People have options when it comes to how they want to be entertained. If you’re anything like me, one of your first choices is your favorite RPG. The question is, how can we get more people to share that choice with us? As there are more players, there is more energy, talent and money that is invested in the community. When that happens, we get better games, better art and better writing. Who wouldn’t want that? In short, the more interest in RPGs – the better the hobby becomes.
The biggest obstacle is how we try to sell RPGs to a friend. For the longest time the sales pitch has gone something like, “Have you ever wanted to be the protagonist in a book or a movie?” At this point your friend’s eyes just glaze over – that pitch may have worked for a select few years ago, but it was never a very good one. If that’s not how to get people interested, what is?
The problem is that we don’t really have a simple way to show why we play. Board games show the family on the box smiling and looking at the buyer. What’s the message? “Play this game for a happy family.” Collectible card games have an intrinsic message, “Build the greatest deck and you will be the best.” Video games have the dual advantage of the unlimited possibilities their graphics deliver and that they are simple to pick up and start playing. What is our message?
If you want to convince someone to play an RPG, you have to be able to tell them up front why they should pull themselves away from Mass Effect or Skyrim and you better tell them quickly before you lose their attention. What are you going to say? We need to figure out why we play RPGs, and one of the ways we can do that is to understand why we don’t just use another form of entertainment. Let’s look at an RPG’s competition for attention.
In the early days of RPGs, they were the only way you could go on your own adventure without leaving the house. We’ve lost that message, video games do that more easily and (in some ways) arguably better. RPGs took a big hit as video games got better graphics and better writing. Many people thought table-top RPGs would just go away after a while. They didn’t, though, and that’s interesting because it means that they offer something else that a video game doesn’t.
Then CCGs came along and RPGs took another hit. They were social games that you could get together with your buddies and show them who was the best. Again, people thought RPGs might go away and again, there was something that was different about them that some people still stuck to.
The dust has settled for the most part. People have decided how they will be entertained and the answer isn’t video games or board games or CCGs or RPGs. It’s usually video games and the occasional board game and maybe a CCG. If types of entertainment aren’t mutually exclusive, how can we get more people to include an RPG in that mix? We need our message to explain why an RPG gives a different experience that they might want.
I’ve never heard a concise and convincing pitch for an RPG. I think that’s because we thought we understood what the reward was that we’re getting out of playing, but we always got it wrong. Sure, there’s exploration, mastery and agency, but you can get those things in any of these other games. Ask a role player and they’ll tell you, the experience is just different.
Think about this from a different perspective, what would you call a situation where one person prepares for several days (maybe even months) for friends to come over. Food and drinks are served or brought by the visitors and they just sit around and talk? Yes, we would call that getting together to game. To a non-gamer they would call that a party.
But this isn’t like a regular party. In this party there is a focus of attention on a game and only your close friends are invited. Everyone is hoping for the same outcome but the results are unclear. Say that to us and we’d say it sounds like gaming. Say that to the average Joe and he’d think he’s showing up to watch a football* game.
The main difference between an RPG party and a football party is that the buddies that get together are there to watch the game and they are the team playing. Now that’s different from any other entertainment. You could say a multiplayer video game is kind of the same way, but it’s more frantic and less social. In an RPG, you get to experience all of the players play the game like you were watching all the players in a football game. You discuss the whys and hows as they happen as a observer, while you are (at the same time) a participant.
We need to understand and appealingly communicate that. We get together for parties to connect with our friends as a team to play a game. This is the uniqueness of the RPG experience, and in this I suspect is also the reward for why we play. When we can clearly explain why we value that experience, we will be able to draw in new players. That’s when the tide comes in.
* Football might mean different things on either side of the Atlantic, but it still fits!
Emmett O'Brian
Emmett O'Brian is a science fiction role player, GM, imbiber of dark-hued beverages and father of two. Before he was even a teenager he'd been looking for and trying to design that perfect system that scratches all his itches (he'll let you know when he finds it). As his boss is fond of saying, "Don't worry, he looks scary but he's harmless." You can find his projects at theartifact.net and steampunkfitters.com
This is an excellent article! I’ve devoted a little (very little) time to figuring out how to pitch/explain rpg’s in a way that would both draw people in and also make us sound less like the kind of person a normal person avoids. Thinking about it from the angle of what entertainment itch it scratches is a great perspective!
Based on your title I expected an article on economics, either in general or in the gaming industry. I’m glad I kept reading even though it wasn’t what I was expecting.
Hey Jason,
Thanks! In a way it is about economics. I’ve become convinced that RPGs are really lacking any coherent advertising concept. What product can you think of that succeeded without a good advertising campaign? The great thing about RPGs is that they have a dedicated grassroots support group, all they need is the right tools.
That is brilliant. Thank you, very much, for the roots of analysis! This is definitely something I need to think upon.
Thanks Andy, please let us know what your thinking upon turns up!
Really great stuff. I never thought of it as just a party really, but now that you say it, it makes complete sense. I may have to start using that analogy 🙂
Thanks wegetgeek, yeah I didn’t start thinking that way either. I was trying to figure out how RPGs could be advertised and thought of a few banner ad style adds and a few of them were saying “why go to boring parties when you can go on an adventure” or some such. I tried to expand the idea and stumbled on the idea because the amount of time and effort you put into having the party is similar to a sports party.
It’s also occurred to me that, back in the eighties, guys getting together to watch a game was also something that was commonly thought of as relegated to basements and fat guys. Now look at the portrayals of watching “the game”. It’s in the living room, the sun is out and brightly lighting up the clean white decor. Women are now shown watching the game. And the guys? They’re not shown as troglodytes they’re young and athletic men, dressed well and clean shaven.
We need to do that too when portraying our hobby. We need to, not represent who the average guy playing the game is. We need to portray the idealized gamer, strong, clean cut, moderately wealthy and young. Actually we really need to be putting the thrust of getting new players to young teens. Think about all the bloggers out there that say “I started playing as a young teen, now I’m 35 with two kids”. That’s a hobby that sticks with you.
Hi there, Emmett. Funny, I actually just came across your blog today and was looking at The Artifact RPG, which I really love the content, then I came across your post here at Stuffer Shack
It’s great to find a fellow RPG Ambassador like yourself. I as well have considered how to “sell” the concept or gaming.
I like the idea of explaining it more as a party where you both watch and participate in the game. I think this is perfect for explaining this to a sport-crowd… heck Fantasy Football is actually quite close to RPG’s.
I agree – explaining Table Top RPG’s to teens is where it’s at and 90% of them have already played some form of RPG. Pitching to them becomes different, because then it turns into, why should I spend time geeking out with friends in my living room when I can just play with them on WoW or CoD?
In fact, you and I must think similarly, because I also see the idealized gamer as strong, clean cut, moderately wealthy and young.
We seriously need to put our forces together here.
Hi RPG Guy, glad you found it useful. As for spending time geeking out, that’s partly what we need to get past. We need to portray it as a perfectly normal thing that the average teen does. Knowing what the reward is (that is, what we get out of the game that’s different) is instrumental in being able to deliver that image. It gives you the authenticity that a sceptic would require to convince them to play.
When you pitch an RPG as a ‘game’ generically people weigh the amount of effort with other games they can play. Selling the experience as a party frames it so that people know it’s not as casual as picking up a controller. Because people usually like parties they understand that the effort leads to an enjoyable time. They may not have played an RPG and so can’t really imagine having fun playing it, they probably have been to a party and can imagine the kind of fun they could be having.
There is another aspect to this that I’m not sure how to frame properly without stepping back into “This is something a nerd would do.” An RPG party has a built in social structure. You leave the standard jockeying for social standing and the mechanics of the game become the structure of the party. Everyone gets a turn, no one can just ignore you when it’s your turn. The person’s importance to the group is based on how well they play the game, not their fashion or appearance (although we need to de-emphasisze that). So if a person is normally socially awkward, an RPG is a different environment that is more simply structured than the normal party. Unfortunately that sounds really geeky and because it’s simple people will think that because this bicycle has training wheels on it, it’s only for beginners, not realizing that the training wheels can come off. I’m still looking for the proper context to explain that.