Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Illuminati Headquarters > SJ Games Discussion

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-13-2017, 11:39 AM   #981
Ze'Manel Cunha
 
Ze'Manel Cunha's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
That's clearly a failure on our part. We _thought_ we had spread word of the two books -- including during the Dungeon Fantasy Kickstarter project -- but something must have gone wrong.

Where do you most often learn of new games and expansions?
The places others have mentioned, but I also tend to see suggestions from Goodreads and Amazon. RPG books don't often pop up on Goodreads reviews, so that's probably not useful, but the SJGAMES presence on Amazon is weaker than it should be.

I'm amongst the 66-100 million Amazon Prime customers, so I'm used to being prompted by new books from the authors and publishers I follow, but GURPS Discworld isn't even being carried by Amazon, so there's a huge disconnect somewhere...
__________________
Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. -RAH
Ze'Manel Cunha is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 11:56 AM   #982
bert
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Southern Sweden, possibly on an Alternate Earth
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Broken distribution or whatnot, it is simply a shame that the Discworld RPG is not showing up on more shelves. I think GURPS is a fantastic system and that led me to buy the book - which I think is great - but I also feel that thanks to the interesting contents of the book (Discworld, Pratchett) and the excellent treatment as an RPG (which I would attribute mostly to Phil), the Discworld RPG constitutes an extremely good entry point for GURPS as a system. And like D Cole pointed out above, the setting really shows the strengths of GURPS.

I think the Mars Attacks book is much more of a niche product (still enjoyed it thoroughly!).

Thanks to the SJG team for the openness and transparency of the stakeholders report. Let us hope that the DFRPG helps generate more interest for GURPS. I will get it from my FLGS, as I did with Discworld.
bert is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 12:05 PM   #983
philreed
I do stuff and things.
 
philreed's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha View Post
The places others have mentioned, but I also tend to see suggestions from Goodreads and Amazon.
Do you suggest and review GURPS books at those sites?
philreed is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 12:12 PM   #984
hectorgrey
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholder

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil Masters View Post
Personally, I do now believe that a PDF version would be a very good idea. But the fact is, things like Discworld first edition sold quite well despite the non-existence of PDF options back then. So the first question has to be -- What's changed? Are PDFs killing print market volume, directly or indirectly, or is it something more complicated?
To be honest, I suspect it's a combination of a few things. First, lack of exposure - the fact that GURPS is barely advertised to anybody but current GURPS customers means that while some people will stop playing GURPS, very few people start playing GURPS to replace them. GURPS just isn't as popular now as it used to be, and the fact that it's only largely available from FLGS (which many people don't have) or direct from warehouse23 (which most people don't even know exists) does not help the matter.

Second, there's the reputation that GURPS has among people who don't currently play it - the idea that it's only for the folks who want precise simulations of absolutely everything. This means that quite a few of those of us who have access to the rule books have trouble finding people to actually play a game with - particularly in person, where hard cover books are actually useful. As such, if I buy a copy of a GURPS book, I do so knowing that it almost certainly isn't going to be used. This affects the price I'm willing to pay. $15 - $20 for a PDF is reasonable for something I'm going to read primarily for my own enjoyment, even though I'll probably never get any use out of it; $50 + VAT + shipping is not.

Third, PDF is just more convenient. I occasionally play and run Pathfinder, Dungeon World, D&D 4e and 5e and a number of other games - I can't easily carry all my books to where I'm going to be playing, so I bring my laptop with probably a hundred PDFs instead. Never underestimate convenience when it comes to sales - you're not only competing with other games that promise an easier game tailored to their needs, you're competing with the convenience of not having extra weight to carry to gaming sessions.

Fourth, online play is far more common now that it used to be - having a PDF that you can easily just look things up on during play is a hell of a lot simpler than having to swap between the computer for play and a physical book for looking things up. This is especially true on platforms like Fantasy Grounds, where relevant rules information can be copy pasted from a PDF into formatted text that the whole group can easily look up without requiring every player to have their own copy of every single book that's in use in the game.
hectorgrey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 12:37 PM   #985
Refplace
 
Refplace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
Do you suggest and review GURPS books at those sites?
I find out about things here.
I subscribe to the SJG, PK and others twitter but miss a lot there as I dont actively watch it. Follow a bunch of people and things just scroll too fast.
Over the past year I have taken a liking to Youtube and if SJG had a youtube channel I could subscribe to I would like and retweet or link to Facebook items I liked, I would also add links to unboxing or release videos (or designer note videos, etc) on my blog and again share those.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more!
My GURPS fan contribution and blog:
REFPLace GURPS Landing Page
My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items)
My GURPS Wiki entries
Refplace is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 12:42 PM   #986
Andrew Hackard
Munchkin Line Editor
 
Andrew Hackard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
if SJG had a youtube channel I could subscribe to
https://www.youtube.com/user/SteveJacksonGames
__________________
Andrew Hackard, Munchkin Line Editor
If you have a question that isn't getting answered, we have a thread for that.

Let people like what they like. Don't be a gamer hater.

#PlayMunchkin on social media: Twitter || Facebook || Instagram || YouTube
Follow us on Kickstarter: Steve Jackson Games and Warehouse 23
Andrew Hackard is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 12:54 PM   #987
Refplace
 
Refplace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard View Post
Thank you Andrew.
I shall start viewing them.
I hate that it is so easy to miss things done by SJG.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more!
My GURPS fan contribution and blog:
REFPLace GURPS Landing Page
My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items)
My GURPS Wiki entries
Refplace is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 01:01 PM   #988
DouglasCole
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
 
DouglasCole's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
I hate that it is so easy to miss things done by SJG.
The Marketing department probably hates it more. :-)
__________________
My blog:Gaming Ballistic, LLC
My Store: Gaming Ballistic on Shopify
My Patreon: Gaming Ballistic on Patreon
DouglasCole is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 01:06 PM   #989
Steve Jackson
President and EIC
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by DouglasCole View Post
The Marketing department probably hates it more. :-)
Douglas has the right of that, for certain :/
Steve Jackson is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-13-2017, 01:36 PM   #990
Ze'Manel Cunha
 
Ze'Manel Cunha's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Stuttgart, Germany
Default Re: Report To The Stakeholders

Quote:
Originally Posted by philreed View Post
Do you suggest and review GURPS books at those sites?
I'm not a regular reviewer, but I tend to read the reviews, especially if written by my contacts.
__________________
Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. -RAH
Ze'Manel Cunha is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:16 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.