Author Topic: The Future of Redemption? (Read 12785 times)

lp670sv · « **Reply #25 on:** January 17, 2013, 06:59:27 PM »

Quote from: Red on January 17, 2013, 06:58:01 PM

Just Saiyan

Warrior_Monk · « **Reply #26 on:** January 17, 2013, 07:02:03 PM »

I don't think the game is completely dead, but it's certainly been on the decline since 2007-2008.

Significantly smaller number of tournaments. Some compensated by the fact that people don't like to post them.
Significantly smaller number of players at nationals.
Significant financial difficulties delaying a set 9 months.

I think more playgroups are disappearing than forming. Austin MN is gone. SomeKittens' playgroup is gone. Pretty sure Schaef's playgroup is gone. Marti's playgroup is gone. Not sure about Bryon's or the DeLaRosa's. The NW disappeared awhile ago. Is Craig's group still around? I know the Kansas City playgroup was touched by the Nats Kiss of Death.

Not trying to complain, just trying to face the facts. I love Redemption and will be with it til death due us part. Or at least until I get a life. It's got nothing to do with the metagame or the elders or Rob or the community. Just where I see Redemption heading right now, unless something changes. Maybe starter decks will be enough to do that change, maybe not.

Master KChief · « **Reply #27 on:** January 17, 2013, 07:30:25 PM »

Quote from: Westy on January 17, 2013, 07:02:03 PM

I know the Kansas City playgroup was touched by the Nats Kiss of Death.

QFT.

I'm sure we all remember when Kansas City used to be one of the biggest playgroups in the country (twice).

Game has for sure been slowly dying. I like to blame it started when we let the art director design an entire set.

The game definitely needs some kind of relaunch, everything feels so outdated.

joel_f · « **Reply #28 on:** January 19, 2013, 02:12:23 PM »

New starter decks and sets will certainly help revitalize existing players (as will booster drafts), but to get new players people will have to expose the game in various ways. If you have game shops near you that allow players to play at the shop this is a great way to gain exposure to the game. My wife and I decided we'd go to the local coffee shop (which is pretty much the central social hub of our small town) and play a game there every now and then, which definietly attracts attention. We also posted an ad at a local shop for interest in a playgroup. We'll probably put a similar ad in the Church bulletin and a community website as well. Just casting a wide net and waiting to see the kind of catch Our Lord has prepared.

YourMathTeacher · « **Reply #29 on:** January 19, 2013, 02:30:29 PM »

With the Message Board being down as long as it was, I was about to suggest giving Red the identifier of "Prophet."

The Guardian · « **Reply #30 on:** January 19, 2013, 02:55:20 PM »

Hey, I'm back...that's gotta count for something

CactusRob · « **Reply #31 on:** January 19, 2013, 06:55:42 PM »

4th Edition starters (plus a card pack for RoA # 26 and promo cards) should go to printer soon. Overall Cactus is doing well. It's first by God's grace and then thanks to Cranium, Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Taboo and the toy line. I still care about Redemption and have not given up. Even so, it only represents 5% of our sales these days. Therefore, I have to be careful not to let it take too much of my time. We will hope for and work toward the new starters making it easier for new players to enter the game and see what happens. I still get calls or e-mails from parents who have discovered the game and have children old enough to play. They are very excited. This more than anything drives me to keep it going. Whatever happens, Redemption has already done much good and given me some of my best friends these last 17 years.

Blessings,
Rob

Platinum_Angel · « **Reply #32 on:** January 19, 2013, 07:22:35 PM »

Quote from: The Guardian on January 19, 2013, 02:55:20 PM

Hey, I'm back...that's gotta count for something

Maybe you can lead our 2013 Campaign?

YourMathTeacher · « **Reply #33 on:** January 19, 2013, 07:49:58 PM »

Quote from: CactusRob on January 19, 2013, 06:55:42 PM

4th Edition starters (plus a card pack for RoA # 26 and promo cards) should go to printer soon.

Woo-hoo!

Quote from: CactusRob on January 19, 2013, 06:55:42 PM

Overall Cactus is doing well. It's first by God's grace and then thanks to Cranium, Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Taboo and the toy line.

Great to hear, Rob!

Quote from: CactusRob on January 19, 2013, 06:55:42 PM

I still get calls or e-mails from parents who have discovered the game and have children old enough to play. They are very excited. This more than anything drives me to keep it going.

I can vouch the continued excitement of new players, and their parents.

I had an interesting situation occur today that made me appreciate Redemption all the more. I took my kids into a local Comics & Hobby store while my wife was shopping next door. They happened to be holding a tournament for a secular card game. My 6-year-old was very excited to look at the My Little Pony toys on the shelf, but after about 5 minutes in the store she tugged on my shirt and said, "Daddy can we leave now." She looked frightened, mostly because of the teens that were swearing and shouting at each other. This was a stark contrast to our Redemption tournaments where she laughs along with Josh Kopp's antics, or sits next to her brother to watch him play.

* Note that the behavior we witnessed was not necessarily indicative of normal tournaments for secular card games. *

Red · « **Reply #34 on:** January 19, 2013, 08:42:37 PM »

Thanks Rob for all you've done for this game and your dedication to keep it going! Glad to hear this!

Platinum_Angel · « **Reply #35 on:** January 19, 2013, 09:07:57 PM »

Quote

I can vouch the continued excitement of new players, and their parents.

I had an interesting situation occur today that made me appreciate Redemption all the more. I took my kids into a local Comics & Hobby store while my wife was shopping next door. They happened to be holding a tournament for a secular card game. My 6-year-old was very excited to look at the My Little Pony toys on the shelf, but after about 5 minutes in the store she tugged on my shirt and said, "Daddy can we leave now." She looked frightened, mostly because of the teens that were swearing and shouting at each other. This was a stark contrast to our Redemption tournaments where she laughs along with Josh Kopp's antics, or sits next to her brother to watch him play.

* Note that the behavior we witnessed was not necessarily indicative of normal tournaments for secular card games. *

I can vouch for the same experience every time I walk into the store where they hold MTG tourneys. My kids don't even ask to go down there anymore.

Awesome to hear Rob. My kids are defiantly excited!!

blaze · « **Reply #36 on:** January 20, 2013, 08:00:26 AM »

Quote from: CactusRob on January 19, 2013, 06:55:42 PM

I still get calls or e-mails from parents who have discovered the game and have children old enough to play.

HA~ My wife and I are grandparents (40 somethings) that have just discovered this and we love playing it!

niksag · « **Reply #37 on:** January 20, 2013, 04:08:57 PM »

Quote from: CactusRob on January 19, 2013, 06:55:42 PM

I still get calls or e-mails from parents who have discovered the game and have children old enough to play.

As one of theses parents whom has just discovered redemption and contacted Mr rob in the last 2 to 3 months. I was shocked to find out that it has been around since the 90's. Iv grown up in church, went to high school during its release. And had never herd of it. After stumbling across it in the new christian "big box store" in the area. I asked my youth pastor and my children's church pastor if they had herd of it and they hadn't. It seems to me that their needs to be more marketing to the church crowd. Even in this economy most of them that can, will spend money on toys and faith based products, especially when they are one and the same.

And again Mr rob thank you for all of your toys and games which reinforce the spiritual values which I try to instill in my children and their freinds.

Chris · « **Reply #38 on:** January 20, 2013, 04:21:09 PM »

Redemption is barely marketed at all, and pretty much all the marketing that is done is already geared towards Christians. Times are tough right now, and very few parents are going to spend more than $15 on some game unless it's being actively pitched to them (like John does at Creation East).

joel_f · « **Reply #39 on:** January 20, 2013, 06:07:55 PM »

Maybe you could encourage some players to pitch it to their church (or other churches in their area), perhaps even providing some incentive for those who do so (maybe a promo card, or a booster, or something)?

New Raven BR · « **Reply #40 on:** January 20, 2013, 06:18:40 PM »

what would really help the game is if we advertise, it shouldn't take money really, just people looking to give their time and effort to a good cause for God. i mean if i could, i'd be more then willing to advertise, i mean if i have to lose a game to help promote the game, then im more then willing to take the loss to help the game grow. i mean there's more to this game besides winning and losing. i love this game and my passion for it hasn't leaked a drop at all since i started and i would be more then willing to help the cause. i may have a job now which takes up alot of time but i still have some time where i can spare before work, time permitted. but one thing i really don't wanna see is to see the game i've come to know and love for almost 8 years to die suddenly cause of lack of interest. we all need to work together as one to help the game grow

Ken4Christ4ever · « **Reply #41 on:** January 20, 2013, 10:44:31 PM »

Wouldn't these be 5th edition starters?

A/B
C/D
E/F
G/H
This one?

MrMiYoda · « **Reply #42 on:** January 21, 2013, 12:34:42 AM »

My two cents: ALWAYS have a starter set with you anywhere you go. I have kept mine sleeved. I have two or three sets in case a group wants to learn the game --- an instant multi-player endeavor. God always and always takes care of the rest .... in His time. That is how it all started with MTG players in my part of the world who now have Redemption in their blood as well.

At this stage in my life and age, I have been devoting 95% of my Redemption time to teaching the game....relentlessly. Ergo, you see me less in the hosting realm. I do not care who wants to learn it, when, or where. Nevertheless, the efforts may indeed have produced a couple of new gaming hosts.

Since I know that I enjoy more and am better at spreading the The Bible in game form than in book form, Redemption has been and will always be my own way of letting others know about God.

I may have taught more than a couple of thousand persons to date and have gotten perhaps a little less than 1% from that, current active players and former national champs --- I do not despair. I rejoice at each single moment that I have done my job, my share in sharing the gift of Redemption to people's hearts. And once in a while, I get a surprise when someone who I had taught the game once and long time ago will have a son or daughter playing and teaching the game as well. For instance, I may not know this person at all, but I just feel the awesomeness of God's timing for Redemption --- He will take care of the game...I know He will.

IMO, this is all that a Redemption players needs to do, apart from being a competitive gamer ---- just keep spreading Redemption good news.

Peace and blessings, all.

Prof Underwood · « **Reply #43 on:** January 21, 2013, 12:40:42 AM »

Quote from: Westy on January 17, 2013, 07:02:03 PM

it's certainly been on the decline since 2007-2008.

I think more playgroups are disappearing than forming. Austin MN is gone. SomeKittens' playgroup is gone. Pretty sure Schaef's playgroup is gone. Marti's playgroup is gone. Not sure about Bryon's or the DeLaRosa's. The NW disappeared awhile ago. Is Craig's group still around? I know the Kansas City playgroup was touched by the Nats Kiss of Death.

It should be noted that SomeKittens and the DeLaRosa's playgroups didn't exist in 2007-2008. They came and went between then and now, so that's a wash. Bryon's group is still going, and I went to a district of Schaef's in 2007 and there were only a handful of people there, so that's not a big loss. I've heard that the KC group was big, and the NW was a significant presence back in the day, so those and Marti's group and the Austin MN group are 4 large losses.

But my playgroup has put KY on the map since 2007. We just had 16 people playing at an impromptu local T1-2p, TEAMS, and Booster tournament this weekend. uthminister/crustpope have consistently put on great tournaments in OH starting around 2007. YMT has put Fl on the map since 2007, and regularly puts on great tournaments down there. CrashFach has put TN on the map in just the last couple years and even hosted a Nats (and still has a big group post-Nats). Ken Locklin has kickstarted WI in the last year or two as well. Meanwhile, TX is back after being down for a couple years, and MN, NY/MA, and MD are still strong.

So while I miss some of the guys who are gone, lets celebrate the guys who are still going strong

megamanlan · « **Reply #44 on:** January 21, 2013, 04:46:46 AM »

Currently, I haven't heard anything of tournaments here in WI since I held mine, so right now we all are trying to settle down a bit more and find some places (and people) for hosting for now. So the playgroup here is just kinda holding together just enough.

I personally don't think that Redemption is dying per say, it's just in a slow cycle. Other games have gone through it before (I remember when Yugioh did) and eventually it will speed back up when the Starters come (as well as everything else) and the game starts running at full speed again. The economy being in the slums hasn't helped either, but I do agree maybe some advertising would help the game as well.

STAMP · « **Reply #45 on:** January 21, 2013, 01:13:47 PM »

Quote from: Prof Underwood on January 21, 2013, 12:40:42 AM

, and the NW was a significant presence back in the day,

Quoted for truth.

We had 35 players at our NW Regional back in the day, and that was WITHOUT other regions' visitors! Of course, many of our NW players had to drive hundreds of miles through some of the most dangerous mountains to get to our tournaments, as opposed to driving 60 miles up the turnpike to get to another region's tournaments. The best playgroup builder in my opinion is NWJosh. It isn't just because he was a youth pastor either. He had a way of both sparking an interest in the game and fanning the flames. It also helped to have Big Ben at our tournaments, probably the most well-liked player in the nation let alone our region.

The NW is not dead. Like the bears indigenous to our region we are only in hibernation. When we awaken we will be hungry.

everytribe · « **Reply #46 on:** January 21, 2013, 01:44:42 PM »

Quote from: STAMP on January 21, 2013, 01:13:47 PM

The NW is not dead. Like the bears indigenous to our region we are only in hibernation. When we awaken we will be hungry.

Does that mean you are attending the Type 2 Only this year?

STAMP · « **Reply #47 on:** January 21, 2013, 01:47:27 PM »

Quote from: everytribe on January 21, 2013, 01:44:42 PM

Quote from: STAMP on January 21, 2013, 01:13:47 PM

The NW is not dead. Like the bears indigenous to our region we are only in hibernation. When we awaken we will be hungry.

Does that mean you are attending the Type 2 Only this year?

I WILL attend some year soon...unfortunately there are several activities I am committed to this year. Rest assured, I will be playing an ANB deck when I do.

The Guardian · « **Reply #48 on:** January 21, 2013, 03:09:07 PM »

My Nazareths await...

KingLeo · « **Reply #49 on:** January 21, 2013, 03:28:50 PM »

I don't think Redemption will ever die because it has the living and breathing word of God on it.

KingLeo

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Author Topic: The Future of Redemption? (Read 12785 times)

Warrior_Monk

Chris