The Culture: Network Effects, The Clubhouse, & Replacing The Cargo Cult

How does focusing upon restoring the Real Hobby get done?

The same way that a would-be Apprentice gets into positions to shiv the Master and take its place in any market niche that relies on Network Effects:

1. Identify what the audience wants that the Master does not fulfill.
2. Make the game that has what the audience wants and give it to them.

Note that I said "give", not "sell". That's deliberate.

The real cost of the hobby, right now, is in the organization of hobbyists into meeting at a specific time and place. No commercial publisher, other than Wizards of the Coast, even tries to address this unmet demand. That's pawned off on external parties, which is why Virtual Tabletops are big business now, further adding to the costs hobbyists have to play in Conventional Play style.

What is the proper alternative?

A non-commercial hobby operation. That is the Clubhouse.

The Clubhouse handles the organization demand. The Clubhouse handles the game demand. The Clubhouse handles the vetting demand.

The game is simple: standardize all campaign play around one established, but not "current", game; Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition is ideal for this purpose because it taps into the extant dominant Network Effect (it is "D&D", just not Current Edition), and as it is no longer actively published it is "complete" and thus Fear of Missing Out style marketing no longer applies. All of these reduce the commercial end to play to the minimum necessary. In time, those manuals are supplied to members at-cost (free digitally), thus cutting the commercial operations out of the loop entirely.

The organization (including vetting) is done through ruthless gatekeeping of prospective members to the Clubhouse to keep the Death Cultists and Soup Aisle derelict out, and then keeping them in the loop regarding all of the campaign activity going on in the Clubhouse- along with what members is running sessions and when they're doing it. As this is the real hobby and not that analog Get Along Gang stuff that videogames do better, there is no Schedule Your Fun problem. Show up or don't, even if that means rolling up a new man because all your existing ones are on the bench; all that matters is that whomever wants to run is willing and able.

Then there's the Big Events, the Braunsteins. It may start with some dudes doing some PVP over a Point of Interest, but it can (and will in time) turn into something straight out of a real world War College exercise when players big and small converge upon a major objective to figure out who gets the McGuffin. A competent Clubhouse organization will promote this when recruiting for prospects to join.

That's not to say that the hobby is free. You may not need to spend on Endless Product Slop, but you will be asked--or "asked"--to contribute to the Clubhouse's good order and smooth operation, be it in time or in money (and often both). You're paying for the verification, the secure private space, the filtering of bad actors and defectives, the on-site resources, and so on. The difference? No Fear of Missing Out. No publisher-pushed Network Effect; they're all on your side. You and your fellow members are at liberty to put in that time and money upgrading your Clubhouse as you are willing and able.

The expansion of the Clubhouse, and the standardization of campaigns around a single game, builds a non-commercial Network Effect that serves the hobby better than anything that Wizards of the Coast or any other commercial operator can or ever will. By removing Line Go Up as an incentive, you are free (and encouraged) to keep the people who sholdn't be there at all out; by being a wholly private member association, you avoid plenty of other issues that could trip you up otherwise. Federating across first your native country, then in your region, and finally on a global basis (a long-term objective) means that in time you can play a session in Chicago, drop in on a campaign in Tokyo, and then attend a big Braunstein event in Dubai- all playing the exact same game in one global campaign.

Everyone else? A group call online, screen sharing, and a videogame are plenty to scratch that itch- from Rogue to Latest AAA Slop. Cheaper, easier, more convenient than Conventional Play on the tabletop. You can even make your own videogames too.