D&D on Gameboy Advance = Accessibility?

[MK Snyder]

This could be a great marketing opportunity for the print D&D line. Kids who play the computer/console games also pore over the lore of cheats and hints every bit as avidly as any games lawyer. An official D&D Hint Book that had an introduction to pen & pencil D&D could bring in some kids; or giving some shelf space to the manuals in the vidgame store.

Players can write modules for Neverwinter Nights, including doing live DMing of the NPC's they create. This makes the computer a virtual tabletop for a DM and players.  If this is a commercial success, along with The Sims, we may well see a greater variety of RPG's brought out in this medium.

[C. Edwards]

Perhaps, but I have serious doubts about this:

"More than three million enthusiasts play the Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper game at least once a month, and Infogrames believes this will translate into a successful launch on Game Boy Advance," said Jeff Sehring, senior marketing manager at Infogrames' Minneapolis studio.

Yes, DnD players will account for some of the copies of the game sold, but they certainly will not account for enough copies to create a successful launch.  Neverwinter Nights had a significant draw of existing DnD players, due to marketing and a few years of hype and expectation. I don't see a Game Boy game, with low quality graphics and less than extensive and well focused marketing, having any measurable DnD player draw beyond what any other Game Boy game would have.

More on topic though, anybody who has the patience and ability to design a decent module for Neverwinter Nights should have no problem learning the ins and outs of pen & paper RPGs.  Unfortunately, I have seen very limited desire amongst  people who play CRPGs, and do not already play pen & paper RPGs, to give RPGs a try.  With any luck though that is just my personal experience, and not indicative of larger trends.

-Chris

[Jack Spencer Jr]

I doubt it. Like in the mainstream thread where Ron said that a D&D movie will do well if it's good, but this rarely carries over to the print RPG. I think it's the same thing here. If the game is good, it will do well, but it won't convince very many to go look at the RPG. Or such is my belief.

[MK Snyder]

The graphics on a Game Boy Advance are pretty good; color, too.

The interesting thing that a GBA can do is that in can be cabled to another one, and characters can interact between the two machines. This was the big draw for Pokemon--the kids could "train" Pokemons and then match them against another player's Pokemon.

Think of two RPGers with their respective stables of characters being able to have matches or adventures, any time, without a table. Up to four GBA's can be linked together at a time. When more than one GBA is linked, the processing is distributed for more complex game generation.

A generation is growing up with a great deal of familiarity with electronically mediated RPG's and several RPG core concepts--character generation, character advancement, character stats, combat, campaigns.  I would think this would make it a lot easier to recruit tabletop players from the general population.

[Jack Spencer Jr]

A generation is growing up with a great deal of familiarity with electronically mediated RPG's and several RPG core concepts--character generation, character advancement, character stats, combat, campaigns.  I would think this would make it a lot easier to recruit tabletop players from the general population.

I disagree, but I'm afraid we'll have to leave it there since there is no real way to prove either point of view, and probably neither is completely "right" anyway. Computer games have been borrowing concepts from RPGs since the collosal cave "ADVENTure" game. While there has been some cross-pollenation there, it hasn't been that much. I think you'll find, like movies based on books for example, that more people will go see the movie rather than read the book and only a few will go read the book after enjoying the movie. Hard numbers aren't available, but boosting sales for one product in a particular medium rarely happens when the property is converted to another medium.

For example, take the D&D movie. This is only an example.

A decent chunk of the people who went to see the movie were gamers and/or D&D players, so no extra sales there. ANd the non-gamers who did see the movie when to see just what this D&D thing they've been hearing about since the 80's was all about. And having seen the movie, they are satisfied with it and it is their experience with D&D and that's it. ONly a few non-gamers, after seeing the movie (putting aside the actual movie that was made) will want to check out the RPG the movie was based on. The rest are prefectly happy to stick with only seeing the movie. Does this make sense?

The people who play the video game with either be:

A) RPGers already, so that doesn't introduct RPGs to anyone new
B) video game players who have no interest in RPGs and will not bother looking into the RPG

It is possible that there will be a few who will go on to look into the RPG, but I think that playing this game will only make the introduction process *easier* It will not initiate it.

Such is my opinion

[MK Snyder]

I think you're focusing too much on adults.

The kids I know who now play RPG's played computer mediated RPG's (pc and platform) before they played print RPG's; they came from families in which the adults did not play RPG's.

[Jack Spencer Jr]

Interesting, Maryanne. But I wonder if these kids of whom you speak are really a significant number or not. I mean, media cross-sales do happen.

But I think I have drifted slightly off-topic with this. Does the video game make RPG more acessable was the concept before the panel. I suppose it does since the people who play the video game would have been exposed to many of the mechanical concepts and whatnot of an RPG, or just D&D in this case. I still have my doubts as-to how many will actually go from video game to RPG. But people who play the video game will have a leg-up on learning RPG concepts.

[MK Snyder]

OK, I just picked up "Eye of the Beholder" for the family. (Includes me!)

Players form a party of four characters and send 'em through the sewers of Waterdeep.

Characters can be any of six races; the four classes; players "roll" the stats, pick feats, and buy skills with points; magic users have spell lists; characters get more skill points and spells as they levelup.

The player chooses the party's order of adventuring. There are "attacks of opportunity". The player chooses whether or not to engage in combat with NPC's and monsters or conversation; player also directs characters to manipulate or examine objects and must choose from the character's skill set to exercise the skill.

Pretty darn good lesson in D&D, if you ask me.

Curiously enough, there is no crossover marketing effort to the paper RPG at all. No mention of the print edition. If anything, the D&D logo is selling the electronic product, not the other way around.

[Jack Spencer Jr]

Curiously enough, there is no crossover marketing effort to the paper RPG at all. No mention of the print edition. If anything, the D&D logo is selling the electronic product, not the other way around.

Ahem. Well, I was kind of saying that all along. I find it funny that Infrograms (that's who's putting it out, right?) felt the same way. Ho, well. Maybe you're right and I'm wrong about the crossover thing, but it does make it more difficult if the video game contains no ads for the print game.

[Fabrice G.]

Hi Jack and Mk,

I think that maybe there's no direct benefits from this (no cross-sells from video game fans to rpg books) but the potential indirect benefits exist IMO.

Considering my experience (and those of quite many RPer that I know), cross media facillitation of accessibility do exist. I was introduced to rpg via "solo adventure books"(translation ?) ("livres dont vous êtes le héro" for the french speaking audience), bought to my by my mother as a means to make me read more. Then I discovered almost by mistake some books that were very close, but who requiered a game master to run the adventure for the other player(also quite easely available. "L'oeil noir" (the black eye). It's a very simplistic german roleplaying game that made it's way in the supermarket (along with Chill) for a time. So I bougth the box...and voilà, I was a roleplayer.

Back to my point. At this time, rpg were almost not known in France execpt in really big city (think Paris). Discovering that you could play the hero of a pre-made story by reading certain paragraphs in a book really was a great facillitator to go toward rpgs. The only think to say was:" RPGs, you know, like the books were you are the hero, but with far more liberty..." and it was clear.

So yeah, the players who today buy this video game maybe won't go tomorrow buy rpgs'books, but still, he will have the knowledge of basicaly what is an RPG. So in a few year, when he'll want something else, he won't be totally in the dark when he look to the stange books with the d&d logo.

Just' my two cents, take care.

Fabrice.