No Macs? Holy crap did WotC do the math wrong!

[Nifft]

For all of the great things about the Mac, the problem is software in certain areas, especially in game terms. It's not WotC's fault, it's not the gaming industry's fault...it's an issue of size and numbers, and that's it.

I own two Macs and a PC.

My issue is that designing for one platform is a sign of bad design.

My preference is for good design.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I think that, for the most part, since we are really talking laptops here, Wizards may be using old data: FYI

I'm confused. Why are we really talking about laptops? If I could use the VTT on my Mac, I would game with my friends in Maine, New York and New Hampshire sitting at my desktop Mac, not using my Powerbook.


Back to Charles' initial post - three Mac users in my now scattered group. Since I'm one of the Mac users and I'm the DM, that's one group that won't be playing online with D&D Insider.

That leads to another intereting question. What percentage of people who like to DM use non-Windows systems. It would be amusing if they discovered that the people subscribing to D&DI to use the virtual game table were mostly players looking for a game, but most of the DMs used Macs and Linux and so there were very few games to join.

 

[Zurai]

There are over 20 million macs in the world. Not a small market.

And how many of those 20 million macs are business machines? How many of the macs that are not business machines are owned by people that would pay for DDI? How many of THOSE macs are people that do not have a regular gaming group and need the online tabletop to play D&D?
Hint: Signifigantly less than 20 million.

Face it, it's a tiny market.

 

[Nifft]

And how many of those 20 million macs are business machines? How many of the macs that are not business machines are owned by people that would pay for DDI? How many of THOSE macs are people that do not have a regular gaming group and need the online tabletop to play D&D?
Hint: Signifigantly less than 20 million.

Of the five PCs I used this year, one was mine, free to install software on as I please. The rest were owned by work.

Of the two Macs I used this year, two were mine.

I honestly think you'll find the proportion of PCs "locked down" and used only for business is much larger than the proportion of Macs.

Cheers, -- N

 

[GlassJaw]

Once again, I find myself agreenig with Nifft.

Agreeing with what? That you prefer good software over bad? Well I prefer good food to bad. What does that have to do with anything?

The issue is designing for PC and not Mac.

My issue is that designing for one platform is a sign of bad design.

I call it targeted design. Why spend resources (time, money, testing, etc) when the return on that resource investment is small? Ideally, every project (software or otherwise) would have all the bells and whistles you can imagine. But in the world I live in (and industry I work in), that's unrealistic. Sometimes you have to make hard designs on features. The thing is, the PC/Mac design usually isn't one of those tough decisions.

 

[wedgeski]

My issue is that designing for one platform is a sign of bad design.

Or of market realities (as WotC see them) impacting on business decisions. I write software for a living and would love everything I release to have abundant features, no bugs, and support every OS on the market. The reality is that this is an almost impossible goal for the company I work for, so we compromise in order to get the product out. Same as Wizards. The question is whether the compromises they have opted for are good or bad.

In any case I believe Charles' observation that gametable uptake depends on *group* topology, not *user* topology, to be a very good one.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

If it's web based it should work with ANY modern computer able to get to the web.

I think they already said that it is not web based.

Ideally, the software would be designed to eventually support multiple platforms (and multiple types of clients), but initial development would concentrate on the PC. While the PC work was in system testing, they'd be doing just enough testing with Mac to verify that the design didn't have any gaping holes. Of course, this assumes that the people charged with the design have enough experience with cross-platform to do such a design (and ignores the inherited code issue as well). Welcome to the real world of software management.

However, my anecdotal experience supports the "cluster" theory of machine users. I've got a group of 10, and all are PC users. In contrast, the Mac users I know are from families that use nothing but Macs. Statistically, there has to be some geographically dispersed groups with X PCs users and 1 or 2 Mac users. Out of these, however, there will be some where the Mac users are quite happy to fork over enough money to emulate Windows (or already can). What is the percentage of Mac users that already can?

Then some people will use it at the gaming table with a projector. Doesn't matter what the whole group has--only the guy with the projector.

 

[GlassJaw]

Welcome to the real world of software management.

It looks like you, wedgeski, and myself all live in that world.

 

[Nifft]

Of course, this assumes that the people charged with the design have enough experience with cross-platform to do such a design (and ignores the inherited code issue as well). Welcome to the real world of software management.

In my experience, the hardest part of development has always been debugging. Guess what testing on multiple platforms helps to expose?

Though I do grant you it may be harder to find someone with experience doing cross-platform design, I don't think it's always a good trade off to hire someone cheaper and less experienced instead.

Cheers, -- N

 

[CleverName]

I'm confused. Why are we really talking about laptops?

We aren't necessarily, I'm looking at trends here.

1) The laptop is the computer of choice at the gaming table -- look how many times during the DDI announcements the word laptop is used. Look at the pictures they use.

2) The laptop market is growing at the expense of desktops. Some believe that in the next five years laptop sales will permanently eclipse desktop sales. Every couple of months they do nowadays. link

3) Apple is coming on strong in the laptop arena. It is the #3 laptop producer currently. link

So, all that I am saying is that good market data should weigh laptops over desktops. This would then inflate the numbers in favor of Apple.

AGAIN, I am not surprised or angry that WotC chose to support PCs first, I think that they will need to look at other platforms SOONER than they seem to think based on the usage numbers they are flinging around.