> I think the "golden days" are always right here, right now. The
>problem, however, is that no one is tapping into them as much as they could
>be. If you want to see the "golden days" again, the gaming industry (you) is
>going to have to bring it out. Waiting for the customers to catch on is a
>bad idea.
Nope, back in the late 70's and early 80's rpg sales were at much higher levels
than now. I'm willing to bet that the 3E books are the only p&p rpg products to
break 50,000 and probably even 30,000 units this year. I can think of dozens of
products that sold that much 20 years ago.
Why has this happened? The economy has changed. The average gamer has more money
in his pocket these days, and more things to decide to spend it on. Impulse
purchases in the rpg industry have shrunk and been re-directed towards CCGs and
other products. 20 years ago, I would see people coming into the gaming store
with $20-30 in their pockets to spend on impulse purchases. If I had extra money
after paying the bills, it was usually $20-30 and was pretty easy to go and
spend on a new rpg book. Today, people have more spending money overall, and
are buying more expensive items.
As a whole, the gaming industry falls into the "reverse cyclical" category of
hobbies. This basically covers hobbies and other businesses that provide a very
high entertainment to cost ratio. Games, and in particular RPGs provide one of
the highest entertainment to cost ratios out there. The bad news is that reverse
cyclical businesses do good during economic down times, and bad during economic
boom times.
> WotC is a good idea. The OGL... brilliant. RPGA? You bet.
>Organizations like NERO... right on!
WotC has a great idea with the OGL and d20. RPGA is great for customer
retention, but how many new customers does it generate? OGL and d20 won't
generate huge amounts of new customers either.
> But...another module on the shelf... another web site? I dunno... it
>just seems.... dirty.
> If I were you, I would utilize the new D20 system/lisence for things
>like teaching aids in classrooms, churches, the military, psychology, and
>other useful sectors in society. Why should the gaming industry limit itself
>to entertainment?
Have you looked at the overall logistics and practicality of this? At one point
we (Nero) investigated the possibilities of marketing roleplaying (and in
particular larp), to corporations, schools, etc.. as team building exercises,
and learning experiences. It is an extremely daunting task.
> Hum. Now there is a nifty idea. Anyone interested? I'm already involved
>in about a million projects, but it would be nice to do something "real".
> We could pool our resources and write up a theoretical teaching plan
>for, let's say, a 10 year old. I already have an idea for how we could use
>the D20 system to teach basic chemistry. We could market it as a "help at
>home", or "head start" kind of thing for parents who need a creative tool
>for improving their kid's grades.
> So... who wants to work with me on this?
>: ),
>Maggie
Good luck!
John
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