Re: [DL] Re: Combined Format *LONG*

[Ross Coburn <coburn@sympatico.ca>]

I am carefully trying not to start a flamefest on this particular subject,
so please bear with me folks.

> That said, PEG has the right to survive.   I love PEG, I love their games, I
> love their originality, and I love the way they really try to keep us, the
> customers, happy.  They really listen to us, and those of you who have
> played, or continue to play, games from other companies know just how unique
> that is.

I agree with most or all of the above.  So far, so good...

 
> Now they got a new idea that's gonna save them a lot time, money and
> possibly pull they're book sells out of the toilet; the terrifying
> "Cross-Pollinated" Source Books.  And with one or two exceptions (thank you
> Dirk,) all 90% of you could talk about was how you were jumpin' the PEG ship
> because you weren't getting exactly what you wanted.
> 
> SHAME ON YOU!  I mean it, SHAME ON YOU!

I beg your pardon?  Are you trying to be offensive or do you simply think
you know my mind better than I do on this matter?

I have in no way suggested 'jumping the PEG ship,' nor have any others I
have seen posting concerning the combined books.

However, I would like to point out that neither I, nor anyone else I can
think of, owe PEG a thing.  They have earned my business by putting out
interesting products, albeit at a highly-inflated (especially here in
Canada) price (and this compared to other gaming products in the same
page-count and general production value [which has been slipping, by the
way] range).  PEG doesn't send me free books, doesn't pay me, hasn't given
me a lift home...  I don't OWE them a thing.  As long as I enjoy their
products and feel I am getting an acceptable return on my investment (moreso
in terms of time than money), I will continue to buy them.

That said, I have exactly ZERO interest in HOE, and about the same for Lost
Colony (although I haven't seen it yet, so I can't say for sure.  But I *do*
know my tastes well enough to make that assumption for now).

Ergo, I will not be buying anything based on that material.  Frankly, while
I wish the guys at PEG all kinds of happiness and success, as they seem to
be a really solid bunch, HOE could dry up and blow away and I'd not shed a
tear.  I speak for no one but myself there, and I certainly don't wish the
game bad luck, but nothing will get me interested in it, or the genre.  By
extension, I will not be presenting it to the 10-15 gamers to whom I have
exposed Deadlands.

Does this make me a bad person, or an ungrateful one?  Of course not; I
don't use WordPerfect for the same reason; I don't like the product.  I
don't buy HoHos (even if I could get them in Quebec), or lime Jell-O.  Not
my bag, baby.

I do, however, like Deadlands, and if PEG continues to churn out decent
product for the line, I will likely keep buying it.

However,

 
> You haven't even seen the new format yet and you're already writing it off
> as a failure.

Wrong.  I have said that I am not motivated to spend money on HOE or Lost
Colony, and if a re-designed product line implies this, I will in all
likelihood not support it.

I won't have abandoned PEG, *they* will have lost my business (assuming that
this comes to pass, and that I would have bought the product anyhow, etc).

As to whether it's a failure or not, that will only be proven over time, and
I wish them all the best in either event.

As a consumer, however, I make my purchasing decisions based on a number of
factors, and one of the main ones is 'return on investment.'  (Time and
money.)

Cardstock Cowboys cost a fortune up here (around $40 after tax), but I
bought the first one and consider it a great investment.  The S&R and RVC
books hold no interest for me, however, and so I will not touch them at $30+
because it's not worth the money; perhaps at $15 I might have been tempted,
but that's not a call to PEG to make the books cheaper; I bought a
leatherbound (among the $600+ I've spent on Deadlands goodies over the
years) and considered it a bargain at the price.

(This is getting long...)

Many of the recent PEG offerings have been, in my opinion, significantly
weaker than I'd prefer for the price, and I am using less and less of them.
Cutting down on the amount of relevant content at the current
quality/layout/editing standards will only drive me farther and farther from
the cash register. 


> If folks like that had been flyin' Kitty Hawk we woulda never left the
> ground.  Look, all I'm saying is don't jump off the plane before we leave
> the run way.  Buy one or two of the new books.  Don't judge it by it the
> cover,  Buy it!  If ya don't like it, fine, don't buy anymore.  But if ya do
> like it, who knows, ya might just start going along with one of the other
> game lines, and if enough of ya do that, you might guarantee that PEG will
> be around for our kids to play.

Or, I could know d@mn well that they hold no interest for me and save my
money for some other product (whatever genre, whatever company) that does.

I speak only for myself.  That a significant number of listers seem to be of
a similar mindset might be a signal to PEG that their strategy may backfire
badly, or we could simply be the only people involved in the issue who
happen to feel that way.  I suspect that the mailing list is a relatively
small, if vocal, cross-section of the market in any event.

I'm not telling them what to do, I'm telling all of you what I think.  As
have you.  I disagree with you, often strongly, but I don't challenge your
right to feel that way, or chastise you for expressing yourself.


> Or don't.  Go ahead, keep whining and give up on PEG all together.  Enough
> of ya do that, and I guarantee that in another year or two, you won't have
> anything left to complain about.

If that unhappy day comes to pass, it will be because the company failed to
keep the interest of its potential customers, not because said customers
somehow failed in their sacred duty to keep Shane and John et al in kibbles.

Hell, when I get around to finishing one fo the books I'm working on, I'm
sure as heck not going to chastise you if you don't buy it, though I would
consider it an indication of excessively poor taste on your part.  <grin>

 
> Don't say I didn't warn you,
> -Gus

We could certainly never do that.


'night all,

Ross Coburn
coburn@sympatico.ca