Good points, Umbran. Moving the Dragon and Dungeon content online is progressive on one hand, and one that I lauded when it was announced. But from my perspective, in hindsight, it also took it: a) out of the hands of a fan-based publisher that was to many (not all) people's minds doing more with the properties, and b) took it out of the bookstores and Friendly Neighborhood Gaming Shop's magazine racks which I think put the focus more on "find out about your favorite game on the website of the company that publishes it" rather than something that was distributed more widely, and in more targeted fashions to retail outlets that directly speak to the fan base.
As to how I mean enworld.org becomes the hub more than wizards, it's because the lack of ownership by wizards allows enworld to become more of an end-user driven community. The PDF controversy wasn't really front-and-center on the wizards.com site (and even on the boards - point me to where it is at a glance from the boards home page -
Dungeons & Dragons - Wizards Community), but here on enworld it was put front and center for members to sound off, and also resulted in staff from Wizards chiming in to better define their position.
As to how I see Facebook or other social networking sites aiding and improving the hobby - and something that I see enworld growing in more and more - is the ability to connect with other players around specific games that you enjoy. If I'm into D&D4e, Palladium RPG, and Runequest, I have to go to 3 different company's sites to learn more about the games or connect with players. Or I can just go to enworld, or appropriate Facebook groups, and post my questions there to find out more about play styles, recommended scenarios, etc. I don't necessarily think that players will move more towards finding other players through relatively anonymous message boards (at least not until online becomes the platform for play), which is what brings me back to my admittedly doe-eyed innocence about the importance of Friendly Neighborhood Gaming Shops. Perhaps unlike other interests where the web really can become the front and center networking platform, I really believe that our hobby grows and thrives through careful online support
and the face-to-face demonstrations, game clubs, tangible products that Friendly Neighborhood Gaming shops offer.
I'm not trying to knee jerk suggest that technology bad and stores good; in fact without technology, it's all going to fall apart. Tracing back to my original post, you'll see that I'm trying to say that I think Wizards is doing some very progressive things, but I hope they continue to be more progressive as they continue to explore ways to serve the playing community by "going where the players are" whether that be online or in stores.
