tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482451413021840738.post1472074877732933394..comments2024-03-28T13:20:08.709+11:00Comments on Observations of the Fox: Old School vs NewVulpinoidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04511600075328621953noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482451413021840738.post-44451169347673445262010-07-30T18:59:52.411+10:002010-07-30T18:59:52.411+10:00Raven,
I agree with you.
I think I'll post u...Raven,<br /><br />I agree with you.<br /><br />I think I'll post up something about this shortly.Vulpinoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04511600075328621953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482451413021840738.post-44632851154078973982010-07-30T15:02:31.643+10:002010-07-30T15:02:31.643+10:00I'd argue you're chasing rainbows.
I wish...I'd argue you're chasing rainbows.<br /><br />I wish I still had my site up because I could point you to some essays and studies that have shown success isn't about talent, skill, presentation, or doing things right somehow. It's about luck and circumstance and little social events that can't be predicted or controlled.<br /><br />That unless something (or someone) is truly and overwhelmingly exceptional, success is a crap-shoot. That between two musicians or politicians, each as good as the other who are equal in every respect, one might achieve complete stardom and the other might fail miserably, despite there being no discernable difference between them.<br /><br />People are afraid of this and try to ignore it or explain it away because our culture tells us otherwise: yet even without studies of this effect, we can look at the historical proof. Some of the most famous writers and artists of today died peniless and forgotten. Lovecraft? Howard? Van Gogh?<br /><br />Then something happened that catapulted them into the spotlight.<br /><br />And how many best-selling authors of yesteryear are today's nobodies? (Many, many, many.)<br /><br />That's why I say you're chasing rainbows trying to understand "what" caused something to fail.<br /><br />An elegant mechanism with good writing and high production values can (and do) fail or vanish into obscurity. And products with clunky mechanics, poor writing, and low production values can (and do) succeed and become beloved cultural icons.<br /><br />(Seriously...early D&D? Good gods. Or MS Windows? How the hell is Windows the top OS? It isn't because of ease-of-use, usability, security, or etc. And people used to buy PET ROCKS. Really. WTF?)<br /><br />Clearly, put out a good product. Study successful products. Do the best you can do. But don't assume they hold the keys to success.<br /><br />(Yeah, I know, scary as heck.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482451413021840738.post-59278942645407666432010-07-30T07:14:10.170+10:002010-07-30T07:14:10.170+10:00That's probably true. I know that there have b...That's probably true. I know that there have been lots of indie and traditional games that have failed. Perhaps more now than ever before because there are so many new games coming to market from Print-on-Demand sources and generally cheaper printing processes.<br /><br />I can't think of a real way to measure this, but I'd love to find out why these games fail?<br /><br />Do "traditional style" games fail because people look at them and say..."I've seen all this before, I don;t want to buy it again"??<br /><br />Do "new style" games fail because people simply aren't familiar enough with the newer roleplaying concepts, and simply don't understand how to connect with them?<br /><br />What proportion of well written games fail simply because of half-arsed production values?<br /><br />What proportion of elegant mechanisms fail due to bad writing and proofreading?<br /><br />If I could work out why games are failing (beyond bad play experiences in particular groups), maybe I could make steps toward a more successful RPG product model.<br /><br />Just more observations...Vulpinoidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04511600075328621953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482451413021840738.post-44803475329244332292010-07-30T07:00:26.720+10:002010-07-30T07:00:26.720+10:00It occurs to me that, ultimately, commercial art (...It occurs to me that, ultimately, commercial art (to use one hell of an umbrella phrase) is extraordinarily hit-or-miss -- it seems that a guaranteed way to get people interested in our niche of a niche is to eat the cost of production and keep things as minimalist as possible in the design. <br /><br />*shrug*Zac in VAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09041672961685368893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2482451413021840738.post-41696291682116123432010-07-29T11:02:55.992+10:002010-07-29T11:02:55.992+10:00I'm not sure your observation is accurate. As ...I'm not sure your observation is accurate. As many indie games as traditional games are successful, and as many traditional games as indie games are failures. How many dozens of indie games fail a year? How many dozens of trad games fail a year?<br /><br />Plenty of both.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com