WotC's New Player Strategies - Thoughts?

[MerricB]

This is rather different. The first couple of slides give a base of 6.5 million people they think are potential players. I think the active player base at the time of the WotC survey was 1.5 million or so.

Do you know of people who probably would like D&D if they gave it a try?

It's a fascinating structure that WotC have envisioned about the growth of D&D, and it will be interesting to see how successful it will be.

I'd love to know Ryan Dancey's take on all of this, actually.

Cheers!

 

[Azlan]

Do you know of people who probably would like D&D if they gave it a try?

I cannot think of anyone -- anyone -- I personally know who'd be interested in D&D who hasn't already given it a try. Decades ago, back when I was in my early teens, D&D was relatively unknown and very hard to find. But nowadays? What 13-year-old with an inclination toward sci-fi and fantasy hasn't already been introduced somehow, in some way, to D&D?

Well, okay... I'm sure there are still a few out there, scattered across the country, who haven't had a decent introduction to D&D. Like, um, maybe, in the Amish towns of Utah... ?

 

[Mark]

...across the country...

Think bigger...

 

[Azlan]

Think bigger...

What, are there still some Pygmies in the heart of Africa who haven't heard of D&D? Well, by golly, get them on board!

 

[Dragonblade]

What, are there still some Pygmies in the heart of Africa who haven't heard of D&D? Well, by golly, get them on board!

Dude! Don't make me laugh when I'm drinking in front of my PC!

 

[Sir Whiskers]

I find it interesting that the basic set - targeted at new players - will include 16 mini's. On the one hand, this means new gamers should have everything they need to start play, and mini's can be a good addition to a game session.

OTOH, it raises the price of the basic set to $24.95. Take out the mini's, and the price could probably drop to the $9.95 - $12.95 range, which is easier for kids/teens to afford. Also, while many players in a group will want to have the rules, not every player needs the mini's. I suspect a lot of buyers will copy the short rulebooks at Kinko's, rather than buy multiple copies of the basic set.

Of course, WOTC's idea is surely to drive gamers to buy the core books (and more mini's), not multiple copies of the basic set. Which suggests that the basic set will be good for only a few sessions, before the players run out of material and are forced to upgrade. Purely on a dollar-value basis, it may not be a very good buy. But as an introduction 3E, it's certainly cheaper than the $90 cost of the core books, so we'll see if it fulfills its purpose and brings in new blood. (As an aside, I wonder how many basic sets will be purchased by those who already have the core books?)

Note: this is not a rant against WOTC wanting to make money on DnD. It's just a series of observations and guesses concerning their apparent strategy with the basic set.

 

[Dragonblade]

I think MTV is a good idea but they really need a way of showing that D&D can be cool.


For example, one ad I thought was to have a kid in high school, slightly bookish but not bad looking, run into some jock who gives him a hard time for carrying a D&D 1ed PHB with him.

Have the D&D player give the camera a knowing nod or wink.

Then flash forward to about ten years later. The bookish guy pulls up to some fast food drive thru in sports car with a total babe. The implication is that he became some rich IT business exec or something. The jock is now overweight and balding and working the drive thru window.

They recognize each other and then the old jock notices the babe holding a 3.5 PHB. The jock makes some stupid comment about playing D&D. The bookish guy looks down at his wallet filled with 100 dollar bills, then the babe, and then his sports car and then says some witty comeback.

The camera fades and some cool D&D catchprase. Like "D&D. Expand your horizons." Or "D&D. Supercharge your mind." The implication being that playing D&D denotes higher intellect and the financial rewards that can come with that.

 

[Azlan]

Of course, WOTC's idea is surely to drive gamers to buy the core books (and more mini's), not multiple copies of the basic set. Which suggests that the basic set will be good for only a few sessions, before the players run out of material and are forced to upgrade. Purely on a dollar-value basis, it may not be a very good buy. But as an introduction 3E, it's certainly cheaper than the $90 cost of the core books, so we'll see if it fulfills its purpose and brings in new blood.

I'm sure there are some former marketing executives for TSR out there who'd respond to that by saying, disappointedly, "Been there. Done that."

 

[stevelabny]

The implication being that playing D&D denotes higher intellect and the financial rewards that can come with that.

Or that jocks are stupid.

Nothing like replacing one insulting stereotype with another.

The only thing the bothers me more than people making fun of geeks, is when geeks make fun of jocks. Some of us are both.

 

[Dragonblade]

So am I. I played football in high school, ran track, and have a blackbelt in Taekwondo.

The point of the ad is to take the stereotype that being a jock is cool and that nerds are losers and totally twist it around.