Author: Philippe Marcil (---.videotron.net)
Date: 03-29-2000 09:50
The RPG market is indeed, growing smaller. We were already a marginal group but now role-playing fan are growing older. The last report we have of the market (made by TSR\Wizard of the coast and was publish on rpg.net) also show that only a small part of the market is held by younger people.
That clearly show one thing, rpg is in decline. It also explain one other thing, they are a lot of product coming out because older gamer have far more money for their favorite hobby. But, Will tabletop rpg die. Well, probably not for the next decades. Why?A lot of tabletop gamers publish free gaming material on the web or other gamers will create small business, as a part time job, and will print a few book for the sake of making money out of a hobby. So, tabletop rpg is not dead and will live for a long time. But one day, the last tabletop gamers may well disapear at the arrival of new form of hobby, that might be far more better than roleplaying games. The same way pin ball machine disapear because of aracade and now arcade disapearing because of small gaming console like nintendo or play station.
But I think that rpg is a very good hobby and I hope that it will survive the passage of time, mostly like card game or board game. Maybe it form will change, it will not be a dice and paper game but maybe a computer or virtual reality game. It evolution after all. But rpg will probably survive.
Even if rpg is one day doom to disapear as we know it, the big corporation that specialize in rpg are maybe to be blame for the disapearance of gaming. Any business has it market. The only way for a corporation to actualy make more profit on the long run is to expand it as much as it can. The bigger the market, the bigger the sales, the bigger the profit. But where is the market expansion of rpg corporation. Nowhere! I have never seen an d&d ad anywhere except in rpg specialized magazine (wich is not very productive because the people who read those are already gamer). The big corporation up there, white wolf and wizard of the coast\tsr\hasbro are better to start a campaign to conquer new market terrotory and to convert people at rpg or they will one day disapear, fighting on small piece of a dry market who can't support their products anymore.
Think about it...
Sorry about all the mistake in the text (I'm french). Please send me a corrected form that will help me get better. :)
Long life and prosperity to all rpg fan. :)
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