...and Mother would so love to meet you

[prog]

I 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.

Comments

[chocorisu.livejournal.com]

Srsly.

(This is why Second Life vehemently denies that it's a game. Cause games are for nerds, but Second Lifes are for super cool cyberpunk Web 2.0 community building meta-world virtual economy pioneers.)

Sad fact: I have never had the opportunity to play D&D.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think at this point you can talk about games without instantly pariahizing yourself, as they continue to soak into mainstream culture. It's just a matter of style and degree. In this story the speaker had his target hooked with the intriguing term "role-playing games", before breaking the line with his next utterance.

[misuba.livejournal.com]

There is a non-zero chance that the woman in question thought "role-playing games" referred to something sexual.

All the more reason to start calling them "story games" instead. (And playing in a way that merits the label.)

[prog.livejournal.com]

There is a non-zero chance that the woman in question thought "role-playing games" referred to something sexual.

I didn't think of that! But I don't think it's a sure thing, either.

[misuba.livejournal.com]

No, far from a sure thing. But it's never been a term that communicates well, and nowadays less than ever.

[prog.livejournal.com]

And a personal observation from an entirely different sphere: when I go to business networking things outside of game-land, more people than not are instantly enchanted at the fact that I'm involved with games. People love to talk about games! They ask me wonderfully random questions about it all, and I do my best.

These are bankers and lawyers and bakery owners and so on.

[chocorisu.livejournal.com]

That's awesome. Yeah, I guess it's a certain type of person who is snobbish about games in general. Hmmm, I think mostly I wanted to diss Second Life, which probably says something about me too. I comment with the first thing that comes to my mind a little too much. :)

On a tangent, I really enjoy reading about your adventures in freelancing and programming on "real" problems. Gives me some interesting perspective on how insular the mainstream games industry is.