D&D Insider - Pay tomorrow for what you get today for free?

[Mark CMG]

Nothing has been announced. There is no link. There is no offer. There is no feature set.

What there is, is speculation.

And the survey.

 

[Kapture]

I do, and it's really silly. First, we're not talking about a "cheat code" or additional uniforms or stadiums, the sort of things EA was charging for. We're talking about actual content that can be used in games, that people pay for all the time.

Now for a long time we got this sort of stuff for free for D&D.

See, this is the thing that boggles me.

We never got new material for free on the web.

Wait, that's an exageration. I'm know I'm exagerating. We got some adventures of varying quality early on. And spells. And the template classes were new. Previews, which are advertising. Art galleries, also advertising. The WOTC site is a very good advertising tool. A nice newsletter. I use it to preview stuff all the time.

But lets look at the amount of material that isn't new: NPCs, a lot of monsters with templates, some adventure locations, maps from pre-existing products. Monsters with templates. Did I say, monsters with templates?

What's in the archives:

News
Character Class
D&D Alumni
D&D Fiction
D&D Fight Club
Design & Development
Elite Opponents
Map-A-Week
The Mind's Eye
Product Spotlight
Rules of the Game
Save My Game
Steal This Hook!
Tactics and Tips
Use This Book Tonight
Vicious Venues
Consolidated Lists
Tools
Bardic Knowledge
Battle Sheets
Behind the Screen
But What Do They Do?
Celebrity Game Table
Cliffhangers
Epic Insights
Far Corners of the World
Fey Feature
Gamestoppers
Monster Mayhem
NPC Closeup Archive
PC Portraits Online
Random Encounters
Revision Spotlight
Savage Progressions
Spellbook.

The red stuff is what I remember as "new." New crunch. Not reworked rules, or gaming advice. That's five out of 36 archived series. All of them retired. I go to WOTC all the time to read this stuff. Quite a bit of it I like a lot. But it's really not new or original in the way that say, Tome of Magic is.

I don't buy a ton of books anymore. Can't really afford to. I know wizards would rather have somebody buying two $30 books a month from somebody. But since they're probably not even getting two books a year out of me, they might be happy to have $10 or $20 a month.

If I were them, I'd realease the "not-so-new" stuff on the website, like monsters with templates, or "how to be a GM," on the website three month's later, after it comes out on the premium site. I'd keep the new classes, new monsters, new adventures, etc. on the premium site.

It occurs to me that if you play a tabletop game in a virtual environment, you need to charge for space and bandwidth like the MMPORG's, but unlike MMPORG's, where the rules are hidden from the player, you still need the explication of print material. If the players are at the virtual tabletops, the material needs to be there. Some players may not even care to have it in print at that point.

That's a perfect place to create a pay-per-view, or more likely, subscription service.

 

[rgard]

Although the new D&D Insider subscription has a bunch of stuff that will be inarguably new, is anyone else struck by home much of it is already on the WotC site for free today? Unless they're going to double the amount of product previews, Class Acts and the like, it looks like the day of free content on the Web site (in the name of marketing) may be going bye-bye.

This strikes me as a bad idea, but I guess time will tell ...

My take.

1. Personally I don't want to see a product preview in any part of the site I pay to access. I won't pay to read an advertisement.
2. If the character builder uses data from all the supplements and does work, that will probably be enough for me to subscribe.
3. If there is crunch in the form of Class Acts and the like, again, that will induce me to subcribe.
4. Fluff in the form of fiction has no pull for me. If I want fiction, I'll buy a book.
5. The price of the service/content will be of some influence. If it is more than subscribing to the Dragon or Dungeon, I may pass on this...or least try it out for a few months, then decide whether I actually need the additional subscription.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[JoeGKushner]

Access to archieves will be a critical thing here.

If they can come up with some killer articles, like Ed's Guide to the Seven hells or a campaign component Sheen or something and I happen to miss that month, if I can't access it at a latter date, what's the point? You can always buy an old book.

 

[DonTadow]

See, this is the thing that boggles me.

We never got new material for free on the web.

Wait, that's an exageration. I'm know I'm exagerating. We got some adventures of varying quality early on. And spells. And the template classes were new. Previews, which are advertising. Art galleries, also advertising. The WOTC site is a very good advertising tool. A nice newsletter. I use it to preview stuff all the time.

But lets look at the amount of material that isn't new: NPCs, a lot of monsters with templates, some adventure locations, maps from pre-existing products. Monsters with templates. Did I say, monsters with templates?

What's in the archives:

News
Character Class
D&D Alumni
D&D Fiction
D&D Fight Club
Design & Development
Elite Opponents
Map-A-Week
The Mind's Eye
Product Spotlight
Rules of the Game
Save My Game
Steal This Hook!
Tactics and Tips
Use This Book Tonight
Vicious Venues
Consolidated Lists
Tools
Bardic Knowledge
Battle Sheets
Behind the Screen
But What Do They Do?
Celebrity Game Table
Cliffhangers
Epic Insights
Far Corners of the World
Fey Feature
Gamestoppers
Monster Mayhem
NPC Closeup Archive
PC Portraits Online
Random Encounters
Revision Spotlight
Savage Progressions
Spellbook.

The red stuff is what I remember as "new." New crunch. Not reworked rules, or gaming advice. That's five out of 36 archived series. All of them retired. I go to WOTC all the time to read this stuff. Quite a bit of it I like a lot. But it's really not new or original in the way that say, Tome of Magic is.

I don't buy a ton of books anymore. Can't really afford to. I know wizards would rather have somebody buying two $30 books a month from somebody. But since they're probably not even getting two books a year out of me, they might be happy to have $10 or $20 a month.

If I were them, I'd realease the "not-so-new" stuff on the website, like monsters with templates, or "how to be a GM," on the website three month's later, after it comes out on the premium site. I'd keep the new classes, new monsters, new adventures, etc. on the premium site.

It occurs to me that if you play a tabletop game in a virtual environment, you need to charge for space and bandwidth like the MMPORG's, but unlike MMPORG's, where the rules are hidden from the player, you still need the explication of print material. If the players are at the virtual tabletops, the material needs to be there. Some players may not even care to have it in print at that point.

That's a perfect place to create a pay-per-view, or more likely, subscription service.

You're still exaggerating here. Everything you listed that we've gotten, is all stuff that people pay for. YOu also get backlogged stuff as well. The Monster Manual is pretty old, does that mean you should get that free because wotc has more MM's out?

Whatother company... heck industry... lets you get as much free stuff published by hte company for their system. Sony publishers aren't publishing hint books online? Most electronics are done with you as sooon as you buy the reciept? A few board game company's post variant rules once every six months. Only WOTC publishes new content almost daily. How long did you expect this well to be filled?

 

[Vigwyn the Unruly]

Only WOTC publishes new content almost daily. How long did you expect this well to be filled?

You don't honestly think they do this out of the goodness of their hearts, do you?

They do it because it sells books.

...So I expect the well to be filled as long as they want me to keep buying books.

I think that whatever they gain from the few suckers who sign up for this will be more than offset by lost book sales.

 

[MojoGM]

You don't honestly think they do this out of the goodness of their hearts, do you?

They do it because it sells books.

...So I expect the well to be filled as long as they want me to keep buying books.

I think that whatever they gain from the few suckers who sign up for this will be more than offset by lost book sales.

There will be no lost books sales. And there is a good chance I'll sign up for it. Willing to pay for something you find value in doesn't make one a "sucker"

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Willing to pay for something you find value in doesn't make one a "sucker"

Quoted for truth.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Whatever side of an argument one is on, QFT doesn't add any more to a thread than "me too," which people try and avoid doing.

 

[delericho]

There will be no lost books sales.

I would be astounded if that were the case. I have purchased several WotC books on the strength of the preview, the web enhancement, or the Design & Development column, all of which will be moved to the pay only section of the site, and which I therefore won't be accessing.

(This, of course, assumes I don't subscribe. I might yet do so. However, based on the information I currently have on the offering, my answer is 'no'.)

That's why I consider this move a mistake on the part of WotC. However, it is a mistake they are absolutely entitled to make, and it's not something I feel any moral outrage over.

Willing to pay for something you find value in doesn't make one a "sucker"

This, however, I agree with.