This month’s RPG Blog Carnival is concerned with Growing the Hobby. I had originally pegged the topic to be Disconnected Gamers but decided that it was too narrow of a topic and really part of a bigger discussion.

I think this carnival is especially appropriate with some recent articles[1][2] and discussions[3][4] about toxic fans and target audiences making some ripples on the web.

While, I don’t think the hobby is disappearing, by any means, I don’t see it expanding by leaps & bounds either. I’d personally like to see it grow, and I would like to hear what the RPG Blogosphere has to say.

Growing the Hobby is a pretty broad topic and it can be approached from the community/gamer or industry/publishing perspectives. I have a few questions that might help spark discussion:

How would you like to see the hobby grow?

How can the community or publishers help grow the hobby?

What are you doing to advance the hobby?

What is hindering the growth of the hobby?

Is technology a key component of growing the hobby?

Is the hobby fine the way it is?

What are some pitfalls in trying to grow the hobby?

I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s contributions.

The wrap-up can be read here.

Listening to: Kingdom of Sorrow – Behind the Blackest Tears – Enlightened to Extinction

REFERENCES



[1] Why You Can’t Have Nice Things – Mob United

[2] Killing Demand – Neogrognard

[3] Companies Staying Away from RPG Gamers – EN World

[4] Companies Staying Away from RPG Gamers – The RPG Site