D&D Insider: Losing your toys

[Umbran]

But doesn't it bother anyone else that if you stop subscribing to DDI that your Character Builder and Compendium stop working?

Nope. It is called "software as a service", and is fairly common for web-based applications these days.

I dunno. I really, really don't like that kind of loss of control of my software and data.

Here's a note - it may be your data, but it is not your software. You haven't written a single line of the code, have you?

Even when you "buy" software, you don't actually own it - you have bought a license that allows some uses, and not others. But the software itself is not owned by you.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I don't understand complaining about something that costs only USD5 or so dollars a month. If I worked at Hasbro/WotC and read these sorts of comments I would completely ignore them because if someone is too poor to afford USD5 or so a month they cease being a customer.

If that were my complaint you might have a point. But it's not. So you don't.

What I want is the knowledge that when Wizards (inevitably) moves on I will still be able to fully use the software I have paid for in whatever state Wizards leaves it in. Whether that means frozen in today's form or with another five years of updates is less important than certainty that I can keep however much I have bought and paid for. My subscription fees pay for updates, but once that work is done by Wizards I want to know that the data can be safely backed up and reinstalled as necessary - just like I have all my Civ IV patches saved to my external SAN. On that basis I would buy the annual today.

As for whether WotC will "screw" us, it could happen. I don't believe that Mike Mearls or Keith Baker (as people) would do that, but corporations can make really weird, inhuman decisions occassionally.

By the way, the comparisons to MMORPGs is really off. As many people have noted, you can use the CB and read the magazines without internet access. There are no central servers that need to be maintained or any other costs of any kind (labor, bandwidth, etc.) that accrue to WotC when you do this. A better comparison would be a "subscription" to a standalone game like Civ IV or Age of Empires where you keep getting new units, maps and missions as long as you subscribe. But would you want the game to stop working on your home PC when you stop subscribing? There's just no technical or economic reason for that.

Further, the comparisons to anti-virus is also off. Anti-virus programs are constantly responding to evolving ecosystem of threats. D&D isn't like that since you can "freeze" your D&D game at any point in the rule evolution. If I'm happy with 4E Core Sets 1 and 2 and never want to go beyond that the rational response would be to stop my subscription for updates. That doesn't mean the software I had up to that point should stop. Again, there's no technical or economic reason; it's just a business decision by Wotc and therefore something I can reasonably complain about.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Here's a note - it may be your data, but it is not your software. You haven't written a single line of the code, have you?

<tongue-in-cheek> Wow, I bet you built every last screw and bolt in your car, huh? No? I guess you don't own it then. </tongue-in-cheek>

<serious question> Wouldn't it bother you if your car stopped working the moment the warranty expired? How is this different? </serious question>

 

[Sammael]

I am not exactly pro-WotC, but the business model they chose makes sense.

It also makes sense to sell the Character Builder as a separate application which doesn't expire and doesn't require a DDI account to be activated, but I think its cost would be prohibitive for many (I wouldn't charge less than $100 for it, including all data sets from year 1, and I would charge another $20 for annual updates).

The software business model is evolving. The focus now is less on software products and more on software services. In fact, with internet applications, the distinction between "product" and "service" is really blurring.

For instance, I can totally see WotC creating various web services that expose D&D data and selling access to those services to computer game manufacturers. That way, computer game manufacturers do not need to worry about modelling the game rules, they can just take the data sets and transform them into a format suitable for their game engine. This would work particularly well for MMORPGs, I think because it would provide a constant stream of new content. Obviously, the concept needs work, but I think it's feasable.

 

[Rechan]

Wouldn't it bother you if your car stopped working the moment the warranty expired? How is this different?

Because your car is a product, not a service. Your analogy would work if you were renting the car and stopped paying the rent.

If you're renting a house, and you don't pay rent, the landlord comes in and kicks your ass out.

If you don't pay your electric bill, they shut off your electricity. You never own the power in the first place.

If you have a gym membership, and you opt to not pay the membership, then you can't come in and use the equipment.

The gym membership is a perfect parallel here. You're paying a monthly fee to use someone else's equipment. The only difference is that you use it in your house, rather than in their building.

 

[Echohawk]

<tongue-in-cheek> Wow, I bet you built every last screw and bolt in your car, huh? No? I guess you don't own it then. </tongue-in-cheek>

<serious question> Wouldn't it bother you if your car stopped working the moment the warranty expired? How is this different? </serious question>

In one case, you have bought the car, and the car belongs to you. In the other case, you have bought a software licence, and the software itself does not belong to you. Those seem quite different cases to me.

 

[Cadfan]

So if the character builder were a web application, this thread wouldn't exist?

Like I said earlier, I don't see much point in complaining about the terms of sale of a luxury good.

 

[filthgrinder]

Coming from a software dev. background, I don't have a problem with this model. Subscription based "software as a service" has been around for a long time, and it's these questions have already been discussed and hashed out. This model has survived and we are actually seeing more and more of a trend to it.

Also, as pointed out, WotC has really put out a "non-evil" version of this model. There is a lack of DRM on the data. They put out DRM free PDF's. The character builder's only lock on it is a check for updates. I think when you survey other subscription service software, you'll find this is extremely friendly.

Right now, I look at my $5 a month subscription as a magazine subscription. I happen to get some bonuses with my sub. The character builder is the big bonus.

Anyways, back to the point. The software as a service subscription model debate has really already been done. Thats why you saw some comments where the intent behind the OP questions were unfairly assumed. When you see an old argument being rehashed, you can't help but look at it and go, "well, why would we be sloshing through this AGAIN?"

 

[Mercule]

I'm a web developer and I hate SaaS -- hate, hate, hate. My general philosophy is that if I buy an application that doesn't have functionality that requires a connection (e.g. word processor, spreadsheet, solo game versus email, IM, MMORPG), I should be able to take it to my hermit cabin in the woods and run it on a computer powered by a generator without issue. Sure, I won't be able to get the updates, patches, etc. but that's understandable. I really hope this whole model crashes, personally.

As for this specific instance, I'm not as bothered by the DDI being subscription. The vast majority of the offerings on DDI make sense as a subscription. The lone exception is the Character Builder, which does continue to function if you unsubscribe. Also, the DDI provides enough other value that I'll continue to subscribe to it for as long as I play 4e, so it's effectively a non-issue for me.

That said, I'd still strongly prefer that the Character Builder was available as a stand-alone, non-subscription product. I think $30-50 for the application and the PHB, DMG, and MM 1 data would be appropriate. I have to admit that, if the DDI didn't have plenty of subscription-appropriate content, I wouldn't even have tried the CB on principle alone.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

I should be able to take it to my hermit cabin in the woods and run it on a computer powered by a generator without issue.

You can. Pay $10 for the one-month sub then go hog wild in your cabin forever.