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Lack of Talent at WotC
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sauromatian
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 1:28 pm

bbarsh wrote:I am not sure what the point is here. The authors supplied a product and were paid for the product. Are you suggesting they were ripped off because the purchaser of their products may made more money than the author?

I can't be sure what his point is either, since it's a brief & unexplained comment. It does however seem to allude to certain discussions of copyright law. We often hear that we, the consumers, should respect IP because the money goes back to the artists. This is not entirely true, as cited by the statistic. I'm not saying we should therefore disregard IP, just that the rhetorical justification is faulty in this case.

He may have also intended to point out the lousy accountability factor in selling one's IP. If you run a store & I shoplift from it, you can call the cops. If I'm an employee at your store & you don't pay me, I can go to government advocates for recourse. If I sell IP & don't get paid, I'm out of luck. It takes an investment of thousands & thousands of dollars to argue an IP case in court, or the potential resources to do so if I want to discourage theft. Your initial assumption, that "the authors supplied a product and were paid for the product," is not always a valid one.

puterdragon
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:26 pm

bbarsh wrote:
I am not sure what the point is here. The authors supplied a product and were paid for the product. Are you suggesting they were ripped off because the purchaser of their products may made more money than the author?

Let's see, the publisher has to research and design the product, pay for any and all IP items included (writing, artwork, etc), pay for editing, pay for production, pay staff to distribute and track, pay lawyers, pay truck drivers, pay insurance, pay taxes (not a small amount by any stretch), pay operating costs, take a risk that the product will actually sell as predicted (never a consistent thing), and a whole host of other cash-sucking issues. Oh, and have some money left so that the product actually turns a profit so they can hire more people and create more products and keep paying that underpaid, chained-to-a-desk author to keep producing material.

I am sorry, but I have no pity for authors or illustrators who actually sell their stuff. It is really easy to suggest they are on the short end, but in the end, it is typically the other way around.

Of course the underpaid author is an easy point to make.
But what I'm saying is that .2% for copyright royalties (and most of it going to the writers with an established readership) suggests that for new talent there's little commitment to a publisher (and the industry) for the long term when royalties are avoided.
I'd rather work for royalties than on a work-for-hire basis, regardless of what the industry standard currently is. In other words, less money up front for the possibility of more in the future based on how well it's received by the readership. Pay for performance.

Gildor speaks to Frodo: 'Others dwelt here before hobbits were; and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.'--Tolkien

FormCritic
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 2:40 pm

The lack of talent at WOTC is not in the creative department.

It is in the business end of the company.

TSR used to lead the industry. WOTC wanders about as if they are lost on the city map from the old Bard's Tale game. They can no longer locate the industry and are kind of puzzled why they keep hitting dead ends.

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

SimperingToad
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:08 pm

serleran wrote:
You'll note I said TSR which does not include 3rd or 4th edition as those are strictly WotC releases, though not having all the books anymore, I would not be able to confirm with 100% reliability that nothing was reused. There was a great deal of art recycling in the 2nd edition era.

Perhaps they discovered, at last, they have a huge amount of property obtained when buying TSR and have decided to start using it. I wouldn't mind seeing some re-releases of some of the Ravenloft art, for example, but I'm not holding my breath on it.

Oh, I'm not disputing the re-use during the TSR era. And I also think you are correct in the reasoning. However, I do not think that is the case now.

It's targeted marketing, such as the many versions of Monopoly out there. Can't get people to buy the regular game? Make copies they 'must have' because it is modelled on a favorite TV show, sports team, etc. Similarly, I think the re-use of the old art is most definately targeting the gamers of that era. To what effect remains to be seen, but I suspect Wizbro thinks they will get a lot of purchases by the old guard.

copycat
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:13 pm

Absolutely targeted marketing, but I'd say the intended audience is something other than the "old gamers." Either way, I'm not impressed by the things I've heard of the contents, but I do hear the box itself is very sturdy...

Those who can, don't. Those who should not, do.

Blackmoor
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Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:18 pm

SimperingToad wrote:Oh, I'm not disputing the re-use during the TSR era. And I also think you are correct in the reasoning. However, I do not think that is the case now.

It's targeted marketing, such as the many versions of Monopoly out there. Can't get people to buy the regular game? Make copies they 'must have' because it is modelled on a favorite TV show, sports team, etc. Similarly, I think the re-use of the old art is most definately targeting the gamers of that era. To what effect remains to be seen, but I suspect Wizbro thinks they will get a lot of purchases by the old guard.

Didn't work on me, I avoided it entirely

Games can get you through times of no money but money can not get you through times of no games!!

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