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Every hobby has tiers of intensity, represented by the sub communities of that hobby at each tier. Purely speculative, but it is probably something like a 90% reduction of population at each tier. For example:
Aware: 1,000
Casual: 100
Experienced: 10
Core: 1
Aware: 1,000
Casual: 100
Experienced: 10
Core: 1
To stretch this to rpgs:
Aware: yeah I know what D&D is!
Casual: I played D&D a few times on college. It was... fine.
Experienced: I played D&D for years, but World of Darkness is so much better!
Core: (you are here)
Aware: yeah I know what D&D is!
Casual: I played D&D a few times on college. It was... fine.
Experienced: I played D&D for years, but World of Darkness is so much better!
Core: (you are here)
Many people think they’re catering to casual but they’re actually catering to experienced. The core group consistently forgets that it is an uber exclusive and elite cabal of obsessed weirdos.
Even if the core group spends 5x what the experienced group does, that’s still less.
Even if the core group spends 5x what the experienced group does, that’s still less.
The real issue is that the non core group never even HEARS about your stuff. They barely know it exists. And the core “whales” that know and buy everything get inundated with hundreds of products per year.
If someone said “hey do you enjoy movies?” You’d probably say “yeah sure.” But you probably don’t know of all (or many, or even any) high class art house films. Maybe the winner at Sundance... maybe. How many YT videos about film do you watch? Subs you subscribe to? Not many.
That’s because most people are REALLY into one, maybe two things. Chances are if you’re reading this, rpgs are your thing. You’re in that 1/1000 core group.
The core group (probably) doesn’t have the same taste as the casual group. Avengers isn’t Parasite. Your game isn’t D&D
The core group (probably) doesn’t have the same taste as the casual group. Avengers isn’t Parasite. Your game isn’t D&D
The point in all of this is to know your audience. Know your community. It’s okay to not be core. It’s okay to not know anything other than the casual stuff. Most people don’t have time and energy to commit to a hobby to get past the casual layer. They just don’t.
The advice and products for each tier are IMMENSELY different. When we are making super deep OSR GLOG hacks we don’t even discuss half the stuff that’s in other indie games. We assume the audience already knows those things. That’s fine. But a casual reader would say “huh?!”
Most people don’t want the super creative innovative thing. They want the comfortable thing. It may not be the “best” thing, but it MIGHT be best for THEIR desires. And. That. Is. Fine.
