What about de-centralized conventions? 

What I mean by this is what if, instead of having one huge convention that gets swarmed by SJW's, and bomb threats, that make the venue say "No way." And refund everyone's money at the last minute, have small events of up to 20 people in numerous places on the same day.  You could have hundreds, maybe even thousands of tiny "Make Adventuring Great Again conventions" at once in really cool places, or even at people's homes. Take video footage.  Do podcasts.  Invite whomever you think is suitable.

The next day bombard the internet with photos, and videos of groups having fun gaming, and not giving a shit about politics.  It would be more like a holiday.  The Anti-fun brigade would go apoplectic, seeing everyone do an end run around their stranglehold on gaming cons.

Let them try and shut that down.  It would be a logistical nightmare.

Quote from: GeekyBugle on July 04, 2021, 07:18:32 PM

Quote from: Zalman on July 04, 2021, 06:37:59 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on July 04, 2021, 04:11:11 PM
imagine a decentralized DTRPG alternative, you still need the printing and delivering side. Unless you want to sell only e-books.

I don't know what "decentralized printing" is. Unlike decentralized tech, printing equipment has to be located somewhere other than with the participant ... because if the buyers all have their own printing gear, then selling e-books is decentralized printing.

LOL, my point exactly. You can have a decentralized selling point, but the printing and delivering can't be decentralized, so you need to integrate some services by people with enough balls to refuse to bend the knee.

Same goes for other stuff, selling T-Shirts for instance.

Or just sell electronic goods, and let people print their own. Or just find any old print shop to do it. If they don't like you, find another print shop. It's not like there's something special about DTRPG's printing equipment that allows only them to print RPG books (in fact, they themselves outsource the actual printing if I understand correctly). So what's the problem? The only unique part DTRPG provides is a central hub where people find and purchase games, and that part is easily replaceable at minimal cost and with decentralized tech.

As for delivery, that's already decentralized (doordash, et al being current examples).

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on July 05, 2021, 06:09:27 AM
What about de-centralized conventions? 

What I mean by this is what if, instead of having one huge convention that gets swarmed by SJW's, and bomb threats, that make the venue say "No way." And refund everyone's money at the last minute, have small events of up to 20 people in numerous places on the same day.  You could have hundreds, maybe even thousands of tiny "Make Adventuring Great Again conventions" at once in really cool places, or even at people's homes. Take video footage.  Do podcasts.  Invite whomever you think is suitable.

The next day bombard the internet with photos, and videos of groups having fun gaming, and not giving a shit about politics.  It would be more like a holiday.  The Anti-fun brigade would go apoplectic, seeing everyone do an end run around their stranglehold on gaming cons.

Let them try and shut that down.  It would be a logistical nightmare.

This is similar to how hippies hold Rainbow Gatherings while remaining largely immune to government action/shutdown: the have no official organizers, and no official organization. It's one big "pot luck" as it were, with an outstanding (and entirely decentralized) communication network that just talks about places everyone is just going to happen to show up that week. What event? We're all just a bunch a people.

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on July 05, 2021, 06:09:27 AM
What about de-centralized conventions? 

What I mean by this is what if, instead of having one huge convention that gets swarmed by SJW's, and bomb threats, that make the venue say "No way." And refund everyone's money at the last minute, have small events of up to 20 people in numerous places on the same day.  You could have hundreds, maybe even thousands of tiny "Make Adventuring Great Again conventions" at once in really cool places, or even at people's homes. Take video footage.  Do podcasts.  Invite whomever you think is suitable.

The next day bombard the internet with photos, and videos of groups having fun gaming, and not giving a shit about politics.  It would be more like a holiday.  The Anti-fun brigade would go apoplectic, seeing everyone do an end run around their stranglehold on gaming cons.

Let them try and shut that down.  It would be a logistical nightmare.

That's a good idea with only one catch that I can see:

How do you get publishers or speakers interested in 5 or less tables spread all around the country? I guess the speakers could do teleconference and each event would need to keep track of the correct time given their timezone. Not exactly the same but it could work.

But I see no way for publishers to get in it.

These are already done by board gaming companies. "events" that span game stores. Arrive, play, maybe get a promo or something. Similar to tournaments, but not competitive.

Organized play for RPGs is similar. Instead of cons you have game stores.