D&D General Interview with D&D VP Jess Lanzillo on Comicbook.com

[Oofta]

it isn’t, it’s basically the same thing in digital.

I don't see an issue with a company selling people things that find valuable as long as people get what they expect.

The difference is that now 13 or 15 year olds spend hundreds of dollars on it that they do not have, but other than that it is essentially the same.

If a parent is not controlling a kid's spending, it's not the company's fault. Also not particularly relevant.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I don't see an issue with a company selling people things that find valuable as long as people get what they expect.



If a parent is not controlling a kid's spending, it's not the company's fault. Also not particularly relevant.

100%

Which is why I suck as a parent…

“Dad, can I have this expansion for video game x?” Uh, do you have any allowance left?

“no…”

Ok. Just this time (said 4 times a month or more)

That is not an XBox/roblox/microsoft problem! That a me problem!!!

 

[mamba]

I don't see an issue with a company selling people things that find valuable as long as people get what they expect.

there are limits though I assume, or would you legalize crack and murder for hire?

We just draw the line where we think things start to become a little objectionable in a different place

 

[Oofta]

Because there's a printable PDF of those? And in many cases you can get POD of them. Also, they're not purporting to be official, which does make a difference.


I mean, it is different, because those books physically existed lol.

As others have stated, if you want a PDF you can create them using free tools by copying the content and downloading it.

It clearly does to a great number of people or a lot of this discussion wouldn't be occurring. I think if WotC offered printable PDFs this would be a lesser issue. But they don't and appear to have no intention of doing so whilst any form of 5E is "current". They only offer the Beyond website and possibly app (I forget if the current app lets you read books), which means you're essentially locked to digital devices to use this content (you can currently print from the website but it's not great).

I have the app and have used it while I didn't have connection. I had access to everything I'd purchased including the books.

More importantly, digital exclusives in the case of something that's both digital and physical are usually stage 1 in enshittification. I know your - quite reasonable - position is "If it gets rubbish, I'll just dump it! Corporations going to corporate!", but I think a lot of people feel like they'd like it to, y'know, not get rubbish. Obviously if it does they can and should abandon it (though some will not of course). Also, some people are interested in warning signs here, because D&D Beyond represents quite a notable financial investment, in both buying individual books and subscribing, so if it start on a "dark path", maybe it's better to stop buying stuff on Beyond at that point, rather than to keep dumping in hundreds of dollars only to realize a year or two from then that it's going somewhere you really don't like.

I feel like, and this is not an attack, I respect that you achieved this, you have more financial flexibility than some people, maybe a lot of people, so you investing hundreds of dollars into Beyond and then potentially at some point going "Idiots, they've ruined it!" and just stopping using it when it does get bad (as I believe you've suggested you would happily do if it did) is less consequential than for some people. This is a hobby where some people are dropping like $100 a year on the game (or less) and others are able to spend literally thousands of dollars. There's quite a diversity there. And for people closer to the $100 end (which I am nearer, despite being on a much higher income than most people in the UK), being able to anticipate or see warning signs this may well be more significantly beneficial.

Who says I spend hundreds of dollars on DDB? But even if I did we have people who admit they've spent thousands of dollars on terrain. If they want to spend their money that way or spending $20 for lunch by going out to eat every day more power to them. But I'm not worried about the "what might happen" bogeyman. If they go a direction I don't want I'll cancel my subscription. My particular hobby is still cheap, especially compared to things like MtG.

We live in a capitalist society. There are certain corporate shenanigans such as buying out the competition to create de facto monopolies, making it nearly impossible to cancel ongoing payments like some cable companies have done, hidden fees like airlines and so on. I don't see WotC doing those things with D&D.

I actually largely agree here, though one thing to note is a lot of digital stuff has a tendency to be suddenly snatched away, but that's a whole other can of worms.

I actually disagree with @mamba that the main problem microtransactions create is financial harm. Gambling-style ones do and should be absolutely condemned out of hand, but I think unless WotC completely lose their mind, those are unlikely. That said, if they do that with say, digital minis, and if so, obviously that'd be pretty contemptible (especially as they're almost always non-trade-able unlike physical stuff). But I think regulation/legislation/potential bans in European and Asian countries will probably keep them away from that.

The real harm of microtransaction-heavy platforms is that they tend to, over time, increasingly attempt to funnel users into purchasing microtransactions, to the point of reshaping functionality and systems to encourage that. As this is a novel product it's impossible to say exactly what form this would take, but it might, for example, involve locking mechanical content behind purchasing microtransaction figurines (or force-bundling them or w/e).

Offering visual effects for sale doesn't bother me. There is no way they can force a DM to allow a player to use a purchased option and it already is and always has been an issue. As far as what could happen? I'll worry about the terrible things and the site going to hell in a handbasket when and if happens. As I said above, I don't think an alien AI zombie nanobot apocalypse can be completely ruled out either. There's no indication either one is ever going to happen.

 

[Oofta]

there are limits though I assume, or would you legalize crack and murder for hire?

We just draw the line where we think things start to become a little objectionable in a different place

How is selling visual effects objectionable? Especially when we already have the same thing on other VTTs and physical minis/terrain/dice?

 

[mamba]

How is selling visual effects objectionable? Especially when we already have the same thing on other VTTs and physical minis/terrain/dice?

Do you consider loot boxes objectionable?

I have no problem with selling visual effects to adults, I do not think kids have enough impulse control (well, that might be true for some adults as well) and this is squarely aimed at kids

 

[Oofta]

Do you consider loot boxes objectionable?

There will never be loot boxes for sale. And no, I don't buy "but there could be".

I have no problem with selling visual effects to adults, I do not think kids have enough impulse control (well, that might be true for some adults as well) and this is squarely aimed at kids

That is a parent issue. Same argument could be said for virtually anything that can be purchased online.

 

[mamba]

There will never be loot boxes for sale. And no, I don't buy "but there could be".

that wasn’t my question, I am not expecting that either

That is a parent issue. Same argument could be said for virtually anything that can be purchased online.

and I do not see this as a parent problem only, If you had be 18 to use the VTT, no problem, if you target 14 year olds, there are stricter limits for what you can do

 

[KYRON45]

Disagree.

The dichotomy is between the game being an in-person social experience and a remote much-less-social experience. You can't do both at once, if for no other reason than that "in-person" and "remote" can't happen at the same time.

And any attempt to turn the former into the latter should IMO be met with the sternest possible resistance. We're becoming less and less well-socialized as a society as it is, which is bad in every way. No need to encourage the trend.

I've played both remote and in person. The only difference between the two is we can't touch one another. There wasn't any touching going on in person anyway so....the difference is what you make it.

 

[LordEntrails]

and I do not see this as a parent problem only, If you had be 18 to use the VTT, no problem, if you target 14 year olds, there are stricter limits for what you can do

You have to have a credit card or banking account of some type to be able to purchase things online. Kids do not have such things unless parents allow them to.
If the problem exists or arises, it is a parenting problem and is not unique to D&D. Same applies to anything that can be purchased online.