State of the Gaming Industry

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Aycarus
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State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Aycarus »

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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by PhoneLobster »

Well damnit I saw it and I found it interesting.

I blame WOTC for being increasingly crap.

I also blame the rising price of oil and world wide union busting and labour force bullying for the distinct drop in consumer confidence and spending power that is decimating the luxury goods sector throughout the west.

So there.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by power_word_wedgie »

This is one of the few times that I will use nested quotes, I promise ...

Let's extend this conversation over into this thread:

Crissa at [unixtime wrote:1143752643[/unixtime]]
power_word_wedgie at [unixtime wrote:1143294750[/unixtime]]I only note that since systems like Traveller d20, BESM d20, and Stargate d20 never ever took off in my area. The only game that I know that took off here was D20 Modern.

I always hear this, but regional differences are irrelevent. Book sales are totals, not averages. And supplements, be it third party or first, always sell a tenth or less the copies of the core.


Ok, I can buy into the fact that supplements sell far less than core books. However, in some ways, that's precisely the point: If d20 Modern's core book sales is "x" and Stargate SG-1 d20 core book sales are "y", if "x" is magnitudes larger than "y", by definition the supplement sales of for "y" are going to be magnitudes larger than "x."

Also, the other thing that concerns me is that you said in one of your posts in the previous thread:

Crissa wrote:D&D sales have been dying ever since. The d20 segment is still strong - third party products still sell, just not as well, the segment is shrinking with the flagship.


The only thing I don't get is if the d20 segment is still going strong, then why does Aycarus' link that RPG sales are falling by 45%? If they have dropped by 45%, I would say that it is "going strong." One could say that it's not the d20 publishers, but why is it that 25% of the gaming companies (mostly d20 publishers) are the ones going out of business. And coupled with the >LINK< that I provided, though it does not highlight what current sales are (I'll leave that with the data that you have), it does show what the future releases will seem to be. From that link, he's saying that if you're an freelancer, unless you've got something with WotC, then this year is going to be rough. That somewhat goes in line with what Aycarus' link describes with respect to d20.

If anything, what would have hurt supplementary sales is that really there isn't a huge difference between D&D 3.0 and 3.5. Thus, it isn't like it is impossible to house rule into existance 3.5 compatibility - in fact it is pretty simple. It's not like it is impossible to house rule the 3.5 differences into my 3.0 splat books, for example.


No, 3.5 didn't sell as many books as 3.0.


And I wouldn't expect it to sell as many book. When you're releasing a new edition after (a) having the company closed for a few year and (b) one of the all-time selling movie franchises LotR:Fellowship of the Ring bringing in interest to fantasy gendre, you're going to get high sales. Yes, LotR:The Return of the King came out after the release of 3.5, but the people that were attracted to the fantasy gendre did so back at the release of LotR:Fellowship of the Ring. If anything, that probably influenced fantasy sales more than anything.

Now that you can't get it... It may not be reissued.


Yes you can. The 3.0 books on EBay and used book shelves of gaming stores. Heck, if you really wanted to, you could download the 3.0 SRD and use the 3.5 core books for the filler. It's the same argument for AD&D 2nd edition and 1st edition, and I can still get books for both of those editions relatively easily. Is it as easy as 3.5? Of course not.

Frank thinks they're working on 4.0, but this is Hasbro, not some company that cares or relies upon the core product. Heck, there's authors out there who had a medicore first book sales, then their second book sold out like hotcakes - but since it's sold out, and the number that was printed was lower than the first book, they won't republish. That's what the real world of publishing is like.


As for when 4.0 is going to be released, that's all speculation. Yeah, I heard some of the people get nervous about the release from recent trade shows, but that doesn't mean that the are going to release soon - but of course it doesn't mean that they won't. As I said, speculation.

As for your publishing example, I can believe it. Let's say that the first book published 500 units, but only 200 were sold. (I'd call that lackluster sales) Then, let's say that you release a second book with only a 100 unit run, and it sells out. There's nothing stating with the sellout of the second book that the trend is better than the first book. It could be, but then it could not. Maybe if you did a 500 unit run, only 150 of the books would have been bought - or maybe all 500 would have been bought. Still in the realm of speculation.

Yes, the lack of differences did sink it slightly, but there were enough differences for anyone who was playing with a new group of 3.5 only, to need the 3.5 books.

-Crissa


I would say that the word "need" may be a little strong for this case. After all, they could have just downloaded the SRD if they really couldn't afford the new books. Of course, this isn't the intention of the SRD, but it is an option that I know some players have taken.

Aycarus: Yeah, the news does sound a little grim. However, I'm not sure that I the future is completely going to be PDFs and on-line stores. Beyond that, for looking at some of the follow-up posts, it doesn't look like gmskarka takes criticism well. (just an observation)
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by dbb »

power_word_wedgie at [unixtime wrote:1143936841[/unixtime]]Beyond that, for looking at some of the follow-up posts, it doesn't look like gmskarka takes criticism well. (just an observation)


Well -- no. Whenever I've had the opportunity to observe Skarka interacting with people, he's acted like a condescending asshole. Then again, that disease has been with the RPG industry pretty much since its inception.

--d.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by RandomCasualty »

RPGs are a diminishing returns business. The biggest sales come in the beginning with the core rules, and everything else sells to a smaller and smaller market.

The problem is that everything adds on material, and sooner or later people decide they've got enough material.

Basically to keep the market going, they have to release 4.0, otherwise they'll gradually go downhill till they collapse. I mean, hell that's why white wolf produced it's new edition of storyteller, to sell more books. It's why they deliberately changed the storyline of vampire, mage and werewolf... because they wanted people to rebuy the books they already had.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Crissa »

d20 content producers made up the majority of 'game companies' (by population, not size) the), hence it's no surprise they're a number of those falling by the wayside.

Nothing in the OT link disputes what I said, as...

...It comes from the industry mag, which is the best source for industry stats. I was a subscriber (until this year).

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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Crissa »

power_word_wedgie at [unixtime wrote:1143936841[/unixtime]]Ok, I can buy into the fact that supplements sell far less than core books. However, in some ways, that's precisely the point: If d20 Modern's core book sales is "x" and Stargate SG-1 d20 core book sales are "y", if "x" is magnitudes larger than "y", by definition the supplement sales of for "y" are going to be magnitudes larger than "x."

I didn't say y was larger than x, I said thee number of different 'y's were many times more than the number of 'x's.

The only thing I don't get is if the d20 segment is still going strong, then why does Aycarus' link that RPG sales are falling by 45%?

Uhh, because d20 is the segment which is shrinking the least?

Just because the industry as a whole is going down the tubes (sinking with the flagship product?) doesn't mean there aren't sales at all.

When you're releasing a new edition after (a) having the company closed for a few year and (b) one of the all-time selling movie franchises LotR:Fellowship of the Ring bringing in interest to fantasy gendre, you're going to get high sales.

This statement seems to have no relation to reality.

Now that you can't get it... It may not be reissued.

Yes you can. The 3.0 books on EBay and used book shelves of gaming stores. Heck, if you really wanted to, you could download the 3.0 SRD and use the 3.5 core books for the filler.

Wow, that's going to stock stores? Support an industry?

As for your publishing example, I can believe it. Let's say that the first book published 500 units, but only 200 were sold. (I'd call that lackluster sales) Then, let's say that you release a second book with only a 100 unit run, and it sells out. There's nothing stating with the sellout of the second book that the trend is better than the first book. It could be, but then it could not. Maybe if you did a 500 unit run, only 150 of the books would have been bought - or maybe all 500 would have been bought. Still in the realm of speculation.

This doesn't even match my example, nor does it have anything to do with reality.

Nor does it get more of the book out to more customers who want this? To sell out of a book, customers have to actually ask for a book. It doesn't sell out by sitting on a shelf somewhere - because all of the books in a run don't sit on shelves where customers can see them!

Aycarus: Yeah, the news does sound a little grim. However, I'm not sure that I the future is completely going to be PDFs and on-line stores. Beyond that, for looking at some of the follow-up posts, it doesn't look like gmskarka takes criticism well. (just an observation)

Actually, as you pointed out, there were many d20 publishers going out of business - many of them with a online PDF presence. Without the brick-and-mortar gathering place, games die.

Such is life. Gaming has come and gone before. But none of this contradicts what I said.

At least you're not someone crowing how they got Core 3.5 for less than game stores can buy it for - at Wal-Mart - and saying they don't need stores to indroduce them to new games or gamers.

-Crissa
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by PhoneLobster »

Someway somehow the 3.5 core books are back on the shelf down at the local game store.

Sure they only have one copy of each, but after several months they are no longer the dodo of the gaming shelf.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by power_word_wedgie »

Crissa at [unixtime wrote:1144108414[/unixtime]]
power_word_wedgie at [unixtime wrote:1143936841[/unixtime]]Ok, I can buy into the fact that supplements sell far less than core books. However, in some ways, that's precisely the point: If d20 Modern's core book sales is "x" and Stargate SG-1 d20 core book sales are "y", if "x" is magnitudes larger than "y", by definition the supplement sales of for "y" are going to be magnitudes larger than "x."

I didn't say y was larger than x, I said thee number of different 'y's were many times more than the number of 'x's.


Ok, I won't argue that. If something is more popular, it will invariably spark more supplements. However, are you saying that the main supplement sales of "y" are the same for the main supplement sales of "x"? I find that hard to believe.

The only thing I don't get is if the d20 segment is still going strong, then why does Aycarus' link that RPG sales are falling by 45%?

Uhh, because d20 is the segment which is shrinking the least?

Just because the industry as a whole is going down the tubes (sinking with the flagship product?) doesn't mean there aren't sales at all.


Well, sales don't have to go to zero - they just have to go below a threshold value for an organization to stay open. gmskarky notes that 25% of gaming companies (mostly d20) have gone out of business. Also, Mearls notes in my links that WotC are the only ones that are hiring freelancers. Doesn't bode well for other organizations.

When you're releasing a new edition after (a) having the company closed for a few year and (b) one of the all-time selling movie franchises LotR:Fellowship of the Ring bringing in interest to fantasy gendre, you're going to get high sales.

This statement seems to have no relation to reality.


Wow! LotR franchise not generating interest in the fantasy gendre? Apparently, the movies didn't do as well where you live than where I live. And TSR must have never gone out of business "according to reality." Ok ....

Yes you can. The 3.0 books on EBay and used book shelves of gaming stores. Heck, if you really wanted to, you could download the 3.0 SRD and use the 3.5 core books for the filler.

Wow, that's going to stock stores? Support an industry?


I never said that 3.0 core book sales would stock stores or support an industry. I said that people looking for them can find them. It's like saying that it's unfortunate that the Escort doen't support auto sales these days.

This doesn't even match my example, nor does it have anything to do with reality.


Hey, I was working with what I was given for an example, which was nothing. If you want to provide more clear data to explain your condition, be my guest.

Nor does it get more of the book out to more customers who want this? To sell out of a book, customers have to actually ask for a book. It doesn't sell out by sitting on a shelf somewhere - because all of the books in a run don't sit on shelves where customers can see them!


Agreed. But if you have 200 people "ask" for book A from a 500 book run and 100 people "ask" for book B from a 100 book run, (a) which one sold out and (b) which one sold more books.

Actually, as you pointed out, there were many d20 publishers going out of business - many of them with a online PDF presence. Without the brick-and-mortar gathering place, games die.


I agree. I go to my local gaming store to buy my books because (a) he's a great guy and (b) he has bulletin boards for gamer to post player wanted posts.

But none of this contradicts what I said.


However, very little actually backs it up either - especially when it comes to d20.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Username17 »

Also, Mearls notes in my links that WotC are the only ones that are hiring freelancers. Doesn't bode well for other organizations.


I happen to know that Fanpro is also hiring freelancers. I couldn't tell you about White Wolf.

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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

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wrote:Wow! LotR franchise not generating interest in the fantasy gendre?


I'm going to have to dispute this.

I want proof that the LOTR movies "generated" anything.

Because otherwise its much easier to explain by the simple fact that a vast existing and well proven interest in fantasy in general and the lord of the rings in particular generated ticket sales for LOTR.

Since when did LOTR generate interest in fantasy in general? Where are all the fantasy films and TV shows exploiting this? The glut of books? The additional hoards of fans clamoring for the above?

Hell I have yet to see any LOTR merchandise escape from where it CONTINUES to moulder away on shelfs in various stores. The LOTR spin off computer games are widely regarded as disappointing pieces of crap. And the games workshop LOTR miniatures game appears to be a total flop (that falling games workshop sales thing and the LOTR miniatures game, entirely a coincidence?).

Anyone with an interest in the genre knows it has a massive and underexploited following among the general public. The lord of the rings movies were just the latest big opportunity to see a popular and under represented genre on the big screen.

Producing the remaining sequel books to the film Willow would have done the same.

There is no reason I see to believe they brought any flood of new blood to the general fantasy fan base.

And the same goes for Harry Potter and witch craft.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Josh_Kablack »

FrankTrollman at [unixtime wrote:1144131295[/unixtime]]
Also, Mearls notes in my links that WotC are the only ones that are hiring freelancers. Doesn't bode well for other organizations.


I happen to know that Fanpro is also hiring freelancers. I couldn't tell you about White Wolf.

-Username17


And on my side I know that Bleys currently has art contracts from both Green Ronin and a local gaming startup nobody's ever heard of.

So, unless you're limiting "freelance" to apply only to writers, other companies are most certainly hiring them.

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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by power_word_wedgie »

I wasn't meaning to limit it to only writers/designers since I didn't know the full perspective that I had received the quotation, but I'm thinking that Mearls is a writer/designer and so the information that he has been receiving is probably from that. Furthermore, There's a heavy likelihood that if h focused solely on d20 type content writing, probably the feedback that he's been getting would be confined to that marketplace. For example, unless they're extremely well known, not many places are going to hire people for a d20 project if all of their writing in the past has been for Gurps Traveller and the person doesn't know the rules to d20. Still, after reading these articles, it is good that people are finding freelance work out there.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Crissa »

For example, unless they're extremely well known, not many places are going to hire people for a d20 project if all of their writing in the past has been for Gurps Traveller and the person doesn't know the rules to d20.

Umm, you're just totally wrong.

Knowing the source material is almost never even thought of, let alone desired in hiring someone. This works for writing, and even programming and art. You'll be required to know the launguage (in this case, probably English) and then whether you have done finished projects before.

Of course, since you doubted my veracity on the last topic, you'll probably argue with me about this, too.

*sigh*

Anyhow, what year did LotR come to the big screen? What year was the last year that TSR published? And what year was 3.0, then 3.5 published?

Xena, Warrior Princess had a bigger impact on sales, honestly.

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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Josh_Kablack »

Crissa at [unixtime wrote:1144200059[/unixtime]]
Xena, Warrior Princess had a bigger impact on sales, honestly.


IMX, that's true.

I know of exactly one girl who started gaming because of Xena, I know of absolutely nobody who started gaming because of the LotR movies.

While every D&D player I know saw LotR, they were all gamers before they went to the movies, Xena apparently appealed to some non-gamers.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by power_word_wedgie »

Crissa at [unixtime wrote:1144200059[/unixtime]]Umm, you're just totally wrong.

Knowing the source material is almost never even thought of, let alone desired in hiring someone. This works for writing, and even programming and art. You'll be required to know the launguage (in this case, probably English) and then whether you have done finished projects before.

Of course, since you doubted my veracity on the last topic, you'll probably argue with me about this, too.

*sigh*


Let's just say we disagree on this one as well. If there is a major d20 project out there, and designer (a) has loads of experience writing d20 stuff while designer (b) has none, unless the designer is extremely special (Gygax, Arneson, and other designers that excelled extremely at their game system), they're going to hire designer (a). Now, if there is like a small article for Dragon magazine, they'll of course review all applicants and go from there. However, in a tight market as there is today, those who have the experience will get the job.

Also, keep in mind that I'm just arguing what you are saying which is the topic of the thread - it's nothing personal.

Anyhow, what year did LotR come to the big screen?
December 19th, 2001.

What year was the last year that TSR published?
I'm thinking 1996 when they did their last major publishing run as TSR.

And what year was 3.0,
3.0 PHB in August 2000.

then 3.5 published?
3.5 Material was July 2003.

You see, that's why I'm saying that if someone was interested into getting into fantasy gaming after the LotR release, they would have started with edition 3.0 because that would have been the edition at the gaming stores.

Xena, Warrior Princess had a bigger impact on sales, honestly.

-Crissa


Xena was on TV from 1995 to 2001, and frankly the last two seasons were the weirdest ones. (Started prancing around in biblical times, etc.) It's xenith would have been around when TSR would have been shutting down their production runs in late 1996.

Now, I fully believe what Josh is saying when he knows that Xena attracted a person to the game. I know LotR attracted my wife to the game - she was never a Xena fan. All I'm saying is that:

1) The volume of people who went to see LotR vastly exceeded those who would watch Xena. Thus, if you're getting 1% of that population to look into gaming, that would have been a sizable population of LotR fans versus Xena fans. Keep in mind that LotR:FotR grossed $860,700,000 worldwide - it's the 11th largest grossing movie of all time. I'm thinking that those gross box office numbers are hard to get by just gamer alone going to see it. However, I'm sure both did attract fans to the game.

2) The LotR movie would have gotten people who hadn't gamd since high school to look into the game. Hey, in life, we go to college or jobs and get caught up in everyday life. It's easy to do. Thus, making the gaming "popular", if only for a while, would have attracted people back to the game that had walked away in the past for various reasons.

As for the question, "Why didn't the LotR gaming merchandise take off?", it all because of timing and who was in the market. Hey, D&D has had the option to emulate LotR for a long time and people have been exploiting that option for a long time. That's why Tolkien's son took Gygax and TSR to court back in the late 1970's. Thus, when a kid went to at least the FLGS that I normally frequnt, the owner would have shown his D&D RPG and not LotR RPG. Is it out of some sort of vindictiveness? No, it's because he understands RPGs need groups, and the D&D game has had a population for a long time. As I said in the other thread, you can have the best ruled RPG in the world - but if you don't have others to play it with it does no good. Games need to be played in order to be effective. At any rate, that's why the LotR games didn't do so well - they had other competition that was already there that did a better job and had more of a fanbase to them. And though I never played any of the games, I heard they weren't all that good.

-------

Here's an article showing D&D market share for 2005 at 53%, up from 43% for 2004. However, it does show a 35% reduction in sales even for D&D. However, White Wolf (19% share) seems to be hit harder with their World of Darkness with a 61% reduction in sales. >HERE<

Thre in apparently drops to third highest having 3.5% of sales, which is basically within statistical noise for a survey like this. In fact, they note in the article that it used to be the big five, but now it's more like just the big two. (WotC and White Wolf)
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

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wrote:2) The LotR movie would have gotten people who hadn't gamd since high school to look into the game. Hey, in life, we go to college or jobs and get caught up in everyday life. It's easy to do. Thus, making the gaming "popular", if only for a while, would have attracted people back to the game that had walked away in the past for various reasons.


... uh, why would you think that?
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Zherog »

PWW wrote:Let's just say we disagree on this one as well. If there is a major d20 project out there, and designer (a) has loads of experience writing d20 stuff while designer (b) has none, unless the designer is extremely special (Gygax, Arneson, and other designers that excelled extremely at their game system), they're going to hire designer (a). Now, if there is like a small article for Dragon magazine, they'll of course review all applicants and go from there. However, in a tight market as there is today, those who have the experience will get the job.


Dragon functions a little differently, actually. If you want to write for Dragon, you send them an e-mail with a query. The query contains the basic idea for your article, including an estimated word count if your idea is for a "feature" article (rather than for one of their existing categories). The editors review the queries and determine if they want to see the article; if they do, you generally have a month or so (sometimes more) to pull the article together and send it in. Then the article is reviewed to determine if it's going to be printed. This is the general process, whether you're talking about a big juicy 10 page feature, or one of the Class Act articles in the back.

Now, that said, Dragon does solicit material. For example, Ed Greenwood's "Cities of the Realms" article, Keith Baker's article on the Lords of Dust, and so on.

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Frank wrote:I happen to know that Fanpro is also hiring freelancers. I couldn't tell you about White Wolf.

-Username17


White Wolf is working with freelancers on at least two product lines that I know of.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by power_word_wedgie »

Zherog wrote:Dragon functions a little differently, actually. If you want to write for Dragon, you send them an e-mail with a query. The query contains the basic idea for your article, including an estimated word count if your idea is for a "feature" article (rather than for one of their existing categories). The editors review the queries and determine if they want to see the article; if they do, you generally have a month or so (sometimes more) to pull the article together and send it in. Then the article is reviewed to determine if it's going to be printed. This is the general process, whether you're talking about a big juicy 10 page feature, or one of the Class Act articles in the back.


Cool. Now just out of curiousity, it sounds like you don't even have to know the rules for a query to Dragon. Now, when it comes to actually writing the articles, except for the cases of the "legends" (Gygax, Arneson, et. al.), do they expect that you know the rules or would they accept a completely "flavor" article and just have someone there "convert it to D&D?"
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Crissa »

Actually, 1998 was the last year that TSR published, having been rescued by Wizards later in the year. Wizards continued to put out the books that TSR had planned across the next year, and developed their own relationship with 'the ancients' of Gygax et al, handily solving years of animosity and lawsuits.

While it's fine and dandy to say a single movie made alot of money...

...More people probably have seen Xena, Warrior Princess. It was delivered 'free' on TV for many years.

*shrug*

Generally, Dragon is completely different in publishing style from any other source - as it is a magazine and not a publisher. It actually uses people's names to float the articles (hopefully) and depends upon quality.

They have no 'test' of prior game mechanical knowledge that I know of. Prior knowledge is used as advertising fodder, not as qualifying material.

The sciences behind games is far more important than memorization of a game in design, just as the background of a writer includes literature, grammar, and styles of writing not to mention story theory - though some writers skip that latter part with talent instead.

However, you probably don't know that the holder of the LotR license changed in the mid-90s as well... Who then worked to take it out of the hands of Rolemaster and other publishers and brought in a core design theory as well as a marketing group to use it. This is why we had the movie, many tie-ins, and before the movie the 'Eye' of Sauron was used extensively as a graphical key in their successful card game and book relaunches before the movie had gotten relicensed.

*sigh*

Pet theories are part and parcel of the internet, I suppose.

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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by power_word_wedgie »

Crissa at [unixtime wrote:1144287975[/unixtime]]Pet theories are part and parcel of the internet, I suppose.


Really, I was going to respond more, but I'm willing to stop the debate and agree with the above. Really all of the articles dance around the sales figures and don't go into them deeply. An in order to get them, it's big money (I agree with you on that) Heck, we're arguing whether Xena had more viewers because it was on free TV for years versus LotR box office numbers. Neither figure gives you solid numbers for total unique viewers. Finally, every D&D sale never came with the questionaire, "Did you buy the game because of LotR, Xena, or other" so we don't have solid motivations to why material was bought in the first place. Even if they did, those people wouldn't be discussing it on a message board. So as to motivations, I say that everyone should go with their pet theory and run with it.

However, from all of the articles and discussion, I'll go with:

1) D&D has been in decline, but it looks like other systems have taken it harder. Heck, some have even closed up shop.

2) Even with the lower numbers, I don't think D&D is anywhere near dead and don't think it will die in the near future. As for fifty years from now, I can't say for certain whether my country will exist 50 years from now much less try to guess on the fate of a gaming system.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Zherog »

power_word_wedgie at [unixtime wrote:1144276024[/unixtime]] Cool. Now just out of curiousity, it sounds like you don't even have to know the rules for a query to Dragon.


Correct - you just have to be able to sell the editors on your idea.

Now, when it comes to actually writing the articles, except for the cases of the "legends" (Gygax, Arneson, et. al.), do they expect that you know the rules or would they accept a completely "flavor" article and just have someone there "convert it to D&D?"


I don't know the answer to your question, to be honest. I can't recall seeing an article that was only fluff - but then, I'm exceedingly tired at the moment so I could certainly be forgetting something.

Dungeon magazine just this month, though, printed an article that (at least on a cursory glance) is all fluff; the article provides a list for DMs of 50 odd things players might encounter within a city. One example I remember is, "a bard cartwheeling past" or something similar.

Crissa wrote:Generally, Dragon is completely different in publishing style from any other source - as it is a magazine and not a publisher. It actually uses people's names to float the articles (hopefully) and depends upon quality.

They have no 'test' of prior game mechanical knowledge that I know of. Prior knowledge is used as advertising fodder, not as qualifying material.


You're correct that there's no test of game knowledge. As long as your query can pique the interests of the editor in charge of the section, you get a green light to write the article. From there, your ability to write combined with your ability to use game mechanics determines the outcome of the article.

As for being a different publishing style, that's generally true. With Dragon (and Dungeon for that matter), you send your idea to the editor, who then determines whether or not to give it a greenlight. Generally, when you freelance for other companies, you're given the topic along with a word/page count. There's exceptions, of course. Goodman Games, for example, accepts queries.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Josh_Kablack »

So I asked Jeff Yandora (the guy what runs my FLGS for the past 21 years) what he thought about the state of the gaming industry currently and his answer was "It's collapsing", when I asked him whether he thought this was dire or just the latest in a cyclical business, he said he didn't know, and blamed the slump on "lack of interesting product".

Take that as you will.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Absentminded_Wizard »

That's probably accurate, at least to some extent, in the RPG market. How many new and interesting game systems have come out in the last couple of years? There have been a lot of revisions of existing systems (D&D 3.5, Gurps 4, White Wolf's continuing revision of its Storyteller lines, and the recent new edition of BESM). Those kinds of things cause existing players to buy new books, but don't necessarily bring in new players to replace those who have been siphoned off by school, job, family, or whatever.

Meanwhile, one of the perverse effects of the Internet may be that it takes away the incentive to try to convert your friends. IOW, instead of cajoling our friends and acquaintances into the hobby in order to have people to play with, those of us without RL gaming buddies find games online with other people who are already playing.
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Re: State of the Gaming Industry

Post by Book »

In my neck of the woods, nearly everybody who has played all the other gaming systems over the years -- has finally converted to D&D traditional or D&D modern.

I seriously don't know anybody anymore who plays Palladium, Gurps, White Wolf Stuff, etc. And they use to outnumber the D&D crowd (as a collective whole) by about 3-to-1.
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