| From: | "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: RPGs on their way out? |
| Date: | Wed, 1 May 1996 11:29:09 +0100 |
> Additionally there where the recreational/ hobby fads such as [snip]
> Armor Modeling, 54mm Figures, large scale figures, 30mm, 20mm 25mm 15mm
> 25mm "scale military figures. American Civil War Miniatures, [snip]
>
> Suprisingly all these fads had several things in common. A growth curve
> or trend. They start out as an activity of a few individuals, the materials used
> are generally primitive and the individuals are often considered strange,
> eccentric, or weird. Then the trend setters discover it, the quality of the
> materials improve (the costs often goes up), acceptance improves and the number
> of participants grows. Then the general public discovers it the type quantify
> and quality of the supporting materials improves greatly, it is the "in"
> activity, and "everyone is doing it (except the true trend setters who are off
> discovering some thing new). Then the general public "discovers" the new
fad and
> moves on to it.
Although I generally agree with your reasoning, it doesn't work for
modelling (being a modeller as well as a roleplayer I guess I can safely
say this. Yes, I know it's not SR- or even RPG-relevant, but I have to say
this :).
The way I understand the history of military modelling, it has more or
less always been around, with various-quality models available since
world war 2. Then in the late 1960s, Japanese manufacturers decided to
enter the market (Tamiya Plastic Model Corp., mainly) and the hobby took
off -- in the 1970s new models were being released all the time, though
their standard was generally not very high. Then in the 1980s it dropped
off to higher standard but less new stuff, which created a market for
very high quality kits (cast in resin and white metal) and sold for very
high prices because of the manual production process (the highest cost in a
plastic kit is the box, believe it or not). Then, by 1990, one or two new
manufacturers (in Hong Kong and Taiwan) entered the market, and the older
"big boys" noticed that small manufacturers were doing well, so they
decided to bring out more new releases, of high to very high standard
and also a rather high price, BTW (Tamiya's releases of the last 5 years
are *very* good, as are AFV Club and about half of Dragon's output :)
There has not really been a "general public discovery" apart from the fact
that models are available in toy stores, but nobody in his right mind is
going to give these models to kids to play with, if you ask me.
> Personally I have been gaming for over 32 years and playing RPGs for 21
> of them. I expect that I will still be at it (in one form or another) 40 years
> from now. Do I expect it to take the same form it does now? Not at all.
That makes you what, 85 in 2036? :)
--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
It really makes you stop and think.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Character Mortuary: http://huizen.dds.nl/~mortuary/mortuary.html <-
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