D&D Game Table not Mac-Compatible at launch

[SPoD]

Similar conversation here:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=204368

A similar conversation to start, but one that has been entirely derailed into, "Then you should buy a PC, because Macs are dumb. Sucks to be you."

I don't want a PC, I don't have room in my studio apartment for a second computer (much less the money to buy one), and I don't have an Intel-based Mac, so I can't boot in Windows. I wanted to have a conversation about what WOTC could do to fix this for Mac gamers, not about whether or not I had made the right life choice in being Mac gamer!

 

[Twowolves]

Sadly, this has turned my opinion of DnD Insider from, "cautiously optimistic" to "angry and annoyed" because it means that I won't get to use it. I only own a Mac. At work, I use only a Mac. I've never used a PC in my life, in fact, and I'm not about to start now

"I only own a Commodore 64. At work, I use only a Commodore 64. I've never used a Mac in my life, in fact, and I'm not about to start now....."


Seriously, when one operating system/platform/whatever runs over 90% of the computers in the entire world, why would anyone who intentionally refuses to even gain basic familiarity with that system complain when their small slice of the computing pie isn't immediately afforded the resources and manpower as PCs? It's like complaining about a band's new release only being on CD, and having to wait months for it to come out on 8-track. Or, more correctly, being released on CD and you only have an iPod.

There are ways to work around this. You can run Windows on a Mac, or you can wait until they release the DI for Mac. You intentionally choose to work with a system that is a minority in the computing market, you also choose not to even try to learn anything about the biggest system in the world, so as I see it, you therefore choose to wait for new computer software to be made compatible with your niche-like operating system. Why complain now?

edit: I see you already replied while I was typing.

I don't want a PC, I don't have room in my studio apartment for a second computer (much less the money to buy one), and I don't have an Intel-based Mac, so I can't boot in Windows. I wanted to have a conversation about what WOTC could do to fix this for Mac gamers, not about whether or not I had made the right life choice in being Mac gamer!

What can WoTC do to "fix" this? I'd say putting their limited manpower and resources to work to make the best possible product/resource for the greatest number of people is hardly something "broken" and in need of "fixing". Other than that, they will make the DI Mac compatible as soon as they are able and when they determine it to be financially viable.

 

[crazy_cat]

Why is it any sort of suprise to anybody that they are focussing efforts on developing the computer based part of the 4e package for the most popular computer platform?

 

[Agamon]

I'm a PC user, but once this one is done with, it's Mac time for me. In fact, my gaming laptop is getting old, I might be getting an iBook sooner than later. Lucky for me the Insider isn't anything I care about. I feel for the Mac users though. I know Macs aren't gaming computers, but this gives new meaning to that...

 

[SPoD]

I posted this in a new thread, but was shepherded over here:

So, according to the news on the front page regarding the 4E Q&A seminar, when asked point blank about what platforms would be able to access the DnD Insider content, the panel members responded, "Starting with PC, because there are more."

Sadly, this has turned my opinion of DnD Insider from, "cautiously optimistic" to "angry and annoyed" because it means that I won't get to use it. I only own a Mac. At work, I use only a Mac. I've never used a PC in my life, in fact, and I'm not about to start now for a D&D subscription. (Please don't turn this thread into an argument convincing me to use a PC, that's not the point.)

So I'm going to be left out of the "glorious new vision" of online D&D for who-knows-how-long. A year? Two years? Or will it be two years, followed by, "Our research indicates that not enough Mac users are interested in our service to warrant the cost." Or will it show up, only for me to find that I can only play D&D online with other Mac players, because they couldn't be bothered to make cross-platform play an option?

I know I will still be able to access Dragon and Dungeon digital magazines--actually, I don't KNOW that, I just assume it, so there's still room for disappointment there. But all of the online tools that will make Insider worth $120 a year are certain to be unavailable to me, which means I'm stuck either paying $10 a month for a severely truncated set of content compared to the rest of you, or I don't pay the subscription and miss out on Dragon and Dungeon anyway.

What I would like to see is this:
1.) Obviously, my first choice would be for Mac content to be ready at launch, but since that's already been shot down, I would like to see a hard-and-fast date for launching Mac content. I need to know when I can expect to be playing online, because it WILL influence my 4th Edition purchasing decisions.
2.) Guarantees on whether a Mac version would be able to play online with PC users.
3.) (Least likely, but most needed) A partial subscription option that allows me to subscribe to the parts of DnD Insider that will be Mac-compatible without paying for the parts that won't be. If I could pay $5 a month just for digital Dragon/Dungeon and the website itself, I would do it in without blinking. (Assuming, again, that even Dragon/Dungeon will be in a cross-platform format. They might not be.)

Anyone else in the same boat? Any other ideas on how they could keep Mac gamers from abanoning them?

Now, since I've already seen the responses here, let me add:

1.) I don't want a PC. I don't care how much better it will supposedly make my life, I have limited room in my apartment for a second computer set-up and even more limited time to learn how to use an entirely different OS. I suck at computer stuff. I use a Mac for work, and always have, so it's not a matter of what's more useful, it's a matter of what is used in the graphic design indutry in this city, and that's Macs, across the board.
2.) And I don't have the money to spare anyway, not on both a $500 PC and $120 a year on DnD Insider. Buying the PC would render me incapable of affording the subscription anyway!
3.) I have a last-generation PPC Mac, so no Intel chip, no Boot Camp. I use the same type of Mac at work, and while they tell me they are upgrading soon, I can't really play D&D at work anyway (though I could at least read the magazines, if they were also PC-only). I certainly can't afford a new Mac!

So, are there any other thoughts BESIDES "Sucks to be you for using a Mac!"?

 

[Mr. Patient]

Why is it any sort of suprise to anybody that they are focussing efforts on developing the computer based part of the 4e package for the most popular computer platform?

I think it's surprising if you assumed that Insider was going to be a Web portal of some kind, and thus platform-independent, rather than (at least partly) a client installed on your local machine. I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't expecting *that*. And it's a drag. Obviously it makes sense for WotC to target Windows, but I can still be disappointed, can't I?

 

[Nifft]

Huh, Blizzard supports macs... maybe I'll just play WoW instead.

Oh well, -- N

 

[Enforcer]

This comes as no surprise to me, but given the cross-platform compatibility of many web applications, I don't understand why they didn't choose that route. Why intentionally exclude 5-10% (total guesstimation--could be less, may even be more considering the Mac's higher market share for personal, non-office computers compared to all computers) of your customers?

Given the strong increases in sales and market share for Macs in the past few years, one would think the argument that "Windows is on almost every computer" wouldn't be as compelling, especially as a huge portion of Windows PCs are in workplaces. Oh well, if I have to choose between a computing experience I hate just to get some 4e goodies vs. a computing experience that I love but doesn't include said goodies, that's an easy choice. But it does look like yet another reason for me to upgrade to an Intel Mac with Parallels or VMWare.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Huh, Blizzard supports macs... maybe I'll just play WoW instead.

The winning post of the thread!

Not only that, Blizzard supports macs with near simultaneous releases, if I am correct.

More seriously, I thought it would be a web-centric, standards-based platform. A standards-based web-browser platform would also open it up to Linux and other Unix flavors. It makes so much sense to have gone that way, particularly considering the imminent explosion in smart-phone sales. To be able to get D&D insider via a wireless handset could have been a killer-app for us gamers.

Oh well.

 

[Abisashi]

I think it's surprising if you assumed that Insider was going to be a Web portal of some kind, and thus platform-independent, rather than (at least partly) a client installed on your local machine. I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't expecting *that*. And it's a drag. Obviously it makes sense for WotC to target Windows, but I can still be disappointed, can't I?

This seems strange to me as well, but I understand them not doing solely server-side services to get better graphics. I think it is kind of dumb, but every time I hear people ooh and ah over pretty non-game interfaces I remember that I seem to be of the minority opinion. It is strangely... ironic? that these pretty interfaces are often on Apple products, but that your Apple product is now denying you access because Wizards went with a pretty interface. Sorry