most assuredly not in the player's best interests at all. This practice has gone on for over 30 years. Forgive if I thought that was a pretty good reason to expect it would continue for the next 30.

So you know what? Stop apologizing for people who treat their customers like , and put no value upon the traditions and expectations of gamers. If you won't do that, then don't expect people to back off just because you don't give a rat's ass.

Forget it pal. I'm in no mood for your spineless apologia.

Wow. Rant much?

Take a deep breath.

Wizards is a business. They're in the business of making money.

They have not kidnapped your daughter and sent you a picture of her tied up in their trunk.

They're making a change to the way they're publishing their magazines.

That is all.

 

[Biohazard]

Personally, I wish there was less churn in the D&D ruleset. That is, I wish the rules would settle down to a common agreed-upon set, like chess or baseball, so that players of different generations could all share the fun with each other. The fact that Wizards is financially incented to change the rules a lot every few years is a bad thing for D&D, in my opinion.

Quoted for truth.

Reminds me of Bob from Knights of the Dinner Table upon learning of the release of Hackmaster 4.25: "What's wrong with getting a set of rules and stickin' to them? It's worked for chess for like four hundred frickin' years! They don't overhaul the rules for baseball every season. Even board games have fixed rules. When was the last time you had to run out and buy Monopoly 2.0?"

 

[SavageRobby]

If Wizards cannot respond because they knew a decision would make people angry, that speaks volumes about the wisdom of their decision.

I'd say it also speaks volume about their strength of character. Or lack thereof.

 

[Vigilance]

I'd say it also speaks volume about their strength of character. Or lack thereof.

Or maybe it speaks volumes about the intensity of the mindless vitriol being spewed in some of these threads?

 

[Steel_Wind]

If D&D fails with WotC, odds are the game is dead.

That's a pile of crap. Really, it is. It is 100% dead wrong.

If WotC went bankrupt tomorrow - the Trustee in Bankruptcy would have a dozen bids on that IP in 60 days and D&D would be back on the market in less than four months' time.

Guaranfrickin teed. I'm a lawyer and I've been involved in IP fire sales through Trustees on many an occasion. It's no biggie.

D&D isn't going to fail. It isn't possible to outright fail with a brand this large. It's just degress of success and ROI. But ROI is an accounting assessment of performance based on money spent to buy a property - not a measurement of a successful market response. They are not the same thing - at all.

D&D is a huge brand with a huge IP. It is not dying - it is not going to die - and these sort of comments reflect a profound misunderstanding of business realities.

 

[Belen]

Wow. Rant much?

Take a deep breath.

Wizards is a business. They're in the business of making money.

They have not kidnapped your daughter and sent you a picture of her tied up in their trunk.

They're making a change to the way they're publishing their magazines.

That is all.

No. They are not making a change. They canceled them.

I am tired of the Wizards is a business to make money argument. People use that same tired excuse every time the company makes a bad decision. It is a crap argument. This time, however, I am voting with my wallet. I spent roughly $200/month on WOTC books and that quality has been sucking for a while now. They can do without my money now.

I will spend my game money elsewhere among people who play the game and not a bunch of corporate execs who are not a part of the hobby.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Wizards is a business. They're in the business of making money.

They're making a change to the way they're publishing their magazines.

That is all.

No. They are not.

A bank is in the business of "making money". WotC is in the hobby games business, to be carried on with a view to being profitable.

It is a distinction with a difference. One of those businesses is saddled with a great deal more goodwill and emotional involvment in a product line than the other. And with that benefit comes burdens.

Welcome to the burdens of consumer affection and goodwill.

As for "just changing the way the publish their magazines"... what are you smoking?

They cancelled the magazines because they were too good a value. Whatever model is given to us now - it's not going to be the physical product I first bought in 1979 and to which I have a deep and abiding attachment.

No big deal? To you, maybe.

 

[Vigilance]

No. They are not making a change. They canceled them.

I am tired of the Wizards is a business to make money argument. People use that same tired excuse every time the company makes a bad decision. It is a crap argument. This time, however, I am voting with my wallet. I spent roughly $200/month on WOTC books and that quality has been sucking for a while now. They can do without my money now.

I will spend my game money elsewhere among people who play the game and not a bunch of corporate execs who are not a part of the hobby.

No, they are not cancelling them. They're going to try a different format, a digital one.

And the level of vitriol in this thread is really getting old. Im getting tired of people just throwing out insults.

They killed and raped (in that order) your childhood.

I get it.

 

[Minicol]

I imagine it is less that they have loss touch with their customer base as people around here realizing they are just no longer part of that customer base anymore.

I own 100 % of WOTC D&D product and something like 95 % of the old TSR ones. I guess that qualifies as being part of the custmer base, at least when the marketing manager has a brain.

I am still VERY ANGRY about this decision.

Lately I have been very disappointed in the supplements, but I kept buying for the sake of the complete collection. I am surely not the only one like this around here.

I may be older than the target audience, but I have something the main audience DOESN'T HAVE : PURCHASING POWER. I could never have afforded my level of WOTC spending back when a was a student.

If I and the rest of the "old gang" stopped buying (I know quit a few nerds of my kind), then yes, WOTC WOULD feel the sting.