There is a general weakness in the table-top gaming community. This
fact needs to be addressed and corrected. This weakness comes from
several fronts.
1) The wait and see or hope method of attracting new players to table
top gaming
2) The cheaper is better ideology
3) The protective attitude (note: this is a three fold problem)
3a) Game Masters
3b) Game Stores
3c) Game Manufacturers
4) Lack of imagination from GMs
5) Computer Gaming
6) A general non-desire to try new games
Each of these areas causes a fracture in the community. When we, as a
community, do not unite to strengthen the whole gaming community, the
end result is troublesome. We need to formulate an overall plan to
unify the community. This can be done through several fronts.
1) Forums
2) Going to schools and talking to administrators and parents alike
about the benefits of table top gaming and the destructiveness of
computer gaming (on line and at home game consoles)
3) Crafting exciting and unique events
4) Support of the branches of gaming. The branches of gaming are 1)
in game store gaming 2) gaming at game days 3) gaming at conventions
5) Attitude adjustment
6) Clean and well dressed appearance
7) Bad Breath
8) Letter writing
9) Positive attitude about all games
In this thread I will discuss the belief that cheaper is better. Part
I discussed the wait and see method
There is in this nation and, frankly, around the world a belief that
cost is linked to value. For ease of discussion I will contain my
analysis and discussion to the United States and its societies. We can
see the belief that money is linked to value clearly if we analyze Wal-
Mart. However, as this is a multifaceted issue, this analysis will not
be complete. It will be more for illustration purposes.
People in the U.S., in large amounts, shop at Wal-Mart. They do this
because they find the prices charged at this store to be the lowest/
most affordable prices as compared to other stores of this type. They
hold the beliefs that 1) money has real value 2) lowering the cost
they pay for goods purchased is good 3) they receive a good product
for the money spent 4) cost and value are linked 5) they believe that
they should attempt to save money by seeking the lowest cost for goods
purchased 6) they believe that they should attempt to retain as much
of their money as possible
Note: I may have missed or not thought of some of their beliefs.
These beliefs that they hold end up being based on false premises and
mythic ideals. Moreover, it is almost impossible for anyone to get
these people to see in and understand that they should not have these
values and beliefs. The reasons are many. I will address each point as
I listed it.
1) money has real value. What is the real essence of money? There are
several things that comprise money. Time, adherence to a social
system, agreed upon social structure, promotion of a capitalist
system, abatrary assignment of cost to items. These are the basics of
money, although there are some others but they are minor.
The mythic belief that money has value stems from a point of view that
sees labor and value as exchangeable. It promotes valuing produced and
manufactured goods over raw materials. It assigns a cost to produced
goods as based upon desire, utility, and supply. This is normally
described as "supply and demand".
Supply and demand holds that the less there is of something the more
value it has. This can be a useful tool to manipulate society. The
manipulation begins by generating a desire in the masses for products.
This is done through the media--at every level. Social systems also
come to the fore front as actors in the technique of control and
manipulation. This double pronged attack overpowers the masses and
causes many desires to grow. The end result of these desires is a need
to purchase products. However, the masses do not have unlimited
capital to purchase these products. Thus, they seek to generate ways
to lower the amount of money they have to spend to obtain these
products. I will list some of the ways they do this. The system too
understands that there is a limit to the amount of money the masses
can spend on products. The system desires for the masses to spend all
the extra money that they have, so that both essentials and non-
essentials are purchased at extreme levels. This will, it is hoped,
leave the masses with little to no extra money to save. Without a
build up of cash in some sort of savings plan, the masses will be
forced to return to the places that generate them money. Moreover,
they may spend so much that they have to have a second source of
income. This will then generate more products which can then be
purchased.
What is occurring here at this stage is an increase in consumption.
The system also pays its employees as little as possible. People will
even remark that cost savings on labor is a good thing. What happens
when labor is paid as little as possible is an alteration in the ways
that products are made.
Now we can return to Wal-Mart. The people who purchase these cheap
items do so with joy. They believe that they have made the correct
choice in this purchase. Let us examine this purchase. I will take a
simple fork as my model.
The fork in all its splendor reduces in value. Wal-Mart forces the
people whose products are sold by Wal-Mart to manufacture these
products at ever lowering profits for the producers. This means that
the owners of the companies that make these products will make less
money, as will the companies. Since the companies make less money,
they will have to eventually pay their employees less money. One of
the ways that this can occur is by relocation of the company to areas
where there is a glut of people i.e. laborers. These laborers can run
the gambit from children to the very elderly. We now have a ready made
slave like pool of labor. When a country has an abundant population,
the value of their labor and toil is less. Thus, here too we see the
cheaper is better belief system run amok.
The perfect storm has almost formed. Before we turn to that particular
discussion, we must analyze the results of this labor/producer
relationship and its results. As I have illustrated both the labor
force and the business it self makes less money. Thus, it will and
they will not be able to spend as much money as it did, say.. even
last year. An overall, and total reduction is occurring here in this
system of lessening value. So far we have lessened the value of labor
and companies. To overcome this we need to make people believe that
every dollar they earn is precious and it should be saved at all
costs. This, I assure you, has already happened. Everyone embalmed
[sic] in this system holds dear this premise.
However, with the lessening amount of money available, there will be a
reduction in spending, if prices are not lowered for the consumer.
This will be the case because the people will not have as much capital
as they did before. They will have promised it to a future moment
through the use of credit, or they will have spent the excess money on
essentials and non-essentials, leaving them virtually penniless. This
means that there will be a reduction in consumption. If you do not
believe me, then take a peep at impoverished areas and you will see a
lowering of products purchased by consumers. Why does this happen? As
I have said, the people and entities are earning less cash, and as a
result of this they cannot afford to purchase items. Business falters
under this system. It has already crashed once, only to be propped up
by failing ideas and images.
Be that as it may, the system is now replete with entities earning
less and less money for their labor. In this case, labor is effort to
produce an item in exchange for money.
What happens to help out the players at this stage? The lower prices
can only be attained through a lowering of quality. This will allow
the masses to purchase the products that are made. A lowering of
quality can already be seen in the fork. The fork made and sold in
1850 is far superior in quality as compared to the fork made in 2007.
So now, the people through their mislead purchases must either reduce
in elegance to live among the tat and tattered, or they must
repurchase these items.
The cause of repurchasing products is totally enjoyed by the
capitalist system as it keeps the machine of production humming.
However, the down side is that the masses can never save money, as
they must continue spending it in order to keep the thin veneer of
excellence recharged.
We now can see a total system geared to the reduction of value. All
things reduce to a lower common denominator through this system. The
ones trapped in it cannot see these effects. They cling to the beliefs
they were force fed. The concept that money must be saved and spent in
as little amounts as possible is the basis for this thrust. They end
up caught in the gears of a machine using them as lubricant.
Part II
Many people believe that they should seek out the cheapest product.
They believe they should look to every avenue. Often brick and mortar
stores do not have the lowest costs. This is a direct result of having
to have extra things for which to pay--rent, utilities, employees for
example. So, other places do present themselves. Wal-Mart sold in mass
quantities a game called pirates. It was produced by WizKids. Brick
and mortar game stores also sold this product. Even if the cost
difference between the two was minimal. The purchasing of these pirate
cards at Wal-Mart was a direct threat to the brick and mortar game
stores as it constituted a loss of profit for them. Another area that
hurts the brick and mortar stores comes from game sellers who only
have an on line presence. This means they can sell product more
cheaply than brick and mortar stores. They do not have the overhead
that the brick and mortar game stores do. Thus, their products cost
less.
The gamers who look only for cheaper products fail to see that they
are exchanging savings of money for a lack of game stores. Why? The
loss of sales to internet sales causes game stores to struggle
financially, potentially even causing closure of brick and mortar
stores. Now, the gamers have cheap product but no where to play. This
is ok if they are satisfied with only having the same people with
which to play.
However, there are problems with this. Game stores act as avenues for
sales for games. The salesmen at the stores introduce people to games
that they may not know. The players playing at the stores introduce
people to games they may not know. The lay-out and the look and feel
of the game store is conducive to people being desirous of
experimenting. They will experiment by purchasing a game with which
they may not be familiar. They will purchase a game that they may
never have thought of purchasing. This occurs simply by immersing
people in the game store atmosphere.
Thus, sales of games occurs. This may not be the game that a group
normally plays but it is a sale non-the-less. This means that a game
company makes money and stays in business. This means that the game
store stays open. Sales are paramount to keeping the gaming industry
viable. When sales drop, game stores close, games are not made, and
players loose a place to play. They should desire to have this place
to play as it increases sales for game companies, potentially causing
new games to be produced, this can include expansions for games that
the gamers play. If there are not enough sales of a particular brand
or product, that product will go out of print. Thus, every gamer,
regardless of the sale should desire for game stores to stay open.
In order for them to stay open, and for game companies to continue
producing games, the players must participate in this system by
purchasing their games from the place that provides them a place to
play--the game store. If they do not do this, but instead purchase
products based solely on cost, then more often than not, the game
store will either go out of business or alter its line of products to
match the sales that are made at that store. I have heard of game
stores converting into hobby stores that carry models instead of
minis, puzzles instead of RPGs, and radio controlled cars instead of
board games.
An avenue to generate new players has closed shut at this point as a
result of the mentality that cheaper is better. Cheaper is not better.
Cheaper is short sighted, base, and low class. The poor, the indigent,
the feeble minded, the low-class look to the pocket book not the
venue. Gamers join in a symbiotic relationship with game stores. They
work in tandem to maintain an atmosphere that is conducive to all
forms of gaming, whether it is new games or places to play (thus
generate new players), every participant must work in unison to keep
the doors open and the manufacturers producing if we are to have new
blood entering into the halls of gaming. I look out and see a graying
population befuddled at the loss of places to play, but they are
happy. At least they saved a dollar.
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