Re: Marketing, was Re: Can I make money by writing IF?


Wed, 29 Nov 1995 03:11:03 GMT

cctr120@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz (Brendon Wyber) wrote:

>Howdy,

>james reese (jreese@leland.Stanford.EDU) wrote:
>: The only reason I can see for further IF being produced is a
>: love of the genre and a tremendous desire to produce a game of one's
>: own. However, without sufficient compensation (monetary and otherwise),
>: this will soon die out too.

I disagree. Love of the genre is obviously the primary driving force
behind producing these games. The financial aspect, or lack thereof
(which better suits the subject) is at least frustrating to most IF
authors (shareware - not freeware). A good case in point are the two
Dave's over at Adventions. Between them they have produced some of
the finest games in recent years, on a par with and often better than
anything Infocom ever gave us, and from a recent thread on this group
it is quite evident that they are making no money at all (which is a
damn shame, though I am guilty of not registering their games). This
doesn't seem to deter them in the slightest. I don't think anyone
really expects to be compensated anymore. Rather they would LIKE to
be compensated.

>I agree, self gratification really is the only rewards for IF now. Money
>is out of the question. There are too many good "free" games out there.
>It's neat to get feed-back about your game. I get a big kick seeing THEATRE
>in the top 40 download charts. Thanks guys for voting for it.

It's even neater to get money AND good feedback, but I fear the golden
days of the early 80's (where I made several thousand pounds for my
efforts) are gone, so we will have to make do with the "legions of
slathering female groupies" as Dave Leary so eloquently put it.

>: I wrote VERITAS for the love of producing my own piece of IF; with so little
>: feedback, and certainly no significant financial recompense, I have given up
>: on a sequel, and have decided to channel my efforts into something that
>: might be more worthwhile.
>: It's an unfortunate state of affairs, but nonetheless reality as I see
>: it.

I enjoyed VERITAS. I don't think the feedback should matter. If you
are an IF author and have a tale to tell, then tell it and let the
begrudgers be damned.

"Elvis people are nicer people than the people who laugh at Elvis People."
David Thomas - "Media Priests Of The Big Lie"