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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 9395101" data-attributes="member: 6801228">Right. Pause. This part here is important. Software cannot run without hardware. I purchased a game for my Amazon Kindle a few years back, and the developers stopped supporting it, because Amazon sales of the game were not high enough to continue making it a justified decision. I have no recourse because I cannot access the software and re-code the game to work. BTW, video games are softwareHardware is likely talking about Apple. The most famous being their charging cables. Apple put out hardware then made it impossible to recharge that hardware without their charging cables. If I had ever purchased apple, I would have no recourse, because I cannot manufacture a charging cable in my house. So, let us say that DnD makes their rules entirely digital and then takes their VTT and makes it paywalled. What could I possibly... oh wait. I don't USE VTT's to play DnD. IF they paywalled their VTT and I cannot do anything with it without paying them... I can just continue to not use it. So, is the fear that they will create a new subclass or something, make that subclass exclusive to the VTT and then I will have no access to that subclass without paying? Well... would I have no access to it? All it would take is a single discussion online of how the abilities work with the majority of the rules text... and I can copy it. Because to play DnD I don't need to manufacture hardware or code software... I just need pencils, notebook paper and the rules text. And the DnD community is so full of power-gamers, optimizers, rules-lawyers, ect ect that any and all rules text that hits the community is spread and dissected within a week. This is even true of video games. For most games, if I dug around I could find the precise percentage and formulas for the abilities and weapons in the games. It is all out there. So how does WoTC create a walled garden, then prevent ANY information from leaking out of it?Obviously this will happen. There is no way this won't happen.Will it? How do you know that selling avatars and digital minis will generate more revenue for the company than the books do? Especially since, those things are worthless without the rules text? As for not being allowed on DDB... they only recently started partnering with people on DDB, and those companies existed and were making products long before that. Additionally, you are saying that they will fail if they can't access the VTT or DDB just like app stores on phones... but this is a false dichotomy. If you cannot access Google Play or Apple play then yes your phone app will fail, because there is no other way for people to access your content and use it than playing on an android or apple device. But if you sell a book to DnD players, and you can't get access to DDB... your product can still be used and it will still make sales. Because people play the game using pencil and paper, or digital forums. The only thing any of my digital DnD games need to function, is we occasionally use maps and pictures to showcase positioning. But unless Roll20 dies and no software is capable of creating a grid and being screenshot then there is no reason for us to use the VTT of Wizards. The products are too different.IF they stop making books, but still make PDFs.. then I still won't need to use their VTT. I just need the rules text, and only one person in my group would need to have access to that.It isn't that I feel WoTC is a good-hearted company, it is that the product WoTC sells is too different than the other spheres you keep bringing up. To me, this is like saying Wal-Mart is going to control out food because they started selling food online, and they will get us bound in a subscription service because you saw that happen to video games. The problem is, selling food is different than selling video games, the way people interact with food is different than the way they interact with video games. Your concern seems to stem from the conception that DnD Beyond will become the sole and only possible way to make a profit in the TTRPG space, and therefore no other company will sell any product outside of DnD Beyond. But that, to me, obviously cannot happen. Because while DnD Beyond is convenient for some players to use... it isn't how the majority of people I know actually interact with the game.</blockquote>

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