Idealist Game Designer
Last November, Neoncon introduced a series of presentations from tabletop gaming industry insiders called GamesU. Luminaries like Eric Mona, Ed Healy, and John Wick gave seminars during the convention for the series. I think Neoncon did a great job executing GamesU and I especially enjoyed being able to stream a couple of the presentations live.
Now, Neoncon is editing the presentations and placing them on their YouTube channel. The first video they released was the keynote by Eric Mona on the topic of Pen & Paper Games in the 21st Century. I obviously have a large interest in how roleplaying games will evolve in the next decade, but this article is to address the latest video released from GamesU, Marcelo Figueroa’s Live the Dream: Building a Career in the Games Industry, which is presented below:
If you’re not willing to watch the entire presentation, let me tell you what I took away from it. Marcelo basically argues a couple of points. First, people who are not willing to make games their career need to quit. Because the industry, the games, and the gamers do not want non-career people. The other point he tries to make is that idealist game designers are incapable of being savvy business people. So, according to Marcelo, if you want to be in games you need to make it your career and you need to be what he calls a realist.
I really don’t want to take the time to dismantle everything he said, and I do think viewers can take away some useful information (but more of a general, common sense type of useful). Interestingly, I’m going to use evidence he actually tried to use to support his own arguments.
Non-Career Orientated Need Not Apply
About 9 minutes and 20 seconds into his presentation, after unloading the salesman’s spiel about how it’s all about the mighty dollar (which he admits that you can’t find a lot of it in the industry), Marcelo makes this statement:
“Idealists. Honestly, truly… from a completely industry side of the perspective on this, Idealists should just go home.”
He also makes a statement about how only business people and professionals who want to improve the environment of the industry should stick around.
So let me break this down. There’s not a lot of money to be made in games, but the industry craves business people. So what kind of business people are going to risk investing their time and money in games? Well, I propose that there are two kinds: diehard fans (with minds for business, but unmalleable expectations about games) and shitty business people who can’t make it in better paying industries. Maybe that’s why the industry keeps shrinking…
Idealists Will Not Make It
Marcelo mentions Peter Adkison and Richard Garfield, who were both part-time game designers with “day jobs” before Magic: the Gathering exploded. According to Marcelo, during that idealist non-career time of their lives, they should have quit. Curse those idealists, Arneson and Gygax, for even launching the roleplaying games industry!
Idealists are going to be the ones to reinvent the industry with new games, new delivery methods, and new somethings we cannot anticipate. I feel like the “realists” he is touting are fools that contributed to the d20 glut (because that’s what was selling). The guys that will drive the industry into the ground because they’re only concerned about the bottom line and not innovation.
Have Realistic Expectations
Marcelo does backtrack near the end and says not leave your day job before you’re financially ready. Which for those of us with mortgages, families, and other bills means we’re most likely not going to ever be at that point. The one good point he does make is to be realistic. It’s rare that anyone in the industry is going to get rich. If you do start a business, be smart about it and make savvy business decisions.
Marcelo may have been exaggerating his argument to scare and intimidate the unwary, but I totally disagree that you need to be in the industry to make money. That sort of corporate bullshit irritates the hell out me. I think you need to be industry to make great games. The money will follow if you can do that (and market it decently).
Suggested Reading
I’ve been reading Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics, which are comic books about comic books. He is, in my opinion, a freakin’ genius. I can see a lot of his approaches to the study of sequential art and his insights on that industry that could be applied to the tabletop gaming industry. Scott’s an idealist too…
Listening to: Black Label Society – Shot to Hell – Concrete Jungle
Open Game Table 2 Update
Jonathan Jacobs of The Core Mechanic and my partner at Nevermet Press is a machine that never sleeps. The second volume of the Open Game Table is beginning to take shape as this year’s reviewers wrap up their duties. Soon, Jonathan and his crew of editors will begin selecting blog articles based on the combined opinions of more than a dozen reviewers.
A few days ago, Jonathan posted this update on The Core Mechanic:
Open Game Table
It’s been a few weeks, but I just wanted to let the readers of The Core Mechanic and fans of Open Game Table to know that the review process is entering its fourth and final week. The super secret panel of peer reviewers has, thus far, submitted nearly 600 reviews (!!!), and I hoping to reach 900 by next Friday in a final push to the finish line.
Once the peer review process is over, it’s possible I’ll host a last minute second round of reviews to cover any nominations that were not read by at least two reviewers. So, stayed tuned!
I also want to reiterate my previous Open Call for Artists. If you are an illustrator or graphic artist and you have an interest in contributing to Open Game Table, then please contact me as soon as possible so that I can add you to the list of contributors. Once the final reviews are done, the Open Game Table editorial board and I will be making the final selections to be included in the anthology. After that, participating artists will be asked to illustrate B&W line art specifically inspired by the blog posts themselves. This allows the Anthology to showcase both the best talent in the RPG blogging community, as well as highlight the skills of up and coming artists looking for a means to gain exposure.
For those of you that have yet to grab a copy of the first volume of the OGT, I urge you to head over to purchase your copy today to read the best writing on the web (Disclaimer: I have an article in the first volume, so I may be biased).
Listening to: Reverend Horton Heat – Space Heater – Lie Detector
Gamers Give $178,900 to Haiti Relief
Doctors Without Borders
Sometimes it just feels awesome knowing you belong to a community of people that do great things. Today is one of those days. Early this morning I received the RPGNow!/DriveThruRPG newsletter and it contained the following announcement:
As far as I know, and as far as anyone I’ve talked to knows, there’s never been anything like this accomplished before.
We raised $178,900.00
That is the amount we wired to the fine folks of Doctors Without Borders. When I spoke with their representative about this recently, she was literally moved to tears (as was I). And now I want to point out each and every one of our incredible publishers who contributed to the package that accomplished this incredible feat:
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming, A Terrible Idea, Adamant Entertainment, AGES Gaming, Applied Vectors, Arc Dream Publishing, Art Fantasies,Bards and Sages, Basic Action Games, Berengad Games, Better Mousetrap Games, Black Snake Studios, BoxNinja, Brave Halfling Publishing, Cellar Games, Chaotic Shiny Productions, Crafty Games, Creative Conclave, Dane of War, Day Dreamer Interactive, Dork Storm Press, Encompass, Erisian Entertainment, Evil Hat Productions, Fabled Worlds, Fat Dragon Games, Fiery Dragon, Fire Ruby Designs, FJ Gaming, Flames Rising Press, FSpace Publications, Fuller Flippers, Game Monkey Press, GameVein, Generic Universe Publishing, GMC,Grasshopper Games, Green Ronin, Greg Stolze, Gun Metal Games, Hex Games, Highmoon Games, HinterWelt, Jessup Games, Jon Brazer Enterprises, Justin Achilli, Kallisti Press, Keck Publishing, Knowledge Arcana, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Machine Age Productions, Magique Productions, Malcontent Games, Marcus L. Rowland, Margaret Weis Productions, Mesozoic Press, Mystic Ages Publishing, Nevermet Press, Nomadic Delirium Press, Open Design, Open Game Table, OtherWorld Creations, Palladium Books, Paper Make iT!, Pelgrane Press, Peryton Publishing, Planet Thirteen, Point of Insanity Game Studio, Polgarus Games, Prince of Darkness Games, Red Anvil Productions, Rhallen Enterprises, Rite Publishing, Rogue Games, Shield of Faith Studios, Silent7Games, Silver Gryphon Games,Skirmisher Publishing, Skortched Urf’ Studios, Sonic Legends, SPQR Studios, StoryWeaver, Sword’s Edge Publishing, Tabletop Adventures,The Le Games, Thenodrin Presents, Third Eye Games, Tricky Owlbear Publishing, Troll Lord Games, WorldWorks Games, Wydraz, Ye Olde Gaming Companye
Listening to: Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe 2 – Jesus Frankenstein
Is the iPad the Messiah of Roleplaying?
Apple's iPad
When Apple unveiled their new multi-touch tablet device [1], the [horribly named] iPad, I watched as half of the internet sung praises of Apple to the heavens while the other half spoke of disappointment. In the tabletop roleplaying community, I saw a trend of tech-minded gamers [2] [3] hail the tablet as the messiah of digital roleplaying.
My personal opinion is, much like the internet, divided between praise and disappointment. However, I strongly disagree that the iPad will be the savior that shepherds tabletop roleplaying into the digital Promised Land. This article assumes there is such a place, but does not serve as an argument concerning any debate over whether there is, or is not, a digital paradise for tabletop roleplaying games.
Evolutionary, Not Revolutionary
Tablets are not new, and a good friend of mine has used his touch screen Lenovo ThinkPad tablet [4] as a digital library for gaming for last five years or more. It’s not as slim as an iPad, but it’s not unwieldy either. The iPad looks fantastic as a document reader, but I fear I wouldn’t be able to read any of my existing e-books on it nor could I transfer anything bought through their iBooks [5] app on any of my other devices.
Defective by Design Org
The iPad does offer a multi-touch display, but that is not new either. Regular (single) touch screens have been available on tablet notebooks for years and multi-touch became available on tablet netbooks [6] last year (primarily with the release of Windows 7 which supports multi-touch [7]). I do think that Natural User Interfaces are a revolution in computing, but the fact that the iPad uses it is not.
The iPad does offer an accelerometer, which is great for when you switch between landscape or portrait orientation and for video gaming. The base model (sans 3G and with only 16 GB of storage) did surprise me with its price of only $500. But it’s lack of support for Flash, incapacity to multitask, inability to install apps outside their app store, and Apple’s penchant for DRM [8] all prevent me from hopping aboard the iPad fanboy train (the lack of a camera or GPS doesn’t affect me though).
Besides, I think the Always Innovating TouchBook [9] does a good job of providing all the features of the iPad I like (sans multi-touch) while still being able to have control over my content/software for a $100 less ($200 less if you don’t want the attachable keyboard) and it’s been on the market since last fall.
iPad, the False Prophet?
If Apple’s tablet is not really anything new, can it still show the path to the digital nirvana of tabletop roleplaying? It’s possible, but the iPad would have some very big obstacles to overcome. First, this assumes there is a financially viable market of gamers that are looking, whether they realize it or not, for the Digital Promised Land of Roleplaying. Second, this market needs to be willing to purchase an iPad for this game or they need to have already purchased an iPad for other reasons (read: market penetration).
Third, there would have to be a company that would develop the platform and publish a game that targets this market. But just targeting the iPad wielding digital roleplaying pilgrims would not be enough. The game would have to be fucking awesome. So awesome, people are blinded by its divine light when they play it. What is more, this divine game would still have to be a roleplaying game (preferably one that meets my definition [10]), because that is the only way it could urge the rest of the tabletop roleplaying industry to embrace such a platform… which would truly make Apple’s tablet a messiah.
I do not see all the previously mentioned components becoming a reality; therefore, I do not believe the iPad is the Messiah of the Digital Promised Land of Roleplaying. At best, it is another herald that whispers in the ears of technophile gamers and Macphiles. Publishers looking at utilizing tablet devices to enhance or facilitate tabletop roleplaying would be best served at developing device agnostic platforms that can support any web browser.
Regardless of its impact on tabletop roleplaying, it’s sleek form factor and price point is an important harbinger for things to come in the world of web and document devices.
References
[1] Apple unveiled the multi-touch iPad tablet device Wednesday, January 27th, 2010.
[2] The Apple iPad: It Will Change the Way We Play. The Core Mechanic. 2010-01-27.
[3] Is iPad a Game-Changer. ICv2. 2010-01-28.
[4] The Lenovo ThinkPad multi-touch tablet.
[5] Apple’s iBooks, a storefront/app that provides e-pub format books for purchase.
[6] The ASUS T91MT is a tablet netbook with an 8.9” multi-touch display for $484.
[7] MultiTouch Capabilities in Windows 7. MSDN Magazine. 2009-08-01.
[8] A Look at Apple’s Love for DRM. Ars Technica. 2010-01-04.
[9] The Always Innovating TouchBook is a touch screen tablet with an accelerometer.
[10] RPP 101: Defining Roleplaying Games. Mad Brew Labs. 2009-01-15.
Listening to: Machine Head – The More Things Change… – Take My Scars
D&D on Microsoft Surface
What if you could roleplay at a table that actually contained all the game logic? It recognized your mini when you placed on the surface and presented an array of options available to your character and resolved the challenges based upon GM and Player input? In addition, you were not constrained to play within the rules (game logic), but could play “freestyle” any time you wish by simply switching of the rules?
Well, the technology is available today, but it’s real pricey (app. $12,000 USD). However, in about 10 years, I expect the price for such technologies will have dropped into the upper range of affordable and such tables might become something more than an uncommon sight.
If you have been following the Labs for any amount of time, then you are probably aware of my love of technology when it is used to enhance or facilitate the playing of roleplaying games. Recently, The Core Mechanic and Mad Brew Labs bounced some ideas about utilizing Social Media as a platform for playing RPGs.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Prior to the discussion of Social Media RPGs, I wrote several articles about the Future Technology of roleplaying. These articles focused on current technologies the hobby had yet to use fully[5], emerging technologies that RPGs could utilize[6], a look at augmented reality for RPGs[7], and finally a piece about the rise of the digital game table[8], which included a preview of Dungeons & Dragons being playing on the Microsoft Surface.[9]
The SurfaceScapes[10] team at Carnegie Mellon University[11] has designed the interface and logic for playing D&D on the MS Surface. The MS Surface site has done several interviews with the team, and if you’re interested in the technology, I recommend you read them.[12] [13] [14]
Otherwise, I present three videos that demonstrate the capabilities of the table:
References
[1] Roleplaying Games, Social Media Games, and the Shared Fence. The Core Mechanic. 2010-01-12.
[2] Bridging the Gap: RPGs and Social Media. Mad Brew Labs. 2010-01-14.
[3] Social Media RPG Platform. Mad Brew Labs. 2010-01-15.
[4] Social Media Role Playing Minigames. The Core Mechanic. 2010-01-15.
[5] Untapped Potential of Technology. Mad Brew Labs. 2009-05-06.
[6] Future Potential of Technology. Mad Brew Labs. 2009-08-06.
[7] Augmented Reality “Boardgame”. Mad Brew Labs. 2009-08-07.
[8] Rise of the Digital Game Table. Mad Brew Labs. 2009-10-19.
[9] The Microsoft Surface is a multi-touch table computer.
[10] SurfaceScapes is a student project for Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment Technology Center.
[11] Carnegie Mellon University is located in Pittsburgh, PA.
[12] Dungeons & Dragons Done Right on MS Surface. MS Surface Blog. 2009-10-19.
[13] SurfaceScapes Follow-up: Bringing D&D to MS Surface. MS Surface Blog. 2009-12-08.
[14] New Gameplay Video with D&D on Surface. MS Surface Blog. 2009-12-16.
