“CSI Games for All!”?; On Promotion

So, Emily Care Boss, author of Breaking the Ice, talks about CSI Games, even though it was prompted by me, asking her if she thinks her newer game(Shooting the Moon) fits, because I think it does. This raises an issue close to my heart, the issue of promotion.

I raised the issue of how Capes is promoted earlier. When I asked Tony about why he promotes the game as a super-hero game instead of putting Conflict in front, his answer(which I can't find...) was(IIRC) that it didn't attract as many asses, and when he talked about the playtest he said that focusing on it as super-hero game got him something to compare it with.

I serve in the army, people often ask me about what my game is about, and what RPGs are in general(It's still the easiest to go from the RPG angle, CCGs and non-family board-games are all but unknown to the public in Israel, unlike Dungeons and Dragons, and if even D&D fails, LotR). When I tell them about the game, I eventually tell them about the Colour, the fluff, the setting, and that is what most people go "Cool!" about. Ron Edwards often says that he cares most about Reward and Colour. Me? I could care less about Colour, I don't care for Capes's Superhero aspect, I believe Werewolf: the Apocalypse high politics and Vampire: the Masquerade hack-and-slash are viable choices.

What this shows us is simple, and even obvious. Not all types of promotion benefit all folks. When I came up with Cranium Rats, the Conflict and Competition quickly took center stage, and the Colour, while I love it, isn't half as important. But if you'd look at ECB's Shooting the Moon love triangle situation, I think the conflict came from the colour and not vice versa, and selling the game as "A game about Competition" rather than "A Game about a love triangle and romance"(though very much the same) would hurt the game, would hurt the promotion, more crowd would be lost than crowd would be gained. <br> I on the other hand talk about Conflict and barely mention Colour, which may not work as well, but I rather do that than "Bait-and-switch"(I think most people who like Capes like it because of the Competitive element, and those who dislike it, dislike it for the same reason, selling it as a superhero game doesn't inform your audience if they'll like it or not. I, like Alexander Cherry, am surprised when the game is brought up in Super-hero game threads, I don't find Super-hero game content in it, though I love it for other stuff it has).

Those of you who do identify your games as "CSI Games", please mention it in the text, if Competition is what you pride yourself on, do so on the first page, put the "CSI Games; a Definition" post in the front of the text. If your game happens to be a CSI Game, but that is not the focus, but yet you identify your game as such, please put a mention somewhere, even if on the book's last page or two. This project is all about creating a support-net for other people who work on CSI Games, but once our games get out there, it'll also help to point people who like the competitive angle to other games who contain that aspect.

JJ Prince, John Kirk, I'm looking at you, this also applies to playtest versions!

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