Concerned about DI

[blargney the second]

Devyn, I keep reading your posts trying to figure out what it is that's bothering you, but it's just not coming to me. Can you explain?
-blarg

 

[Hjorimir]

Honestly, I’m relieved that the DI is coming. I actually hope that WotC makes millions off of it. Dollar-for-dollar, I cannot even come close to finding another form of entertainment value that RPGs – and D&D in particular – have been for me.

I want D&D to blossom. I want to see a growing market. I want RPGs to be profitable. You see, as profits increase so does the likelihood of companies investing in the products. With those investments we see better production value in what we buy. A better gaming experience is to be had.

I can’t get on board with anybody screaming about WotC making a buck. Anybody who has even a rudimentary knowledge of business models and economics has to realize how vitally important it is for WotC to evolve with technology. The power of the internet medium is simply too great to ignore.

All of the business issues aside, I truly sense that the design of 4E will be for the betterment of the game experience. Will everybody like everything? Of course they won’t. But, that’s to be expected.

I, for one, am now eagerly awaiting May 2008 to see what awaits and I wish WotC the very best of luck.

Who am I kidding, I’m even looking forward to December and January for the preview books, which I will buy with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

 

[Umbran]

As for my comments having less weight ... I became irrelevent to WotC when their decision was made to make "online gamers" (both MMORPG and RPG) their target market for 4E and the support they will provide for the game.

I think, Devyn, that this is where you may be a bit off, jumping to a conclusion based on fragmentary data.

For example (from Didier Monin's Blog):

First, it needs to be said that D&DI will be a part of 4th Edition D&D, but is not required to play D&D. D&DI will facilitate certain tasks and it is up to each of you to pick which parts of D&DI you will choose to use if you become a D&DI subscriber. Obviously, we are planning to make the whole offering attractive, but D&DI applications and web resources will be very modular and varied, reflecting the flexibility of the game itself. Between the game table, the character sheet, the character builder (also called visualizer), the dungeon builder or the encounter builder, these applications, like various pieces of a kit, will be usable independently of each others, or together. It is also important to highlight the fact that the game table can be used for any RPG purpose. It will be particularly well suited to 4th Edition, of course, but not restricted to it.

Nothing I have seen suggests that there'll be less support in the form of physical books than before. it looks like the D&DI will be in addition to all the books they usually publish, rather than instead of. While some of the support for the game may be online-only, it may very well be more on the order of computer tools and Dungeon/Dragon level supplementation.

There's a big difference between pushing some new features that may appeal to an untapped market and actually making that market the actual main target of the game design and publishing strategy.

 

[Numion]

Since Wizards probably makes between $7.50 and $12 for that $30 book, I'd say that $9.95/month is the equivalent of selling you 10-12 books a year. Potentially very worthwhile for them.

And if DI cost $99.95 a month it would be equivalent to selling you 100-120 books a year. w00t!