Where there is passion for a particular hobby, there will eventually be monetization. That's just the way of things. Rather than waste time and energy railing against it, let's take a look at what the future might hold, shall we?
I'm of the opinion that one possible evolutionary avenue for the professional GM and content creator facing the destruction of D&D as we know it, thanks to WotC, is the year-long campaign contract. Take any other hobby that wealthy individuals might care to pursue... $50K annually is not a ton of money for such men (and a few women, I suppose, but let's acknowledge that is a smaller market).
Without further ado, I'm going to link my blog post where I wrote out the entire idea. Didn't put this in news and advertisements because unless someone lives within a 45 minute drive of me, none of you are potential customers or clients. Also, I truly want to know what my fellow gamers think of this paradigm shift. It changes the game, changes the economics. For me, it makes what I do a more viable option than GMing my home-game for free and self-publishing on the side for roughly $10K a year.
https://vengersatanis.blogspot.com/2024/02/game-master-to-rich-famous.html
I welcome your feedback! If this is a future business model for GMs and content creators who wish to make RPGs their profession, I believe it's more sustainable than traditional GM for hire gigs and DM's Guild once WotC has their virtual 6e "walled garden with micro-transactions" in place later this year.
Thanks,
VS
Interesting. There certainly are some rich and famous gamers out there. I doubt most of us have sufficient fame or market penetration to attract them. I wonder if you'd get more or less bites promoting something like Tekumal which has a certain level of mystique. For fifty thousand a year, I'd run just about anything, probably not FATAL or Dragon Raid.
Well, good luck with that. I keep thinking there should be some way to make money at this hobby. But when I look what money has done to successful companies, sometimes I think we're lucky it's as grass roots and do it yourself as it is. At the moment I'm happy to put up with my day job so I can write what I want without fear of reprisals. It's one of the reasons I've never moved into selling my work.
I think there's potential here for sure. Setting the price according to your target market is a good start, but as David notes initial penetration is the issue. It's probably going to be mostly about who you know.
Quote from: VengerSatanis on February 28, 2024, 09:44:58 AMIf this is a future business model for GMs and content creators who wish to make RPGs their profession, I believe it's more sustainable than traditional GM for hire gigs and DM's Guild once WotC has their virtual 6e "walled garden with micro-transactions" in place later this year.
This works out that a party of four players will each be paying the GM about $480 a session. Even me, whose net worth is in the multiple millions, would have a hard time justifying that kind of expense.
I've looked at the economics of a pay-to-play GM and there has to be some sort of electronic interface (i.e. VTT) to allow the GM to work 8 hour shifts per day, to make it viable as a economical means of entertainment for the players.
Quote from: hedgehobbit on February 28, 2024, 11:09:48 AM
This works out that a party of four players will each be paying the GM about $480 a session. Even me, whose net worth is in the multiple millions, would have a hard time justifying that kind of expense.
I'm not sure "even you" is the target market here. These are people that regularly drop $1000 for a manicure or facial. Serena Williams once took a bath in Evian for $5k. Jessica Simpson paid $50k for a single massage.
Jennifer Lopez poops on a $100k toilet seat. Bono dropped $1500 to buy his hat its own plane ticket. Jay-Z is happy to spend $200k for a bottle of bubbly -- I'm guessing you'd have a hard time justifying those expenses as well.
These are silly people, who pay silly prices for silly things!
From monetization, my opinion is to create content for VTT's and sell on their stores. Work with reviewers and buy ad space to sell such content. You'll get more bang for buck releasing a couple of good looking modules, with maps, custom monsters and a few unique puzzles that aren't on the web than trying to sell your limited time to DM. For every module released, its going to be a long term delivery of funds to you. Update it to the latest version of D&D as well to keep the trickle coming in. Build content for other platforms as well like castles and crusades and shadow dark.
What if you filmed your normal sessions. How much as revenue could you expect after a year? Even zero it would probably drive some sales.
Love the feedback! At this stage, I'm not worried about people poking holes in my concept because that's all it is at the moment... a hope and a dream, but also a vision and will to see it through.
What I'll be targeting is somewhere between the folks who have a few million of net worth and the $5K Evian bath folks who probably don't live anywhere near me. I also see where the country is at economically. There's a polarization of wealth where the rich (upper-middle class and above) are acquiring more wealth - in some cases, more money than they know what to do with - and the lower-middle class and below are falling behind. I intend to market myself to the former.
I could lower my expectations and go virtual, but I truly feel that the best gaming experience is face-to-face. Also, not looking for clients who are already gaming (so, being a known quantity or OSR celebrity won't matter as much), but those who've vaguely heard of D&D, maybe they've seen Critical Role or whatever (my sessions are better) and want a real elite VIP experience without having to go down to the local game store, rip off a tear-away strip of paper with some dude's phone number or email address, and try their luck.
At this point in my life / hobby / "career," I don't have any interest in creating stuff for mediums and rule-sets I don't love, like VTT or 6e.
There are currently 3 videos that showcase my GMing (2 with Grim Jim and another fellow on Inappropriate Characters, 1 with Max from Legion of Myth). We had a player who recorded the audio for a couple of our sessions, but he literally fell off the face of the earth and ghosted our entire group a couple months ago. I'm not opposed to recording some or all of a home game session... maybe I could get something "in the can" by this summer.
If there's a question I missed or something I forgot to comment on, let me know. Thanks!
The DM would need to be amazing.
They'd also need to be a hot chick, and disappear under the table whenever I rang a bell.
Quote from: Grognard GM on February 28, 2024, 06:19:37 PM
The DM would need to be amazing.
They'd also need to be a hot chick, and disappear under the table whenever I rang a bell.
Lol, yes. ;)
Theres been alot of discussion on Reddit as it comes up once a week or so seems.
The general consensus is that most players start to baulk at anything over 10-20$ a session and really baulk at the 50$ a session mark.
Venger, you'd need a super-rich fan whose accountant would write you off as a business expense. Of course, you'd need your accountant to save you from losing most of your profits to taxes. For someone like that, $100k/year for Personal DM would be a non issue.
I have no idea where you could find such a person within an hour drive...and that potential pool of customers drops further when considering how niche your favorite genre is. AKA, I imagine the rich dude would want a DM for whatever their fav genre of fantasy might be and Cha'alt might not be it.
I think your focus on sleaze & sex in games limits your potential audience, but that's your defined niche. I'm unsure how you grow your sales unless you can tap into an undiscovered fandom, especially in this amazing best ever economy.
This is nearly $2000 every two weeks. You're out of your mind. The top earners in the Professional DM sphere earn about $125k a year. The average is about $85K. And many, many are charging a measly $20/hr. I know this seemed like a really good idea when you were baked, but no. Still, I'm gonna bookmark this thread for the lulz.
It is safe to say that once you have celebrity clients or GMs, normal rates no longer apply.
Would I do $100k a year, no, the cost of insurance, self employment tax, etc. would eat a significant chunk of that, add in inflation adjusted prices these days and the margins get even worse. Having said that, $500 every other week and writing off all your gaming purchases as business expenses would be nice.
If you're not going to tell me your business plan here I'm not going to click your link, but good luck with your shilling.
Quote from: Omega on March 02, 2024, 07:33:25 AM
The general consensus is that most players start to baulk at anything over 10-20$ a session and really baulk at the 50$ a session mark.
The fact #Starbucks exists and #GenCon sessions are even more expensive once all costs are accounted for suggests customers in general have absolutely no sense of the cost or value of anything.
Quote from: Omega on March 02, 2024, 07:33:25 AM
Theres been alot of discussion on Reddit as it comes up once a week or so seems.
The general consensus is that most players start to baulk at anything over 10-20$ a session and really baulk at the 50$ a session mark.
I had actually forgotten all about this thread until now, just been busy with stuff.
Yeah, for that demographic (poor college students, millennials in low-wage jobs, and zoomers just starting out) $50 is probably the most you can consistently squeeze out of players. I'll be going after an entirely different demographic... that guy walking downtown, wearing a suit with gray hair or bald who you've never met and don't know anything about. A whale. Could be someone who doesn't even know what RPGs are. All I have to do is find one guy.
Quote from: Spinachcat on March 02, 2024, 10:31:05 PM
Venger, you'd need a super-rich fan whose accountant would write you off as a business expense. Of course, you'd need your accountant to save you from losing most of your profits to taxes. For someone like that, $100k/year for Personal DM would be a non issue.
I have no idea where you could find such a person within an hour drive...and that potential pool of customers drops further when considering how niche your favorite genre is. AKA, I imagine the rich dude would want a DM for whatever their fav genre of fantasy might be and Cha'alt might not be it.
I think your focus on sleaze & sex in games limits your potential audience, but that's your defined niche. I'm unsure how you grow your sales unless you can tap into an undiscovered fandom, especially in this amazing best ever economy.
Yes, it's possible that my GMing could be written off as a business expense, but that's between The Guy and his accountant. I already pay taxes on the piddly income I'm currently generating via the hobby, but something like $50K or $100K would make the accounting actually worth it.
I'm not totally inflexible on the RPG, but I'm definitely going to put my preferences front and center and push for what I think is the campaign I can GM the best of anyone in the world.
I've stopped wracking my brain over sales vs fandom, undiscovered or otherwise, because I have no idea why things get picked up and become super popular... other than the stuff I'm not going to change.
Quote from: JanDevries on March 03, 2024, 01:37:40 PM
This is nearly $2000 every two weeks. You're out of your mind. The top earners in the Professional DM sphere earn about $125k a year. The average is about $85K. And many, many are charging a measly $20/hr. I know this seemed like a really good idea when you were baked, but no. Still, I'm gonna bookmark this thread for the lulz.
I hope you do (bookmark it). The proof will be in the pudding, hoss. As I said, I'm not going to actively pursue this until August or September. However, I intend to be well on my way by January of 2025.
Quote from: Anon Adderlan on March 05, 2024, 05:52:58 AM
If you're not going to tell me your business plan here I'm not going to click your link, but good luck with your shilling.
Quote from: Omega on March 02, 2024, 07:33:25 AM
The general consensus is that most players start to baulk at anything over 10-20$ a session and really baulk at the 50$ a session mark.
The fact #Starbucks exists and #GenCon sessions are even more expensive once all costs are accounted for suggests customers in general have absolutely no sense of the cost or value of anything.
My business plan...
STEP ONE: Find a rich guy within a 45 minute drive who wants me to GM my CHA'ALT campaign for him and his group every other week, under a year-long contract for $50K.
STEP TWO: Enjoy semi-retirement.
You know, there's always the guy who wants to play the one game nobody else likes. What about pay for players?
Quote from: David Johansen on March 09, 2024, 11:48:33 AM
You know, there's always the guy who wants to play the one game nobody else likes. What about pay for players?
While I see the appeal, the more I think about it, the sadder it sounds. You're basically doing all the work as the GM and then, on top of that, paying people to play with you. At that point, you're basically just paying to have friends.
However, if it's for a very special playtest, I suppose it could be like paying subjects to participate in a scientific experiment when you can't find volunteers. Nevertheless, try to find volunteers... or friends.