WOTC ad - insulting to gamers?

[Vocenoctum]

Put me down in the "funny" thread. I didn't see anything insulting about it at all.

 

[Umbran]

They are using this ad to attract online gamers to the tabletop gaming, yet they are doing it in such a way as to offend a good many of them.
Not very smart, IMHO.

Wait. Think about this ad for a second... It was in Dungeon right? How in the world is an ad in Dungeon suposed to be trying to attract online gamers? Online gamers don't buy or read Dungeon. The only people who would ever see the thing are already tabletop gamers. Ergo, your thesis is probably false.

 

[francisca]

I wouldn't say that I was personally offended by it, I was commenting on what I suspect is cluelessness on the part of WOTC's ad agency. They are using this ad to attract online gamers to the tabletop gaming, yet they are doing it in such a way as to offend a good many of them.
Not very smart, IMHO.

Yup. Totally agree. I wasn't offended in a personal way. However, pissing on the shoes of potentially large demographic you want to market to isn't very smart.

 

[Dark Jezter]

The ad is only insulting if you choose to interpret it that way.

Personally, I think it's pretty darn funny.

 

[Crothian]

Its a fine ad, I think one has to try to be offended to get offended at that.....

 

[Navior]

I wasn't at all offended. I thought it was really quite funny.

 

[Imhotepthewise]

I thought this was funny as all get out.

 

[dren]

I think it's a funny ad.

And it appeals to both sides of the gaming genre, both those who see and want D&D as a social game with friends as well as a lot of closet gamer geeks who may not get together live with other people...but want that "pseudo-fantasy" experience whether they first got it by gaming when they were younger, reading novels or even watching TV shows (Hercules and Xena jump to mind.) The latter group, if they actually see it, will get the joke, laugh and hopefully will think about the ad if they are ever in the mood to buy a game.

 

[The Hound]

Wait. Think about this ad for a second... It was in Dungeon right? How in the world is an ad in Dungeon suposed to be trying to attract online gamers? Online gamers don't buy or read Dungeon. The only people who would ever see the thing are already tabletop gamers. Ergo, your thesis is probably false.

Yes, but the ad was obviously designed for use in other magazines aimed at online players, so I am assuming that it is/will be appearing those magazines also. Running it only in Dragon and Dungeon makes no sense at all, since like you said, it is aimed at a target audience that does not read those mags. However, if the ad is part of a major new advertising campaign then I can see how WOTC might place it in its core publications to make its core audience aware of what it is doing, with the aim of getting them to help support the campaign by inviting online gamers they know to try D&D. If the latter, we should be hearing something more explicit from them in the near future.

 

[D'karr]

People get offended easily. Too easily, if you ask me.