To me it is entertaining to see what the opinions of the general market are (that is you guys) vs. the opinions of the marketing people (ie: me.) Sometimes they are the same and sometimes they are very polar and very rarely black and white.Anyway, much like a weird sociology project I don't want to interject too much "know-how" into this thread because I like seeing free-flowing creativity and opinion. If I say something is true it will affect people's posts. However, I also don't want to give the wrong impression about understanding the market place. So, I saw a trend in posting that may create a false belief, and here it is:
With regards to the young audience member: There has been a major shift in demographics from "when I was a kid" to the current market place. Always remember that the market is very dynamic and can change greatly over time, even over short periods of time. The days of "dad purchased this Axis and Allies game, lets try it out" are gone. The invention of "easier" forms of entertainment, coupled with the proliferation of information and technical knowledge have changed the teenager consumer. They are becoming less reliant on parents and trend towards performing research on items before purchase. This is best explained by understanding what type of good computer games and war games are. To an adult 50 - 100 dollars is a fair purchase but nothing bank-breaking. To a teenager a purchase of 50 - 100 dollars can be almost considered a "durable" item. This means teens would trend to doing competitive analysis and deep thinking before dropping the c-note on a game. (This does not apply when asking a parent for a game).
Sadly this means that the allure of war-games as "WE" (and I say we with quotes because technically I am too young to be generalized with the majority of the posters) knew that is gone. The market, however, is still there. Here's the reality: If you want to target the young audience you have to do it in the right way at the right time. The right way is HeroClix, a game designed to be the SIMPLIST of wargames, but absolutely and unequivocably a wargame by design. The fact is this game and games like it are going to be a very big help in the future of war-gaming. These HeroClix players are the future wargamers, as they tire of a simple game and want to move to something with a few more tactics and some more realism they will hopefully seek out war-games on a slightly higher level.
The market has changed, we can no longer specifically target the teen. It is too expensive and too risky. We can now leave that in the hands of other companies, and when the time comes for their fans to "Graduate" they will be ready for a better war-game, with a credit card in hand and no inhibitions about spending 50 - 100 dollars to satiate their growing strategy needs.
The underlying theme here is that kids can find "easier" amusement than learning the rules to even a SIMPLE wargame (such as Lock and Load). I know there are plenty of exceptions and I welcome everyone age 1 to 100, but anyone under 16 and a "true" war-gamer is the exception, not the rule. Personally I know of 1 person who is 14 and plays actual wargames with his dad. I know of zero people under the age of 18 that play WITHOUT a parent. I also know dozens of heroclix players under 18 who play independent of their parents.
So, there you have it. Markets change. The cost of acquiring the teen audience becomes prohibitively expensive on large scales, but we try to offer as much incentive as possible for young gamers to bug their parents to buy games online
.-Joe
PS: I doubt anyone who reads this finds it even remotely as fascinating as I do. History repeats its self, in marketing, it usually does it with 50% more pizzaz and in very abstract ways.
