The Business: Roll For Combat Asks "Why Wizards Is Turning D&D Into a Board Game?"

The Roll For Combat crew already knows the answer to his question.

*sigh*

The Answer (Pithy Short Version):

Mr Krabs Hello I Like Money GIFfrom Mr Krabs GIFs

The Longer Answer: Because that's where the Normies are!

Boardgames don't scare the Normies. The Soup Aisle is a punching bag on TV and Social Media, which is what most Normies still think that the tabletop product is. The videogames are more acceptable for more than just convenience.

Oh, and stick around the Diamond Distribution bankruptcy update. There are THREE Diamond entities. They are selling the product at issue as fast as they can and keeping the proceeds without reporting a penny, and all three Diamonds are not even trying to comply with the regulations for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy so this stands a good chance to convert to Chapter 7 and just flush it all into the crapper- screwing everyone in Tabletop affected (i.e. not WOTC, not the bottom folks).

The Correct Answer:

I will hammer this point until it sticks: There is NO ONE other than Wizards of the Coast that breeches the Normiesphere. Therefore there is no would-be competitor to The Only Game That Matters that can do a Sith Succession Move and become the dominant Network; breeching the Normiesphere is a necessary pre-condition to doing this.

Why?

As I explained the other day, Normies run off Brands. Brands are shortcuts for "What matters in this miche?" especially in things like Gaming, and Tabletop is a form of Gaming that is utterly dependent upon the Network Effect for its value- the size of the network is the value of the product, and thus of the Brand. This is why D&D is The Only Game That Matters.

You can go anywhere in the world and get a D&D game. Anywhere. Bored in Antarctica? D&D. On a six month cruise? D&D. Around the campfire in the middle of the Boundary Waters? D&D. Uttermost Shitfuckistan? D&D. With five randos that you never met, they never met you, and none of you ever met each other, all in a place none of you ever been to before? D&D.

That doesn't work for anything else in Tabletop. Not Sword World. Not Darkest Eye. Not Call of Cthulhu. Not Warhammer (believe it or not). Nothing else at all. If you can't show the fuck up in Dubai, get a handful of others from other places, say "Wanna play (Brand)?" YOU DO NOT HAVE THE DOMINANT NETWORK!

WOTC does. That's why they can get away with the stupid shit they've done and are doing; they have ZERO competition from within, as it's all from without (it's WOW, Fortnite, Gacha, etc.) and there is neither the will nor the capacity for ANYONE in Tabletop to change this. WOTC cannot lose at this point, and everyone knows it- it's just that some in Tabletop are still delusional enough to front that they don't (and thus deserve the Gas Face).

Just Play D&D.