Does EN World favor pdf publishers?

[Bagpuss]

I think Reason #1, has lead to it appearing like Reason #2 has occured.

IE: As print publishers have spent less time supporting their products here, instead rightly so supporting their own boards, pdf publishers that generally has a smaller fan base, have still relied on ENWorld to get their message out and their primary contact with their fans. So obviously with less print publishers about and more pdf publishers about giving support to their products its going to look like ENWorld is a stronger supporter of the PDF market.

 

[Orcus]

And I havent abandoned theENW boards. I am just here less, for lots of reasons.

One, I have been super-busy at my day job and frankly have less time for Necro in general and message boards specifically.

Two, our boards have grown.

Three, in all honesty, there is less going on in d20/3E that I need to keep up with. That means ENW, as crucial as it was early on, is just not as relevant to me. Back in the day I checked ENWorld every hour to see if there was a new scoop on the next big WotC book, because it shaped how I did my products and how I played the game. There just isnt anything like that coming out any time soon. So, as a result, a site that is a news clearing house is of less utility to me.

Four, there arent really many competing products that I care about knowing about instantaneously. I care about knowing about them, but I dont need to know instantaneously. A year ago or so I really kept and eye on the product announcements from a business standpoint, because there was a serious chance that someone was going to launch a product like yours. I was here every day checking it out. See my various long posts about changing products and business strategy, etc. Now, in our business life, Necro has its niche, it has its recognition, it has its own thing. I dont want to say we dont have competition, we do. But the various publishers are established enough that I dont have to watch product announcements daily.

Five, I'll admit it. I still have a bad taste in my mouth from some of the stuff that went on here as a result of the DTRPG/DRM thing. That's not ENWorld's fault per se but it made me not visit the site as much and I just havent readjusted my viewing to go back to daily monitoring of the site. And, in the interim, I found out that I wasnt really missing anything.

ENWorld, thus, provides less and less of a relevant use to me mostly because there really isnt anything earthshaking on the horizon and this used to be the site that had the d20/3E scoop.

BUT that is where I made my mistake.

One thing I love is the fans. I love our boards because I can really stay plugged in with the Necro fans. My mistake is that while ENWorld may be of less value to me today as a news site, it is still a huge gathering place of people who are not serviced by our boards. I love communicating with fans and designers.

But you have to remember, I am SUPER active on the internal d20 system list and with the growth of our boards and the time that takes, coupled with a slow erosion of my NEED to check ENW daily, I slowly slipped away.

That's what I want to fix.

But I dont like "abandoned" because it makes it sound like I consciously chose to dump ENWorld and that isnt the case at all. It was a slow erosion and a chain of circumstances.

I have a great love for this site and always will. I remember at work checking Erik Noah's site for more leaked sneak peeks at the upcoming 3E rules. Its where I learned of the OGL and decided to create Necro. Hey, no ENWorld, no Necro. How can I not love it? Which is why I want to get a discussion started to get the publishers and enworld back together.

Clark

 

[Nellisir]

Hey Clark - I apologize for not sending you an email about this before I started the thread.

I want to make it clear, I don't think anyone has done anything "wrong". I certainly don't fault you for paying attention to your business and your customers.

I'd never heard the opinion that EN World had shifted "to be[ing] a stronger haven for pdf publishers and less so for print publishers.", and was curious to see if anyone else thought that way. I used "favor" because it seemed an appropriate shortcut for "stronger haven...[than] for print publishers". I'll happily change it if I can (can I edit this thread title?)

Admittedly most of the posters so far have been pdf publishers, but what can I do?

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Orcus]

Hey, no problem. Happy to discuss it

Clark

 

[Dextra]

Reason #2, though, was something I hadn't thought about. EN Publishing itself doesn't create a favorable environment here for pdf publishers, at least in my view -- ENP has actually has its own board, and I see alot less of Hellhound and Dextra around the general publisher boards than I used to .

BTW, the reason you'll see less of us is not because we're spending so much more time on our own boards, but because as a general rule, we don't spend that much time on the boards at all. Whenever we have a deadline to meet, though, you'll see us posting at all hours, just to avoid doing any real work.