| From: | Spider Murphy <crickel@***.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Tinner's Pompous notions about WotC, FASA, etc. [long] |
| Date: | Mon, 16 Mar 1998 03:47:58 -0600 |
> Let's just suppose FASA ran ... say half as many SR tournaments as WotC does
> MtG tournaments.
> Do you think that SR sales would improve?
> How about if they offered prizes like a complete set of ALL SR sourcebooks
> at every one?
> And what if they made it possible for us to re-sell our used modules at say
> ... 2000% profit?
>
> Ya think that might encourage a few players to switch to SR from other
> games?
Yeah.. It would.
Okay, now let's say one chain of fast-food stores offered to buy back your used
soda containers and hamburger cartons for 2000% times what you paid for them.
Would you go to any other fast-food chain? I don' t think so. And know what that
says, in big screaming caps? Well... I've already said it.
> BTW Did you ever think that CHOOSING to eliminate CCG's from your gaming
> club was tantamount to suicide?
>
> I'm really curious, why on earth did you choose to alienate that large of a
> portion of your membership by excluding a game that popular?
> We're the CCG'rs THAT much trouble?
> Most of the ones I've met pretty much just sit there, and shout things every
> now and then ... kind of like houseplants with vocal cords. ;-)
> At our gaming club, we have CCGs, RPGs, Wargames and Boardgames all taking
> place in one cafeteria.
> Aside from a little goodnatured teasing there are no problems between the
> groups, and all but a few of the players move freely between the groups.
<cough cough choke gasp>
Damn, A LOT of people are NOT reading my origonal post.
Let me clarify things. That desicion was -not- made by me, or by my officers. It
was made fully a year before I even started attending this university. I was
then elected vice-president, and the real president bailed a week later, leaving
me with a club with 5 other people, no officers except myself, and not a clue as
to how to run a club.
I've learned a lot. Such as, 18 hours of college classes and being a president
don't mix (btw, I'm stepping down after this semester - my personality doesn't
match at all with it). And I'm doing IC/OOC character conflict resolution -
which is a bitch. But I digress.
> IMO choosing to "not support" a group of gamers just encourages them to be
> equally elitest.
> If you don't support my hobby of choice, why the HELL would I give a damn
> about being a part of your club?!?!?
And guess what.. we don't have any people playing cards at our meetings. We go,
we have our 15 minute business of the week discussion, and then we sit down and
start gaming. Actually gaming. With roleplaying. Thought. Pathos. Fun. Even the
wargamers RP their generals from time to time (and it is damned amusing when
they do!). If we have a rules argument, we can resolve it without bickering
about, 'Oh, well they revised that book, the new book says x' 'Well, I didn't
hear that, I play it this way'.
It's fun. It's relaxing. That's the purpose of our club. And as to those
'elitist' M:tG players, they sit around on the 6 North TV lounge every night
playing Magic. And I'm perfectly happy with them being there.
> >Second, we have changed. We have adapted. And we are still alive. Unlike
> every
> >single other roleplaying club in the area. The one local gaming store we
> have only
> >exists now because they also carry Citadel Games merchandise and White Wolf
> (which
> >is where we changed to, go figure).
>
> That's not adapting, that giving up and taking the easy way out.
> If SR was in danger like you descirbe in our local group, you can be damn
> sure that I'd be running open games every weekend, loaning out my books and
> recreiting players left and right.
> There's no way I just surrender and start looking for another game!
Oh, it wasn't just SR in danger. It was the club as a whole. And I had to pull a
lot to get things to where they are. Hitting the Camarilla was a gold mine, but
I see it as a powder keg. Why? The Camarilla is notorious for making absurdly
bone-headed rulings. We nearly split from them -twice- in the past six months.
So, I'm looking for other gamers as well, and yes, I run SR -every- Thursday,
right after the business meeting.
> >WotC and Microsoft are more than Evil Empires. Lots of stuff goes into
> those
> >categories. However, MS (and WotC is on the way) is monopolizing the
> industry,
> >which is illegal by United States law. But because they have a monopoly (or
> >because no one in the Senate cares about silly gamers) they have the money
> to make
> >sure they stay that way.
>
> You're right that the $$$ WotC has give them a HUGE edge over other
> companies, but there is NOTHING stopping those other companies from going
> for their own market share.
> What has WotC really done to hurt other companies?
Other than monopolize the CCG market? And when I say monopolize, I mean
MONOPOLIZE. They patented the idea of a 'collectable-card game'. If you want to
produce a CCG, you have to license the idea - from them. For lots of money.
> AFAIK their whole strategy is simply to enhance their own company.
> Purchasing TSR was a great move IMO.
> TSR was sliding rapidly into the gutter before the buyout, now I'm actually
> thinking of picking up an upcoming AD&D product (The Return of Vecna if
> you're interested)
>
> Rather than boycotting WotC (Which probably won't hurt them anyway, since
> the people doing the boycott certainly weren't buying many cards in the
> first place) why not take a positive action, rather than a negative one?
I'm not saying boycott WotC. Boycotting won't help with M:tG, because they have
too many die-hard addicts who would rush into a burning building to save their
cards. What can you do against that sort of buyer loyalty? Hmmm... I'm
supporting FASA, myself.
> Write to your favorite non-WotC game company and let them know your
> concerns.
> Encourage them to produce more of what you like.
I wrote FASA earlier today, telling them, "Hey. The Earthdawn CD was cool. Free
was even cooler, but I'd actually pay $$ to get something like this." How's
that?
> I know that everyone on this list is capable of taking 5 minutes and sending
> an email to FASMike@***.com and telling him what their favorite SR product
> this past year was.
> But how many of us do it?
"... and all I get from around the table is a bunch of vapid stares. Then some
wit asks, 'We can do that?'"
--- Hatchetman, FoF
Steve... We can do that? :)
> Odds are very few - most would rather bitch about how WotC is busy trying to
> "ruin gaming" than actually do something to make gaming better.
> <snip example>
> Loooong before they had the "monopolistic" cash flow they have now. They
saw a
> need, took the risk and made it work.
And proceeded to dominate the CCG industry into utter submission to their whim.
> Not to knock FASA, but they still haven't produced am SR Fanzine that is
> worth spending money on.
> If Shadowland was of equal quality to The Duelist, I'd be more inclined to
> slide some extra cash towards FASA.
Well, Steve... why don't you post something wise and meaningful there that we
can all discuss in an interesting manner? :)
> This is getting long and pompous, so let me conclude thusly ...
You know, I'm tempted to point out that you just called yourself pompous,
but...Ooops. I did anyway.. sorry about that.
> Just because things are one way today, does NOT mean that's how they will
> <snip>
> If "Underdog" Steve Jackson had not had TSR to compete with, he'd never
have
> worked so hard to make all those fun games. Likewise for FASA, WW, and
> plenty of others.
True. Too bad TSR isn't around anymore to laugh at how well they were doing. Oh,
and who bought TSR? Oh, yeah...
> Currently Magic and WotC are riding high on a wave of success.
> You can choose to feel crushed by that wave, and see only the negative side,
> or you can feel pleased that gaming is not regularly advertised during the
> HIGHEST RATED cable TV show on the air (South Park)
Really? I never watched that thing other than the computer Christmas special.
As for that wave of success, well, I'll move to the mountains, and keep RPing.
> These are exciting days to be a gamer.
> Don't let a bad attitude spoil them for you.
> If you want to steal players from WotC, you need to be better than them -
> it's a big challenege, but think how good it will feel when you slowly bring
> back those "lost sheep" and help a few new converts discover the joy of
> RPG's
Well, I'm sorta dealing with a limited player base here, unfortunately. <sigh>
Being a university town.. literally (population 20K, university attendance 5K),
makes it sort of hard to bring new people to the game. If I do, they're freshmen
at the college. And, well.. we have a very high freshmen burnout rate.
-Especially- among gamers for some reason. Officer attrition in the club is also
very high. At least I'm staying in the university, even if I am resigning.
Spider Murphy
