Are we not snagging normies anymore?

[warzan 31213xp 2]

Hi everyone. do you think we could organise a weekend of virtual gaming as a community and then promote it as intros to games?

Perhaps we have a bunch of folk from the community (and game rep volunteers – henchmen etc) submit a game they will run twice or more over the weekend.

If we did the first as introductions to RPG’s that would make it a technically easier challenge.

We then do a big push to get folk to book a seat for them and a friend who is a ‘normie’ to the game.

We would setup a bunch of rooms in the discord server to facilitate the games etc.

Thoughts?

[sundancer 44416xp 1]

Could we? Yes.

Should we? IMHO No. Simply because the most prominent and luring feature of our hobby (the beautiful painted minis and terrain) isn’t very good transcribed in things like Tabletop Simulator and such. So there is next no “Oh this is shiny. What is it” effect.

I just look at things like UKGE last year or things done for SPIEL 2020 digitally and nothing of it really pulled me in to look at it and I am already in the hobby. So i doubt normies would feel incited to give a rats rear end. Also: time investment would be massive and I don’t know how much “spare time” others have but mine is currently next to zero on a larger scale. :S

My thoughts… sorry if those are somewhat “dark and grumpy”

[warzan 31213xp 0]

Thats kind of why I thought RPGs is the way to go so no need for TTS etc.

An rpg intro weekend seemed possible to me 🙂

[limburger 22466xp 1]

RPG’s may not need TTS, but they do need at least someone with webcam/screensharing capabilities (or access to the virtual RPG tools out there).

Talking to voices in a room is weird … being able to see what the DM is saying/showing adds a lot.
I bet the same applies to the DM running the game as well.

I’ve noticed that with MS Teams it can be quite confusing when several people try to talk at once, because you lack the visual cues you would have in real life.

Then again … I’m sure there’s people here who know how to run such a thing.

One of the things that virtual shows miss is the ability to just hop in. The UKGE at least had a ‘podium’ show/channel and even then I never really found anything that could drag me in. Heck, if it weren’t for the ‘treasure hunt’ thing they had I would have missed 90% of the things I did see. I suspect that as @sundancer says it will be a challenge to ‘snag a normie’ at all.

 

[doomrider 1411xp 0]

My group have been playing both Pathfinder and Cyberpunk Red through Roll20 and it works quite well.

[sundancer 44416xp 0]

@doomrider but you have been playing before and possible even together in the same room. We’re talking getting strangers (to the hobby) into it.

[doomrider 1411xp 1]

@sundancer if we can’t physically be in the same room then online is the only solution, no?

If someone new to the hobby wants to take part in RPGs specifically then there is going to need to be some sort of interaction, even with strangers, online.

I agree with the sentiments above. Part of the lure of the hobby is the social aspect, the sitting around the table with snacks or being able to gawk at someone’s finely painted miniatures.

The online solution might not be ideal, especially for someone brand new to the hobby but its the hand we’ve been dealt.

[limburger 22466xp 1]

Just look at how many people within our community had problems getting into discord … and there was no ‘time limit’ or need to do so.

With a virtual convention designed to ‘snag normies’ you would need to keep things as simple as possible.
Even if the system used is ‘free’ it adds a barrier to entry.

I know I kind of regret joining several discord servers after the UKGE. That’s not because the servers were crap, but because now I don’t know what to do as some of them are ‘dead’ (because the company responsible didn’t really know what to do with them after UKGE) and some just don’t have anything useful.

 

[horus500 11525xp 0]

I don’t know about snagging them but I’ve tried shagging a fair few of them (they look and smell better than most gamers).

I wonder how many video games bring normies into the community. I did hear several years ago that after the release of Warhammer Total War that GW recieved a load of enquires re-Warhammer, and a load of walk-aways after hearing the world ‘blew up’.

I’d also love to know if the newstand magazines Conquest and whatever the AoS one have had an effect?

Do those cut down Barnes and Noble games lead to GW pick-ups in sales elsewhere?

I’m assuming they do given GW’s sales figures and that GW keeps doing it. But I have no hard evidence.

[sundancer 44416xp 0]

I’d also love to know if the newstand magazines Conquest and whatever the AoS one have had an effect?

Do those cut down Barnes and Noble games lead to GW pick-ups in sales elsewhere?

I’m assuming they do given GW’s sales figures and that GW keeps doing it. But I have no hard evidence.

Personally I don’t think they have any real big effect in bringing in new players to the hobby. For one, people who get the G’Wullu toy magazines are usually already in the hobby and think about how you get a game like the ones sold only through B&N? There is someone roaming a store, seeing it, buying it and liking it. But then where to go? The sales assistant at B&N wouldn’t know. And the promo material only takes you to any outlet of G’Wullu. And if they are anything like they where when I was last in there, then they are more deterring than attracting.

I’m guessing G’Wullu keeps making them because the evil cultists of theirs (aka Fanboys) tend to buy *everything* G’Wullu vomits out into the world. It’s just another way to make sure nothing else but G’Wullu is noticed. (As a side note: X-Wing was available in many ordinary toy stores from the start and not just in your FLGS so everybody would notice them. Now image that tiny starter box next to Blitzbowl and all the other weird mini-game boxes… it would drown.)

[horati0nosebl0wer 20540xp 2]

Well, I’ve found my solution in painting up some starter forces and shipping them to a buddy of mine to play with his family. The best way to make sure someone has exposure to the material is to drop it in their lap. Social distancing is maintained and the hobby can be directly played with. Its Giftmas all over again.

[lonkelo 3680xp 1]

I was able to snag a ‘normie’ on the homefront. After being together for thirteen years, lockdown boredom and furries got my wife into the hobby.

At first she was only into painting the minis, which she liked as an alternative to just watching series every evening. Then, she wanted to try playing the game as well. We finished the third mission of the Warren Percy Affair campaign book just now and are already looking forward to the next!

So, if you’ve got someone at home who has always tolerated you and your ways, but was never interested in The Hobby: now is your chance. Lockdown has thinned the veil between our world and theirs and it might just be possible to lure them in with the right bait!

[ninjilly 11673xp 2]

I’m very jealous of people spending lockdown with someone else… I’ve just spent time getting to grips with solo variants of games instead! Snagging normies definitely isn’t as easy when we can’t be in the same room. I’ve been playing a lot more RPGs online to try and get a bigger pool of cool people to play with (wildly varying results!) but in terms of wargaming snagging, I’m just focusing on painting up two forces for some different games to be good to go when we are allowed to have even one person back in our houses *sob* I’m so lonely

[sundancer 44416xp 2]

@ninjilly  spending lockdown (remain indoors) with family doesn’t automatically grant you someone to hobby with 😉

[ninjilly 11673xp 2]

That’s true! In their defense, my cats are getting better at rolling dice.

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