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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 7684350" data-attributes="member: 3285">We <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2949-D-D-Does-Digital-Part-I-MUDs-MMORPGs#.VioSL2v_JX8" target="_blank">previously discussed the rise of MUDs and MMORPGs</a>, led by D&D clones that mimicked the tabletop game's innovations while leaving the company that owned the brand (TSR and later Wizards of the Coast) behind.  With the advent of networked audio and video tools, a new innovation came to pen-and-paper gaming: the virtual tabletop. Virtual tabletops seemed like an obvious evolution for tabletop gaming, but the path to a viable tabletop platform was so arduous that WOTC never succeeded in pulling it off.[ATTACH=full]281486[/ATTACH]<h3>VTTs: Dancey's Answer to MMORPGs</h3>Virtual game tables have always been top-of-mind for WOTC. Wizards always knew that gamers wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons online. Ever since their <a href="http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/wotcdemo.html" target="_blank">2000 survey of tabletop gamers</a>, 51% reported that they played a game on the Internet and 50% wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons over the Internet with others.Frank Mentzer, <a href="http://www.eldritchent.com/page/Frank-Mentzer.aspx" target="_blank">father of the BECMI version of D&D</a>, shared in an interview that online play was where gaming was heading:Ryan Dancey, formerly the Dungeons & Dragons brand manager for Wizards of the Coast, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?315800-4-Hours-w-RSD-Escapist-Bonus-Column#ixzz3mfyRSmqF" target="_blank">shared his opinion on ENWorld</a> about where D&D could compete with the MMORPG market:Way back in 2007 when Wizards of the Coast <a href="https://www.patreon.com/http//dnd4.com/the-dungeons-dragons-insider-package" target="_blank">announced 4th Edition</a>, several changes were planned for Dungeons & Dragons' online presence. Gleemax was to become the new social networking site for gamers, Dungeon Magazine and Dragon Magazine became PDF-only publications as part of <a href="http://www.wizards.com/dnd/tools.aspx" target="_blank">D&D Insider</a>, and there was one additional feature that had everyone excited: the virtual game table. The Virtual Game Table would finally address that need. According to the <a href="http://wizards.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wizards.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2128" target="_blank">Wizards FAQ</a>:Three years later, things didn't quite turn out that way. Dungeon and Dragon Magazine became part of Dungeons & Dragons Insider, with free- and subscription-only content. <a href="http://gleemax.com/" target="_blank">Gleemax</a> was cancelled, replaced by The Wizards Community. And the virtual game table? Nowhere to be found.The <a href="http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/26286405/The_Dungeons__Dragons_Virtual_Table" target="_blank">D&D Virtual Table</a> was resurrected on November 22, 2010, and then killed off...again. <a href="http://community.wizards.com/talien3/mail/view_broadcast.one?mid=Mjg4NzM2Mw==" target="_blank">WOTC Josh explained</a> why the virtual table was cancelled:It turned out there was quite a bit of drama behind the scenes. Dancey <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5765766-post205.html" target="_blank">explained</a> how the D&D brand failed to meet its $50 million sales goals by transitioning to an online format. He shared a pivotal moment in that failure: a sad story of domestic abuse.That tragedy was the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170319142104/http://kotaku.com/5032443/xbox-developer-dead-in-murder-suicide" target="_blank">murder/suicide of Melissa and Joseph Batten</a>. The effect on the gaming industry was far-reaching.<h3>Tragedy Strikes</h3>Melissa Batten was a Harvard-educated lawyer and Software Development Engineer in Test for Microsoft, supporting Rare on their Xbox 360 titles. Working for Microsoft since 2002, she earned credits in games such as Halo 3 and Gears of War 2. When she was previously a public defender for the Mecklenburg County Public Defender’s Office.Joseph Batten's <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/josephbatten" target="_blank">LinkedIn profile</a> (now defunct) listed him as Senior Manager, Digital Technology Projects for Wizards of the Coast since February 2008. Prior to that he was Senior Technical Producer for just three months, with responsibilities for supporting <a href="http://Gleemax.com" target="_blank">http://Gleemax.com</a>, integrating Dungeons & Dragons Insider (DDI) with Gleemax, and overseeing the back-end infrastructure that all of Wizards of the Coast multiplayer games run on.Melissa had <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080805193242/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008085333_murdersuicide01m.html" target="_blank">obtained a restraining order</a> against Joseph the week before her death:Melissa moved to an apartment on 156th Avenue Northeast in Redmond, where she was staying with a friend. Evidence indicated that Joseph had <a href="http://www.redmond-reporter.com/news/26381294.html" target="_blank">sinister plans for his estranged wife</a>:Joseph confronted Melissa in the parking lot, shooting her several times with a 9-mm handgun and then shot himself in the head.<h3>D&D Virtual Tabletop</h3>The collapse of the Dungeons & Dragons Virtual Table left a void filled by a few competitors. One was GameTableOnline, who coded and developed the Virtual Table for Wizards of the Coast and <a href="http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/29220129/Virtual_Table_does_not_work_with_Java_1.7&post_num=4#521719735" target="_blank">intended to keep it alive</a>.Robert Eng, Vice-President of GameTable Online, <a href="http://community.wizards.com/talien3/mail/view_broadcast.one?mid=Mjg4OTcwOQ==" target="_blank">sent a broadcast</a> to the Wizards of the Coast Online Roleplaying Game group updating members on the status of the D&D Virtual Table and how it would transition to RPG Table Online (RPGTO). In late September GameTable Online signed an agreement with Wizards of the Coast to adopt the D&D VT system and hosted it at <a href="http://www.rpgtableonline.com/" target="_blank">RPGTableOnline.com</a>. This enabled RPGTO to use Fourth Edition D&D content but as part of the requirement it also offered non-D&D content and could not be labelled an "official D&D product."It didn't last.  GameTable Online shut down at the end of 2014 with <a href="http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c4207ae52b06b95121e064a82&id=a91b14dbeb" target="_blank">plans to relaunch under Knetik Media in 2015</a>:The titles referenced are for digital versions of WOTC's board games. WOTC had other plans for VTTs with Fifth Edition Dungeons & Dragons.<h3>Escaping the Dungeon Online</h3>Wizards of the Coast announced a new licensee in 2014, Trapdoor Technologies, who would be <a href="http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/news/morningstar" target="_blank">responsible for providing digital support</a> for the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons:So who was the company taking on a task where so many failed? According to Trapdoor Technologies' <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/trapdoor-publishing-technologies" target="_blank">LinkedIn Profile</a>:They didn't get very far. The beta for the DungeonScape platform was abruptly cancelled in October 2014, as <a href="http://www.trapdoortechnologies.com/dungeonscape/" target="_blank">announced on the web site</a>:Wizards responded with a <a href="http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/digital_tools_announcement" target="_blank">terse release of their own</a>:The statement made it clear that it was Wizards who ended the relationship with Trapdoor Technologies. But Dungeonscape wasn't dead yet.<h3>Paizo Gives it a Shot</h3>The Trapdoor Technologies team believed they could leverage the work that went into the Dungeonscape platform:The company rebranded Dungeonscape to Codename: Morningstar (returning to its original beta name) to support the Pathfinder SRD and launched a Kickstarter to fund it. <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trapdoortech/codename-morningstar/posts/1099432" target="_blank">It achieved only $74,000 of its $425,000 goa</a>l:Eventually, Morningstar was <a href="http://www.trapdoortechnologies.com/playbook/blog/a-resurrection-of-sorts-2/" target="_blank">reborn as Playbook</a>:Morningstar wasn't the first attempt to leverage Pathfinder for a virtual tabletop. <a href="http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5ldn1?Paizo-announces-Paizo-Game-Space#22" target="_blank">Paizo announced Game Space</a> in July 2012:Three years on, <a href="http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2quvn?Still-Under-Development" target="_blank">Game Space still hasn't come to fruition</a>.<h3>If You Can't Beat 'Em...</h3>WOTC understood that online play was an important factor in the game's future, such that it affected how the Fifth Edition of D&D was designed.  Mike Mearls, lead designer of D&D, said in an interview:In the end, WOTC stopped trying to develop their own version of a virtual tabletop and <a href="http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/play-dd-fantasy-grounds-virtual-table" target="_blank">endorsed SmiteWorks' Fantasy Grounds instead</a>. All of the rules, classes and monsters available in the core rule books have been converted to be usable within Fantasy Grounds, with plans to include all the core adventures as well.It was a strong endorsement for third parties like SmiteWorks, who have been managing virtual communities successfully for years. Over time these groups have begun to consolidate or disappear (SmiteWorks just <a href="http://www.tabletopconnect.com/smiteworks-acquires-tabletop-connect/" target="_blank">acquired Tabletop Connect</a>); the <a href="http://rpgvirtualtabletop.wikidot.com/the-vts" target="_blank">comprehensive list at the RPG Virtual Tabletop wiki</a> is illustrative of these changes.The Mad Adventurers Society explained <a href="http://www.madadventurers.com/the-future-of-virtual-tabletops-fantasy-grounds-and-5e/" target="_blank">what the endorsement of SmiteWorks meant</a> for Fantasy Ground's major competitor, Roll20, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2957-D-D-Maintains-Its-Lead-In-Orr-Groups-Q3-2015-Report#.VikPBn6rSQw" target="_blank">which now boasts over a million users</a>:Where D&D goes so goes the industry, and Roll20's <a href="http://blog.roll20.net/post/116828584295/the-orr-group-industry-report-q1-2015" target="_blank">industry reports</a> reinforced that trend.  Orr Group co-founder and Roll20 spokesperson Nolan T. Jones said in regards to D&D’s continued popularity surge:<h3>Why is This So Hard?</h3>Dancey summed up the challenges with VTTs:Dancey's vision of iPad technology isn't far off from what Mearls is seeing. It turns out that players <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2015/8/20/9172559/dungeons-dragons-dnd-4th-edition-one-year-later-twitch-youtube" target="_blank">already have the tools they need to play and share online</a>:The Mad Adventurers Society was <a href="http://www.madadventurers.com/the-future-of-virtual-tabletops-fantasy-grounds-and-5e/" target="_blank">less diplomatic</a>:We'll address PDFs in the next installment. For more in the D&D Does Digital series, please see:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2949" target="_blank">Part I: MUDs & MMORPGs</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2963" target="_blank">Part II: Virtual Tabletops</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2980" target="_blank">Part III: PDFs</a></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?2997" target="_blank">Part IV: Online Communities</a></li> </ul></blockquote>

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