Like many people who make games, I have a web page. I sell a few games every couple of months. Nothing big. There are a lot of game selling web pages out there. What I like about this is that any little game maker can make his game (copy it at Kinkos as needed i.e. sold!) put it on a web page and be in business (as much as most of us really want to be - which is not much). But as of yet there does not seem to be much organization to any of this on line mess. Sure I have a page, and the thirty other people in the world who know that are happy, but I still feel locked out of the real game business. Right now, all the on line stores are just like mail order businesses. All competing, none of them really stockpiling games. The old distribution system to the game stores seems to be breathing it's last (at least they don't buy many games at a time!) So the internet is a strangely little pond about to experience massive extinction from competition. For-profit guys will undoubtedly eventually organize into a few companies to sell what they've always sold (and to find a way to ignore and abuse game makers). They will not want to put out many games because they need big profits. Gotta sell them Pokemon cards! They will not want to dilute the market with too many games. Which is sad really because the internet could lead to an explosion of game making. HOW AMATEURS CAN UNITE AND SAVE THE WORLD One thing I've always admired about Historical Miniatures Gainers is that we are all amateurs. Sure some people make and sell miniatures but we all know that they do it as a labor of love and don't really make any money at it. We all do this because we love it and unlike the Big Industry guys, we like looking at new stuff. Of course right now the internet is so disorganized that it is hard to find anything except pornography. But it does not have to be that way. Somewhere out there, there is a computer savvy miniatures gamer who wants to do something for the hobby. He just doesn't know what he needs to do. Well here it is! We need someone to set up a game selling web page that can act as a clearing house for all kinds of little game companies. The page would be sort of the Amazon.com of amateur game selling. The page might or might not handle money (a good secure credit card money guy would really help out us little guys who don't do credit cards!) Here is how the page could work: 1. The opening page has a menu that directs you towards you areas of interest. This will prevent the need to surf through tons of boring stuff. 2. Once at interest pages, there will be a list of games and game companies. This would double as a page to connect gamers to small game companies. 3. Gamers could send in reviews and gaming articles about games which people could access (for free? why not!) 4. Gamers could order games from the companies directly or maybe if their was a credit card on the page, the page could take orders and advance them to companies at a cost - sorry this gets into the realm of business and that requires money and responsibility 5. The small game companies (like mine) could then print on demand and thus not have to mortgage the house to make a game! Sure printing in small runs is more expensive but if the game is sold before it is made then a small profit is enough. The big game sellers will tell you that this will not work. It can't be done (and they would prefer you to not try - least it hurt them!) To which I say, fthhhh! Miniatures has never been well served by "big" companies. They did not create the HMGS, MWAN or any of the conventions that we are now so blessed with. Nor did they make most of the miniatures we use. So why should we listen to them? The internet is essentially a free medium. It takes away the cost of printing advertisements, cost of postage, and physical distance. It is the perfect medium for well organized amateurs. I know its a wild idea. This is after all the time that the big dot coms are all killing and eating one another! But this is an idea that would work, could be done now and would move our hobby onto the internet in a way that would assure its continuation well into this century! I'm bullish on gaming! Back to MWAN #112 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com