Saturday, January 11, 2014

On Audience

Vincent Baker, designer of the revolutionary tabletop RPG Apocalypse World, in answer to a question about prioritizing building audience as a goal in itself, distinct from making money on the one hand, and personal satisfaction in making a game on the other:

I'm playing a long game. In almost every case, a conversation is worth more to me in the long run than a sale. A fan is worth far more to me than a customer; a colleague is worth far more to me than a fan.

I like this a lot.

He achieves it, too. It's hard to read the rules for Apocalypse World and not succumb to the temptation to begin writing your own game.