RPGnet Columns
04-14-2000, 04:51 PM
Post originally by Sandy Antunes at 2000-04-14 15:51:07
Converted from Phorums BB System
Hi,
Hmm... interesting email I'm getting from folks who run websites, basically saying "You talking about me?" Normally I'd wait to respond to people in this forum, but I thought I'd do this thread based on the emails I've been getting privately.
Really, with my essay, I'm less interested in beating my own chest and more curious about how folks will take RPGing and net stuff and come up with a new spin. MMPOGS were a good case of a hard problem, done early, done well. I'm speaking of Habitat, of course... :) and UO.
In the RPG print biz, I think SJ Games is a good case of a company that finds hard but cool things and does them. An early one out the gate with a generic system that had supplements. Doing io.com. Launching Pyramid Online.
Wizard's Attic (a recurrent fav in my columns) took a tricky thing: herding together dozens of small publishers and getting them to agree to let you rep them, and convincing distributors he wasn't their competition-- and worked hard to make that happen. And now has first to market advantage (which includes that intangible "reputation", useful for PR).
The game "Nobilis" has been getting buzz because it's supposably way cool, and now Hogshead Publishing is going to make it available in stores. It takes diceless, urban, and mystic in a neat, new direction. Not first to market, but took a hard subject (diceless mystic urban) and apparently did it well (though I have yet to score a copy).
As always, my essays aren't saying "there's one way", but are my attempt to illustrate how some basic monotheistic market principles are horribly overstated. There's no "one magic formula" and that also means that just copying an existing model is not the best route (D&D clones, anyone?). This applies in high and low tech markets.
But a good idea, a unique take, nice execution, being among the first to try it, and putting in a hell of a lot of work, that's a sound strategy.
Cheers,
Sandy
sandy@rpg.net
Converted from Phorums BB System
Hi,
Hmm... interesting email I'm getting from folks who run websites, basically saying "You talking about me?" Normally I'd wait to respond to people in this forum, but I thought I'd do this thread based on the emails I've been getting privately.
Really, with my essay, I'm less interested in beating my own chest and more curious about how folks will take RPGing and net stuff and come up with a new spin. MMPOGS were a good case of a hard problem, done early, done well. I'm speaking of Habitat, of course... :) and UO.
In the RPG print biz, I think SJ Games is a good case of a company that finds hard but cool things and does them. An early one out the gate with a generic system that had supplements. Doing io.com. Launching Pyramid Online.
Wizard's Attic (a recurrent fav in my columns) took a tricky thing: herding together dozens of small publishers and getting them to agree to let you rep them, and convincing distributors he wasn't their competition-- and worked hard to make that happen. And now has first to market advantage (which includes that intangible "reputation", useful for PR).
The game "Nobilis" has been getting buzz because it's supposably way cool, and now Hogshead Publishing is going to make it available in stores. It takes diceless, urban, and mystic in a neat, new direction. Not first to market, but took a hard subject (diceless mystic urban) and apparently did it well (though I have yet to score a copy).
As always, my essays aren't saying "there's one way", but are my attempt to illustrate how some basic monotheistic market principles are horribly overstated. There's no "one magic formula" and that also means that just copying an existing model is not the best route (D&D clones, anyone?). This applies in high and low tech markets.
But a good idea, a unique take, nice execution, being among the first to try it, and putting in a hell of a lot of work, that's a sound strategy.
Cheers,
Sandy
sandy@rpg.net