Market for TBG. How long will it last?

[Script47]

So today I was reading over some old thread (which were created around 2/3 years ago), and was seeing how active the community was then and how new developers were coming. Now since console gaming and PC gaming has improved, the text based gaming market has lost a lot of interest. So I was wondering how long do you guys think that text based games will last? Clearly the amount of people playing them has decreased a lot. Do you think eventually there will be a time where people will drop it completely and just make sites for eCommerce or social networking and not gaming? I just thought this would be an interesting topic to talk about.

Personally I feel that the TBG market is shrinking, and to succeed, you have to invest so much in to a game to make it unique and worthwhile otherwise you won't get players. From what I've seen most owners don't want to invest that time or effort. They feel that the game will be a big hit without any work on it, so in its default state. They will release the game and then will just wait for players to roll in, which won't happen. Preparations have to be made to release a game, so you have to check security flaws, make sure the game cannot be exploited, you need to make sure the game has the right balance, for example if it's so easy to reach a very high level what do players do then? If they don't have things to do, they will obviously stop playing. You always have to be adding new features, maintaining existing features ensuring they work as intended. I also think that having so many bad experiences has people from playing TBG, so people paying money and not receiving in-game items, or the constant erasing of players data so they have to start again. This does not only affect players, but developers too. Obviously the above is my opinion and I could go on all day, but this is what I think.

Edited March 30, 2014 by Script47

[microsocket]

People will always play a GOOD TBG.

Interest declines but when it works well and a you get a decent community they still do well and flourish.

I have a few games and one that I opened appx 6 months ago has , to date, generated : Total donations to date : $78,646

So if you get it right , run it cleanly and are 100% impartial to all then I think TBG's are still are very viable source of income.

[Script47]

People will always play a GOOD TBG.

Interest declines but when it works well and a you get a decent community they still do well and flourish.

I have a few games and one that I opened appx 6 months ago has , to date, generated : Total donations to date : $78,646

So if you get it right , run it cleanly and are 100% impartial to all then I think TBG's are still are very viable source of income.

Out of curiosity, do you have a day job or do just run the games and that is the source of your main income? As things like these are interesting as some people try hard yet they can't have that break in their game and others, it just comes naturally.

[microsocket]

Yes the only `coding` for money I do these days is the games.

Its not my only source of income so to speak though as I have a retail outlet.

[Script47]

That is an insane amount of money for 6 months only, I'm English and I thought I would convert to GBP and it's £47249.02 which is crazy money for 6 months! :confused:

[Infamous DPK]

The way I view it still playing these games is that people are now moving to consoles or pc gaming. The generation that grew up with these games is also aging and so in turn the numbers playing are dying out.

Possibly the biggest thing I've seen is the people who play( a few spend good sums of money ) and then in a few months they leave along with most of the player base.

[microsocket]

That is an insane amount of money for 6 months only, I'm English and I thought I would convert to GBP and it's £47249.02 which is crazy money for 6 months! :confused:

Not insane at all , all it takes is a good clean game , decent site admin and staff and listening to your playerbase.

You WILL reap what you sow.

[Zettieee]

I've got a gaming PC and still play games from before I was even born.

Aslong as the game is good, people will play.

[Dominion]

I haven't found less people playing simply a more saturated market. If it's a good site, you get the right exposure, and have that june se qua you can do well.