I was reminiscing about the old Robotech RPG in a thread about the Robotech Novels, and I got to thinking.
I've been reading Dragon (and Dungeon) from a fairly young age, because they were always available from my dad and uncle playing DnD. And when I was older I bought my own, etc
I discovered a lot of non-TSR games through the ads and reviews in Dragon and Dungeon.
- Robotech
- TMNT
- Heroes Unlimited
- Rifts
- Shadowrun
- Battletech
- Gurps
- Battletech
- Werewolf
- Warhammer in its various incarnations
If those full page ads weren't in Dragon/Dungeon, I wouldn't have known about these RPGs, I wouldn't have bought them, I wouldn't have enjoyed them, and in all likelyhood, I wouldn't have been so into gaming, because my experiences would have been limited.
Now the new online DDI format for the magazines doesn't have ads for other companies. They will have ads for the new WotC products, but thats it. (I'm not sure if that was a press release, the intro to the magazines from August when they changed the site, or from a message board post. But I'm sure that it was said by one of the new editors. Chris maybe?)
Is this lack of ads a good thing for the gaming industry? Of course the new DDI versions won't have the clout of the old versions, but still...
Any opinions?
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I don't think it'll really make a difference. Or be bad, for that matter.
Like you, I discovered a lot of games by reading the ads in Dragon - Robotech, Rifts, Warhammer FRP, Toon, and a horde of others. But those were in the days before the Internet. (Which doesn't seem all that long ago ...) Dragon, Dungeon, and your Friendly Local Game Store were pretty much the *only* sources of information the average gamer had for learning about different games.
With the advent of the Internet, though, that's changed tremendously. You have these boards, you have EnWorld, you have RPG.net, and so on and so forth - dozens of sites dedicated to covering any sort of RPG, card game, or board game you can imagine. Over the past couple of years, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a new game that I learned about *first* from an advertisement in Dragon or Dungeon.
Gamers tend to be tech-savvy, or at least Internet-savvy.
Five or ten years ago, I would've agreed with you. But today? I don't think it's going to have much impact on the gaming industry - or keep gamers from learning about new stuff.
OMG! I'm stunned by the brilliance of this -- WotC has removed the primary advertising vehicles for their competition.
I agree -- for gamers it's bad. Certainly no catastrophe, but it'll hurt a lot of small companies out there, I think.
OMG! I'm stunned by the brilliance of this -- WotC has removed the primary advertising vehicles for their competition.
I agree -- for gamers it's bad. Certainly no catastrophe, but it'll hurt a lot of small companies out there, I think.
Well, it'll hurt less than it would when I was starting out... no internet or google back in the 80's, at least not in wide use.
But still, thinking back on all those games that I would NOT have tried if not for a fullpage ad in Dragon... its one thing if you go to a FLGS on a regular basis, but if you are looking online or at a bookstore its a much more limited selection. Or harder to find unless you know what you want in the case of the internet.
PS. And I listed Battletech twice by accident. I meant Battletech, and then the Mechwarrior RPG. I miss FASA.
Any opinions?
Well, I subscribe to the print version (which comes with a free PDF version) of Kobold Quarterly, and it has a few cool ads (6 in issue 2 by my quick count) of items interesting to gamers. Hopefully, it will be called Kobold Bi-Monthly soon!
Any opinions?Well, I subscribe to the print version (which comes with a free PDF version) of Kobold Quarterly, and it has a few cool ads (6 in issue 2 by my quick count) of items interesting to gamers. Hopefully, it will be called Kobold Bi-Monthly soon!
Kobold Quarterly is good stuff! I haven't gone through the 2nd one yet though.