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After just three pages, SJ Games Forum has locked the thread.
I suspect that things were not going their way on other venues and they're hoping that it will go away on its own.
Several people have indicated that for every person walking, there are two taking their place.
That's not how this works.
If the pro-choice camp outnumbers the pro-life camp 2:1 that means that 1/3 of the customers just left for greener pastures.
I strongly suspect that most people who are done with SJ Games are simply leaving without saying anything.
A pity.
But SJ Games had not made much I wanted to buy for a very long time, despite me actively working with GURPS for decades.
I've been surprised after over 20 years living in SJG's back yard that there seem to be very few gamers around here that run GURPS. Every time I've tried to find anyone around here gaming they are mostly on Pathfinder or D20 or some other system these days. And most of them aren't very receptive to new people joining. Alas.
ReplyDeleteI think GURPS' unpopularity stems from a few key factors.
DeleteCharacter creation is tedious and requires the GM to be clear to the player what needs to be on that sheet and what is not allowed on that sheet.
Making the players understand that large swaths of the advantages and disadvantages will not be appropriate for the setting. Taking "flight" in a T2K game or spells for Traveller, for example.
SJGames has had almost no presence in most of the game shops I've been to. Not just GURPS, SJG anything except Munchkin.
The charge to digital means that it's not on the shelf at a game shop and cannot be sold to someone on impulse. They have to seek it out deliberately. If you're on SJG's store page, you're already a GURPS player or have found a group of people who are already playing and you need the books to join.
If I were a shop owner and knew that once they'd bought the Basic Set I'd never see them again, I wouldn't up my order of GURPS, assuming there's going to be something I can put on the shelf.
I can't argue with any of that. It really is a shame I think, that SJG didn't hire you years ago because some of the people working for them seem to had/have far less of a grasp on what needs/needed to be done to make GURPS as successful as it should have been.
DeleteFrankly, I don't know of anyone, anyplace that is a bigger promoter of GURPS than you are. If they've lost you, then I can't imagine what the future of it is.
ReplyDelete