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Rich Hutnick wrote:

As for 'why not just have a collection of variants like we have now, and no do some NextChess'. Well, how is this working?

Let me answer this in three parts:

Software Support

Very Good. Zillions of Games and Game Courier both provide software support for numerous variants. ChessV supports several games. Shogi, Chinese Chess, and selected other variants have dedicated programs to play them.

Equipment Availability

Good. When David Howe and I were regularly playing Chess variants together when we both lived in the same city, we never had serious problems coming up with equipment for games. Between us, we had a good Chess variant construction set, and we were able to make pieces for games with pieces we didn't have readymade. In general, Chess variants tend to appeal to creative people, and creative people can usually come up with the equipment for the games they want to play.

Equipment becomes more of a problem if (1) you don't have the interest or creativity to make your own equipment, or (2) you are trying to organize large numbers of people to play Chess variants. Naturally, it will be easier to attract large numbers to Chess variants when you have some readymade equipment they can use. Some variants have sets available, and many other games can use the equipment from these sets. Your present solution is to make a large investment in multiple Chess variant sets whose pieces you can mix and match for different games, along with some mousepad boards you can cut up and piece together into different board shapes. For a cheaper alternative, you can print out piece images and affix them to poker chips or wooden discs.

Eventually, I expect 3D printers to be commonplace. The technology exists. I saw a Wired Science episode that showed them being used to build living organs for transplants. The same kind of technology could be used to build custom pieces from 3D patterns stored in your computer.

Player Interest

Poor. Some variants have fairly large followings and most don't. I'm sure it is also that way with card games, for which most everyone already has the equipment. Most people are simply interested in playing the same games everyone else already knows how to play. In most places around the world, it will be easy to find someone else who plays Chess, but probably next to impossible to find someone who plays your favorite variants. Naturally, the promotion of Chess variants helps, but I don't know what promotion of some kind of meta-game would do in addition to this.