Third Party Character Creation iOS App Removed

The d20 Fight Club for D&D 5th Edition iOS app has been removed from the Apple App Store by its creator at the request of WotC. The creator reports that he received a Cease & Desist demand (although it's worth noting that some supposed recent C&Ds appear to have turned out to be amicable requests). This follows on from the removal of the D&D Tools website and the more recent online character generator.

The creator reports that "I received a cease and desist order from Wizards of the Coast. All D&D apps will be removed from the App Store as they weren't compliant with WotC's copyrights and trademarks. Hopefully they'll be back in some form someday. Til then, thanks for all the support."

Nobody has actually shared one of these C&Ds yet, and others have indicated that what they actually received was simply a friendly email asking that they respect WotC's trademarks, so it's not entirely clear what is happening. Hopefully somebody will share one soon!

It does look like this particular app contained text and stat blocks copied directly from the D&D books. Below is the DM version of the app (the companion to the character creation app).

​

 

[Morrus]

I'm not disagreeing that the internet is a thing. I'm disagreeing with how inflated you are making the numbers.

Excuse me? I'm quoting the numbers.

For example, even though ENWorld isn't the only site, it is one of the largest, and I can't help notice that the people making the posts here are by and large the same people who make the posts at the RPGSite, RPG.net, and the official WoTC forums.

Who cares how many people make the posts? It's how many people read them that count. Doesn't matter if it's just one person making the posts, as long as lots of people are reading them. This article, just since it was posted last night, has been viewed over 10,000 times. By the end of next week, it'll be ten times that. And a little site like this is small fry compared to the social networks.

And that unique visitors per month? Doesn't answer my question. How many users come to this forum on a weekly basis?

Divide it by four if you like!

In other words, some serious grain of salt taking is advised before I'd trust any of those numbers.

Oh well. I don't mind. Carry on!

 

[DMZ2112]

[MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION], I don't know if you're right or wrong, but I /hope/ you're wrong. I like to think that at least a slim majority of people in our hobby do something more constructive with their non-working, non-gaming time than troll forums and social media.

 

[Morrus]

@Morrus, I don't know if you're right or wrong, but I /hope/ you're wrong. I like to think that at least a slim majority of people in our hobby do something more constructive with their non-working, non-gaming time than troll forums and social media.

I'm sure they do other things, too. I know I do. It's not a binary option.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Excuse me? I'm quoting the numbers.



Who cares how many people make the posts? It's how many people read them that count. Doesn't matter if it's just one person making the posts, as long as lots of people are reading them.



Divide it by four if you like!



Oh well. I don't mind. Carry on!

You're not reading my post. I didn't say "only count the people who make the posts". I said the people who do make the posts are the same ones who make the posts on all the other major sites, so you can use this site as a metric when trying to figure out how many people hang out on internet forums compared to how many play the game in total. I also said to only take away those people who aren't here long enough to have actually read anything. The don't have to actually make posts, but why would you count someone who wasn't even on this site long enough to read the thread titles, let alone an actual discussion?

I also disagreed with your implication that just because someone "likes" or "follows" a particular company/group, that means they are keeping up to date with everything that company/group does. I gave an example of myself, liking tons of different groups and sites but I don't ever actually go there and truly follow them or what they say.

So again, how many people visit this subforum (the 5e one, since we're talking about 5e and not your site in general) on a weekly basis, and have stayed long enough to have actually read information? And how many people do you think played 5e in the past week in total?

I don't have your analytics data of course, but I am certain it's a lot less than 250,000 who have come to this subform and researched information

 

[Sunseeker]

Well, that's ridiculous. WotC declared their lack of intention to release the tool that Dungeonscape was working on. Canceling it hardly means they have no intention of releasing their own tool through other developers.

Not announcing a release is, from the buyers perspective, no different than not having one at all. If they don't make their intentions known, the default assumption should always be that they don't have any.

Not long ago, Obsidian was pooh-poohing WotC for not knowing what it was doing with its licensing and people were saying, "Yeah! They haven't announced a thing!" The low-and-behold, there was a big announcement about a new D&D video game, surprising everyone. WotC plays their cards close to their chest. Just because they aren't saying anything doesn't mean they don't have plans in the works.

Yes, because even as someone who enjoys video games, when I play tabletop D&D and I want Wizards to release more product for tabletop D&D, what I really want to hear them announce is a multi-million-dollar plan to create a competing digital product.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Not announcing a release is, from the buyers perspective, no different than not having one at all. If they don't make their intentions known, the default assumption should always be that they don't have any.
.

So by this logic, we'll never see another version of D&D because it wasn't announced yet? Or we'll never see another Marvel movie that hasn't been announced?

Needless to say, I disagree with your argument. I don't think the default assumption by customers is that "there isn't one" just because one hasn't been announced yet. I think most people assume there will be one, just with no idea when that might be.

 

[Morrus]

So again, how many people visit this subforum (the 5e one, since we're talking about 5e and not your site in general) on a weekly basis, and have stayed long enough to have actually read information?

I have no idea. I'm reading this on the news page, which is where the 250K people per month read it. Which is, as I keep mentioning, only a tiny fraction of the number of people on social networks who are exposed to RPG related news and information.

And how many people do you think played 5e in the past week in total?

Seven. Plus one guy who flipped through the books.

I don't have your analytics data of course, but I am certain it's a lot less than 250,000 who have come to this subform and researched information

Nobody but you has been going on about a subforum or research. The topic I'm discussing is the number of people who will have seen this news item in some form, whether here, or elsewhere.

But you drew me back in. I feel you don't want information, you want to be right. That's fine, but I'm honestly not interested enough in the conversation to continue it. It's Valentine's Day!

So, in the interests of escaping - yes, you're right. Nobody sees news about their hobbies on the internet.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Honestly, I'm not sure what's the deal with your hyperbole and passive aggressiveness. What I'm doing, is agreeing with the earlier post that disagreed with the other posters who were mentioning boycotts and WotC "Losing their entire customer base", because like him (or her), I think the people really getting upset to the point where they would stop playing 5e or want to boycott WoTC for sending a C&D letter are by far the vast minority and fringe. As that poster had said.

So I don't know what your beef is today, but everything I've posted after that was in support of that earlier comment that you disagreed with as well. Yeah, pretty much everyone these days is on the internet. But being on the internet =/= getting such an emotional investment in D&D that you'd quit playing it because WoTC happened to protect their legal rights. Most people just don't give a crap, and I"m betting most people will continue to play 5e because they enjoy it, whether or not WotC sends out C&Ds or not.

 

[MormonYoYoMan]

Tapatalk quoted a sacrosanct post on its timeline screen. I need not read the rest of this thread. Never trust anyone who accuses someone of being passive-aggressive.

Just a word of advice from Grandpa.

 

[Sunseeker]

So by this logic, we'll never see another version of D&D because it wasn't announced yet? Or we'll never see another Marvel movie that hasn't been announced?

Needless to say, I disagree with your argument. I don't think the default assumption by customers is that "there isn't one" just because one hasn't been announced yet. I think most people assume there will be one, just with no idea when that might be.

I stopped replying to you ages ago because you take my statements and make the most ridiculous straw-men out of them. I mean if you're not going to take the time to actually parse what I said and you're just going to make up the most asinine scenarios possible then you shouldn't wonder at all why I don't reply to you.

Of course I don't expect them to tell me if they're planning to release a 6th edition, they might honestly not know if they're going to. But the next year's worth of releases? That should be as close to set in stone as possible. I pre-order comics 3 months in advance, and I always know what's coming out more than 6th months in advance. And we're talking about companies that have hundreds of product lines releasing 20-30 of them every month.

If Wizards is only going to release 2-3 products a year, then it should be no big deal for them to have that whole year planned out in advance.