[MUD-Dev] off-line pk

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On Tue, 12 Jun 2001 08:08:21 -0700, "Koster, Raph" <rkoster at verant.com>
wrote:

> There is some fear that games rated M will fail to find sufficient
> market because of the "no M games" policies of retailers such as
> WalMart and Target.

Who the hell *only* shops at Wal-Mart and Target?

I mean, seriously. Let's leave aside the question of why you can't
tweak the game into a T rating, which I honestly don't
understand. Let's concentrate instead on the marketing aspect:

A gamer who is in a position to play M-rated games is not going to
be put off by the fact that a few stores don't sell it.

I don't go to a discount department store for games, because they
don't have a very good selection. Their target market is the family,
not the gamer. They're not selling to me in the first place. They're
selling to the "Deer Hunter" crowd: people who have computers, like
to play games, and don't have the time or the inclination to
*specifically* look for them. In short, the vast majority of regular
people. There's nothing wrong with that.

But the average gamer doesn't go to those stores for games, either.
They'll buy games there, of course, if they want the game and there
it is. But when they say "I want a new game", they're off to EB or
CompUSA.  And those stores won't kick a game off the shelves just
because of a rating, because they know the warning label actually
says "buy me, I'm naughty". Most gamers are (or want to be) rebels,
so "naughty" is a big plus. ;)

The major exception is the younger gamer, the ten to twelve year
old.  Great market, huge potential, but if your game is rated M they
shouldn't be a concern in the first place. Mom or dad will still
drive them to a better game store if they whine enough, anyway.

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