A Technical Look at D&D Insider Applications

[Zaruthustran]

Scott answered the code will be unique to each book. Does that mean:
1) each copy of the PHB will have its very one code, no two are alike, or
2) The PHB code is different from the DMG code.

I'm hoping (1) and I am intrigued as to how they will do it. (2) is certainly much easier, but would be an exercise in futility as it would do nothing to prevent access.

Yeah, it could be either.

(2) might not be problem, since the guy who scribbles down the code still have to pay for the content in DDI. It'd be interesting to see if the revenue from the DDI bit exceeds the revenue from the book. Like, if the book sells for $30, of which WotC's cut is (for example) $10, then that's pretty close to the supposed "coffee" price of unlocking book content in DDI.

It's especially exciting since providing the unlocked content costs WotC nothing, while providing the book costs $. Best part is, sell 1,000 books and you have to pay for 1,000 books to be printed. Sell 1,000 DDI content unlocks, and you only have to pay the integration cost of that content once. The more you sell, the more profitable DDI-only content becomes.

Point being: I don't think WotC will be terribly upset if people copy down the codes. They make money either way. And if the person goes in the store to get the code, there's at least a chance they'll wind up buying the whole book.

If it's (1), man, what a headache. The extra cost of printing a code unique to each copy of the book is very high. The cost of customer service sorting out the rightful owner of a dupe code is very high. The aggravation to customers as their code issue is sorted out is very high. Ugh. Not an attractive proposition.

EDIT: My bad. So, Scott: what's your solution to the issues I brought up in the above paragraph?

 

[Scribble]

My guess is if anything they'll look for a pattern...

Hello Johny Game Thief!

We've notices you've consistently been registering books that are registered a second time by various other users...

 

[Reaper Steve]

Each copy will have a unique code. No two are alike

Thanks for clearing that up!

Part Deux: Will the code be tamper proof or otherwise unaccessible before the book is purchased? (Or will it be immediately apparent if someone steals the code from an unsold book?)

 

[BASHMAN]

I'm wondering how this will effect the low budget PDF only market...

I doubt it will. You can already buy WotC books online pdfs from Rpgnow and drivethrurpg.com. They aren't cheap. The $1-2 fee for electronic D&D material is only if you bought the $30-40 hardcopy. I doubt these will have any impact on the pdf market. Indy companies will continue to produce pdf and pod products at likely the same prices as they are now.

Now as far as piracy is concerned I think they will do a lot to slow it down, which as a publisher I can appreciate.

 

[hong]

And if the feat has an effect on mechanics that would be reflected on your character sheet, it will also not get figured in? or will it and it just doesn't explain why it changed...

At some point, it seems reasonable to expect that if you want to know what the feat does, you should read the book.

 

[BASHMAN]

At some point, it seems reasonable to expect that if you want to know what the feat does, you should read the book.

Oh I know that. What I am saying is that:

1. They are saying how great the virtual character sheet thing is.
2. You need the book to have explaination of the feats.

Now if #2 can be interpreted to mean that mechanical changes in your character are not reflected by the sheet, #1 is rendered false-- as you still need "plug in" values, etc by hand.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Sorry. What you're reading isn't random hype. It's an industry term that relates definite meaning and was being used correctly.

Um, where did I say anything about the write up being random hype? All I said was I got sick of reading Windows rich... Considering I've worked in IT for 6 years now at one of the world's largest domain providers, I know what a Windows rich client is. I just got sick of reading it. It has nothing to do with me not knowing what the term is and everything to do with the fact that they designed this straight up for Windows-based machines. Yuck!

 

[hong]

Oh I know that. What I am saying is that:

1. They are saying how great the virtual character sheet thing is.
2. You need the book to have explaination of the feats.

Now if #2 can be interpreted to mean that mechanical changes in your character are not reflected by the sheet, #1 is rendered false-- as you still need "plug in" values, etc by hand.

And do you choose to interpret it that way?

 

[BASHMAN]

And do you choose to interpret it that way?

No, I'm saying if WotC interprets it that way, it could make the "super spiffy neato keen" character sheet less useful. BtW, like your site, Hong-- used several of your pregenned iron-heroes meets bo9s encounters against my players.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Dual boot my ass. Not all mac users got that option, only those who bought in the past 2 and a half years or so. Does Didier need some cluing on that? He ought to go edit his article to clear that up that only the minority of Mac users with Intel processors can opt for the Boot Camp/virtualization program option.

So despite having a dual-processor 64 bit 1.8 Ghz PowerPC G5 tower intended to last for another 3-4 years comfortably, I get to be denied DDI content until my upgrade cycle comes around again.

Really, this feels more and more like my hobby is telling me I'm not invited to come along to the next big cool thing. . . . until I drop a few thousand dollars my budget doesn't have.

The bright side is that Gleemax might have its flaws fixed by then and we might be on to D&D 4.5.

The other hope is that by the end of 2008 WotC's paid-thinkers decide the handhelds aren't worth ignoring and they get on the ball and put out an iPhone/iPod Touch client app using the forthcoming iPhone SDK. And because the iPhone runs OS X it is only a tweak away from full Mac OS X. While I'm not going to get a new computer until after 2009 (at best) I will have an iPhone by mid 2008.