The Best Way to Move Forward for Table Top Gaming

[Tibertus]

Digitize! I'm sure you've guys have thought of it already, but I thought I'd state it myself. The four biggest reasons I've never gotten into table top gaming is that I don't have the space for even a small army of miniatures, I don't have the time to paint them, I don't want to spend the money on something that only six other people in my region play, and frankly, I don't want any girl I'm trying to stick my penis in happen to see a bunch of miniatures. I'm sure there's thousands of other people that sympathize with at least two of those points.

So what should a company like Games Workshop do? Release games based on the actual rules and armies of their series. I feel they could easily get away with a lot of money grabbing techniques. First they could easily charge sixty dollars for a computer game that would include an account with an online battle service, this account would keep track of all the units and armies you owned and allow you to play online against other players, this product could also include a single player campaign, a few units from the army of your choice to get you started, a map builder, a unit painter/customizer and of course the army book. They could then easily keep money flowing in by only allowing people to buy additional "digital units" online at their store. These additional units would be nothing but profit, aside from the slight overhead of having the website up and running. Hell, they could even get away with charging monthly fees if they wanted. Though, I myself would probably lose interest if they did that.

Anyways, Games Workshops current business model makes no sense to me when I think they could easily make so much more money and increase their customer base by so much using a system like this.

 

[Archonsod]

It may not make sense to you, but given they annually report better financials than most computer game publishers, I reckon they're doing something right.

 

[Elisianthus]

Rich blokes in cities with plenty of free time see to that.

EDIT: And whilst not strictly for tabletop gaming, I find painting miniatures (usually DnD or WW2 based) rather therapeutic.

 

[Tibertus]

Oh well, it just seems no one anywhere I've ever lived has been into table top gaming of any kind. I like the idea of it, but the fact that if I bought the stuff and had no one to play with, I'd feel pretty cheated out of my money. For instance, there's only one gaming store in Albuquerque that I know of, and it's barely making ends meet.

As far as them making more money than video games, of course that'd be the case. Most video games are a one time buy type deal. My plan would allow for players to continue to buy new units for their account after their initial purchase, to augment their armies. Hell, I can't even see piracy being a big deal, since any use for the product would require registration through GW's website.

 

[jasonxfri13th]

The main part with table top gaming is that you create the characters yourself, which takes lots of skill and time.
Any 9 year old kid could have some massive 40k army that looks perfect online.

BTW, games workshop makes tons of money because of accessories/paint and you simply need lots of miniatures.

Just when I needed to get a bunch of new paint I had to pay $80. Not to mention and average squad is about $30-40, and the good modelers will buy multiple units just to use one or two parts for a single unit.

But unfortunately I always get impatient after painting one squad so I end up buying new stuff, painting one squad, and then setting it down for a year.

 

[Sir Prince]

The Empire Steam Tank alone is $69.25!

I do wish there were more Warhammer (both fantasy and 40k) PC games.

EDIT: I quite liked Mordheim, I played it once with a friend and some other guy from school several years ago. I wish there was a game like it.