E-Version? ANYONE FROM WOTC TO COMMENT?

[Kae'Yoss]

During the seminar, there was something about the "E-Version" of the books you can activate with that code.

Is that the full book in electronic form (PDF or something like that?)

 

[MatthewJHanson]

My impression is that you get ebook, plus it let's the various tools know that you own the book.

For example once you let the system know you own a book, the character creator will add feats from the book to the list of those that you can select.

(This is all speculation)

 

[I'm A Banana]

Rumors have it that there will be a small fee attached to the activation of the book, too (perhaps Free For Members?), and that you will need to be logged in to see the book.

Which means, for me, that if you play D&D in a room without an internet connection, you've gotta lug your library around still.

Which, IMO, is less awesome than it should be.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I THINK EVERYONE FROM WOTC IS AT GENCON. Try again Monday.

 

[Atlatl Jones]

Rumors have it that there will be a small fee attached to the activation of the book, too (perhaps Free For Members?), and that you will need to be logged in to see the book.

They said that they're still exploring options about that. Possibly it'll be an online only book, or a downloadable drm'd book.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Possibly it'll be an online only book, or a downloadable drm'd book.

So either I have to be online to see it, or I can't take it on a portable drive.

Both options are far less awesome than they should be.

I'd be okay with watermarking.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So either I have to be online to see it, or I can't take it on a portable drive.

Both options are far less awesome than they should be.

I'd be okay with watermarking.

I have to imagine it'll be possible to copy and paste into a Word document, no matter what.

 

[Delta]

During the seminar, there was something about the "E-Version" of the books you can activate with that code.

Is that the full book in electronic form (PDF or something like that?)

Similar to what I said in another thread -- as a college professor I've been dealing with this for a few years now. Many college textbooks come with a registration code for online supplement utilities these days, which is very comparable to the means & motivations for the Digital Initiative. For example: http://www.coursecompass.com/

Using Course Compass as an example, once you buy the book & log on, each little 4-page section of the book or so is available as a separate PDF, with links to online exercises, example videos, etc. You can download those if you like.

Don't know if WOTC will follow that precisely, but it's probably a good starting guess.

 

[Jhaelen]

I have to imagine it'll be possible to copy and paste into a Word document, no matter what.

Doubtful. If that was possible, a Word version of the complete book would be available for free about 5 minutes after the first user logged in.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Doubtful. If that was possible, a Word version of the complete book would be available for free about 5 minutes after the first user logged in.

I betcha I could find a downloadable pdf of any D&D 3e book published in about 5 minutes, and that's not going to change for 4e no matter what WotC does. Not to endorse such things, but its not like copy/pasting is going to change anything.