SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
As someone who's been going to Gen Con for years (my first was at UW Parkside) I found WotC's presence at the con to be rather sad. Alas for the days of the castle!
Let's be honest: there was no practical reason for TSR/WotC to have that castle other than showing that they were the big dog in the industry. Those banners in the halls where they would run Living Forgotten Realms clearly showed this was a big company with tons of people playing.
Morrus' picture of the game hall this year had nothing advertising who was there, so you'd have no idea that people in that hall were playing D&D as opposed to Pathfinder or ... any other game. That doesn't manage perception very well.
With the launch of 5E, you would think that managing perceptions in the marketplace would be important for them again. They submitted entries to the ENnies, for instance, which they haven't always done. That's totally about perception in the marketplace.
I don't work in marketing, but I've been part of enough teams that do (as support) to know that perception of who you are in the market is seen as the key.
If you came to Gen Con and didn't already know about who the big players were, you wouldn't even think about WotC and D&D, since they didn't have anything on display, which is kind of sad because they have the promotional materials, they just didn't send them and get it set up. Where was the giant Drizzt?
If WotC has ceded control of Gen Con to other games, that's (obviously) their choice but I would call it a questionable one. 62000 plus people at the con, wow that's a lot, and this used to be their convention.
It's just a sad day when we can't talk about the attack on the castle in a Gen Con wrap up.
Let's be honest: there was no practical reason for TSR/WotC to have that castle other than showing that they were the big dog in the industry. Those banners in the halls where they would run Living Forgotten Realms clearly showed this was a big company with tons of people playing.
Morrus' picture of the game hall this year had nothing advertising who was there, so you'd have no idea that people in that hall were playing D&D as opposed to Pathfinder or ... any other game. That doesn't manage perception very well.
With the launch of 5E, you would think that managing perceptions in the marketplace would be important for them again. They submitted entries to the ENnies, for instance, which they haven't always done. That's totally about perception in the marketplace.
I don't work in marketing, but I've been part of enough teams that do (as support) to know that perception of who you are in the market is seen as the key.
If you came to Gen Con and didn't already know about who the big players were, you wouldn't even think about WotC and D&D, since they didn't have anything on display, which is kind of sad because they have the promotional materials, they just didn't send them and get it set up. Where was the giant Drizzt?
If WotC has ceded control of Gen Con to other games, that's (obviously) their choice but I would call it a questionable one. 62000 plus people at the con, wow that's a lot, and this used to be their convention.
It's just a sad day when we can't talk about the attack on the castle in a Gen Con wrap up.