Announcement From Hero Games

[Plucky]

I have nothing productive to say but want to be generally supportive, so I'll say that I've been avoiding the expensive character packs because I simply couldn't quite get myself to pay "twice" for the same book. However, I will do that to support the company.

Plucky

[Steve Long]

Would HERO Games consider setting up an option for board users to set up standing orders by Product line and also Preorders?

Hmmm. I'll have to discuss the possibilities of the former with Ben and Darren. I think all of us here are in agreement that we'd rather not take preorders (take money for them, that is) because of the legal obligations involved with that -- DH subscriptions are about as far down that road as we want to go.

[Boll Weevil]

Well, I tried. Again. I hit "checkout" and waited 20 minutes. Sorry, guys but it's quicker to buy from my FLGS.

[Steve Long]

Are there any strong theories as to why the RPG industry has hit this downturn? A rash of computer games? Gamer geeks losing money cause their jobs went to India? What are the reasons for this dry spell, and is there hope on the horizon for the industry?

No, there aren't. One of the difficult things about this industry is that there's no real way to gather solid marketing data that would provide a reasonable basis for coming up with "real reasons" for something like this. Some of the various theories I've heard include:

1. The economy is poor (or, perhaps more accurately, is perceived as being poor). Normally games do comparatively well in poor economic times, but if a lot of gamers have lost their jobs, or fear losing their jobs, they stop buying and start saving.

2. There is too much product out there (not from us, necessarily, but in general), and since there's only so much gaming money to go around, that means most of us in the industry get a smaller slice of the pie.

3. Other forms of entertainment, such as computer games, have siphoned off some people who used to buy RPGs.

But there are holes in all those theories, and perhaps there are other reasons that aren't so readily perceived. I've heard some people voice the opinion that we're just on the downside of a cycle, and that things will rebound.

My personal opinion (and by that I mean, mine, not the company's necessarily) is that this isn't cyclical. There won't be any sort of upswing, or it won't be that significant. Gaming is a niche hobby, will always remain a niche hobby, will never achieve significantly greater popularity and sales than there've been for the past two or three years (unless some things that I don't think are likely to happen, happen, like a massive ad campaign promoting gaming). I think a lot of the gaming industry's problems are self-inflicted ones brought about by the fact that we want/dream/hope that we are/will be a popular form of mass entertainment. If we acted more like the niche publishers we are, we'd have fewer economic troubles -- or at least no worse ones.

But I could be wrong about all that, too. As I said, there's no real good way to gather solid data.

[Mark Taylor]

As I've said before I'd be a lot more inclined to buy from the online store if you accepted PayPal. I suspect a lot of UK customers may feel the same way, because Switch is such a universal means of payment here many people in the UK do not bother to have credit cards. In my case, the ability to purchase items from HERO Games' store is quite literally my only incentive to get a credit card and pay the fees etc. that go along with it. It's not that attractive a proposition, especially right now with the credit card industry in the UK coming under fire for their business practices. Given that you are (understandably) asking your customers for help, I don't think it is too much to ask that you make it a little easier for them by accepting what is now a very popular and convenient method of payment among internet users worldwide.

To be honest, I'm also little torn between loyalty to HERO Games (who are a great company and produce great products) and loyalty to my FLGS owner (who runs a great store and is also a personal friend). I've always tried to avoid buying my gaming products anywhere else if at all possible, because I believe he runs a good business for comparatively little reward and it's worth supporting. I can't see myself changing this policy when it comes to buying books. However I am willing to go out of my way to buy more electronic products such as Character Packs, PDFs and Digital HERO Subscriptions direct from HERO Games. If you won't consider accepting PayPal, I will even consider applying for a credit card purely so that I can do so.

[rjcurrie]

Overall, there's no real incentive in the above from my perspective. If I didn't have a FLGS who's been very good to me, I'd likely switch my purchases to the online store. However, your announcement catches me with conflicting loyalties between Hero and my FLGS owner.

Thanks, Hugh, you saved me the effort of posting something very similar. I see little benefit for Canadians (and likely other international customers) switching to purchasing from the online store. My experience here is that the Canadian price is almost always less than exchange rate equivalent of the American price. Add shipping costs and the possibility of duty/GST (it seems random at times which parcels get dinged) and you're to end up paying a lot more for your books. I'll still buy books at conventions when I'm there if I haven't grabbed them locally, but I can't see myself going out of my way to order books from the online store for a higher cost and more inconvenience.

On the other hand, PDFs and such I may buy.

Rod

[Vanguard00]

Well, I tried. Again. I hit "checkout" and waited 20 minutes. Sorry, guys but it's quicker to buy from my FLGS.

What?! It took longer than 20 minutes to get your books?! Well, frak on dat!

[Wanderer]

Well, in the last year I've been steadily increasing my Hero buyings, that presently are the vast majority of my RPG purchases. I've bought almost all Champions books (except StST), Fantasy Hero & both Grimoires, all general Hero stuff (except the Bestiary), Ninja Hero & Dark Champions.

While I cannot bring myself to committ to buy sourcebooks on subjects that have no interest whatsoever (Pulp Hero & Horror Hero), I can consider enlarging my buyings to series that may have marginal usefulness to my main interest (Champions), i.e. some Fantasy, Star and Dark Champions stuff.

However, I've been buying Hero stuff so far in this way (I'm from Italy): books I want to get in a few days I order online from a UK game store (reasonable shipping charges, and arrival in 2-5 days), stuff I am marginally interested in I take from ebay (since Amazon daos not offer Hero stuff).

Now, since with the untimely death of WoD a very sizable percentage of my previous RPG expenses have disappeared, I can surely withstand a little increase in Hero stuff expenses, if this can help Hero games stay viable.

As regards shunting my expenses to Online Store, I may do this, provided shipping expenses and times are reasonable for an European customer.

So I need to know: what are the shipping costs for shipping methods to Europe (Italy) that ensure a) arrival within 1-2 weeks, 3 at the very, very least (for stuff I wish to get quickly) b) within 6-8 weeks (for the completist stuff), provided that no courier (UPS, etc.) methods are used (for various reasons, courier shippings cause me unbearable losses of money and time, I can only use mail service). provided Online Store shipping satisfies these issues, I can certainly switch my considerable Hero buyings to it (Hell, I've just bought 4 items on ebay: replacement copy for 5edR lost in shipping, Star Hero, ultimate mystic, vibora bay these last few days).

Someone please answer these points, I'd be most eager to help HG stay strong and viable.

[Super Squirrel]

OOOOOHHHHH!

Setup a layaway plan. I bet you that my wife would let me give you guys like $3.00 a month or week and then once I get enough to buy a book, I place the order. Call them Hero Bucks or something.

[Boll Weevil]

What?! It took longer than 20 minutes to get your books?! Well, frak on dat!

I went to the Online Store immediately after reading this announcement. I made my selection and went to checkout.Twenty minutes after I hit "checkout", nothing had happened. I tried again an hour later. Same thing. I'm sorry, Vanguard, if that sounds impatient to you but in a thread asking for Online Store business, I thought it worth mentioning that I was unable to checkout.

My apologies in advance if your post was in jest, irony is lost in print

[Vanguard00]

I went to the Online Store immediately after reading this announcement. I made my selection and went to checkout.Twenty minutes after I hit "checkout", nothing had happened. I tried again an hour later. Same thing. I'm sorry, Vanguard, if that sounds impatient to you but in a thread asking for Online Store business, I thought it worth mentioning that I was unable to checkout.

My apologies in advance if your post was in jest, irony is lost in print

Heh...yeah, it was in jest. Your original post made it sound like you paid for the books and after 20 minutes hadn't physically received them yet.

Friggin' print always screws up my sarcasm

Hope you get the checkout issue cleared up, BW.

[Darren Watts]

Alas, Ben is out of the office today due to oral surgery and can't respond immediately to any store checkout problems, but he'll be back to deal with any problems first thing Monday morning. Sorry for any delay- I'm not aware of any problems with the store currently, but I'm not savvy enough to handle any specific issues myself. dw

[Vanguard00]

Alas, Ben is out of the office today due to oral surgery

There's a joke there.

[Ben Seeman]

I went to the Online Store immediately after reading this announcement. I made my selection and went to checkout.Twenty minutes after I hit "checkout", nothing had happened. I tried again an hour later. Same thing. I'm sorry, Vanguard, if that sounds impatient to you but in a thread asking for Online Store business, I thought it worth mentioning that I was unable to checkout.

My apologies in advance if your post was in jest, irony is lost in print

Try using a differnt computer or browser to make your purchase. Or check your cookie or firewwall settings. We get this complaint from one in a bout 1000 people so it has to be something on the client side.

I wish I could be more help but everytime the problem has come up it has never been resolved.

[Koshka]

I went to the Online Store immediately after reading this announcement. I made my selection and went to checkout.Twenty minutes after I hit "checkout", nothing had happened. I tried again an hour later. Same thing. I'm sorry, Vanguard, if that sounds impatient to you but in a thread asking for Online Store business, I thought it worth mentioning that I was unable to checkout.

Boll Weevil, may I ask what your browser's Java settings are? My primary browser is set to only allow javascript from designated sites, and I've had troubles ordering from several online stores as a result. No problems at the Hero store, but then herogames.com is one of my designated safe domains.

Normally what I do if I suspect that's why an order locked up is pull up my backup browser (which does not have the security cranked all the way up) and try reordering. So far that's always done the trick -- and no, I haven't been billed twice for anything.