DFRPG momentarily on Board Game Breakfast

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by lachimba

I assume other GURPS authors sit somewhere between those two extremes.

To be fair, I'm not an extreme. There are GURPS authors – who can choose to identify themselves if they wish, because it isn't my place to do so – for whom games writing is at best a tertiary concern, and whose life and day job don't go anywhere near gaming. They write GURPS books on topics they find interesting because of their love for the subject matter and the intellectual exercise of breaking that down for a fascinating pursuit (gaming). By comparison to them, I'm better than halfway down the road to being a cloistered writer who lives and breathes games!

Originally Posted by Refplace

money is tight for a lot of people.

Especially for people in my line of work. Perception is "We, the gamers, pay you well for this!" Reality is that the average gamer who can afford to pay for games is probably better off than most of those who create games. In particular, those of us who create content "on the clock" see no royalties or other benefits proportional to sales. You can buy one copy of my book or a million, but that doesn't change my take-home pay; for that, you'd have to send me a private donation. (For any tax collectors reading: That's a joke!)

Originally Posted by lachimba

Rather its in regards to playing other games.

Boardgames are actually very cheap to get into, so long as you dont buy them!

What determines "plays other games" vs. "doesn't play other games" is the same for designers as it is for everybody else: Do I have a social group that plays those games? My social circles include middle-aged people who spend all their time with their families, tango dancers who use their nights for dancing, people who know me mainly from having a drink, and of course my girlfriend's family and friends, who are interested in me for my interest in her. The overlap with "gamers" is tiny. My colleagues in Austin see a whole office full of people in the games business every day, so they're more immersed; as a telecommuter, my contact with that industry ends when I turn off my computer for the evening.