Quote from: Werekoala;388987Guess I got lucky with my Sunday group. We got together through Meetup.com, exchanged some emails, and met at Applebee's first to chat and get a feel for the group. No wierdos besides me, and we've even got three girls (hee! boobies!) in the group. So I guess it can be done, but you just have to roll well.

There's at least one actual convicted pedophile on my local Meetup for tabletop.

I am, needless to say, somewhat reluctant to draw upon that well.

Quote from: Kaz;388968If I can't meet you at the local Mexican restaurant and have a beer with you, then I sure as shit don't want you at my house, sitting across the dice-littered table from me.

What if the guy's allergic to cilantro? I call "foul."

If they hate opinionated gamers so much because they're not healthy for the marketing model, then indeed, they should move on to new targets. Like. Move on. For good. Reeducating gamers because they don't fit the marketing model is not exactly what I'd call "moving on to new targets".

Quote from: J Arcane;388990There's at least one actual convicted pedophile on my local Meetup for tabletop.

I am, needless to say, somewhat reluctant to draw upon that well.

Wow, did they include that in their profie or something?

Seriously, I imagine there are plenty who are NOT convicted pedophiles. So you might want to just not invite them?

Quote from: Shazbot79;388991What if the guy's allergic to cilantro? I call "foul."

If I couldn't eat at the Hacienda...  I'm not sure if life would be worth living.

Very interesting to hear this perspective - we don't often get to hear inside information from marketers about the RPG biz.

Needless to say, it rings true.

Quote from: Benoist;388996If they hate opinionated gamers so much because they're not healthy for the marketing model, then indeed, they should move on to new targets. Like. Move on. For good. Reeducating gamers because they don't fit the marketing model is not exactly what I'd call "moving on to new targets".

I don't think that the point is that these social retard gamers are bad for the marketing model, as much as they are bad for the market or hobby.

RPG gamers are whiny little bitches when they don't get their way, and since there are differing camps of RPG gamers whose way conflicts with each other, engaging with the RPG community sets the whiny little bitches loose because you can never please them all.

Quote from: jeff37923;389006I don't think that the point is that these social retard gamers are bad for the marketing model, as much as they are bad for the market or hobby.

Interesting. What I see is a hobby which, since its very infancy, has been empowering the user to craft his own materials and take possession of the games sold by game companies. RPGs are, in this respect, very particular products, since they support the user's worlds of imagination, which all but ensures a feeling of ownership on his part.

Basically, to me, complaining that RPG users are too opinionated is simply looking at RPGs the wrong way. It's intrinsic to the nature of the product that a large portion of its audience will be opinionated, and feel empowered by the product itself. Just wishing otherwise is to wish RPGs were not RPGs.

So, either you come up with a marketing model that is based off the product itself, or you transform the product to fit a preset marketing model. This piece reads to me like some sort of rationale for the latter.

Quote from: Benoist;389017Interesting. What I see is a hobby which, since its very infancy, has been empowering the user to craft his own materials and take possession of the games sold by game companies. RPGs are, in this respect, very particular products, since they support the user's worlds of imagination, which all but ensures a feeling of ownership on his part.

Basically, to me, complaining that RPG users are too opinionated is simply looking at RPGs the wrong way. It's intrinsic to the nature of the product that a large portion of its audience will be opinionated, and feel empowered by the product itself. Just wishing otherwise is to wish RPGs were not RPGs.

So, either you come up with a marketing model that is based off the product itself, or you transform the product to fit a preset marketing model. This piece reads to me like some sort of rationale for the latter.

Whiny opinionated gamers have been giving the hobby a bad name and driving people out of the hobby and making it difficult to bring in new blood since the beginning. Even if they are the hobby, they still hurt it.

Quote from: thecasualoblivion;389015RPG gamers are whiny little bitches when they don't get their way,

Yeah, like most hollywood stars, rockers, rappers, fashion models and other cool types of people.

Just without the money.

Quote from: Benoist;389017Interesting. What I see is a hobby which, since its very infancy, has been empowering the user to craft his own materials and take possession of the games sold by game companies. RPGs are, in this respect, very particular products, since they support the user's worlds of imagination, which all but ensures a feeling of ownership on his part.

Basically, to me, complaining that RPG users are too opinionated is simply looking at RPGs the wrong way. It's intrinsic to the nature of the product that a large portion of its audience will be opinionated, and feel empowered by the product itself. Just wishing otherwise is to wish RPGs were not RPGs.

So, either you come up with a marketing model that is based off the product itself, or you transform the product to fit a preset marketing model. This piece reads to me like some sort of rationale for the latter.

I agree with you, benny. Gamers are not like TV and movie audiences who sit there mindlessly swigging whatever swill the producers feel like flinging at them, they participate actively in the hobby and as such are going to be a more "opinionated" audience than most movie, TV or music audiences.

Complaining that they're opinionated and they express their opinions on the hobby and game is ridiculous. Some go too far, true, but the gamers is an active participant in the rpg media, not a passive listener/viewer.

And anyway, are people without opinions worth associating with.

"What do you think of (XXX), Frank?'
"I don care, doesn't matter, whatever."

Yawn.

Quote from: Kaz;389022Just without the money.

People can have money and still be stupid, selfish assholes, and peopel can be broke and still intelligent, decent and interesting.

Tabletop rpg games have a really low barrier to entry.

Becoming a movie star, rock star, fashion model, etc ... have significantly higher barriers to entry.