For those of us who grew up being proper geeks there were likely certain things we remember fondly...
Games of D&D and Warhammer type things for instance.
Today, bored, I browsed some of the websites for D&D and Games Workshop
Wizards of the Coast (what did Magic the Gathering - stealing my pocket money for ages! The bastards!) now own the franchise... the three essential core books (Player, Monster and Dungeon Master guide) are about to be re-released and cost a combined total of $150!
Games Workshop has a new Warhammer 40k rulebook out - it's £50 for just the rules... not £50 for the rules, some scenery and some miniatures like it used to be.
Browsing both their sites it looks like they used a random number generator to set prices - a random number generator that can't do single digit numbers. There's no way kids are getting nearly enough pocket money to play their games anymore... so either pester power to get Mum and Dad to buy or can't get into the games and hobbies...
Is that the business model that's going to work - "we're not as appealing to kids as there's less instant gratification like on computer games... lets aim everything at our aging adult market and just jack up all the prices" ??
Went into a local boardgame shop the other day... there's a LOT of competition for these guys, and much of it is in the form of self contained games costing less than the absolute most basic minimum collection for WotC or GW, or games that work perfectly well in a basic (and cheaper) form but can be expanded (Munchkin stands out as it's by Steve Jackson who shares a name with Steve Jackson who founded Games Workshop and did the Fighting Fantasy novels - each Munchkin game is small, cheap and self contained... but can be added to if you desire).
If my childhood were spent now, no one I knew would have been able to afford the D&D books, no one would have had a Warhammer 40,000 army, even Magic the Gathering ... I might have ended up going outside more... bleh!
Comments
Thinking about it my first outbreak of GAS was DAS dice acquisition syndrome.
I wandered into a local pub last year on a Wednesday (usually I go on a Tuesday, long story) and found that Wednesdays was board game night. They all seemed to be playing Game Of Thrones though. I got chatting to them and they encouraged me to join their group and I felt really enthused after a few pints but you know how it goes...
While I still get nostalgic about table top games I'm wise enough to remember the ages it took to get even a single game done when you factor in set up and tear down, plus it's a big financial investment and I haven't had those sort of friends since school anyway.
Still, fond memories
Same reason I've never realised my dream of playing in a proper grunge band.
What's wrong with a bike ride and a game of football.
I've probably offended loads of people now....