Your public image

[quozl]

I have a few questions that will hopefully spark some interesting discussion.

How much do your posts on public forums influence whether or nor people will pick up your game?  

Do you strive to present yourself a certain way so that your games are perceived better?

Do you refrain from saying things that you would say if you were not the author of a game?

Do you sometimes feel you must respond to something because you are the author of a game and must maintain visibility?

---Jon

[Clinton R. Nixon]

All my answers will be contradictory.

How much do your posts on public forums influence whether or nor people will pick up your game?

Little. I forget that too often, though, and get worried. In my experience, the people who are bitching on public forums don't play games anyway. In addition, I'm selling to a much smaller market as a PDF publisher - I pretty much know who's going to buy one of my games before I sell it.

Do you strive to present yourself a certain way so that your games are perceived better?

I try. I do a pretty bad job of it, though - people tend to take the things I say the wrong way, which may or may not have anything to do with my phrasing.

Do you refrain from saying things that you would say if you were not the author of a game?

Again, I try. I think I'm a lot less iracible than I was a year ago, and part of that is because I want people to look at me for my games. (The other - and bigger - reason is because I'm associated with the Forge. My position is difficult, because I don't have the respect Ron does, so when someone has a problem with the Forge, for whatever reason, I get to be whipping boy. Keeping my temper in check has been hard, especially recently.)

Do you sometimes feel you must respond to something because you are the author of a game and must maintain visibility?

This is the biggest lesson I've learned recently: you don't have to respond. When someone's bitching online, and you can't change their mind, you're only going to look worse by continuing to respond to them. I have to remind myself not to post a lot (I have a Post-It on my computer, that reads "calm down"), but I've noticed that my online relations have gone better recently as I stopped posting as much.

[Ferry Bazelmans]

How much do your posts on public forums influence whether or nor people will pick up your game?

I'll join Clinton and say: "little". For every gamer who decides in a huff never to buy your game, 10 others will never have read any of your posts and buy the game because it simply appeals to them. It never hurts to excercise a bit of caution though.

Do you strive to present yourself a certain way so that your games are perceived better?

Polite and courteous, if possible (I've just had a bit of a botch-up with Peter Seckler on RPG.net and I did try to at least be a bit civil, but it ended up sarcastic and probably too nasty). Ah well.

Do you refrain from saying things that you would say if you were not the author of a game?

I don't think so.

Do you sometimes feel you must respond to something because you are the author of a game and must maintain visibility?

Only if it directly concerns the game. Or if the matter at hand is very close to the game in question. But only then do I feel a need to respond to something.

Fer

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

I don't see a way to answer this question ... I can't say what I "would" do if I were someone else, or had or hadn't done some particular thing.

The guy who posts is the guy who publishes, the guy who publishes is the guy behind the computer, who's posting. All me.

Sure, being a total dick on-line would probably hurt sales. Seems like a basic, non-controversial concept to me.

I'm afraid I don't see a practical inquiry in this thread that justifies further attention. Jon, could you clarify what you're asking, if possible? Not "what if you were" speculation, but an information/practicality inquiry that would be relevant to game publishing?

Best,
Ron

[Jack Spencer Jr]

I think most of this was covered in the recent negative feedback thread.

Basically, your personal image usually means squat when posting on the forums. You'll get chowderheads vowing to never buy your stuff, but how many of them would've bought it anyway? How many of them bought your stuff anyway because it appealed to them after all and they figured "what the hell..."?

So the only advice here is just general nettique that can apply to just about anybody. First and foremost is that you don't need to respond. Clinton's "Calm down" note work. Personally I have a mental note that asks "Is it worth it?" I can't say how many times I found myself in the heat of composition when I found myself asking that question with the answer "no." The Back button is a handy tool for this situation. In fact a note that reads "Back is better than Submit" is a pretty good idea. And a good one for way too many people is "You are not so clever" to keep the cutesy comments to a minimum. "Sarcasm is just masturbation" also works in this regard.

[quozl]

Hi there,

I don't see a way to answer this question ... I can't say what I "would" do if I were someone else, or had or hadn't done some particular thing.

The guy who posts is the guy who publishes, the guy who publishes is the guy behind the computer, who's posting. All me.

Sure, being a total dick on-line would probably hurt sales. Seems like a basic, non-controversial concept to me.

I'm afraid I don't see a practical inquiry in this thread that justifies further attention. Jon, could you clarify what you're asking, if possible? Not "what if you were" speculation, but an information/practicality inquiry that would be relevant to game publishing?

Best,
Ron

I'm sorry I wasn't more clear.  The question is "What do you do?" not "What would you do?".  

I guess what I'm really asking is "Does having a published game change your behavior?" and also "How does it change your behavior?".  For example, do you change in little ways like checking everything twice for typos or changing offensive words to euphemisms?  Or maybe you change in bigger ways, like your personality changing from shy and reserved into a gregarious salesman.  In summary, are the changes worth it?  Do you like the changes that go along with publishing a game or do you not like them and wish you hadn't published?

I know these are not easy questions and must be answered individually but as someone who is interested in publishing a game, I'd really like to see some answers to these questions.  I hope that clears things up.

---Jon

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Jon,

I'll do my best to answer, but I gotta say it's not going to be too useful ... because my activity on the internet, aside from teaching-related material, began when I first put Sorcerer up for "sale" (in its original version, which was more like a shareware situation). So I can't say how I changed upon publishing; my internet interaction has always included commerce.

Most of my self-moderation, whether regarding profanity (not that I moderate that much) or topics or the extremity of what I'm saying, is about the same as it is in non-electronic discourse. I work pretty hard to stick to those standards.

Best,
Ron

[John Wick]

I guess what I'm really asking is "Does having a published game change your behavior?" and also "How does it change your behavior?".  For example, do you change in little ways like checking everything twice for typos or changing offensive words to euphemisms?  Or maybe you change in bigger ways, like your personality changing from shy and reserved into a gregarious salesman.  In summary, are the changes worth it?  Do you like the changes that go along with publishing a game or do you not like them and wish you hadn't published?
---Jon

You allow yourself to be changed by it or you don't. I let myself get away when 7th Sea got published. I'm too much of a method writer. I really absorb the research and mind-set appropriate to the game. Thus, when I was writing L5R, my attitude was very Zen-like: people will like it, or they won't, and nothing I do or say will change that.

When I was working on 7th Sea, it was entirely different. I was reading Dumas a lot. There were many people who reviewed the book, but didn't read it (obvious clues: "7th Sea is a fantasy rpg set in a rennaisance world" when I spent 2 pages discussing the difference between Restoration and Rennaisance time periods). I took it as a matter of personal honor to defend the work we did in that book.

Orkworld was different, too. My mentality shifted. I stopped looking for Trouble.

And now, with a PI book under my belt, I'm a lot more reflective, a lot more willing to sit back and watch and listen before I say anything.

God help me if I actually do sit down and write that Classic Greek Myth RPG...

But, to answer your question, before I published an RPG, I always spell-checked my posts. Afterward, I still do. And I'm back to the point where I really don't care what the internet thinks of my games. They represent 10% of the buying force in the RPG industry. And besides, they'll either like it or they won't.

Take care,
John

---
Forget the hearse cause I'll never die.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I am the poster child for bad public image on public forums.  If I took fifteen minutes to carefuilly consider the effects uponm my business of everything I post on the Forge, the GPA, or similar industry forums, Iprobably wouldn;t post anything and I might be better off.

As it is, I tend to say the first thing on my mind which, depending on what it is, tends to get me into a lot of trouble -- even here.

So far it hasn't affected my sales that much. Then again it's far too early to tell anything about my sales in anything more than general terms.

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Truthfully, I never go onto forums and specifically act a certain way.  At the risk of being cliche, I just tend to be myself.  I feel I'm a fairly personable individual and I hope that translates to more sales, but I don't change my behavior in order to get people to purchase CAH.  I'm an opinionated person, so if I dislike something, I'll pipe up at the drop of a hat.  Even if it ruffles feathers (just ask Brian Gleichman. lol).