Gamer's Crack

No no, not what happens when a gamer bends down to pick up his dice.  Well, ok that's gamer's crack too, but I was referring to games that get the average mook to keep buying and buying making sure that even in a small niche market someone is making a buck and a bundle.

Old TSR was the first to come up with a early version of gamer's crack.  The module.  The concept is simple enough.  You sold them the rules, and the supplements, how do you take their money without having to work so hard as to change up the rules or god forbid fix mistakes.  Why just get a map, and 12 pages of stats, and sweeten it with a new monster or magic item and sell it for 12.99.  Oh yes early gamers ate these up.  There was something to the fact that these were OFFICIAL adventures that spoke to the soul of the gamer who longed for official rules and such.

The next was actually a step backwards boldly going forward.  Games Workshop, an outfit from Britain figured it was time to bring back the old minature gaming system.  What they did though was make the most interesting intricate figures for their Warhammer series and then create a "culture of consumption."  Sure I could buy a book and have the stats for say every single Dwarf unit.  But I would be laughed at by my friends if I went to a game and said, "Here now this blue clay is my dwaven blunderbuss unit and these toy green army soldiers are my infantry."  If you don't buy it, you aren't part of the official reality. 

The ultimate though, the nuclear option, was developed by Wizards of the Coast.  Magic, the collectible Trading Card game.  Oh so simple, so harmless.  Wrong.  Take some simple rules, and then randomly stuff cards into a pack and you have a recipe for chaos.  Since the only way to ensure you get the good rare cards means buying deck after deck, the whole Magic scene becomes an arms race of those who have the will and the money to keep buying.  Worse, since they do become collector items, those suckers truly have to buy at least twice over.  One card to play, and one card to keep mint.  It says a lot that Wizards bought out TSR and now do D&D and Magic.

I was an early Magic player and I sold early and still had enough money to buy new furniture.  Someday, a slew of gamers will die of old age and there will be "Magic" millionaires.  I can't wait to read the headlines.