D&D 4E Copyrights, NDAs and 4e "demos"

[DeathMutant]

Does anyone know if participants at the various 4e demos, including the upcoming Winter Fantasy, will be able to post any and all information they view/receive at those events? Or, will they be restricted by copyrights or, possibly, some sort of NDA?

I am hoping that they are allowed to post everything since the (4e) rules should have been finalized by that time.

 

[WyzardWhately]

Does anyone know if participants at the various 4e demos, including the upcoming Winter Fantasy, will be able to post any and all information they view/receive at those events? Or, will they be restricted by copyrights or, possibly, some sort of NDA?

I am hoping that they are allowed to post everything since the (4e) rules should have been finalized by that time.

I don't think they'll bother. They can throw out any kind of NDA they want, but at that point there's too many people with the info, too much anonymity, etc. It's also close enough to the release date that it'll matter less. I think at that point, if they're confident in their product and presentation, if they think people are going to have a positive impression, WotC is going to want them to have the freedom to tell the rest of us about it.

I could be wrong, but the cat's got to come out of the bag eventually.

 

[SteveC]

Does anyone know if participants at the various 4e demos, including the upcoming Winter Fantasy, will be able to post any and all information they view/receive at those events? Or, will they be restricted by copyrights or, possibly, some sort of NDA?

I am hoping that they are allowed to post everything since the (4e) rules should have been finalized by that time.

The anonymity of my screen name, and the fact that I will be wearing an outrageous fake mustache will protect me from any NDAs. Expect all the details I get from the adventures and Dungeon Crawl to show up on ENWorld.

Book it!

Seriously: I think the cat will be out of the bag at that point, for good or ill.

--Steve

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I don't see how they could practically stop them. I'm also guessing that WoTC is smart enough to realize that so they won't try to. I'm sure we'll get some WoTC folks on here trying to set expectations for what we'll hear - whatever scenario they are running couldn't possibly touch on all the rules, so some things will still be out of context, for example.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Certainly. In two weeks time we should be hip deep in threads detailing every tiny little thing about 4e that will be available at DDE. Should be quite a train-wreck.

 

[Dragonblade]

Certainly. In two weeks time we should be hip deep in threads detailing every tiny little thing about 4e that will be available at DDE. Should be quite a train-wreck.

I hope so. This news drought is killing me! I need my 4e fix. I'm starting to get the shakes.

 

[Stormtalon]

Certainly. In two weeks time we should be hip deep in threads detailing every tiny little thing about 4e that will be available at DDE. Should be quite a train-wreck.

Mmmmm, train-wreck. Can't wait. If it's anything like the virtual derailments I've seen before, it'll be a circus train and the broken bodies of clowns and mimes will be strewn all over, but rescuers won't be able to get to them because of all the invisible boxes in the way....

 

[JVisgaitis]

I'll be at DDE. I doubt they'll have everyone sign NDAs. That would be crazy. I fully intend to have tons of info available on 4e after the event.

 

[DeathMutant]

I hope lots of people bring covert spy or phone cameras with them, document everything and post it all on the internet. As a 70's era hippie-programmer might say, "The information wants to be free!"

 

[WyzardWhately]

What we really need to do is find two or three persons going there that we can rely on for serious, unbiased analysis. I know this sounds kind of elitist, but some smart folks, with a background in something like journalism, or game design, or similar. People who could really quantify and report.

I mean, honestly, we're going to be inundated with guys yelling "My character died! Rogues are underpowered and WotC are FOOLS!" alongside "I can't understand basic mathematical relationships so 4E is overcomplicated!" with some "I got to play an elf and I love elves so it was a real improvement over 3.x because my home GM won't let us play elves" and "Everything was awesome but I can't explain why due to the fact that I was drunk." Maybe my cynicism is showing through, but I think it might not be a bad idea to have some means of collecting all the worthwhile reports in one place. I'm sure there's going to be a ton of blogs and other message boards out there from which we'll want to draw quotes, as well.