From: ragabash@lords.com
Subject: One Grump's Perspective
Date: 20 Jan 1999 00:00:00 GMT
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I really feel like an "Oldtimer" when I wander back online and read
alt.games.whitewolf and alt.games.frp.advocacy. Since I have been out in the
world having rich life experiences and not really being online very often, I
find myself now having an overflow of things I'd like to just put out there to
the general populace to see what response I get.

Last time I did this was with my big melodramatic polemic about how some
role-playing game companies mismanage their human resources. The point now, of
course, is fairly moot.

In my studying of the State of the Industry today (reading web sites, looking
at game stores, talking to folks who play - admittedly an unscientific
methodology with quite a few flaws) I am starting to come to believe that the
days of paper-based roleplaying games are coming to an end and are about to
be relegated to the dustbin of history right alongside 8-Track tapes.

This is not to say that roleplaying will cease. Or that some people will not
continue to turn a small profit making small, handcrafted games. But, I
believe that the roleplaying game industry as a whole had its chance to make
it to the big leagues of media and has subsequently failed miserably.

And yet, I am not pointing any fingers of blame to any one company here, all
RPG companies could be blamed for these events taking place.

The failure is one of vision and scope for the industry's leaders. It is a
mistake on a level that Microsoft was about to make a few years ago when it
nearly failed to recognize the importance of the Internet.

The nature of this cosmic error in judgement is exemplified by a simple Web
search engine search. Go to any major search engine and enter the term RPG,
and you will see that most of the hits generated will not be about
pen-and-paper RPGs, but rather about PC-based roleplaying experiences. Taken
at face value, this should worry the roleplaying industry.

Many 8-10 year old boys are growing up playing Playstation and Nintendo 64
games and not entering into the track which will turn them into purchasers of
paper-based RPG's in the future. There's an entire generation of potential
RPG industry customers who just aren't joining the party.

Diversity of product choice in the industry is narrowing, not widening. Game
stores are closing. Layoffs are taking place. Everyone is struggling
hand-over-fist to try and reverse the trend to non-existence.

Below are ten reasons I am citing for this state of affairs and some
constructive ideas as to how they may be addressed.

1. Lack of future vision and leadership on the part of industry leaders
This is a bit broad, but still apt. Basically, the RPG industry leaders spent
more time looking at the bottom line than trying to promote the industry as a
whole, more time thinking about their profit margin than working on creating a
sustainable market.

My solution? Form a casual group of CEO's of all the remaining industry
companies and try to somehow coordinate efforts. It is obvious that more
formal groups, while valuable in their way, aren't accomplishing what they
need to accomplish.

2. The relative failure of industry marketing to penetrate mass-market media
venues and thus diversify product offerings.

No matter what happens, until roleplaying games are offered at Toys R Us,
Wal-Mart, and Kmart, until your children can see an RPG on the shelf at the
supermarket, the industry as a whole is limited in scope. Do everything you
can to get into those venues. Be persistent.

3. Ignoring the "Second Curve" of roleplaying: the PC-based and online
interactive RPG market.

Selling your license to PC game companies is one thing - it is an obvious
choice for those with a limited viewpoint looking to cash in for easy bucks.
The truly innovative industry leader would instead seek to create
partnerships or even acquire a PC game company in order to create RPG's that
break the digital-to-analog barrier and combine the technology of a PC-based
system with the experience of a paper-based RPG.

Until I open up my paper-based RPG and see a shiny CD pocket in the back, I
will not be impressed. Or heck, take it a bit farther - until I see the first
engine which uses key-based licensing and encryption to allow downloadable
RPG supplements, I won't be truly impressed.

4. Poor quality standards in the areas of content, production, and consumer
value.

A problem throughout the industry is the uneven quality standards for
products. It is very well and good if you are going to remain in the kiddie
pool to keep producing an inconsistent product. But if you are going to go
into Wal-Mart and try to make it on the national stage, you are going to have
to have consistency and excellence. You also have to take care of your
current customer base and not alienate those who brought you along this far.
Sounds tough? Try extinction.

5. "Scorched earth" philosophy on developing talent and human resources.
Keep using up people and it will all come around to haunt you. Enough said.

6. Wasting the "inheritance" gifted the RPG industry through CCG's. Creating
"signature editions" of games, blowing a wad of dough on your own web server,
puffing up your employee roster only to later slash budgets (and jobs) - all
of these were sins of the post-CCG gold rush. Did anybody stash any money
away for a rainy day? Did anybody put any money towards advertising, public
relations, improvement of the industry as a whole? If so, please spend it on
growing the industry, not just making another edition of your old cash cow.


7. The arrogance of the industry "creating" a market demographic instead of
the industry discovering the true demographics and creating products based on
them.

You don't create your demographic, your demographic shapes what you create.
Period. You can get away with tap dancing for a while, but in the end, you
will have to ride the wave of public opinion.

You start with your base audience and then you do things to expand your
audience, not limit it. OK, let's say your main base is 13-16 year old males
with a lot of extra money to spend - what are you doing to attract them? Why
should they bother? And what about the young women? You're ignoring them.
When I was 16, if I had a choice between spending time with a female or
playing RPG's, I would spend time with a female. What are you doing to get
the women involved? Very little. Precious little. Meanwhile, the PC-based
gaming industry have already picked up on the girls' market (Purple Moon,
Barbie) and they are seeing the considerable revenue rewards as a result.

8. A general lack of cooperative competition between and amongst RPG industry
corporations

Can we not as an industry agree to cooperate? If IBM and Apple can do it, why
can't we? Each and every industry company needs to be willing to put aside
past differences and work together, or the entire industry is dead.

9. Extremely poor manufacturer-to-retailer relations and support.

Your retail outlets are your lifeblood. Treat them as such. Break through the
barriers that distributors create and aggressively seek the retailers with
real incentives and a air of partnership.

10. Egomaniacal suppression of innovation and new ideas by those empowered to
actually release innovative, fresh product.

Encourage entrepreneurial spirit and don't step on the good ideas. The next
hit games are simply brewing in the back of your people's minds - and all you
have to do is sign the check, take a risk, and actually do something about
it.


The only reason I'm writing this is because I feel like it is very possible
that somebody, somewhere, can perhaps read it and turn things around. I do
not feel it is too late.

If I am wrong, and it is too late, then you will still find me, along with
the other dinosaurs, running a game in my local comic shop, a coffee house,
or a living room. We will have come back to basics - holding on to dearly
loved, dog-eared copies of our now-out-of-print favorite games, buying and
selling rare supplements on eBay, and trying not to sound *too* ancient when
we say, "Why, in my day, we had *real* roleplaying..."


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