Over the weekend I took the children to the local game store for Free Comic Book Day. Free Comic Book day is a promotional event designed to get draw new readers into comics. It’s a wonderful time, and it does tend to revitalize the desire to start reading comics again.
As I sat back and reflected on this event, I got to thinking: why isn’t there a Free Video Game Day or a Free Board Game Day? After researching it further, I found that there actually us a Free RPG Day that started in 2007 in response to Free Comic Book day. Like Free Comic Book Day, Free RPG Day is designed to be a promotional Activity to get old and new gamers into modern RPGs. Most of the free RPGs aren’t whole game systems, but rather small adventures designed to get players who might be otherwise unfamiliar with the system to get into the game.
So we have a Free Comic Book Day and Free RPG Day, but we still don’t have a Free Video Game Day. I’m not sure what the reasoning behind this is. It’s possible that there are a lot of free games already being given out, and a dedicated day would be lost on most people. It’s also possible that the video game industry is robust enough that no free promotion (outside of PSN, Steam, etc.) is necessary. Perhaps digital delivery makes it difficult to arrange an event at the local stores, or the variety of consoles/platforms leads to compatibility problems. What do you think?
By the way, the next Free RPG Day is on June 15th, 2013 which, coincidentally, is the same weekend as the Origins Game Fair. Of course, if you are looking to get into gaming, my first recommendation would be to get to the Origins Game Fair. It’s a great time in a family-friendly environment. If you can’t get to Columbus that weekend, though, I would encourage you to get to your friendly local game store (FLGS) and try out some of the games available.