mamba
Legend
at no point did I say they did, but if they want / care about my money they better align with my values. If they don’t then why would I support them. It is part of the effort they have to make to get what they want, my money
D&D General Bob World Builder Recreates WOTC's "Do You Like Me?" Survey!
- Thread starter SlyFlourish
- Start date
"We’re proud to report that SRD 5.2 will be released within weeks of the release of the 2025 Monster Manual!" I swear I heard somewhere that it'd be out before the end of February. And yes, I'm aware that one could read "weeks" as 270 weeks but let's assume some good faith here. They didn't have to say anything at all.
What does that trust look like? For me, the only answer is a series of Ulysses pacts – things they do that they can't later take back. I don't think its reasonable for them to only build trust with things that don't help them as a company. That's not their charge. They're not the government. They're not a not-for-profit. Why would we treat them like they are? We buy (or rent) products from them.
But when they do things that help the RPG community and cannot be taken back, I think that's worthy of note:
- Publishing physical core books.
- Putting the 5.1 and 5.2 SRDs into the CC along with multiple languages.
- Putting out educational resources in PDF (so they can be downloaded and kept).
- Supporting downloadable digital platforms like Foundry.
The only other big one I have on my list is them releasing their products in PDF. This is a big Ulysses pact. They do it for all their non-5e materials, which is great. We have 50 years of D&D products we can store on our hard drive and thumb drive. There's Print on Demand versions too, which we can order and keep on our shelves for a hundred years.
I don't think we should pressure them to only do things that benefit us and not them. That doesn't make sense to ask of a commercial publicly traded company. But pushing them to give us things we can keep forever. Things that keep the game open forever. That's a big benefit. Then we don't need to trust them – because we can't.
KYRON45
Hero
Aldarc
Legend
I wish that WotC would put 4e D&D into CC but I doubt that will ever happen.
mamba
Legend
no I did not, the first quote is about you (general you) the customer not caring how the company treats others. For the company that still is all just about getting my money and what they have to do for it.
good day to you too
I'll be honest... I'll never get the whole "they need to rebuild trust with me" thing. Because what does trust actually get me? Nothing, as far as I can tell.
To me... a company releases a product. I either want it and thus buy it... or I don't. How I feel about the company doesn't play into it. Even if two companies release similar products, I'll choose the one I want more... and I never give or take "trust" into account. Trust is something I worry about or build when it is a lasting relationship I'm going to have... but a singular purchase isn't that. It's a one-time deal. So I either do the deal or I don't and that's the end of it. But that's just me.
To me... a company releases a product. I either want it and thus buy it... or I don't. How I feel about the company doesn't play into it. Even if two companies release similar products, I'll choose the one I want more... and I never give or take "trust" into account. Trust is something I worry about or build when it is a lasting relationship I'm going to have... but a singular purchase isn't that. It's a one-time deal. So I either do the deal or I don't and that's the end of it. But that's just me.
Maxperson
Morkus from Orkus
It means that they have consistently not done things to screw over the customers and 3PP providers, which after what they have done means something.
Maybe it's a viewpoint thing. I will go and happily pay more money for food that isn't as good(but still good) at a place with great service, but won't go back to a place that is less expensive and has fantastic food, but has bad service.
I don't have an issue with companies making profit, but if they mistreat me or those that I care about, they will be dead to me unless they can earn my business back. A good product isn't enough. I can get good products elsewhere.
Vaalingrade
Legend
Some people don't want to give their money to an entity they know will openly and brazenly do things they are morally opposed to with it. Like paying Pinkertons.
And they want to be convinced that the company has learned something and will stop.
I mean they won't and I'm just settled on never giving them money again, but hope springs eternal for some.
Well, 'service' is something different. With service we're now talking two separate things-- the object we are acquiring, and the actions and methods of the company (the service) that gets us said object.
But in this case WotC doesn't provide us with the service to acquire the object, they are only responsible for the object itself. The 'service' would be the business that I acquired said object from-- so for instance if Barnes & Noble got me my object quicker / more helpful / better conditioned than say Amazon did, then I'd go with B&N. Or if supporting a small business meant more than the price... getting the object from a game store instead of a big brand store. But in either case... the actions of WotC do not impact the service I receive in acquiring my rulebook, so I do not believe your statement matters in this case.
Is service important? In many things, absolutely. But not in this one, because the service is the store I get the book from, and WotC does not play a hand in my decision in that.
