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4 Hours w/ RSD - Escapist Bonus Column
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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 7647980" data-attributes="member: 58197"><p>The real problem with DDI is that Wizards has limited resources to throw at it. The initial release was riddled with problems, and progress since then, while steady, has been very slow. DDI is still clunky and customization is almost nonexistent, or at least it was when I let my subscription lapse a few months back.</p><p></p><p>There's a solution to this, however. The D&D fan base is very creative and slightly obsessive. They are also overwhelmingly tech-savvy; a <em>lot</em> of us work in the tech industry in some capacity. What this adds up to is a huge pool of free developer-hours just waiting to be tapped.</p><p></p><p>What WotC ought to do is turn DDI into an API. They provide software to authenticate DDI users and serve up data--monsters, powers, magic items, and so forth--from a big honkin' database*. Then they tell the fans, "Here you are. Go nuts." The community builds better VTTs and character builders and monster builders and all the rest than Wizards could produce in a hundred years. Wizards picks the best ones and links to them from their website.</p><p></p><p>Then Wizards can just sit back and collect money from DDI subscriptions, while letting the community do the heavy lifting of development and reaping a ton of goodwill into the bargain. The down side, of course, is that they surrender corporate control over the end product, and that could make it difficult to sell internally. But I think the end result would be much more successful.</p><p></p><p>[SIZE=-2]*Actually a tiny honkin' database. As databases go, you could fit the entire 4E ruleset with all of its options and modules into one small corner of most corporate DBs nowadays. But you get the picture.[/SIZE]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 7647980, member: 58197"] The real problem with DDI is that Wizards has limited resources to throw at it. The initial release was riddled with problems, and progress since then, while steady, has been very slow. DDI is still clunky and customization is almost nonexistent, or at least it was when I let my subscription lapse a few months back. There's a solution to this, however. The D&D fan base is very creative and slightly obsessive. They are also overwhelmingly tech-savvy; a [I]lot[/I] of us work in the tech industry in some capacity. What this adds up to is a huge pool of free developer-hours just waiting to be tapped. What WotC ought to do is turn DDI into an API. They provide software to authenticate DDI users and serve up data--monsters, powers, magic items, and so forth--from a big honkin' database*. Then they tell the fans, "Here you are. Go nuts." The community builds better VTTs and character builders and monster builders and all the rest than Wizards could produce in a hundred years. Wizards picks the best ones and links to them from their website. Then Wizards can just sit back and collect money from DDI subscriptions, while letting the community do the heavy lifting of development and reaping a ton of goodwill into the bargain. The down side, of course, is that they surrender corporate control over the end product, and that could make it difficult to sell internally. But I think the end result would be much more successful. [SIZE=-2]*Actually a tiny honkin' database. As databases go, you could fit the entire 4E ruleset with all of its options and modules into one small corner of most corporate DBs nowadays. But you get the picture.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
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