Car News

Hawke raises an interesting point. Are we in fact seeing roleplaying
games selling more, or is there simply a higher price tag on them? A
good parallel to this would be the movie industry. Movies like Titanic
and Avatar are called the biggest selling movies of all time, but they
don't factor in that, for example, my dad would pay a dollar or
something to see a movie when he was a kid (and now we pay $10+). It's
also a tough comparison because it's easier to see a movie now.

Likewise, it is easier to buy roleplaying games now. Many games are
now sold in comic stores, book stores, and through online venues.
There are also more of them (stores and games). Just like with the
increasing variety of movies and access to theatres, its simply easier
to buy roleplaying games. But the question still stands: Are they
selling more, or are they selling for more?

Bryan Campbell

On Oct 25, 7:51 pm, "Mike \"Talien\" Tresca" <tal...@toast.net> wrote:
> Hi Scooter,
>
> I write articles pretty quickly so I sometimes don't back them up with
> as much data as I should.  I do in fact have data to support my
> argument.  To address your concerns:
>
> Using the references below, I infer that game sales are tied to time
> and money, and that teenagers these days have more time and less
> money.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates that 16-19 year
> olds have a much higher unemployment rate, and this is the same group
> that normally experiences a dip in hobby gaming (see below).  Since,
> as you pointed out, hobby games have a much higher value per dollar
> than other forms of entertainment (i.e., movies) I believe it's
> reasonable that teenagers who play RPGs might game more -- both
> because they are economically restricted due to lack of income and
> because they have the time to play that RPGs require. A full-time job
> increases money and decreases time, so I would expect those two
> variables to be adjusted accordingly by unemployment.
>
> I can't prove this of correlation of course.  I can base it off of my
> own experience, which was that I was gaming twice a week in excess of
> six hours at a time until I got a job. Work severely curtailed gaming
> because we had more competing entertainment factors to spend money on,
> like movies and women. :)
>
> I agree with all your points (as does Internal Correspondence, which
> arrived in the mail today, coincidentally).  I do not believe all
> gamers are jobless teenagers who game out of boredom or poverty -- I
> do think that, given the chance, avid gamers would game MORE if they
> had the opportunity to do so.
>
> Please don't be offended.  My goal was to provoke exactly the kind of
> discussion we're having!
>
> =====================
>
> Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0 by Ryan
> Dancey
>
> http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/wotcdemo.html
>
> 3. Adventure Gaming is an adult hobby
> More than half the market for hobby games is older than 19. There is a
> substantial "dip" in incidence of play from 16-18. This lends credence
> to the theory that most people are introduced to hobby gaming before
> high-school and play quite a bit, then leave the hobby until they
> reach college, and during college they return to the hobby in
> significant numbers.
>
> Second Person: Role-playing and Story in Games and Playable Media
>
> Narrative Structure and Creative Tension in Call of Cthulhu by Kenneth
> Hite
>
> p. 38
>
> "The first is the rapid turnover in the role-playing hobby as a whole.
> Role-playing gamers traditionally enter the hobby around ages 12 or
> 13, before high school.  They pay until 16 (dropping out with the
> availability of a car, and the concomitant expansion of available
> competing activities) and enter the hobby in college (when mobility
> and choice are artificially constrained again) and drift out of it
> after graduation, marriage, childbirth, or other life changes. By this
> understanding, a typical gaming group lasts only four years at the
> most."
>
> Internal Correspondence #73, September 2010
>
> A Secular Change in Gaming? Or is it the Economy
>
> p. 4
>
> "A lot of people would rather spend $60 for a board game that they can
> play with their family so they get their social interaction, their
> parenting in, and they don't have to worry about their kid sitting in
> front of the TV playing videogames," Procell told us.  "They're out
> there buying games that they normally wouldn't buy.  They're out there
> looking for stuff to do with their kids."

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