So I have 15 minutes left in my lunch break and I decided to write a bit. I won't get anything done but still sometimes it is nice. As I write this the Reaper Miniature kickstarter is rumbling towards its conclusion. It will have raised over 3 million monies. People will have collectively donated three million monies for an extrodinarily large pile of little metal toys. These toys aren't linked to any game in particular and for the most part they will be placed on shelves and looked at appovingly. Resisting the urge to hop in has been overwhelming. These miniatures (imma gonna stop calling them toys now) are amazing looking and the sheer variety you'll get for your $100 means that if you ever need a mini to represent some fantasy thing you'll have one. However, ultimately it is a pile of stuff and it is up to you to make them useful.
That's not quite what I want to say though. What I do want to say is that once again we have evidence of geek hobbies pricing themselves out of business. Why are people in such a frenzy over this? Mostly because it is a fantastic deal and it is likely the only one we as gamers are going to get. Partly we've done this to ourselves. We've become obsessed with full color rule books, glossy pages, and for lack of a better word "bling". That is all well and good but it is slowly killing the hobby. It is strangling out people one by one. It is making it so that we can't afford to branch out, exparament, and try new things. Game companies are becoming overly reliant on .pdfs but .pdfs don't need full color back grounds because it just makes nativagtion slower.
So we turn back to the Reaper Kickstarter people putting down money for a pile of miscellany because it is our best shot at getting a good deal on something. It is a little sad but it is also nice that we have this opportunity. I don't think geekery is going to die and I do think the flash brings in more players. In fact I know it does. It is just that sometimes I think the price is getting to be to high.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment