With regards to tabletop RPGs, the biggest factor remains that one can just hack D&D to do what you want at your table for free- and now it's really easy to do so. Once you're at that point, spending money on rules becomes pointless and all you're really after is plug-and-play content. Less rulebooks. More modules.

Like many things, there are some elements of truth in the originally quoted post.  Mostly that yeah, a good chunk of gamers are cheap shitheels.  So are a good chunk of potential buyers of just about anything.  "80% of your sales come from 20% of your customer base" is an old, old principle.

On the other hand I feel like the production standards of many modern game books are absurdly high.  Do we NEED hard covers, massive amounts of color, heavy weight high gloss paper, etc?  I'm not advocating a return to Judges' Guild original smudged newsprint production standards, but RPG books are ridiculous.

Also, game designers can ask to be paid as much as they please.

I'm not saying they deserve it, just that they can ask.

Game designers sure seem to like shaming their buying audience. When we're not playing the right way, or being progressive enough to their standards, we're too cheap and ungrateful.

The gaming industry's kind of like the cosmetics industry ("ladies, get a hold of yourself, you're a mess"). Another notch in my "man, FUCK the internet" tally. So close to abandoning social media and forums.

Eh. The same economy that makes me reluctant to drop a chunk of change on any new RPG book is the one that makes them need more. Welcome to push-pull of economy.

And yet, on occasion, I have felt compelled to make purchases I might call extravagant when the product is good. But you have to earn that.

I know that the pay is not good in the RPG field. But a genuine question I have is: is the market such that the market value for RPG writers impacting the value of products coming out? I may be missing some examples, but I've been pretty impressed by some of what I see being put out, and I've had little reason to lament those that have quit RPG writing for greener pastures.

In a way, the joy of RPGs is part of the problem RPG writers are facing. To wit, too many good designers stay despite the poor rate because they love what they do.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;896962Do we NEED hard covers, massive amounts of color, heavy weight high gloss paper, etc?  I'm not advocating a return to Judges' Guild original smudged newsprint production standards, but RPG books are ridiculous.

I just like a product to hold up to use at the gaming table.  Colored interiors, while nice to look at, usually are tougher for me to read at the table.  I prefer b&w, easier on my aging orbs.

I appreciate a big, beautiful full color book.

BUT

I lament when a pretty book is not worth playing. (Burning Empires, why can't you be good?)

I was with the author until this point...

Quotetell writers what they want a game to do, make sure that it gets done, hire editors to make sure that the writing makes sense

Which says to me this isn't a game designer, this is a guy who wants to be paid for being middle management (aka parasite).

Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;896957With regards to tabletop RPGs, the biggest factor remains that one can just hack D&D to do what you want at your table for free- and now it's really easy to do so. Once you're at that point, spending money on rules becomes pointless and all you're really after is plug-and-play content. Less rulebooks. More modules.

In business it is called substitution, the making of your own material, and is very common for niche products.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;896963Also, game designers can ask to be paid as much as they please.

I'm not saying they deserve it, just that they can ask.

Charge what the market will bear, it will sort the successful from the rest, this is how it works.

Quote from: dragoner;896972In business it is called substitution, the making of your own material, and is very common for niche products.

It seems like it would be all that more common in a passtime that claims to be a 'hobby'.

My problem is the "people deserve..." idea.

You deserve nothing. You are entitled to nothing. If you can fulfill some need, perform some service that others are willing to pay for, good for you.

But no one owes you anything. Learn that lesson, and spare the rest of us your entitled, self-indulgent whining.

I am a cheap ass.  I try to get as much value for my dollar as I can.  There's a lot of free material being put out by people who love creating that is of extremely high quality.  Maybe 10-20 years ago, most people didn't have access to that material, nowadays with this interweb thing, they do.

Quote from: Simlasa;896973It seems like it would be all that more common in a passtime that claims to be a 'hobby'.

Sure. Even beyond hobbies, you see it in things like beer and wine. A lot of what I see in complaints from small press game designers, like with the article in the OP, is that they don't know the rules of the game. That game being business, that is both old and refined, there is a truism there though, because it's practically the first thing written in Business 101 textbooks, most people do not really understand how business works.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;896962Do we NEED hard covers, massive amounts of color, heavy weight high gloss paper, etc?

Whether we need them is irrelevant.  We don't "need" RPGs at all.  Paizo, at least, has demonstrated that people want coffee table books with statblocks in them, even if they're never used to play, and will pay for such (I think they said once that 50% of the people who buy their Adventure Paths buy them just to read them. Which is why the NPCs have such elaborately diverse backstories).

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;896962On the other hand I feel like the production standards of many modern game books are absurdly high.  Do we NEED hard covers, massive amounts of color, heavy weight high gloss paper, etc?  I'm not advocating a return to Judges' Guild original smudged newsprint production standards, but RPG books are ridiculous.

I much prefer hard covers.  Easier for me to hold, nicer to look at, and hold up better than soft cover, IMO.  On the other hand, black & white and matte paper serves me just fine.