Dying of Exposure - When an Industry Expects Free Labor

I've seen quite often where a big company has put...

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Many years ago I was reading an article about the board game industry, and how it, as a rule, pays very poorly. There was a quote from a famous board game designer, and I wish I could remember who it was.

Anyway, they said "People can absolutely get rich in the board game industry. I've met both of them!"

It is an interesting conundrum. This is called a "hobby" for a reason. How many board games, RPGs, etc are made by retired folks essentially for fun or as a passion project? This that the standard or the exception? Certainly there are spaces where this hobby can exist at a corporate level with HR departments, marketing budgets, art departments, etc but alot of the game companies I'm aware of (pre-asmodee acquisition madness perhaps) are solo or family ops with maybe a few semi-paid employees that do rely on contract or freelance work to get anything done.

This is a problem for paying ancillary folks like artists, editors, and even game designers. It's also a problem because the audience starts expecting ALL board game companies to act like the big ones in terms of production value, catering to critics and reviewers, and broad audience appeal when in fact a garage based game dev might be ecstatic over 500 game sales of a hand cut cardstock game and be happy with just a narrow appeal to just those couple hundred people because their motivation is the love of that project, not a plan for world domination driven by stockholders.

It's tough. One the one hand its probably pretty cool knowing your 500 words are read by SOMEONE, just a few years back that alone would have required printing services, an editor as gatekeeper, and limited distribution bandwidth. But of course the problem now is that there is always SOMEONE ELSE to write/blog/stream an opinion, thus the audience can just move on if they don't like what they see. There is a sort of supply glut due to the low bar to entry, not so much a demand problem.

Just know you'll drink for free should we cross paths at a game con

Until recently this has been an industry where it was a relatively simple thing to get on a first-name basis with the people that publish games. I've developed a personal relationship with several designers and two publishers just from attending an occasional convention, one of which is quite small and near my house.

So at times I've edited materials, at no charge, because I didn't want the person I knew to put out B- material. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses after all. I didn't look at it as Exposure, just a favor to a friend.

And until recently, say 15 years ago, I think the industry was small and chummy enough that that kind of work happened all the time. Translations, rules reviews, playtesting, etc, were all something you did for the community.

With one publisher now dominant, how does one handle that? Your buddy Kevin is publishing his super-good worker placement title that's sure to change the industry through them. But he can't write a complete sentence to save his life. Do you leave it to Big Corp LLC to take care of it? Or do you help a buddy out?

Its not just the industry, its the customers expecting free/cheap labor as well. Most customers have no idea how much part time/free work go into producing a game. Yet they'll bitch loud and long about prices or errors in games that are put together by poorly paid or free people working to put something out. Very few designers can afford to do it full time for a living, and for every one that does there are hordes that do it in their spare time. And unless you happen to design the next TWILIGHT STRUGGLE or MAGIC, the financial "rewards" for designing aren't that big. Even well known/respected designers are usually paid peanuts when you divide the pay by the hours put into a project. Developers ( when they are even utilized ) are even worse off - they usually get paid a flat fee vs any sort of royalty; if it paid closer to the worth a good developer is worth there might be more willing to what is largely an invisible and thankless job.

I had no delusions about getting rich off my single published game, but my co-designer and I were still disappointed. We were offered the choice of a flat sum of $300 each or a royalty. We both took the flat sum, and that was the right decision because there was no second printing after the smallish first run sold out. And the retail price was only $14.99. We also got 3 free copies each of our game. I gave one to my parents, one to my girlfriend, and kept one for myself.

Shellhead wrote: I had no delusions about getting rich off my single published game, but my co-designer and I were still disappointed. We were offered the choice of a flat sum of $300 each or a royalty. We both took the flat sum, and that was the right decision because there was no second printing after the smallish first run sold out. And the retail price was only $14.99. We also got 3 free copies each of our game. I gave one to my parents, one to my girlfriend, and kept one for myself.

The best part is seeing someone make a video about your game and get paid more than you did for making it.

Not specific to gaming, but the r/ChoosingBeggars sub-reddit has tons of stories of people asking for free work (art, websites, etc.) in exchange for “exposure.” It’s crazy how many people think that is okay.

I have no regrets. My co-designer and I did our game for fun and bragging rights. Just last month, I showed it off to a new friend who was looking at my game collection.

Is it really the case that an artist (for example) would pick up new clients by getting their artwork on a MTG card? I don't get it. Certainly a portfolio would provide example of the quality of their artwork?

I'm skeptical that would make a difference in getting future work. The only thing you could demonstrate by working with someone is a volume of work, not a quality of work.

You absolutely get another level of clients by being published on a Magic card. At that point it is essentially assumed that WoTC has vetted your portfolio and you can just put Magic: The Gathering 'whatever card/edition' as a reference.

To paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson, “The board game business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

Shellhead wrote: I had no delusions about getting rich off my single published game, but my co-designer and I were still disappointed. We were offered the choice of a flat sum of $300 each or a royalty. We both took the flat sum, and that was the right decision because there was no second printing after the smallish first run sold out. And the retail price was only $14.99. We also got 3 free copies each of our game. I gave one to my parents, one to my girlfriend, and kept one for myself.

What was the name of your game man? I'd be keen to check it out.

Andi Lennon wrote:

Shellhead wrote: I had no delusions about getting rich off my single published game, but my co-designer and I were still disappointed. We were offered the choice of a flat sum of $300 each or a royalty. We both took the flat sum, and that was the right decision because there was no second printing after the smallish first run sold out. And the retail price was only $14.99. We also got 3 free copies each of our game. I gave one to my parents, one to my girlfriend, and kept one for myself.

What was the name of your game man? I'd be keen to check it out.

Vampire: Dark Influences