The Case For Counters / Against Print-and-Play

[Shad]

War on the Equator
Released: 2009-08
Format: DIY PDF
Total plays from release to 2012-04: 21
Total players: 5

War on the Equator (part deux)
Released: 2012-05
Format: Laser-cut
Total plays from 2012-05 to present: 11
Total players: 10

And that, my friends, is the sound of PG-HQ banging the last nail into the DIY PG coffin. Despite being released nearly 3 years ago, fully one third of War on the Equator's total plays recorded at PG-HQ have come in only the last 2 months after the module was re-released with laser-cut counters.

The active player count, while still modest, has doubled.

Sadly, we do not track the time at which a player adds a game to their collection, so I cannot say how many people have added WotE post-laser cut release, but the above data should be enough.

If you laser-cut it, people will play it!

Does it matter to AP whether or not people actually play their games? or are they just interested in the quick buck and creamy smooth margins that a digital download provides? Time will tell...

[tanzerleader]

in a perfect world all of those little obscure modules would be laser cut from the start. but could you imagine the risk they would take in doing this at the start? it would cost them an immense amount of money and provide possibly no return. i reckon do the print and play first if its a module you arent so sure about, dip your toe in the water. if the feedback is good then print it. those of us who loved the download would buy a hard copy. for example if edelweiss went back into print i would buy it even though i have the download.

[Matt W]

I have plenty of counters to "make" and have yet to make a single one. I went ahead and bought WotE because the likelihood of me ever getting around to making them is so low and my skill so poor that I will now guarantee that any such products that replace the DIY with real counters will be purchased, regardless of whether I have the digital download or not.

I see the real advantage of the downloads for scenario packs without counters. That reduces the cost to AP of producing the books and still gives us the product we are looking for.

[plloyd1010]

I can see a case for counters or P-n-P. I personally would rather get P-n-P. I have no problem editing PDF files, and dumb mistakes bug me. P-n-P games let me fix such errors. Sometimes I just like a new counter, again hard to do with cut counters. I wish both were offered. The download doesn't cost AP much, if anything beyond design costs.

[Hugmenot]

War on the Equator was the first supplement to include laser-cut counters so I am not certain the situation is as clear-cut as Shad states it. Maybe the novelty factor was the main factor fans bought and played the supplement.

Nevertheless, I hope supplements with laser counters are the way of the future if it's economically viable for Avalanche Press to print them in limited quantities, say in runs of 50 or 100 sheets. The convenience to me is well worth the extra dollars.

[beast013]

As my skills in cutting and pasting (outside of Word of course) are poor at best, the only digital downloads I have purchased thus far are the ones without counters. If all current digital downloads were made available due to the laser cut dounters, I would purchase a number of them.

[larry marak]

A second PnP is schedualed for the laser treatment in the near future (not PG though). So it seems the experiment is continuing.

[JayTownsend]

I wonder if AP Mike ever visits this site? Maybe he has no time anyway.

[Shad]

I wonder if AP Mike ever visits this site? Maybe he has no time anyway.

Before I launched the forums I emailed him directly about it, inviting him/AP to participate. He did not reply.

I suspect he drops in as a guest from time to time but I am not expecting him/AP to ever participate formally. They can't control the discussion here or on BGG (where they are also inactive) like they can on CSW via moderator's tools.

That arrangement doesn't scare off some publishers (Adam Starkweather / MMP for example) but AP has never shown interest in setting foot outside their own digital backyard.

[JayTownsend]

I just want AP to print the rest of the PG download games into laser counter games!