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Author Topic: I don't care about the Gaming Industry.  (Read 3964 times)

el-remmen

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« on: April 26, 2006, 04:05:57 PM »
Am I the only one that feels this way?

Well, let me get one thing straight, I honestly don't think the industry is going anywhere any time soon and unlike at least one of the regulars around here I don't think the cat piss men or "lawn crappers" hurt anyone but themselves (and the people foolish/desparate enough to let them into their games/stores) - but even if that was the case - I don't give a shit.

Me and my friends, and millions of other people would still get together and play their games and make up their rules and search the web for cool shit to use and my gaming would go on much as it has for years and years.

If the "industry" were to collapse would RPGs become even more of a niche hobby?  Probably after a good amount of time (though I am sure some other RPG or RPG-like thing would fill the vacuum) - but it would be pretty hard to be more niche than it already is.

The only reason I bring this up is because of the industry threads I see on various messageboards and blogs and how my eyes glaze over whenever I happen upon them and I think "Who give a shit?!?" (aside from the few folks who can actually feed their familes by making gaming shit).

Actually, this is very close to my feelings about the wretched music industry as well. :heh:
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gleichman

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #1 on: April 26, 2006, 04:08:53 PM »
If the rpg industry died tomorrow I'd throw a party at my normal weekend game.

Some years down the line, I'd likely look back and wished that something had live- just enough to make it possible to find new players.
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Nicephorus

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #2 on: April 26, 2006, 04:11:11 PM »
I care about individual companies and designers but not really the industry as a whole.  If a company that I don't care for is in trouble, I'm meh on it no matter what kind of company it is.

And I see no reason to panic or run out saying that the industry is on the verge of collapse or anything like that.

Thjalfi

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2006, 04:14:27 PM »
well, this is refreshing.

Tell me more!
 

kanegrundar

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2006, 04:42:02 PM »
I agree.  Even if the "industry" collaspsed tomorrow, there will still be a geek out there that will put out a game and sell it to the rest of us geek in short order.  Games may come and go, but the desire for geeks to play game in which they pretend to be someone/thing else will always be there in one form or another.
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Cyclotron

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2006, 04:52:57 PM »
Quote from: el-remmen
Am I the only one that feels this way?

No, you are not.

Though you are, in my very personal experience, the first to actually express such an opinion online.

:bow:
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Cyberzombie

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #6 on: April 26, 2006, 05:21:45 PM »
I care about the games and I care about the people.  The companies and an abstract "industry", not so much.  I don't identify with groups well and I pick and choose what I like.

Personally, I wouldn't really mind if there really was such a thing as a games "industry".  It might make it easier to get players.  :)
 

Levi Kornelsen

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« Reply #7 on: April 26, 2006, 05:22:11 PM »
Quote from: kanegrundar
I agree.  Even if the "industry" collaspsed tomorrow, there will still be a geek out there that will put out a game and sell it to the rest of us geek in short order.


Ayup.  I'd need a good two weeks, at least, though.

kanegrundar

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« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2006, 05:23:27 PM »
Quote from: Levi Kornelsen
Ayup.  I'd need a good two weeks, at least, though.
Well, shit.  I guess I'd just have to wait then!  ;)
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ColonelHardisson

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« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2006, 05:25:54 PM »
The only real reason I care about the industry is because I like having the option of buying new books. I think if the industry itself collapsed - a not very likely prospect, I agree - the internet would play an even bigger part than it does now in keeping things alive as far as the hobby itself is concerned. That's because with the game industry gone, game shops would be gone, and the only other reasonably accessible way to find new players would be the internet, assuming the friends you already have are already gamers or have no interest in gaming.
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RPGPundit

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2006, 06:04:57 PM »
While the REAL industry (which is Wizards of the Coast) is in no real danger of "collapsing" in the short term, the serious and real problem is that the intellectual and later financial collapse of TSR and the reign of the Swine in the 1990s basically crippled gaming, leading untold thousands of gamers to leave the hobby in frustration with the kinds of games being made at the time, and failing monumentally ever since then to create products that would attract young teenagers to gaming.  Today, we're playing the price for that, as gaming as a hobby grows increasingly old in demographic, gains an increasing proportion of lawncrappers as more and more normal human beings leave the hobby (or never enter it in the first place), and games are increasingly made to appeal not to younger gamers or people who actually PLAY, but to "collectors" who obsessively buy, read, and comment on the games but don't actually use them as games.

Its well and good to say "I don't give a shit about the industry", but then you'd better be happy when you get to being a lonely 40 year old gamer with your books and no one to game with in a radius of 500 miles from your home.

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2006, 06:18:44 PM »
Personally, I blame (rionically) Computer RPG's for most of the tabletop genre's perceived decline. I say perceived because the hobby doesn't appear to be any  more or less popular than it was ten years ago.

BOZ

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2006, 06:53:46 PM »
Quote from: el-remmen
Am I the only one that feels this way?


nope.  :)
don't quote me on that.  :)

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el-remmen

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2006, 07:10:04 PM »
Quote from: Thjalfi
well, this is refreshing.

Tell me more!


Uh. . .  anything specific?
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el-remmen

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I don't care about the Gaming Industry.
« Reply #14 on: April 26, 2006, 07:11:28 PM »
Quote from: gleichman

Some years down the line, I'd likely look back and wished that something had live- just enough to make it possible to find new players.



Eh, even when I have not been able to find gamers I have formed groups just by gathering together people I know who might be interested and have run games for years from that.  I love new gamers.
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