Too right - I often get players think I am rich or something. Though I have
mentioned it many times before we don't earn a lot, (we don't want to
embarass you all with how little and our egos cannot always take such a
battering! 
), and the best GMs I have found do it for the love of the
game.
When I first ran ME I was not a massive fan of the game - now I have played
it a fair number of times (cough) I think I love it. My aim to play every
nation at least once. I think that I will allow myself only the 3 positions
at a time though as otherwise coming into work can be pretty pointless other
than to pick up my turn!
Getting a deposit is hard - generally we keep a (relatively) high price for
the set-up so that we get players who are more likely to stick aiming at the
more sophisticated gaming market. Madhouse work on the cheap and cheerful
tactic (I am sure that Steve would agree with us - well he has before
anyway!), and KJC - well we "all" started PBM with them and their horde of
data inputters. Not that I am knocking any of them mind you - they are very
successful companies and although we have had minimal contact with KJC we
have oft chatted with Madhouse (Sam is still proud of when we were in Leeds
when he chatted to Steve about marketing and he said that "one day, son, you
too will be as big as us", we are - though they have since doubled their
player base!!!
Clint
···
From: ColinForbes <timewyrm@suilven.demon.co.uk>
Gavin wrote ...
I feel a Flagship article coming on... I was going to write one after the
Con in London but decided against it. Provisional title? "Marketing: An
Alien Concept in PBM". <g>I'm sure Carol would be delighted to print such an article, it'll
certainly provoke a debate. Marketing is of course certainly not unknown
in PBM, just look at how Madhouse and KJC operate!The question would be of course, would players pay a deposit. This has
been tried several times and it just didn't work, people just played
other games.Which opens a bigger can of worms, namely why (to generalise somewhat)
are PBM players unwilling to pay what a game is actually worth? I'm
talking in terms of development work as well as time taken to run a game
and and material costs. Very few PBM's make anything like a reasonable
profit (many actually make a loss). Even some "big" PBm Companies don't
operate at the profits people think they do!Colin.
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