TSR Employees 'fess-up

From: kfarmer@earth (Ken Farmer) Subject: TSR Explained Date: 7 Dec 1994 03:56:22 GMT Organization: Internet Express
First of all, sorry about such a presumptuous subject line. However, in light of all the discussion going on about the specifics of copyright law, etc I thought it may be valuable to relate a recent encounter of mine with a couple of employees of TSR. This happened a couple of months ago at a party in Chicago. I met two guys who said they worked for TSR. One was definitely a gamer and knew the industry, the other was not. I have played continuously since 1979. I asked them about what has happened with TSR recently: the obvious tactic of TSR to make as much money as possible while treating their customers so poorly. Their answer: TSR was going bankrupt (around 1989 I think) and was making almost no money at all from their loyal players. These people had all the books they needed, and although they played many hours a year they spent little money. The TSR solution was to concentrate on the new players. With the movement of adolescents having more and more spending power these newer players could spend $100+ on a game (witness Nintendo). Additionally, many of them will buy everything, because they don't know the game well enough to determine what is necessary and what is crap. Example: A player in 1979 needed to invest $12. A player today needs to invest $400+. A DM in 1984 could invest up to $76. A DM today? $800? So, this is why: 1. TSR now sells the Complete Gnome Fighter-Thief, the Complete Blond Cleric, The Complete Left-Handed Fighter, etc: books with less than 10% of their content unique, necessary, and a consistent fit with the game framework. The mature gamers out there developed much of this in-house, or found it in places like Dragon Magazine. 2. TSR attacks FTP sites: who cares if it adds enjoyment to the games of loyal players. TSR DOES NOT CARE about customer retention! They do not want ANY possible competition, and if it causes you to leave the game, so what? You already bought all the stupid books, so they aren't expecting to make any more money off you anyway. 3. TSR doesn't care about the specifics of copyright law. Nor does it matter. You do not have the money to fight them in court - by default you lose. My suggestion: 1. Never buy anything new from this cynical and abusive company. 2. Play some other game that is owned by a company that cares about their customers. 3. Play 1st edition. Sure 2nd ed fixed a few problems, but it also introduced a whole lot more, not the least of which is playing around a table with 40 books. PS: Sorry about the angry tone is this letter. However, I have probably invested more time in this game than the vast majority of people in TSR who I now feel are out to rip us off. In an Intro to Business text book that was published in 1985 there is an insert that describes the problems TSR faced. It described how everything was so centrally managed that a clerk had to go to a VP for pencils. Bottom line: they were a text-book example of how not to run a business.