The Business: Do You Really Want To Roll Your Own? (Part Three)

(Following from yesterday's post.)

"Playing cards and stuff like that?"

"Come on, really?!"

Yes, already done.

"Having emotional states or something like it matter on the dice?"

"No way!"

Yes, Anon. Look, you're going to rattle off a lot of mechanics, procedures, settings, and so on. I can just show you existing products that already did that, or we can skip to the conclusion.

"It's all been done, right?"

Yes, it's all been done. This is a medium nearly 50 years old now. It hit saturation over 20 years ago, by the end of the 1990s, and it's been spinning its wheels ever since with barely incrementional changes on the margins and most of the development going on the business side of things- not the design or publishing end.

"That explains why Boomers dominate all this to this day?"

Alas, yes, and now the Millenials are slowly succeeding them here as they are elsewhere- as also predicted.

The thing to recognize is that this a mature market segement. You don't get unexplored territory in a mature market segment. You get, over time, consolidation of relevant parties down to the most efficient number for long-term market stability. Everyone else either exits the market, pivots to another market, or downshifts to a non-commercial operation- a self-sustaining hobby, in other words.

It also means that the last major shake-up in a healthy mature market segment is the emergence of a series of Best Practices that can show the recepits behind such claims, as well as show legitimate descent from that segment's first principles, and thus become the example of that market segment- as close to a literal Platonic form thereof as can be had.

Anon, you are here. There is no longer any point in rolling your own; everything's been done, and now we're shaking out Best Practices and Legitimacy.

If you're looking to be the guy that makes a major breakthrough, this ain't where you want to be. This is now as mature a segment as AR-15s and major passenger jets; we're just shaking out how best to do them, and who Boeing and Airbus will be.

"That sucks."

Maybe, but then again no one argues over how to build an aquaduct anymore either- the Romans settled that millenia again. Being mature ain't all bad, so long as insanity doesn't shit things up.

So, how about we roll up some men and play AD&D?

"Okay, I guess. What's that like?"