[DL] Legion of Rabid Fans

["Vincent Vandemeulebrouck" <vvandemeulebrouck@yahoo.com>]

>     It's all too easy, in this hobby and industry, to engage
> in speculation based on anecdotal evidence.  "My friends and
> I all bought this, it must sell well!"  "We've got a great
> listserv full of fans and a bunch of websites, the game must
> be really popular, so that means it's selling well!"

> Unfortunately, anecdotal evidence isn't always a very good
> indicator of the Way Things Really Are. Sometimes it's
> spot-on. More often, it's not, because by definition, it
> reflects a limited perspective.

As an example, the best French roleplaying game has a mail list with more
than 100 fans (and this, for a French game, is a lot), but the game isn't
even sold in stores anymore. Many reasons, good or bad, for this.

The point is, it is not enough to have people telling a game is good, to
make it economically worth printing. And not enough to have 100 convinced
fans. You also need at least 2000 people ready to pay for the game.

Well, of course, I hope this time will only be an event in the long life of
Deadlands products. But if for some reason there is no more products, I will
just stop buying, and produce my own adventures, and put these on the web.
Of course, I would prefer Deadlands line to continue, because I am not so
good on USA history.



Vincent Vandemeulebrouck
The French tinhorn with a Great name
====================================
http://vvandeme.free.fr/Deadlands/


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