Tablepocalypse now

[clockworkjoe]

http://gmskarka.com/2010/10/21/tabletopocalypse-now/

I don't think the industry will disappear even if WOTC and WW leave - indie small press will fill in the gaps and I can't think of any hobby industry that has outright disappeared. People still make model trains for instance.

[Ryo]

IMO, WW's mmo is going to be a flop. They made a bad choice for the company. The game mechanics were better in NWoD, but it had no soul, which had more to do with its non-sales than the small market.

[SageNytell]

Wizards just announced a third Neverwinter Nights game the other day, as an MMO. I'm guessing it will use 4E rules, and I shudder to think how they'll adapt any of it to real time. It will be marketed as a WoW killer, when the industry doesn't realize that it isn't possible to make a WoW killer, you need something new to beat them. But with revenues like that, no one will try anything new, and as the company making the MMO is Cryptic Studios, it will be big for three months and then crash.

Wizards, if they tag their financial future alongside of an MMO, are done. And I hope they realize that before they go that far. Thank god for Paizo and Pathfinder.

[Setherick]

Tabletop gaming won't die, but it'll definitely change forms in a few years. What we consider tabletop gaming will become more online, sort of an interactive ARG. I saw an interesting presentation about what the Hyperlab at the Carleton University (CA) is doing with GPS trackers and ARG software. I'll see if I can get the presentation slides and paper from the guy that runs the Hyperlab so that Ross can post it on the main site.

If you want to know the direction of "tabletop gaming", that's it. People playing narrative games on hand held devices (iPods) in real time, using real positioning software.

[Flawless P]

Someday, hopefully they will make a reality simulator that will let you play RPG's in real time like a Holo-deck from star trek, that would be sweet, and probably the only way to get me into shape.

[clockworkjoe]

I think the stuff Patrick mentioned will happen but it won't encompass all of the space of tabletop games - I think there will be standard tabletop games too but there will be other changes - more use of tablets as replacements for rulebooks and/or character sheets for one thing. Also a lot more games will be run online - skype/maptools type setups.

It's interesting to note that people are decrying the death of tabletop rpgs yet their legacy is omnipresent in gaming today. Hit points, experience points, levels, the dungeon crawl, narrative games etc. these are accepted by millions of people around the world. It's just that most of them don't know you can make your own Mass Effect with friends for the cost of a rulebook, some paper, pencils and dice.

[Tadanori Oyama]

I'm not worried about the indurstry dying out completely. Since RPGs can be assembled using PDFs (many decent ones are only in PDF format) by anybody on the internet with some software, there's going to be rule books for games as long as people feel the urge to create their own Dungeons and Dragons clones.

And I think guys like Greg will keep things running on the ransom model fairly well. Kickstarter seems to be doing a brisk trade from all the notices they keep sending me.

Honestly I'm hoping the gaming industry continues to evolve into a model like Eclipse Phase: reputation based neo-communist cooperation; the more up put up for the people the more the people respond with their own effects.

[Shallazar]

Honestly I'm hoping the gaming industry continues to evolve into a model like Eclipse Phase: reputation based neo-communist cooperation; the more up put up for the people the more the people respond with their own effects.

Except for the part where it is hard to play because of all the fucking technogizmos.

[SageNytell]

Because of this thread, when I left my job today I went straight over to one of my area's two game stores. I live in Colonie, NY, near Albany, so while the area's sort of urban, it is far from big city.

When I went in, I bought two books, but then I watched. And I saw a game store, on a Thursday night in November, with at least 35 people between two floors. They were doing a healthy amount of business - I watched a couple of books get sold, many many comics, a good number of Pokemon cards, and a group of players started a Magic: The Gathering draft.

In the back of the store, a 4E game was starting as the players filtered in. A few different folks were weighing in on the Dark Eldar faction in 40K. Upstairs folks were playing in a Pokemon tournament and the aforementioned MTG draft, while others perused comics. The kids playing Pokemon were just that - kids. They were talking about their day in a local high school, and one of them picked up a box of Munchkin when she was downstairs.

I know the owner of the store, and he has enough income from his operations to constantly expand, try new products, and employ quite a few different employees. He does have the benefit of also running Eden Studios (All Flesh Must Be Eaten), but that's far from his store's main source of income.

As I left, a dad came in and was showing his young son a role-playing board game.

Dying hobby? We'll have to see.

[The_Last_76]

Someday, hopefully they will make a reality simulator that will let you play RPG's in real time like a Holo-deck from star trek, that would be sweet, and probably the only way to get me into shape.

You know what they say.  The day we get a holo-deck is the day Humanity dies.

[siriq]

I believe that table top games still do well.  I prefer pen and paper rpgs, they give me an enjoyment few computer games will ever give me (fallout series is the exception).  I have been playing 40k since i was in middle school, and i have never found a lack of players, old or new.  At the university i attend some friends and I started a table top gaming club, and within 2 years we had 100 members.  When the economy went down the amount of new players reduced, but the games are still played.  I think one of the major problems for table tops is that you need to buy the instructions, and what ever extra to play a game and that is it.  So, i think the games will never go away, and many people will still play them, but the industry will shrink but never go away.

[iceemaker]

The author creates a false dichotomy in his post, stating that the perception among gamers is that one is a "true gamer" or "something else". He is correct in pointing out that the hate and vitriol in the community have always existed, and the internet merely provides a more open avenue with which to channel this rage.  But I am fairly certain there is no way to verify or deny his claim with actual evidence beyond the anecdotal. And remember, the plural of "anecdote" is not "data". It is all in personal perception.

I am not entirely certain what data he is using beyond that sales statistic for the Dresden Files RPG, but his claim seems to be a tenuous one at best. He does not take into account the floundering United States economy (we're supposed to be on, what, the third "upturn" now?) and the lack of disposable income that it entails. I am sure similar statistics could be uncovered for war-games as well; not that citing one sales statistic makes one's claims solid anyways.