Quote from: ggroy;388940Amusing article about why some companies don't want anything to do with tabletop rpg gamers.

Unfortunately, given that we know nothing about the product other than its producers assumed that tabletop roleplayers were a "natural target" for it, this really doesn't tell us anything. Were the gamers assholes and the product truely something almost every tabletop gamers would want, need, and be willing to pay whatever price was asked for? Was the product not that great (or not really as useful to tabletop gamers) as the producers thought and the gamers just told them so? Somewhere in between? There's no way of telling from the article.

Frankly, as I don't think consumers have any obligation toward a producer, I'm always skeptical of articles complaining about potential consumers daring to not behave the way the producer would like -- especially if not being willing to buy is one of the complaints. (From the article: "They resisted most desired behaviors (that is, the stuff that actually might make money).")

Not being willing to buy usually means that the potential customer either does not really need the product or believes that the price is higher than it is worth to him. While both are bad from the producer's point-of-view, the consumer isn't being mean, he is simply doing his job -- deciding what is and what is not worth HIS hard-earned money.  Taking advantage of free or low cost options rather than parting with more money for more expensive (and more profitable to the producer) options is also just the consumer doing his job right.  So when I see complaints from companies about nasty people resisting paying them money, I have to take their other complaints about nasty consumer behavior with a large dose of salt.

Quote from: ggroy;389026Tabletop rpg games have a really low barrier to entry.

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

Yeah, like being willing to fuck producers and promoters mostly.

Face it, the big thing for the above is "charisma", which no one can agree on anyway.

Quote from: Cylonophile;389032Yeah, like being willing to fuck producers and promoters mostly.

Face it, the big thing for the above is "charisma", which no one can agree on anyway.

Or having a huge rich sugar daddy for extensive plastic surgery and bribery.

Quote from: Cylonophile;389024Complaining 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.

The link in the op doesn't damn gamers for having opinions.

It's that they found most gamers to be negative in relaying ideas, unable to partake in casual conversation, bitch incessantly and act as a barrier to new participants.

In other words, they were assholes.

You can have a strong opinion and have a forceful will, without doing the things listed.

Oh come on. We seriously cannot have a discussion of this link without speculating what the "friend"'s business idea was.

Don't disappoint me guys.

Quote from: Kaz;389001If I couldn't eat at the Hacienda...  I'm not sure if life would be worth living.

Is that a chain?

There's a Mexican place near Portland, OR called "The Hacienda" (actually there are like 30 "Haciendas" here) that has the exact same garish color scheme.

And, incidentally, kick-ass strawberry margaritas.

In other words, a significant part of the gamer demographic (particularly online?) consists of socially retarded people.
Not a huge surprise given how gaming has intentionally driven itself further from the mainstream of normal society at a steady pace.

The fault for this lies with the Lawncrappers, those who say we should be tolerant to them, and the Swine who have a vested interest in this happening.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Windjammer;389039Oh come on. We seriously cannot have a discussion of this link without speculating what the "friend"'s business idea was.

Don't disappoint me guys.

Bikini-mail escort service?

Quote from: Shazbot79;389041Is that a chain?

There's a Mexican place near Portland, OR called "The Hacienda" (actually there are like 30 "Haciendas" here) that has the exact same garish color scheme.

And, incidentally, kick-ass strawberry margaritas.

Interesting. My wife had the strawberry-banana margarita and loved it (I drove home, is the end of that story).

Also, they have a burrito Mexicano worth killing a man over.

So...  maybe?

This would be News, except that you can replace "tabletop role-playing gamers" online with:

* Model Train Enthusiasts
* Gun Nuts
* Sports Fans
* Fitness Buffs
* Historians
* New Mothers
* Librarians

etc. etc. ad nauseum...

Reads like someone needed to vent and had no content for a blog update.  Low hanging fruit and all...

Quote from: Windjammer;389039Oh come on. We seriously cannot have a discussion of this link without speculating what the "friend"'s business idea was.

Don't disappoint me guys.

If this guy's client was relatively recent:

- MMORPG
- movie, tv show
- board game

If this guy's client wasn't recent and was from a decade ago or more:

- PS1, Sega, N64, etc ... video game
- non-d20 rpg
- card game
- movie, tv show

http://gmskarka.com/2010/05/04/transmedia-part-one/
http://gmskarka.com/2010/05/05/transmedia-part-two/
http://gmskarka.com/2010/05/07/transmedia-part-three/

Quote from: Kaz;388968I've been trying to put together a gaming group lately and I've been avoiding the local gaming stores for a lot of the same reasons cited in the link.

I want to play games with people who happen to play games. I don't want to play with 'gamers' (or, what I call 'mouth-breathers'). And I don't think I recognized that fact until just now. (I thought I was avoiding recruiting in those places because of cliques and my own slight timidity.)

If 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.

It's been a hard road, putting together a group of non-gamer gamers, but shit...  the alternative is simply too much to bear, honestly.  

Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Maybe I just want to game with friends, and I'm too fucking picky.

Maybe the problem is you old folks.

No offense, or anything.  It's just that for younger generations, being a "geek" or a "gamer" doesn't necessarily mean you're autistic.  Most people I know who are "gamers" are perfectly normal, healthy individuals.  Very few are the mouth-breather types who you want to toss out the door.

Quote from: Peregrin;389057Maybe the problem is you old folks.

No offense, or anything.  It's just that for younger generations, being a "geek" or a "gamer" doesn't necessarily mean you're autistic.  Most people I know who are "gamers" are perfectly normal, healthy individuals.  Very few are the mouth-breather types who you want to toss out the door.

I find a gap between flesh-and-blood gamers and the boogeymen gamers described on the internet pretty surprising too. I don't know how much age has to do with it, but I've seen very little stigma against tabletop games or other geek pursuits either in high school or in college or at work or church when I still went, or wherever. And while I do see that there are "people who game" and "gamers" and that these are two different kinds of people on some level, IME they're both decent bunches of people and I tend to play with mixed groups. The dividing line, if there is one, is just that "gamers" are more likely to GM (I've known a few who are "gamers" but just plain refuse to GM, and some "people who game" who GM occasionally, so even that's pretty blurry).

As for the article... it's entirely possible the gamers just didn't like the product. The horror. We're culturally obsolete 'cause we won't buy shit we're not interested in and maybe say so sometimes.

Quote from: Benoist;389056http://gmskarka.com/2010/05/04/transmedia-part-one/
http://gmskarka.com/2010/05/05/transmedia-part-two/
http://gmskarka.com/2010/05/07/transmedia-part-three/

I punched out after part one. The fact is that most RPG writing groups are a half dozen guys with thirty grand in seed money. If they can sell a couple thousand copies of their book, they'll get their seed money back. And then they can do it again.

Yes, they'd sell a lot more if they could get people to make iPhone apps and shit. But they can't. Because you make an RPG on less than it costs to pay the salary on one programmer. The difference in scale between this guy's plans and the actual companies he is supposedly giving these plans to is staggering.

-Frank