Playtesting?

[dullorb]

Originally Posted by lordmalachdrim

Me, though I'd love to play test it, it would mean paying for Pyramid, dropping one of my games that are going well, putting a lot of time in to give it a real work out. And in the end I probably will have to wait a few months after it comes out to pick it up since money's tight as is and the 20% price hike by most rpg manufactures is not helping.

As someone who's not really in the game business but have been a gamer for a few decades I have spoken to plenty of guys from different companies who have regretted not having some sort of filter to seperate people who want to really want to playtest from those had good intentions to playtest but just never got around to it. The recent tightening of the economic purse strings everywhere coupled with the inflation that's been going on for the last couple years is going to mean it's even more important than ever to keep the 'undesirables' out of the playtest pool because dedicating resources to them is just a waste.

If that means that some very good candidates for playtesting are excluded it's a pity to be sure but with any risk/gain relationship the businessman has to make that calculated decision of what is the optimal course.