Blog posts on DDI should be free

[Hussar]

The problem is, there IS a considerable amount of content free to view. Mournblade seems to be complaining that not everything is free to view. See, the bit that was linked, wasn't a blog post, but was a comment contained in another article that was behind the paywall.

Of course, he only knows about the bit behind the paywall because he was reading the free material provided on the site.

 

[Mournblade94]

The problem is, there IS a considerable amount of content free to view. Mournblade seems to be complaining that not everything is free to view.

I don't know how you are getting that I think everything should be free to view. Nowhere did I even complain. I specifically was addressing editorial columns.

See, the bit that was linked, wasn't a blog post, but was a comment contained in another article that was behind the paywall.

Of course, he only knows about the bit behind the paywall because he was reading the free material provided on the site.

That is not correct. The article I was reading was provided by the blog Dungeon Mastery (Not on the DDI site) and linked to an article by James Wyatt (In the DDI pay site). I did not, nor have I ever view anything on DDI beyond its debut in 2008. So no I was not reading the free material on the site.

Direbear corrected me before, and said there is in fact free content on the DDI site. That is exactly what I was posting about, and Direbear cleared it up.

i do not know why you are trying to paint this as if I am complaining about the evils of WOTC, or trying to get content from DDI for free.

Please stop doing that because it is just not correct.

 

[Dire Bare]

SO then they are indeed making parts of it free, which ultimately is all I was suggesting anyway. I must have been clicking all the wrong links. Most of it is brought to my attention by other people.

Well, as you might imagine, the best stuff you have to pay for! While there is some good free content, most of what is free should be free in the sense of "Who'd pay for that?"

 

[Dire Bare]

I can see the wisdom of allowing part of an online magazine be "free to view" as a result. If the entire contents are only visible once you buy it... how do you know you want it?

I suppose that's one of the challenges of a e-format versus a paper format. The specific format DDI uses I think pushes people to gauge the site on an article by article basis, rather than a issue by issue basis.

I love my daily content on DDI, but I wonder if they wouldn't have better been served by a monthly release of an e-magazine instead.

Sooooo, when do we get Pathfinder Online?!?!?

 

[evileeyore]

Yes I am a leech on the system.

It's nice when people agree.

There is nothing wrong with reading magazines on a bookstore rack.

Would you also say there is nothing wrong with IP theft and piracy?

You read an entire magazine and then do not buy it. And you don't see anything wrong with that?

It is one thing if your friend has bought it and lent it to you. It was purchased. It is another to read it with out any purchasing going on.

For the record I probably never read a whole magazine in a bookstore. More likely what I do is read an entire article. If the magazine still has many more good articles I usually buy it, read it, and it litters my floor until my wife tells me to throw it away which I will not do incase I need to reference the article at a later date which I never do.

Backpeddle moar.

Admin here. Did you miss the warning above? Enough with the personal attacks, please. ~ PCat

 

[James Jacobs]

I suppose that's one of the challenges of a e-format versus a paper format. The specific format DDI uses I think pushes people to gauge the site on an article by article basis, rather than a issue by issue basis.

I love my daily content on DDI, but I wonder if they wouldn't have better been served by a monthly release of an e-magazine instead.

Sooooo, when do we get Pathfinder Online?!?!?

Probably not until several months after I can no longer count our web department's employees on a tyrannosaurus's fingers.

A robust online offering like the DDI for Pathfinder would be awesome, but it's not something we have the resources to do anytime soon. That said... there does seem to be a lot of fan-created content popping up here and there, which is kinda the whole point of sticking with a completely open rules system!

 

[Lanefan]

When Dragon was in print and I could flip through it in a store, I'd end up buying maybe 1 in 4 because regardless of what game edition they were writing about there'd always eventually be something I'd find useful or amusing or both.

Now it's gone electronic it's an ironclad guarantee I'll be buying 0 in 4. Pity.

Lanefan

 

[Windjammer]

My 2 cents: it's the same as WotC' decision to move product pitches (like Slavicsek's otherwise frankly useless "Ampersand" column, or even most editorials) and previously free content like map and art galleries of their products (another free preview opportunity missed, to echo James Jacobs' observation) behind the DDI pay wall.

These decisions have absolutely nothing to do with inciting people to subscribe. Non-4e-ists, or non-DDI 4E DMs like myself, are at best mildly interested in that material and won't start to subscribe to DDI just to get access to it. No, what this expresses is WotC' attempt to artificially bloat the material accessible for extant subscribers. There's a significant shortage of content, let alone good content, in the e-magazines already. It's not rare these months to look at a magazine's TOC and see, "oh geez, so Rob Schwalb wrote again a whole volume of Dungeon" and "Ari Marmell wrote another entire volume of Dragon". It's filler, and a lot of it strikes me as trite from casual perusal.

Seriously, if WotC had plenty of quality material to put into their e-magazines we wouldn't have the debates on why this or that isn't actually free. Seriously, getting DDI subscribers to pay for product pitches, how lame can it get?

 

[Jack99]

Seriously, if WotC had plenty of quality material to put into their e-magazines we wouldn't have the debates on why this or that isn't actually free. Seriously, getting DDI subscribers to pay for product pitches, how lame can it get?

These are not debates, but just lame attempts at covert edition wars. Now, if there was a lot of debate amongst 4e players and DDI subscribes as to the quality, then you might have a point. But considering that polls taken here show a 95% (or something along those lines) of DDI users being satisfied (or better) with what they get for their chomp change, then this "debate" just seems to boil down to:
1)I like WotC - I do not like WotC
or
2) I like 4e - I do not like 4e.

 

[Hussar]

I don't know how you are getting that I think everything should be free to view. Nowhere did I even complain. I specifically was addressing editorial columns.



That is not correct. The article I was reading was provided by the blog Dungeon Mastery (Not on the DDI site) and linked to an article by James Wyatt (In the DDI pay site). I did not, nor have I ever view anything on DDI beyond its debut in 2008. So no I was not reading the free material on the site.

Direbear corrected me before, and said there is in fact free content on the DDI site. That is exactly what I was posting about, and Direbear cleared it up.

i do not know why you are trying to paint this as if I am complaining about the evils of WOTC, or trying to get content from DDI for free.

Please stop doing that because it is just not correct.

Actually Mournblade, you're right. I went back and reread things and you're correct. I over reacted. My bad. Serves me right for not reading so clearly.

For the record, I never called you, nor even wanted to call you a leech. That's way above and beyond, and, I think I fanned the flames there, so, I gotta wear a bit of that. My bad.