Question Of The Week #2 - Too many designers?

[Onix]

Are there too many designers and too few players here on 1KM1KT? If so, what can be done about it?

I'm not suggesting we axe any designers here, it also makes sense that designers will hang out and promote, but what about players? Is there some kind of roadblock that keeps them from hanging out here?

I guess that's more than one question but please take it as a meta question that embodies the above.

My answer is that most people that are looking into RPGs don't know that there are free options. The other problem is that there seems to be a need for people to play what other people they've never met are playing. There's a desire for a shared experience that can translate to the largest number of people. Either that or they think the most played has to be the best. I'm convinced that Rob's Free RPG Blog helps the situation. I'm just not sure how to do more, you know, to help out or to augment that effort.

[kumakami]

For me its an issue of no player base atm. to be honest I'd be playing my and other games both from the site and else where if I had a group

[Anastylos]

I thought this forum to be a gamedesigning forum and not a playerforum. Maybe I will post a link in my p&p forum to attract interest.

[vulpinoid]

I like the small community here...while I agree that it could be better if it were larger, I certainly don't want it to become a trolling free-for-all that is thinly disguised and poorly moderated (like rpg.net)

Most of the "player-focused" forums I've seen are filled with fanboys/fangirls for one system or another. Storygames.com lost my interest when ever second thread became focused on Apocalypse World or some variant of it. Don't get me wrong, Apocalypse World did some interesting things, it took some steps along a trajectory that Vincent Baker had been developing for years...it wasn't innovative, just a logical progression. Dozens of people "hacking" it to new settings are just progressions or retro-fits. These "designers" are just paying with lego, adding some blocks to other blocks, then playing with the resultant constructs. If we further the analogy, I think a real designer is someone who has access to 3D software and a 3D printer, they are making their own lego blocks and truly coming up with toys they can call their own.

These are the kinds of people I come here to chat with. These are the people I often don't find elsewhere.

[Onix]

I do appreciate the company here. I agree that there is value to being surrounded by other designers but I don't think that 1km1kt was intended as designers only. It's a repository for free RPGs so anyone that's interested in playing or studying RPGs is welcome.

I think that there's a mutual respect among the regulars here that prevents trolling. If there was a large increase in membership, there would have to be a way of extending that to keep the atmosphere similarly friendly. It's a good point to consider.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

This is a community that I feel comfortable in, and where I am recognized. Not something so easily done on larger forums.

I don't think our designer to player ratio is off, but I do wonder - where are the readers? While these forums do focus a lot on design - our main site is not focused on theory or mechanics at all. It is a library. Its collection of games goes back over ten years and contains at least 700 submitted works. If anything, we should be asking why more people are not browsing the stacks and asking for more by the same author, can we recommend similar games, or what is the difference between game chef 2011 and 2012?

Growth just for the sake of growth is the mentality of a cancer. (And economists, interpret that similarity as you will). Yet it seems like 1km1kt should have a larger internet presence - either as a repository and library like John H Kim's site or as a place for the engineering side.

[catty_big]

I think one of the problems is that players might feel intimidated by all the designers.

[kumakami]

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

To be fair, my post wasn't intended to be "force Mr. Lang to do all the work". I think its more of we should advertise the library function more and say if you want to design a game that ends up in the collection, feel free to ask for help in the forums.

Perhaps we can pick some games from the archives, and dissect their design choices, or give them some online play via something like roll20.net or rptools. Live from the Dead air is on hiatus for a while, but I should try to learn Wordpress and make a general gaming/1km1kt.net review oriented site. There has to be some way for us to create a group blog and give multiple people permission to edit so that all the 1km1kt mods can can write one post a week about free rpg related topics.

[koipond]

Naw, this is a place to talk about free rpgs and not really a play by post site. Not that we can't play, haven't played, or aren't playing but ... it's really meant for conversations and not the playing of games.

However, I would welcome people to be willing/interested to playtest more but that's on a wishlist for everyone.