You're blaming the times and the system.
Convenient.
History is bound to repeat itself because the nature of man hasn't changed. People are greedy and seek power over their environment- that ain't no secret. In America, you have opportunities other nations citizens don't have.
You can blame the times or the system, but those are both ever changing. Nature of man doesn't. There are just of not many many more opportunities now than ever before... time and effort was a massive barter piece 50 years ago as it took people to process materials, paperwork, logistics, et al... now, most of that is automated and people's time less of a barter piece for pay... now, it's about effectiveness and innovation.
I met a guy who was friends with my dad (better said my dad worked for him) when I was a kid. I labored for him on his farm. He's still likely the wealthiest person I ever personally knew. He told me once "sell to the classes live with the masses; sell to the masses live with the classes"... that summed up his business approach. Guess what? That is dead, now... with the advent of internet and communication, YOU can sell a college football board game. Without it? Good luck. With that board game that appeals only to a small segment of world population, you can make a reasonably successful side gig- where that effort would earn you squat without being able to find that market. The rules changed.. as they always do. How many people at the fast food joint are busting their asses producing and packaging board games in the wee hours and sending them across the globe for reasonable prices? .........
Be careful with your response here... you've painted yourself into a corner.
I blame the time/era because 847 seems to think now is then. Of course now is not then. That's the point. Now, roadblocks existed then as they do now, and of course, they're widely different. But many are the same and of the same ones - some are better, some are worse.
As for my game, it's an obvious luxury for it to have begun in the first place. Not the luxury of money, but of privileges. I was privileged enough to seek out a game to play. I was nitpicky enough that I didn't find anything that I wanted. I had the time to look....if I had to take the bus to work everyday, I wouldn't have bothered. If I had 2 jobs already, or kids, or this or that, I wouldn't have even taken that first step. More privilege, and a doozy: when I didn't find what I wanted, I had the wherewithal and CONFIDENCE to say, "screw it, I'll create it myself." If I didn't know who my dad was and/or got a D every year in math and/or barely made ends meet, it wouldn't have happened. If I didn't have the past life experience that when I really set my mind to do something, it turns out well more often than not, it wouldn't have happened.
Anyway, back to the times. Bill James (baseball stat nerd chief) started out by placing a tiny ad in the Sporting News magazine. I would have had to do something like that back in the 70s, and I would have.
Yes, I've put in countless hours on a side gig that's been successful, but
aside from that hard work that only happened due to my high confidence in that it wouldn't be in vain, it required a great amount of privilege to even get off the ground.
