An exercise in vanity ? (Mildly communist ...)

[james_west]

So to summarize what I think the consensus is from this thread:

(1) It is possible to make real money from an RPG in hardcopy if you have a good business guy and realize that just about any product is gonna tank after a few years.

(2) It is possible to make enough money from pdf format sales to cover your costs, probably aside from time.

(3) There are several possible benefits to charging aside from the money you get, including a change in attitude on the part of one or more of downloaders, industry, and author.

The issue of The Right Amount to charge seems mostly a different issue (although certainly an interesting one.) It does occur to me that charging -at-all- might meet the requirements of part (3), entirely aside from the amount charged.

                      - James

[Paul Czege]

Hey James,

For instance, Sorceror apparently has a large following for an independent game. However, it seems possible that this results from Edwards' intensive support of the system rather than from the fact that he charges for it.

I think this is very much part of the picture. Ron's online presence draws his target customer in to purchasing Sorcerer. Compare to Greg Porter of BTRC. He's had a .pdf game called Hollyworld available for sale since mid-1999 if the copyright on the page is to be taken seriously. I wonder if his target customer is finding the game?

Paul