2010-09-11 From Product To Brand

Some people are happy with the low entry price for D&D Essentials. Some people like the D&D bus. Some people complain about the reuse of the old art. Some people don’t like the term Red Box being used for D&D 4E. Some people don’t like the many errata for D&D 4E.

What does it all mean?

I’m with *Dan Proctor* of Labyrinth Lord fame:

Labyrinth Lord

What if “Dungeons & Dragons” were less about a product and more about an experience? What if we can dispel the entire idea of “editions” from consumers of Dungeons & Dragons? The edition angle worked for a while, but the mileage on that is running out. Is there really going to be a D&D 10e? No, it just won’t work. […] So, instead of producing a game that’s marketed as done, complete, and improved from before, we simply market D&D. The very nature of the game itself will remain in flux to facilitate a subscription-based consumption plan. This way, customers always expect to be paying money and so long as the content changes can be integrated into the subscription plan there are few problems. Customers need to be retrained to think of the game rules and character options as less fixed. That way they expect the game to keep changing and they return to the brand no matter what form it’s in. We still give them a static product – we always call it Dungeons & Dragons – but customers are loyal to the brand, not the product. – Product vs. Service and Brand Dilemmas

Product vs. Service and Brand Dilemmas

D&D Essentials and the current marketing campaign is the corporate answer to the edition wars. This is what It’s all D&D to me means in the corporate world. Love it or hate it… And whether it’s outrage or enthusiasm – remember, there is no such thing as bad publicity! 😄

It’s all D&D to me

Updates*:

D&D 4e: Product or Subscription Service? Welcome to the 4e Tax! This is about the decision by Wizards of the Coast to offer the Character Builder as a web application.
Legends and Lore by Mike Mearls is all about brand loyalty: “We might print the rules for the current version of the game, or produce accessories you use at your table, but the game is what you, the community of D&D fans and players, make it. D&D is the moments in the game, the interplay within a gaming group, the memories formed that last forever.”
So What IS Happening to Tabletop Roleplaying Games? Dancey & Mearls Let You Know!. Morrus’ summary: “The too-long-didn’t-read version of that, I think (and this is my own interpretation of what Mike Mearls was saying) is that much of the stuff we used to enjoy around an RPG we don’t do any more, and we do other entertainment-related things with that time instead. So D&D (as in its settings and characters) is focusing on doing those other entertainment things rather than just being a tabletop roleplaying game - the goal, obviously being that “D&D” as a brand flourishes.”
On the Myopic, Narcissistic, Future of RPGs. The rebuttal on Hack & Slash. “The thesis here, is that some section of consumers are going to play an app, video game, or watch a film instead of playing or preparing for Dungeons and Dragons, and that if only there were branded apps, video games, or movies about Dungeons and Dragons they would be doing that possibly instead.”
Regarding D&D 5, via Sage LaTorra quoting Mike Mearls: “we now know that the high volume release schedule for 3e and 4e turned out to be bad for D&D” and “it wasn’t too many settings that hurt TSR, but too many D&D books of any kind. lots of experiments ahead...”; more here: What's Up at WotC?
Trollsmyth summarizing Mearls: “Keeping something new constantly on store shelves may be great in the short run, but it leads to quicker burn-out. A smaller core-rules footprint, in short, is better for the longevity of the game.”
On D&D 5E, An Outsiders Look At What D&D Is Doing As A Brand: “We all think of D&D as a game, but I don’t think that’s how the people over at Wizards of the Coast are looking at D&D anymore. They’re treating it as a brand and are focused on storytelling. The game is not intended to be the prime money maker, but the promotional piece that creates some money and sets up everything else. This came up through a conversation when a listener […] asked about WotC creating a book that helps with world building and would have examples in it for how to do Dark Sun or Dragonlance, for example. I thought it was an interesting idea, but because D&D is focused on the brand of D&D and storytelling they don’t necessarily want other people making stories in their worlds, they want people to buy into their stories.”

D&D 4e: Product or Subscription Service? Welcome to the 4e Tax!

Legends and Lore by Mike Mearls

So What IS Happening to Tabletop Roleplaying Games? Dancey & Mearls Let You Know!

On the Myopic, Narcissistic, Future of RPGs

via Sage LaTorra

What's Up at WotC?

summarizing Mearls

An Outsiders Look At What D&D Is Doing As A Brand

#RPG #Publishing