If an organization has to release a survey like this it means things are not going well. You don't have to ask people if they like your company or product if things are going well.
Negative voices can be pretty loud. It’s possible there’s plenty of positive sentiment that doesn’t get voiced. They want to put numbers to it so they have a real measurement of public opinion. But I think their data will be skewed. That or they just want to be able to say “recent surveys show people love WoTC and DnD!”
So, I also worked for a marketing company that did surveys and taste tests and all that kind of thing. As someone who contacted people to give their feedback on products, I can tell you these sample sizes tend to be smaller than most people think; they don't want the opinion of EVERYONE who currently does or has ever in the past played D&D, that would take FOREVER to get through. They would specify that they want particular demographics -- 18-25 year olds, 26 to 35 year olds, 36 to 45 year olds, and the 46+ year olds -- and only a specific number of respondents in each column. They also want to know things like ethnicity, income levels, and (incredibly enough, even for a game) education levels. Once they have all the demographic slots that they need filled up, the survey would be taken down so they didn't have tons more responses coming in. So I don't think they were trying to hide anything, they just had a select group of people they wanted to hear from. If you have ever filled out anything from WotC that asks if you'd be willing to test out new products, you'll get an email with a survey.
On the topic of Monopoly, get the Lord of the Rings version, that has The One Ring and replaced one of the 1s on a die with the Eye of Sauron. You will finish those games in a timely manner. On the Topic of D&D in general, with Hasbro's directive to monetize it, and general lack of quality from recent books, I have been leaning on other systems. Tales of the Valiant will be my transition system, but I am really digging a D12 OSR game called Horde Wars right now and am moving more to that. Well. When not supporting Shadowrun (and other Cyberpunk systems).
I understand where you’re coming from, but there’s a cost associated with putting these things out. They don’t do it unless they have a reason and want to know the information they’re asking for. WoTC’s “caring” might not look like you want it to, but they definitely do care.
@@shortreststudiosThey merely want to know how close customers are to the breaking point so that they know how much more they can push before things break. It’s not a question of how close they can get things to what their customers want, it’s how much the customer’s desires will keep them from pushing their current agenda.
This is now the 4th video on this survey and they all tend to connect to each other lol I was about to take the survey but it was closed pretty quick, I took Bob's survey though. I tried to be fair and honest with my answers. From all these videos, the common D&D specific thing being recommended is either the Starter Set or the Essentials Kit and that's what I recommend too.
@@shortreststudios Stormwreck Isle and Icespire Peak (The first starter set seems to be discontinued or ridiculously priced ) are very good at getting you started. Although,they're gradually going up in price as well. I'm tempted to get another copy of the Essentials Kit for my son to have for himself, before the price goes even higher!
The questions sound, to me as a statistician and economist, that a senior exec l wanted to confirm if the public's views aligned with the negative sentiments they were hearing from RUclipsrs. Were RUclipsrs simply piling on or did they have genuine grievances?
I think that like any other company, WotC is going to have ups and downs. Again, like most companies out there, they are just minions and have no choice but to follow the whims of their master. I agree with you that some of their DnD content is lacking or not what I would like in some cases, but at the end of the day, they do not control my games at home. I make adjustments as I see fit, and my friends and I have fun with it. That is the part I feel the survey was lacking. A few questions about how often we have used a campaign module or how often we use homebrew to fill in the gaps or address shortfalls would have helped get perspective.
I hear what you’re saying, but that wasn’t what they were researching. That would have been a different survey. This was obviously to measure general public opinion of the product and the company.
Yep who knows what the marketing teams timeframe or response # etc was suppose to be. Its not WOTC who is the problem its some the Hasbro over WOTC I think is the issue. Its like a temperature between the release of the 50th anniversary product. WHICH should be a big deal. I think the blind boxes for the 50th anniversary miniatures are cool. I'll pick up the latest edition to see how much switched at the end maybe there will be a good nugget to steal for another system. But my group is done with 5e and doubt we will go back. Pathfinder has been a great ride as we see death on the line and the teams actions matter so much more.
If that’s true, they’re seeing the fruits of it. They’re losing money like crazy. But the truth is these books are expensive to produce, and generally only DMs buy books. The vast majority of the people engaging in the hobby don’t spend money on it. I think their quoted strategies suck. Make products people want, don’t monetize things no one is asking for.
I think you’re missing something big about targeting it to people that are closely following them. They’re very much looking to how video games are monetized to see how they can push their own monetization. In that space, and with the sorts of games WotC is looking to emulate, you have incredibly heavily invested customers, that industry insiders refer to as “whales” who spend tens of thousands of dollars, while the rest tend to spend little to nothing. The fact that they only care about what the incredibly invested customers think is already a major red flag about the direction that they’re going to go.
I’m not missing that at all. I’m completely aware of it. But these aren’t the kind of questions you should only be asking people who follow you closely.
No disrespect, but I constantly hear people defend WotC with "they got some great people working there." I'm sure they do, but "the company" in this context is really just the corporate leadership and their decisions. I voted that I hated this company because leadership has made a series of wrong-headed, good-will destroying choices like: "Orcs are racist," the OGL scandal, "white dudes can't leave the hobby fast enough," the Pinkertons scandal, repeatedly lying about AI artwork, and treating the TSR founders like bigots while discussing the 50th anniversary book.
Everything you're saying is true. And in fact, I tried to differentiate between leadership and the rank and file creatives at WoTC. Leadership is the issue.
@@shortreststudios I know that most of the players I used to play against don't play anymore. But, I have no doubt that their cardboard crack is making and will continue to make money for some time. Plus, older and some newer cards will retain secondary market value from TCG and Starcity for a long time. Ie power nine
I switched to Pathfinder years ago and the more D&D/Hasbro flames out the better I feel about my choice.
With the Pathfinder 1st SRD available online for free, I'll probably stick with that edition.
I took Bob’s survey, but never saw WotC survey.
Yeah, by the time I hit the link, it was already gone.
Hey, there's a little problem with the subtitles, several times "D&D" apear in the subtitles as "the indie"
Yep. I’m working on that.
Nah, leave it. It's hilarious! Remi do me of the old translations from anime flicks.
If an organization has to release a survey like this it means things are not going well. You don't have to ask people if they like your company or product if things are going well.
Negative voices can be pretty loud. It’s possible there’s plenty of positive sentiment that doesn’t get voiced. They want to put numbers to it so they have a real measurement of public opinion. But I think their data will be skewed.
That or they just want to be able to say “recent surveys show people love WoTC and DnD!”
So, I also worked for a marketing company that did surveys and taste tests and all that kind of thing. As someone who contacted people to give their feedback on products, I can tell you these sample sizes tend to be smaller than most people think; they don't want the opinion of EVERYONE who currently does or has ever in the past played D&D, that would take FOREVER to get through. They would specify that they want particular demographics -- 18-25 year olds, 26 to 35 year olds, 36 to 45 year olds, and the 46+ year olds -- and only a specific number of respondents in each column. They also want to know things like ethnicity, income levels, and (incredibly enough, even for a game) education levels. Once they have all the demographic slots that they need filled up, the survey would be taken down so they didn't have tons more responses coming in.
So I don't think they were trying to hide anything, they just had a select group of people they wanted to hear from. If you have ever filled out anything from WotC that asks if you'd be willing to test out new products, you'll get an email with a survey.
On the topic of Monopoly, get the Lord of the Rings version, that has The One Ring and replaced one of the 1s on a die with the Eye of Sauron. You will finish those games in a timely manner.
On the Topic of D&D in general, with Hasbro's directive to monetize it, and general lack of quality from recent books, I have been leaning on other systems. Tales of the Valiant will be my transition system, but I am really digging a D12 OSR game called Horde Wars right now and am moving more to that. Well. When not supporting Shadowrun (and other Cyberpunk systems).
I'll have to check out Horde Wars!
@@shortreststudios I hope you do! I am one of the authors. Sent you an email from our business account.
I was able to fill the WOTC survey before it was pulled. I answered it truthfully. Do I think that it matters or that they care? Nope.
I understand where you’re coming from, but there’s a cost associated with putting these things out. They don’t do it unless they have a reason and want to know the information they’re asking for. WoTC’s “caring” might not look like you want it to, but they definitely do care.
@@shortreststudiosThey merely want to know how close customers are to the breaking point so that they know how much more they can push before things break. It’s not a question of how close they can get things to what their customers want, it’s how much the customer’s desires will keep them from pushing their current agenda.
This is now the 4th video on this survey and they all tend to connect to each other lol
I was about to take the survey but it was closed pretty quick, I took Bob's survey though. I tried to be fair and honest with my answers.
From all these videos, the common D&D specific thing being recommended is either the Starter Set or the Essentials Kit and that's what I recommend too.
They just seem to be consistently the best!
@@shortreststudios Stormwreck Isle and Icespire Peak (The first starter set seems to be discontinued or ridiculously priced ) are very good at getting you started.
Although,they're gradually going up in price as well. I'm tempted to get another copy of the Essentials Kit for my son to have for himself, before the price goes even higher!
I didn’t know about the survey until Bob’s video. Not surprising since I don’t follow WoTC on any social media.
The questions sound, to me as a statistician and economist, that a senior exec l wanted to confirm if the public's views aligned with the negative sentiments they were hearing from RUclipsrs. Were RUclipsrs simply piling on or did they have genuine grievances?
I think they know it’s not just RUclipsrs who have the grievances. It’s all over. But yes, that’s exactly what it is.
wotc has peaked and since then it's only fell
I think that like any other company, WotC is going to have ups and downs. Again, like most companies out there, they are just minions and have no choice but to follow the whims of their master. I agree with you that some of their DnD content is lacking or not what I would like in some cases, but at the end of the day, they do not control my games at home. I make adjustments as I see fit, and my friends and I have fun with it. That is the part I feel the survey was lacking. A few questions about how often we have used a campaign module or how often we use homebrew to fill in the gaps or address shortfalls would have helped get perspective.
I hear what you’re saying, but that wasn’t what they were researching. That would have been a different survey. This was obviously to measure general public opinion of the product and the company.
Yep who knows what the marketing teams timeframe or response # etc was suppose to be. Its not WOTC who is the problem its some the Hasbro over WOTC I think is the issue. Its like a temperature between the release of the 50th anniversary product. WHICH should be a big deal. I think the blind boxes for the 50th anniversary miniatures are cool. I'll pick up the latest edition to see how much switched at the end maybe there will be a good nugget to steal for another system. But my group is done with 5e and doubt we will go back. Pathfinder has been a great ride as we see death on the line and the teams actions matter so much more.
I 100% agree that Hasbro is the biggest problem with WoTC.
Hasbro is so money hungry they will price people out of hobbies.
If that’s true, they’re seeing the fruits of it. They’re losing money like crazy. But the truth is these books are expensive to produce, and generally only DMs buy books. The vast majority of the people engaging in the hobby don’t spend money on it. I think their quoted strategies suck. Make products people want, don’t monetize things no one is asking for.
I think you’re missing something big about targeting it to people that are closely following them. They’re very much looking to how video games are monetized to see how they can push their own monetization. In that space, and with the sorts of games WotC is looking to emulate, you have incredibly heavily invested customers, that industry insiders refer to as “whales” who spend tens of thousands of dollars, while the rest tend to spend little to nothing. The fact that they only care about what the incredibly invested customers think is already a major red flag about the direction that they’re going to go.
I’m not missing that at all. I’m completely aware of it. But these aren’t the kind of questions you should only be asking people who follow you closely.
No disrespect, but I constantly hear people defend WotC with "they got some great people working there." I'm sure they do, but "the company" in this context is really just the corporate leadership and their decisions. I voted that I hated this company because leadership has made a series of wrong-headed, good-will destroying choices like: "Orcs are racist," the OGL scandal, "white dudes can't leave the hobby fast enough," the Pinkertons scandal, repeatedly lying about AI artwork, and treating the TSR founders like bigots while discussing the 50th anniversary book.
Everything you're saying is true. And in fact, I tried to differentiate between leadership and the rank and file creatives at WoTC. Leadership is the issue.
MTG has been dying for years. Bloat is unbelievable
Fucking Saddle? Spree? Outlaw? Stupid mechanics that actually raise the bar of entry whilst not even adding entertaining aspects to the game
I mean, I don’t play MTG, but it’s still making them a ton of money.
@@shortreststudios I know that most of the players I used to play against don't play anymore. But, I have no doubt that their cardboard crack is making and will continue to make money for some time. Plus, older and some newer cards will retain secondary market value from TCG and Starcity for a long time. Ie power nine