Quote from: Ghost Whistler;411681His products seem small enough not to require huge investment or time (especially as pdfs). As opposed to some 300 page full colour impossile to read pdf. That's just an observation. The only game of his I ever owned was Underground. To be fair, that was pretty decent.

Quote from: Melan;411694Gareth has some interesting opinions about gaming and the people who are involved in it. Like these.

Quote from: CRKrueger;411589To tell you the truth, I think that attitude is the problem.  There's nothing TTRPG's can learn from CRPG's.

CRPG's popularity comes from...
1.) Single-Player experience.
2.) Multi-Player is usually adhoc whenever you want it with no planning.
3.) Increasing awesome graphics, including hella-sexy chicks.
4.) Cheats available so you can be as hardcore or as wish-fulfilled as you feel like that day.
5.) Totally self-centered instant gratification.

None of that applies to TTRPGs and the idea that somehow CRPGs have some wisdom they can impart because of the success of Bioware or Blizzard is totally misplaced.

The computer software TTRPGs need to learn from is...
collaborative real-time filesharing software
communication software
WYSIWYG web design software

The reason a lot of people are playing MMORPGS is because there is no TT option that fits their lifestyle.  Give them a means to take what system they want, use a computer program to build a dungeon that doesn't require a degree in graphics design, xml, or C/VB/Java scripting, and a program to communicate with other players and show maps, and automate some game elements and you'll see people playing a lot more Virtual Table-Top.

Quote from: D-503;411627GMS doesn't care about the hobby, he cares about the industry.

He sees gamers as consumers of product, he sees the hobby as important only insofar as it enables the industry.

I agree with his analysis that the industry is in terminal decline.  I don't think that's news, I think it's been true and indeed evident for years.

Where I disagree is with his view that the hobby needs the industry.  I think his idea that games shops bring in new gamers is charmingly old fashioned, and indeed pre-internet and in fact pre-1990s.

Model railroads and miniatures wargaming get by fine without the delusion that they need a commercial industry to support them.  Gamers for some reason think such a thing is required.

Happily they're wrong.  Happily because the concept of an rpg industry is inherently non-viable, and always has been.  Any hobby in which the best product from a consumer perspective is one that enables an entire group to play for years with no further purchases clearly isn't going to make money.  Rpgs don't.

His analysis is correct, but out of date, and he misses the important issue.  The issue is the hobby and how it will fare with the decline of the industry, that's what's interesting.  GMS doesn't see that because he has no interest in the hobby, and little understanding of it, to him we are simply potential purchasers of his product.  He doesn't understand that his product is like a trumpet or a canvas, it's a tool to enable another's creativity.

GMS makes a classic business error.  He thinks the customer is at fault when they don't support his company.  No.  The company either needs to make products customers want or redirect its efforts to another industry.

Like so many middling businessmen over the years, he sits facing economic decline and complains that his customers just don't get it.

Quote from: The_Shadow;411753I don't get the hate for GMS. So he's opinionated and posts thought provoking, contentious stuff? Big deal.