D&D 5E DnD Beyond - Why is it still so bad?

[Blue]

That'd be great. In theory.

In practice, you'd have missing CDs and WotC would continually be fielding complaints about absent discs.
And you'd *still* have people complaining about having to sign up to the DMsGuild.
And if no credit card is associated with the account you'd instantly have people make temporary burn accounts that could be banned, using the code, and then distributing the PDF.
To say nothing of people who don't have optical drives… How many college and university students might only have a smartphone or tablet? Will optical drives still be in heavy use in five years? Ten?

Sorry, I didn't explain well. Instead of a CD, it comes with a sealed unique identifier. On paper. Maybe something that looks like a steam or amazon gift card number, big enough space not to hit it typing randomly.

And sure, people can pirate it. They still will anyway so that's not a factor. But with legitimate PDFs out there they will at least be getting some cut of the people-who-want-PDFs market.

 

[Jester David]

Sorry, I didn't explain well. Instead of a CD, it comes with a sealed unique identifier. On paper. Maybe something that looks like a steam or amazon gift card number, big enough space not to hit it typing randomly.

And sure, people can pirate it. They still will anyway so that's not a factor. But with legitimate PDFs out there they will at least be getting some cut of the people-who-want-PDFs market.

Paper likely just makes it easier to steal. And that means game stores get to return that product. That eats into profits.

For 3e, and even early 4e, I would have suggested a scratchable code. But smartphones make that impossible. It's too easy to quickly scratch and snap a picture. It doesn't matter how long the code is, all you need is 5 seconds.
Sure, people will pirate. But in that case they're also taking copies *from* other people.

 

[Blue]

Paper likely just makes it easier to steal. And that means game stores get to return that product. That eats into profits.

For 3e, and even early 4e, I would have suggested a scratchable code. But smartphones make that impossible. It's too easy to quickly scratch and snap a picture. It doesn't matter how long the code is, all you need is 5 seconds.
Sure, people will pirate. But in that case they're also taking copies *from* other people.

I'm sorry you are so negative about it. Since this is already a solved problem for online gift cards that I'm just going to assume it can be done both well and cheaply.

WotC shows no signs of wanting to do this, we're just discussing one possible route they could do IF they gauged the market would be too upset about "paying twice for content". But since they are selling it themselves, having Fantasy Ground resell it, and having D&D Beyond resell it, it looks like they don't consider that a path of greater profits. And, of course, since they won't sell PDFs in the first place.

 

[Jester David]

I'm sorry you are so negative about it. Since this is already a solved problem for online gift cards that I'm just going to assume it can be done both well and cheaply.

Gift cards "solved" it by making them a magnetic card that needs to be swiped at a cash register to be activated.

Not something that works if the card is affixed to a book. It adds a whole extra layer of logistics since you need a special type of cash register to do that. And not something that a company like Amazon is going to know or care aabout.

WotC shows no signs of wanting to do this, we're just discussing one possible route they could do IF they gauged the market would be too upset about "paying twice for content". But since they are selling it themselves, having Fantasy Ground resell it, and having D&D Beyond resell it, it looks like they don't consider that a path of greater profits. And, of course, since they won't sell PDFs in the first place.

I'm pretty confident the problem was the old CEO at Wizards. Well beyond the pay grade of the D&D team. He was a Hasbro suit that was there to manage the MtG money and had more experience managing an important division of Hasbro. Likely only an academic knowledge of the game.

Since then, the problem is that PDFs weren't a thing, and progress to work arounds were underway. Like D&D Beyond.
At least that way, when you pay twice, you're getting the extra value of a character builder.

 

[Mistwell]

I'm sorry you are so negative about it. Since this is already a solved problem for online gift cards that I'm just going to assume it can be done both well and cheaply.

Those need to be activated at the register, and not every retailer has the ability to activate them. You'd be asking all game store retailers to upgrade their equipment to be able to supply one line of products. And you'd be raising the cost of online purchases of the books, as requiring a unique item (card or code or whatever) in every book raises the cost to distribute by quite a bit. It's not a solution easily applied to this problem. [EDIT - Ninja'ed above]

 

[FrogReaver]

It's also worth mentioning that you aren't just expecting someone to rebuy the PHB in pdf format for half price. In order to use the character builder you are asking them to rebuy every book that contains an option they want to use. So if they've shelved out 400 dollars on D&D books you are asking them to pay 200 extra dollars to be able to use the character building resources they've already paid 400 dollars for just for a bit of added convenience.

 

[dropbear8mybaby]

It's also worth mentioning that you aren't just expecting someone to rebuy the PHB in pdf format for half price. In order to use the character builder you are asking them to rebuy every book that contains an option they want to use. So if they've shelved out 400 dollars on D&D books you are asking them to pay 200 extra dollars to be able to use the character building resources they've already paid 400 dollars for just for a bit of added convenience.

Yes, you have to pay for a service and a product in order to use it.

Here's a thought: if the site has no value to you, why do you complain about it so much?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think FLGS books should just have discount vouchers attached. Either seperate or in a sealed page.

That way both the pdf as well as the FLGS market would profit.

 

[Yavathol]

Couldn't blockchain technology be used to audit the transfer of ownership from the retailer to the purchaser to a second-hand purchaser?

 

[Demetrios1453]

It's also worth mentioning that you aren't just expecting someone to rebuy the PHB in pdf format for half price. In order to use the character builder you are asking them to rebuy every book that contains an option they want to use. So if they've shelved out 400 dollars on D&D books you are asking them to pay 200 extra dollars to be able to use the character building resources they've already paid 400 dollars for just for a bit of added convenience.

Or buy the options they want a la carte for a few dollars.

Or for absolutely free if they (like my players) have a DM (like me) who has purchased a lot of items and are sharing their content via the subscription tier.

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