Did you sign up to be a part of gaming history?

[Greg K]

I, eagerly, signed up the day it was announced and got my confirmation. Over the past few weeks, I have been going back and forth about whether I want to participate based upon what we have heard to date. Today's post from Robert Schwalb regarding skills has seriously dampened any enthusiasm I had for participating in the playtest if the attributes are more important than skills.

 

[Tom Servo]

Today's post from Robert Schwalb regarding skills has seriously dampened any enthusiasm I had

I actually really liked what was said there.

Mearls: The playtest is open to anyone who signs up, and the information will be available digitally. As part of signing up, there will be an online playtest agreement similar to the one we used for Dungeon Command last year.
Mearls: I believe we're working on that option now. Right now, for the playtest each person taking part should sign up. We're working on something right now that will alow cons and stores to run stuff.

This is disappointing. I guess that is the price we pay to have the honor of being a "part of gaming history". Beer...check, pizza...check, snacks...check, dice...check, paper and pencils...check, okay guys lets play some D&D! Oh wait, has everyone signed the non-disclosure agreement? What a buzz-kill. I realize there are good reasons for this, it just feels so....corporate.

Anyway, looking forward to it.

 

[hafrogman]

Today's post from Robert Schwalb regarding skills has seriously dampened any enthusiasm I had for participating in the playtest if the attributes are more important than skills.

Thereby ensuring that your views and input on the matter won't be considered. Perhaps disliking something you hear should actually make you want to participate in the playtest MORE. Just a thought.

 

[Hussar]

Tom Servo - yeah, not really impressed with that. Not a big deal I suppose, and probably utterly unenforceable. But, it probably makes the lawyers feel all warm and fuzzy.

I mean, if I sign up, download the stuff, run a playtest and report back, are they really going to check if my players have signed up too? How would they know?

 

[am181d]

Tom Servo - yeah, not really impressed with that. Not a big deal I suppose, and probably utterly unenforceable. But, it probably makes the lawyers feel all warm and fuzzy.

I mean, if I sign up, download the stuff, run a playtest and report back, are they really going to check if my players have signed up too? How would they know?

I suspect the part of the response form that says "who did you play" with will give you away...

 

[Bedrockgames]

Signed up, but haven't received any email updates.

 

[IronWolf]

Tom Servo - yeah, not really impressed with that. Not a big deal I suppose, and probably utterly unenforceable. But, it probably makes the lawyers feel all warm and fuzzy.

Right now they have just said "should" sign up. I can respect that, but "should" is a big difference from "required" to sign up. And I agree, not really enforceable or even really worth enforcing. If anything it is more useful for gathering how many people play tested than anything else.

I agree though, not super impressed, but I am sure they have certain things they need to do to feel protected. I guess.

I suspect the part of the response form that says "who did you play" with will give you away...

To which you either might not have to answer. Even if you do, I doubt they are going to take the time to track down just who downloaded as well. It just doesn't seem to gain them much when what they are really interested in is how did the session go.

In either case, given that Mearls said "should" I am not too worried about it. Not sure I will get the chance to run the play test, but I sure plan on taking a read through of it.

 

[Hussar]

I suspect the part of the response form that says "who did you play" with will give you away...

Yeah, I really can't see them wasting the time cross checking this. They're going to have thousands of responses. Trying to cross check who played with whom would be a huge time sink.