D&D 4E 4E - Possibilities of Marketing to Baby Boomers?

[Incenjucar]

Generation Y though I may be, it occurs to me that the Baby Boomer generation which is steadily retiring now and in the near future, has more to offer the economy than a massive medical and retirement home boom. This is an extremely large population of individuals who will have a LOT of time to kill, have a massive piece of the economy in their wallets, and who are, overall, a perfect target audience for social media.

While it may be a, er, shorter-term audience, the BB retirees easily have two editions in them, on average, and many will see D&D's 60th and even 70th anniversery, thanks to advances in medicine.

They are also likely to share their hobby with their kids and grandkids, if not use the chance to have some inter-generational adventures. Miniatures could be just as much a draw.

The thing is, most of the modern marketing is targeted to younger audiences. Generation Y and younger. Pre-3E was actually better about this, with plenty of older-looking characters amongst the chainmail bikini brigade. WotC is likely to stick to its usual audiences, at least until Hasbro notices how many toys in Japan are sold to seniors for their own use.

Still, this leaves a possible niche for 3rd party products. Personally, I'm generation Y, and I come from your standard conservative "Devil books!" family, so I'm not going to be able to talk them into it, but there's still plenty of more liberally-minded retiring baby boomers out there.

So. I dunno. What are the possibilities of 4E, with its less-tedious playstyle and more-coordinated production, being sold not only to the latest generations, but the older ones as well? How could products be designed to appeal to the kids of the 50s?

 

[takasi]

"D&D: For when you inherit your parents' basement."

Or how about:

"D&D: For when you're too old to be cool."

Or:

"D&D: For when you lose your hand-to-eye coordination."

Or:

"D&D: For when you want to play someone who's 100 and doesn't look a day over 20."

 

[Dayen]

My dad plays video games and browses the internets for NFL highlight films.

I'm not sure if D&D would appeal to him -- we did get him to play as Russia once for an Axis & Allies game -- because I'm not sure he's into the whole "sit and socialize over a game" thing. Most of the time for him it's poker or Trivial Pursuit.

 

[GishBandit]

Howdy folks, I have seen quite a few of the baby boomers play the game. They have on underlying common denominator though. They have been into RPG hobbies since the sixties or seventies. Not just DnD, but participating in joust tournaments and the like, stuff with a renaissance theme to it. This is an alien world and to get someone who is totally out of the culture of RPG gaming would be hard to do.

There is no winning in the game. You could try to advertise the game as a team effort to overcome challenges. You may say a medieval world setting where you sit down and work as a team to overcome obstacles the referee or, Dungeon Master, has set before you. Try to stay away from using dragon dice or you could be a fighter or wizard in your tone to the public. The appealing theme in the advertisement could be a social game that you work as a team to surpass challenges set by a referee, or Dungeon Master.

 

[Rob Toth]

I know at least one game that's already making a shameless plea for boomer attention. It'll let you keep hating Nixon for decades!

Seriously, I agree with GishBandit's post: You're likely to do better snagging people who have already been into gaming in one form or another. Newcomers would be a much tougher sell.

Take care,
Rob

 

[WitheringSolid]

I just looked up that link. All I can say is, as someone who grew up in the 70's: Get out that lesuire suit, crank up that funky disco music and BOOOOGGGIIIEEEEEE!