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...and Mother would so love to meet you
Oct. 26th, 2007 02:24 pmI just listened to a podcast where a role-playing game publisher talked about RPGs' lousy reputation with the mainstream public. He cited a time he was at a concert trying to chat up a lady: when he said he published role-playing games, she expressed curiosity about what that meant. He said, "You know, like Dungeons and Dragons!" and she turned and walked away without another word.
My friend, I am here to tell there is indeed bad marketing afoot, but it isn't with the games. When she wanted to know more, instead of giving her an intriguing capsule summary of the whole medium, you dropped the D&D bomb, with all its attendant baggage. Well, of course she will immediately file you with all the greasy little trolls her clique made cruel fun of in seventh grade, and why would she want to waste further words on you after that?
You should have gone with describing the games' shared, social storytelling aspect. That is way sexier, and if you spin it right you can sound classically artsy and edgily modern at the same time.
But please, don't go snorting about Dungeons & Dragons and then expect to make a new special friend. D&D will forever be associated with sad little nerds, not because it's a sad little nerdish game but because it will always attract them in sufficient number to tightly bind the two in the eye of any observer. (No matter how many Vin Diesels step forward to lend their badassery to its image.)
The world of RPGs is full of games that archetypical nerds in their numbers will never find. Next time you wanna pick up chicks, start talking about, I dunno, Dogs in the Vineyard or something. Even if it doesn't work, at least you probably won't get utterly shut down.
My friend, I am here to tell there is indeed bad marketing afoot, but it isn't with the games. When she wanted to know more, instead of giving her an intriguing capsule summary of the whole medium, you dropped the D&D bomb, with all its attendant baggage. Well, of course she will immediately file you with all the greasy little trolls her clique made cruel fun of in seventh grade, and why would she want to waste further words on you after that?
You should have gone with describing the games' shared, social storytelling aspect. That is way sexier, and if you spin it right you can sound classically artsy and edgily modern at the same time.
But please, don't go snorting about Dungeons & Dragons and then expect to make a new special friend. D&D will forever be associated with sad little nerds, not because it's a sad little nerdish game but because it will always attract them in sufficient number to tightly bind the two in the eye of any observer. (No matter how many Vin Diesels step forward to lend their badassery to its image.)
The world of RPGs is full of games that archetypical nerds in their numbers will never find. Next time you wanna pick up chicks, start talking about, I dunno, Dogs in the Vineyard or something. Even if it doesn't work, at least you probably won't get utterly shut down.