Reply To: Too many games with miniatures in it?

[limburger 21711xp 1]

I think there are 3 types of players :

1. mechanics focused : they don’t care about miniatures, may consider them a distraction.
2. visual focused : they ‘need’ miniatures or something similar, rules may be secondary
3. the rest : the ‘need’ for miniatures depends on their mood and/or the specific game. They won’t mind playing with tokens, but they might even pay to upgrade their games to be more visually interesting.

Are there ‘too many’ ?
I think there are always ‘too many’ things of the stuff you don’t like. Especially if you start focussing on the stuff you don’t like.
It’s how the human mind works … once you think of stuff you will notice it a lot more than before.

Kickstarters need every bit of extra they can get in a crowded market. As such it is logical that they add miniatures, because they make for pretty marketing material. Tokens never quite capture the fickle attention span of the average consumer with money to burn. Even the ‘token only’ types of games tend to add something that ‘feels expensive’, because it works.

I’d argue that this happens because few people can appreciate the work that is needed in something as ‘boring’ as rule/game design, but they can appreciate the need for money for something that has more physical presence.
It’s something that is often mentioned in shows like ‘the profit’ and ‘bar rescue’ : something that looks expensive makes people more willing to spend money.