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My company charges its customers for support, lol. Imagine if your game cost $50, and also a $10/yr subscription for support, which just gives you the right to file a ticket and ask for help, but doesn't guarantee that the product will do what you wanted it to, it just guarantees that someone will respond to your ticket in some way.
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Oct 28, 2021 19:14
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Leperflesh posted:My company charges its customers for support, lol. Imagine if your game cost $50, and also a $10/yr subscription for support, which just gives you the right to file a ticket and ask for help, but doesn't guarantee that the product will do what you wanted it to, it just guarantees that someone will respond to your ticket in some way. I would 100% pay for that, tbh.
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Oct 28, 2021 19:23
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Hypnobeard posted:I would 100% pay for that, tbh. “There isn’t an official answer for the situation you describe. Speak with your GM.” (I’m pretty sure WotC support have had that on Macro since 4e)
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Oct 28, 2021 19:27
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Support? Oh, you mean that thing the fans do on the forum.
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Oct 28, 2021 19:36
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I don't think editing would minimize "support". I don't like talking to enterprise tech support, but boy-howdy do I love talking on forums about games. I'd be curious if there is a reasonably crunchy game that has a not-insignificant number of engaged fans that doesn't have a forum/Discord/subreddit filled with people asking questions about rules corners.
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Oct 28, 2021 19:42
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The very nature of RPGs invites questions and ambiguities in a way that other games never will. Even perfectly written books from a technical perspective aren't going to fix that and don't help in the way that it would say a board game or tabletop minis combat game. Even RPG books have to be inclusive in what players can do, not exclusive, but RPG players will want to do any and everything which can't possibly be covered by any amount of writing or clarity.
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Oct 28, 2021 19:49
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Yeah, that's quite fair. And I was really only even addressing technical editing; copyediting, like, fixing typos and grammatical errors, just falls into the category of product polish or whatever. And it's quite clear that customers of RPG products are forgiving of copy errors, at least when it comes to purchasing. If I was making an RPG product and I had some extra money to spend on it, I'd probably be best-served spending it on artwork, in terms of ROI. Especially, cover artwork.
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Oct 28, 2021 20:02
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Leperflesh posted:If I was making an RPG product and I had some extra money to spend on it, I'd probably be best-served spending it on artwork, in terms of ROI. Especially, cover artwork. Oh, absolutely. I'm pretty certain that the main reason my Vault material sold so well was that I shelled out to get really good covers (to the point that at least once I got included in a sale of official material, apparently because somebody couldn't tell the difference). I stopped paying for original internal art after the first one because including it did not make a difference and it would have taken a year or more to break even.
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Oct 28, 2021 20:12
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Leperflesh posted:Yeah, that's quite fair. And I was really only even addressing technical editing; copyediting, like, fixing typos and grammatical errors, just falls into the category of product polish or whatever. And it's quite clear that customers of RPG products are forgiving of copy errors, at least when it comes to purchasing. Those typos and grammatical errors can be expensive! https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20180723-the-commas-that-cost-companies-millions
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Oct 28, 2021 21:54
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Subjunctive posted:Those typos and grammatical errors can be expensive! I love the context of this article. "Companies, watch out! If you don't pay attention to commas, you might have to actually pay your employees for their unpaid overtime!"
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Oct 28, 2021 22:00
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shimmy shimmy posted:I love the context of this article. Yeah, it was a great case.
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Oct 28, 2021 22:00
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Subjunctive posted:Those typos and grammatical errors can be expensive! The Oxford comma strikes again!
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Oct 29, 2021 11:40
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gigamechgames/scp-the-roleplaying-game I'm a little fuzzy on creative commons. Does that mean that someone can make a game using all the content people put up on the SCP wiki for free?
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Oct 31, 2021 17:30
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Dr. Clockwork posted:I'm a little fuzzy on creative commons. Does that mean that someone can make a game using all the content people put up on the SCP wiki for free? Yes, provided they attribute it properly and publish it under a CC-BY-SA license that ensures other people can, in turn, make a game (or book, or whatever) using all the (SCP-derived) content put into the SCP game, free of charge.
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Oct 31, 2021 18:01
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Isn’t this the third SCP RPG that’s been kickstarted in the past year?
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Oct 31, 2021 18:58
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Lumbermouth posted:Isn’t this the third SCP RPG that’s been kickstarted in the past year? This one seems to be a new edition of the one that was released... 5 months ago? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zombiemouse/scp-the-tabletop-role-playing-game/posts
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Oct 31, 2021 19:40
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JMBosch posted:This one seems to be a new edition of the one that was released... 5 months ago? It's gonna be hilarious if Giga Mech is just doing a Creative Commons licensed version of the other game all on their own.
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Oct 31, 2021 20:18
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https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/49655/french-board-game-company-iello-ends-ties-iello-usa
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Nov 1, 2021 21:59
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Eastmabl posted:https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/49655/french-board-game-company-iello-ends-ties-iello-usa Since it's not mentioned in the article itself, here's the BGG page with the games Iello makes: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/8923/iello Some big names on there.
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Nov 1, 2021 22:04
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https://twitter.com/PaizoWorkers/status/1456298317273460748quote:
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Nov 4, 2021 23:40
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This is separate to them promoting friends, but I can't help but feel that Paizo's management is secretly relieved that the union has given them a handy scapegoat when they inevitably fail at bringing in the kind of revenue they made in 2010-2015.
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Nov 5, 2021 03:22
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EverettLO posted:This is separate to them promoting friends, but I can't help but feel that Paizo's management is secretly relieved that the union has given them a handy scapegoat when they inevitably fail at bringing in the kind of revenue they made in 2010-2015. Oh I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Paizo management, to say nothing of tons of other people, are going to pounce on the first opportunity they can to vilify the union.
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Nov 5, 2021 03:51
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Capitalizing on the goodwill from a forming union to promote two executives is almost comically amateur hour.
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Nov 5, 2021 12:14
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This... is some take. https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/dd-ttrpgs-gygax-arneson-peterson-games-capitalism/
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Nov 7, 2021 22:57
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Wow, Gygax's dreams were stolen from him. Harsh. I wish that cameras took pictures of words being said so that reverent photo of him in 1999 could include a speech bubble with like "I've always been on the cutting edge of considering the Cherokee a type of vermin" or whatever horseshit was making up that gently caress's slow motion death rattle.
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Nov 7, 2021 23:22
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Yeah that really reads as "I read a book and it was pretty good but I want to talk about what it doesn't talk about because I have a platform where I can".
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Nov 7, 2021 23:42
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Jacobin writer posted:...Disney’s gatekeeping of their products to maximize profit has made them vast amounts of money, but it’s torn out the heart and soul that once marked those products.
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Nov 8, 2021 01:45
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Hostile V posted:Yeah that really reads as "I read a book and it was pretty good but I want to talk about what it doesn't talk about because I have a platform where I can". Especially in that it kind of glosses over the fact that almost everyone at TSR was comically inept at running a business. This isn't really a case of "Oh, these humble artists' dreams were crushed because they cared more about art than profit" it's "These guys really wanted to monetize the thing they invented but were really bad at it" Nessus posted:Holmes, Disney was a contractor for the US military-industrial complex (in WWII, to be fair, which I believe we may critically support.) He built Disneyland in the 50s. It was always corporate. It's especially weird to choose Disney as your example given this line a few paragraphs on... quote:These are all specific problems of capitalism: comics, movies, hobbies, and games exist in formerly self-described socialist states, but were considered the property of the people, not just commodities controlled by already wealthy investors. ...Because the animation industry, even the medium of animation as a whole, was born from a capitalist industry. I'm not saying this is a GOOD thing, but there was never any sort of utopian, socialist golden age where animation was owned by the people but was then stolen by wealthy investors and businessmen: It began as an extension of the film industry in the early 20th century and has always been for-profit. KingKalamari fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Nov 8, 2021 |
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Nov 8, 2021 02:09
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Those last few paragraphs are loving amazing. What a bizarre article.
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Nov 8, 2021 02:14
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KingKalamari posted:Especially in that it kind of glosses over the fact that almost everyone at TSR was comically inept at running a business. This isn't really a case of "Oh, these humble artists' dreams were crushed because they cared more about art than profit" it's "These guys really wanted to monetize the thing they invented but were really bad at it" I think you’re talking about the article but a huge part of the Game Wizards is Jon Peterson doing archival hands-on research into TSR’s reports and business publications. Peterson’s books are great because he applies actual academic rigor to researching the poo poo that went into early tabletop RPGs. I haven’t been able to read my copy closely yet but I know some of Peterson’s conclusions differ from common ideas, like stuff around Gygax’s time in California. The big thing is that he backs it up with actual source material.
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Nov 8, 2021 02:17
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Yeah, I was 100% referring to the article. I haven't read the book in question but assume it's at least as thorough as most other histories of the hobby, but the article writer seems to have readily skipped past some pretty significant details in order to fit his half-formed brainfart of an article.
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Nov 8, 2021 02:22
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Jacobin is pretty bad these days. Feels like 25% of the articles are surface level pop culture critiques like that, which require misreading the artifact or basically just going on a tangent. Another 25% are "this electoral minor victory signals the inevitable triumph of the working class," paired with follow up pieces as post mortems for why that minor electoral victory lead to nothing a few years later. It feels especially bizarre because like only 4 years ago they were heavily critiquing the way the left and liberals had retreated into that exact same focus on pop culture following Trump's victory. Coolness Averted fucked around with this message at 02:32 on Nov 8, 2021 |
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Nov 8, 2021 02:28
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Hostile V posted:Yeah that really reads as "I read a book and it was pretty good but I want to talk about what it doesn't talk about because I have a platform where I can". At most "I skimmed a book", more likely "I read some of the cover blurbs and extrapolated".
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Nov 8, 2021 06:10
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Absurd Alhazred posted:At most "I skimmed a book", more likely "I read some of the cover blurbs and extrapolated". https://comicscomicsmag.com/?p=7363 https://www.leonardpierce.com/blog/2010/11/07/comical-books/
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Nov 8, 2021 06:44
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FMguru posted:The author, Leonard Pierce, lost his writing gig at the AV Club a decade ago because he submitted a review for a book that hadn't even been published yet.
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Nov 8, 2021 06:52
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He's a nice guy in person imo. There's outside context to that review story that doesn't absolve him but does make him more sympathetic.
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Nov 8, 2021 08:57
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FMguru posted:The author, Leonard Pierce, lost his writing gig at the AV Club a decade ago because he submitted a review for a book that hadn't even been published yet. Wow. Just wow.
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Nov 8, 2021 09:06
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Reading the comments from the editor on that Leonard Pierce thing seems to say that he was assigned a review of a book that didn't exist yet, and decided to make up a review rather than go back to his editor and say 'you're not getting a review of this because it's not finished'. And I can't help but feel that in a healthy workplace the latter would always be the better option.
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Nov 8, 2021 09:17
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KingKalamari posted:Yeah, I was 100% referring to the article. I haven't read the book in question but assume it's at least as thorough as most other histories of the hobby, but the article writer seems to have readily skipped past some pretty significant details in order to fit his half-formed brainfart of an article. In particular, the idea that TSR under Gygax was this indie punk rock outfit and they didn't go corporate until that mean ol' Lorraine Williams took over is just flat-out wrong on the face of it. They went corporate before the 1970s were done. More or less everything people blame Williams for is in fact a factor which was already in play before she showed up. (Even the Buck Rogers thing comes down to a slice of family nepotism, and that was much less flagrant than the familial nepotism the Blumes did because the Buck Rogers connection actually gave TSR a product line with a very recognisable IP they could exploit; if Williams hadn't offered TSR use of the Buck Rogers licence, people would criticise her for that too.) You can make more of an argument that Arneson got screwed by TSR commodifying D&D. But it's pretty evident in retrospect (both from stuff in Game Wizards and the research Peterson did in Playing At the World) that Arneson wasn't that good of a communicator of ideas and without Gygax actually doing the hard labour of turning Arneson's vague notes and his gameplay format into something which other people could actually pick up and run a game with. Confusing though OD&D was, it was apparently an exemplar of clarity compared to Arneson's jottings, and Arneson had a long-running tendency to just show up to a creative project with very incomplete notes and then expect a creative partner to turn them into an actual book for him and there is no particular reason to think his D&D design notes differed at all in this respect. (In addition, Arneson ended up in the position he was in partially because he willingly signed agreements handing over various rights to TSR and then felt bad about that - and he pursued his legal claims on the basis of an interpretation of IP which, if the courts had actually backed it, would have had a disastrous chilling effect on the industry, because it would have meant that every RPG in existence would owe Arneson some form of royalties by using his central creative concept.) Warthur fucked around with this message at 11:19 on Nov 8, 2021 |
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Nov 8, 2021 11:02
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Warthur posted:In particular, the idea that TSR under Gygax was this indie punk rock outfit and they didn't go corporate until that mean ol' Lorraine Williams took over is just flat-out wrong on the face of it. if I'm not mistaken this is even exactly the "pop/word-of-mouth" history that was prevalent throughout the community that people have been struggling to disprove for a long time.
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Nov 8, 2021 11:19
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