The original title of this week's activity that a member put forward in the brainstorming thread was "Who buys indie RPGs and can segmenting this demographic help design more marketable games." We have always done periodic discussions on marketing - at least once per brainstorming thread- so this is going to be our general marketing discussion.

There are several tangentially related parts to this post. I hope that many interested people engage in at least one part. As you reply, please do so addressing only a specific part and create new replies for other parts.

Part 1: Resources

Here at r/RPGdesign we have a resource page which includes marketing resources. You can find it through the WIKI, but here is the direct link to the resources. AND... here is the direct link to the list of reviewers. I spend a few hours over the last week researching and contacting these reviewers. There is a lot more that can be added though.

It would be great if members add to this list.

Oh, and here is a link to our paltry list of member twitter accounts.

The idea was for us to share and amplify our twitter messages. I admit I don't do this; I only go on twitter once every week or so, so I'm not in the habit.

I just saw there is a "list" feature. I created a list on my account (@SingularitySons) called "RPGdesign". I don't know if you would show up if you subscribe to this or how you can use it. I will try to retweet members posts at least once every two days.

Part 2 Discussion A – Real Marketing is Impossible in our Hobby

"What?! We can't do marketing? What about all this twitter and facebook advertising and promotion? Don't be dumb!"

That's not marketing. That's communication. AKA marketing communication, of which advertising is a small subset. Marketing includes the process of collecting comprehensive information, segmentation analysis, etc.

I now refer you to this link by Cannibal Halfling. "RPG MARKET DATA IS A MESS"

TL/DR:

What do we know about the competitive dynamics of the industry, from Wizards of the Coast down to the one-man shops? The simple answer to “what do we know” is “not much”. Finding real data about this hobby of ours is a struggle—and that’s when it isn’t downright impossible...

So… let’s discuss:

• How do we understand the RPG market?

• How do we get product to the market (not just DTRPG)?

• Best ways to promote our products given that we don’t know much about the market?

• Tips and Tricks for marketing communications.

Part 3 Discussion B – A Crazy Idea for Segmentation

I propose an idea I would like feedback on. This idea is stupid and wrong in certain obvious ways, but it may be useful. The idea is as follows:

Players play any particular game only because they like that game’s design; popularity and intellectual property are not relevant.

This is called “Behavioral Segmentation” with a “filter” which we are using to focus on areas of marketing that could/ should effect our design. By applying this analysis, we come to these conclusions:

• People play D&D because they really want a highly granular power development curve that lasts over a long fantasy campaign, spanning at least 2 years, with highly differentiated archetype character roles, ever increasing rules knowledge development, an unregulated GM role, and a board-game like combat system.

• People play Call of Cthulhu because they want to to know the exact percentage of success and know exactly what their character’s are capable of doing, with sophisticated characters that are likely to perish, in a horror game with an unregulated GM role

• People play PbtA because they want a rules lite game in which the dice mechanics are used to manipulate story elements, fiction-differentiated archetype character roles, with little physical simulation, with a GM who’s role has defined limits.

By this standard, most gamers are D&D players and only like the D&D way of gaming. So one obvious choice is to make games just like D&D because that is what most players play. BUT, when we remove our filter, we get into brand positioning. If D&D is the best game for providing exactly the play style that D&D provides, then why should a player try something new? “Because my game is easier!” Yeah but is that what D&D players are looking for? D&D without 100s of spells and abilities pushes it into another category:

• People play OSR either for nostalgia, or because they want to play a d20 game with highly granular power development that lasts over a long fantasy campaign spanning at least 2 years, with highly differentiated archetype character roles, an unregulated GM role, and a board game like combat system, but without little need for rules knowledge acquisition after the first game.

edit: For purposes of discussion, we assume that all the people who play one type of game rarely play other types of games. Discreet groups. If we assume that people play other types of games, triple the hypothetical segments:

• People who like A types of games and will play other games that are somewhat similar in certain regards, but are willing to try other features (ie d20 to d100 both OK)

• People who like A type games but also like drastically different B type games.

So… questions:

• What market segment does your game target? Is there a leader in that segment?

• Is it better to make a game for an existing segment, or attempt to create/ identify a new segment out of nothing?

Discuss.

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