Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!news.quux.org!campaignwiki.org!.POSTED.staticline-31-183-178-178.toya.net.pl!not-for-mail From: Kyonshi Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd,rec.games.frp.advocacy Subject: Re: [techcrunch] A DnD Actual Play sells out Madison Square Garden Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2024 18:39:04 +0200 Organization: Campaign Wiki Message-ID: References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2024 17:52:19 -0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: sibirocobombus.campaignwiki; posting-host="staticline-31-183-178-178.toya.net.pl:31.183.178.178"; logging-data="1944954"; mail-complaints-to="alex@alexschroeder.ch" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Hamster/2.1.0.1548 Cancel-Lock: sha1:dW+V6+s5Tk5BWpjrjlkLhtGXifI= sha256:5icDgKBWAhraw9CkhKLR87B3yhwCrgmCRJxj1Wxa2i4= sha1:usLOk6SRft3coNh7C61A8Ds0npg= sha256:teTF8MyLZwodw++RhsXfumCwSCXwmRzNQrJWmBxjeJ8= Content-Language: en-US In-Reply-To: Bytes: 6187 Lines: 83 On 4/13/2024 8:55 AM, Kyonshi wrote: > Source: > https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/12/a-dungeons-dragons-actual-play-show-is-going-to-sell-out-madison-square-garden/?guccounter=1 > > > A Dungeons & Dragons actual play show is going to sell out Madison > Square Garden > Amanda Silberling@asilbwrites / 7:30 PM GMT+2•April 12, 2024 > > What does Taylor Swift have in common with a group of improv comedians > pretending to be wizards? They can both sell out Madison Square Garden > (… and also, their fans kind of hate Ticketmaster now). > > Dropout’s Dungeons & Dragons actual play show, Dimension 20, is getting > pretty close to selling out a 19,000-seat venue just hours after ticket > sales opened to the general public. To the uninitiated, it may seem > absurd to go to a massive sports arena and watch people play D&D. As one > Redditor commented, “This boggles my mind. When I was playing D&D in the > early eighties, I would have never believed that there was a future > where people would watch live D&D at Madison Square Garden. It’s > incomprehensible to me.” > > It is indeed bizarre, albeit fun. But in this monumental moment for the > actual play genre, the triumph is eclipsed by the biggest frustration > that links sports, music and now D&D fans: Ticketmaster. As Federal > Trade Commission chair Lina Khan said amid the Taylor Swift-Ticketmaster > scandal, the company’s failures “ended up converting more Gen Zers into > anti-monopolists overnight than anything [she] could have done.” > > In the case of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, fans were upset because demand > was so high that Ticketmaster’s system couldn’t handle the traffic. For > Dimension 20, the culprit is Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing. As more > people try to buy tickets, the price of the tickets increase. About an > hour after the Madison Square Garden tickets went on sale, the few dozen > upper bowl tickets left were $800. Three hours after, these tickets are > around $330, which is still very inflated. > > “Went onto the presale, tickets were $500+ for the worst ones, we > assumed they were scalpers and that the actual sale today would have > normal priced tickets… $2000 for the lower bowl!? I know it’s not > dropout setting the price but wow is that a LOT of cash,” a Redditor > posted. And as a commenter astutely pointed out, thanks to dynamic > pricing, Ticketmaster itself is actually the scalper. Of course, > Dimension 20 fans are frustrated, especially since the show’s content is > overtly anti-capitalist. > > Despite the pricing debacle, the demand for the show is a great sign for > both actual play shows and the creator economy at large. > > Shows like Dimension 20 and Critical Role, which recently played a sold > out show at the 12,500-seat Wembley arena, are not the reality of every > creator. But 10 years ago, these sorts of pop star-sized productions for > online creators would be unthinkable. In 2013, it was a big deal — > worthy of a New York Times writeup — that YouTubers John and Hank Green > played and sold out Carnegie Hall, which seats about 3,000 people. Now, > the lines between internet people and “real” celebrities are less > present than ever. > > Even the story behind Dropout, the production company behind Dimension > 20, exemplifies these changing tides. When the comedy site CollegeHumor > folded, one of the company’s executives, Sam Reich, acquired the > company, which has since evolved into Dropout. Now, Dropout produces a > variety of comedy shows (in addition to Dimension 20) that capture the > lightning in a bottle that has eluded more traditional shows like > Saturday Night Live. Like SNL in its best moments, Dropout’s cast > members are as compelling as the actual shows — if you think Lou Wilson > is funny on Dimension 20, then you’ll probably want to watch his > episodes of Game Changer, and so on. The beast of Dropout feeds itself. > Meanwhile, four of Dimension 20’s cast members started the creator-owned > actual play podcast Worlds Beyond Number last year, which now has over > 30,000 paid subscribers on Patreon, who pledge $5 a month to the project. > > This milestone for Dimension 20 is all the more evidence that the > relationship between Silicon Valley and the creator economy hype cycle > is completely irrelevant to the actual careers of creators. Sure, > venture funding for creator companies has fallen from its peak, but who > cares? Creators can sell out Madison Square Garden. I feel bad about making more threads about this, so I will add this to this one as it's related: even in Edmonton there now is an Improvised Dungeons and Dragons show. In fact it's a returning show. https://www.broadwayworld.com/edmonton/article/IMPROVISED-DUNGEONS-AND-DRAGONS-Comes-to-Rapid-Fire-Theatre-This-Week-20240416