An open letter to WoTC

[Vicente]

Nope, you are right - not every platform does. But there are lots of companies coming up with a mobile version of their site that does work on a multitude of devices.

And I agree - a native app would be great (and preferred), but in reality a decent mobile web version would be just fine. At this point we are about a year and a half in and no signs of anything that will work on the tablets I am seeing more and more of at the gaming table.

Those new mobiles sites, and having them working in multiple devices do not come for free, they come up with development hours. And I see no indication anywhere that WotC would had done that extra support work if they had gone with a web app, so we would be probably in the same situation: tools only working in a few platforms.

Correct. But there are choices that would minimize the development hours needed to make the adjustments and provide a choice in platforms to access the data.

Anything can be done with enough development hours. Smart choices and a strategy just require fewer development hours.

I can agree that porting with a web app takes less time than porting with a native app. But developing a complex web app takes longer than a native app, so I don't think development would have been minimized overall. Maybe the project would had died under the weight of the initial development and we would have no character builder at all.

Either way, in the end it seems your problem is not so much with using .NET (as C++ would have had the same problems you comment for example) but with doing a native app. And the debate of native apps vs web apps has no clear winner.

 

[Alan Shutko]

Either way, in the end it seems your problem is not so much with using .NET (as C++ would have had the same problems you comment for example) but with doing a native app. And the debate of native apps vs web apps has no clear winner.

Native apps are nice, but Silverlight does not make a native app. It's yet another sandboxed cross-platform framework that neither feels like nor looks like native apps.

 

[Vicente]

Native apps are nice, but Silverlight does not make a native app. It's yet another sandboxed cross-platform framework that neither feels like nor looks like native apps.

It is true that Silverlight is not technically native in a PC (it is on WP7 and Xbox360) as when running out of browser what it does is run under a hidden browser. But the styling of a Silverlight app is the same of a WPF app, so except for the fact that is running inside a browser, it looks exactly the same as a native app (and if running OOB, there are no clues if it's WPF or Silverlight).

 

[renau1g]

This is the five point plan I champion for DDI

1. End the monthly subscription to the product.
2. Give away the Core Tools for free (Character Builder, Compendium, Monster Builder). The only material that would be included in these would be the Player's Handbook 1, Dungeon Master's Guide 1, and Monster Manual 1
3. Upon the release of each new book / product, I would sell that products info. Example, Complete Warrior comes out. For $X, you purchase the Complete Warrior Digital Rules and that data is added to your Core Tools. Once purchased, that rule set is yours forever and is always associated with your Core Tools.
4. Dungeon and Dragon would continue being published as is, but cost $Y to purchase and add the content to your Core Tools. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the two publications for a discounted rate.
5. As time went by, I would add older editions to the Core Tools with the same model to make revenue on WotC's back catalog.

Yeah.......... that's not going to happen I suspect. Why would they give up a sustainable revenue stream for this? Then the revenues will spike up and down, not good for running a business. With DDI, they get a nice, stable amount of $x/month, or $x/whatever you end up subbing. Also, because it's an opt-out/recurring payment, people are less likely to cancel as opposed to having to opt in to buy new fangled source book X. Paizo does the same thing with their AP subscription and they seem to be doing pretty well too. It's a way better model than selling piecemeal.

Edit: I do like your point about adding in older material. They could earn some additional revenue even from people who won't play 4e/5e, but want the classic material.

 

[the Jester]

This is the five point plan I champion for DDI

1. End the monthly subscription to the product.
2. Give away the Core Tools for free (Character Builder, Compendium, Monster Builder). The only material that would be included in these would be the Player's Handbook 1, Dungeon Master's Guide 1, and Monster Manual 1
3. Upon the release of each new book / product, I would sell that products info. Example, Complete Warrior comes out. For $X, you purchase the Complete Warrior Digital Rules and that data is added to your Core Tools. Once purchased, that rule set is yours forever and is always associated with your Core Tools.
4. Dungeon and Dragon would continue being published as is, but cost $Y to purchase and add the content to your Core Tools. Alternatively, you can subscribe to the two publications for a discounted rate.
5. As time went by, I would add older editions to the Core Tools with the same model to make revenue on WotC's back catalog.

How is this good for WotC?

 

[falcarrion]

Wotc needs to get the ball rolling on pdfs of their products. just look at what Piazo recently did. They created a pdf designed for tablets of the core rules. This pdf was well thought out and executed. If you had an orginal pdf of the core rules, you got the tablet version for free. This is how pdfs should be made. They could start with pdfs then update the DDI.
Since they are not doing pdfs. What makes you think they will even do apps.
There lack of vision of the mobile market is sad.

 

[renau1g]

Since they are not doing pdfs. What makes you think they will even do apps.
There lack of vision of the mobile market is sad.

Apps are harder to pirate (especially on Apple) vs a PDF that I could grab off certain sites in less than a minute.

 

[IronWolf]

Apps are harder to pirate (especially on Apple) vs a PDF that I could grab off certain sites in less than a minute.

The thing is pirates are going to pirate. A quick search now turns up plenty of 4e PDFs. So they still haven't prevented piracy, but managed to disappoint and frustrate customers that would *pay* for PDFs.

 

[falcarrion]

I would love to see them do an app. But I don't see it happening. While others are doing pdfs. We see nothing from WOTC. I guess for WOTC it is " once biten twice shy."

 

[Amurayi]

And where is your "open letter"? All I see is a weak rant...