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<blockquote data-quote="Contrarian" data-source="post: 3836762" data-attributes="member: 40585">I've been a big critic of the Gleemax Alpha (so vocal that their community rep told me not to use the site), but I have to say: The rollout of D&amp;D Insider has been handled fairly well.&nbsp; They haven't missed any announced deadlines yet, what they've debuted actually works, and it doesn't look like it was designed by a 12-year old.I don't know if there are two separate development teams, or if Gleemax is just a lower priority, but the difference is remarkable.&nbsp; I still don't know if the business model for DDI makes sense, but the product itself looks OK so far.Gleemax, on the other hand, seems like one of those cases where a bunch of not-very-Internet-savvy executives announce &quot;We're going to get rich online!&quot; and blow it because they don't know anything about the Internet.&nbsp; They announced the site before they had done any real work, set an unrealistic deadline (the Alpha was supposed to debut at Gen Con, only about 2 months after the announcement), and threw a tragically incomplete site up 2 months late just to save face.&nbsp; Compared to the old WOTC forums, Gleemax really only adds one feature: blog software that lacks the basic functionality of blog software.Forget about actually social networking. (Most of the posts in the &quot;Gleemax feature request&quot; forum are people begging for basic social networking and blogging features.) It's like the site was designed by people who didn't know anything about gamers, social networks, or blogs.Gleemax is a questionable idea made worse by poor planning and inept execution.&nbsp; The only people who really seem to like it were WOTC forumites to begin with.&nbsp; If this was WOTC's attempt at expanding beyond the borders of its own fans, they're failing miserably, and losing ground they won't regain.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Contrarian, post: 3836762, member: 40585"] I've been a big critic of the Gleemax Alpha (so vocal that their community rep told me not to use the site), but I have to say: The rollout of D&D Insider has been handled fairly well. They haven't missed any announced deadlines yet, what they've debuted actually [i]works[/i], and it doesn't look like it was designed by a 12-year old. I don't know if there are two separate development teams, or if Gleemax is just a lower priority, but the difference is remarkable. I still don't know if the [i]business model[/i] for DDI makes sense, but the product itself looks OK so far. Gleemax, on the other hand, seems like one of those cases where a bunch of not-very-Internet-savvy executives announce "We're going to get rich online!" and blow it because they don't know anything about the Internet. They announced the site before they had done any real work, set an unrealistic deadline (the Alpha was supposed to debut at Gen Con, only about 2 months after the announcement), and threw a tragically incomplete site up 2 months late just to save face. Compared to the old WOTC forums, Gleemax really only adds one feature: blog software that lacks the basic functionality of blog software. Forget about actually social networking. (Most of the posts in the "Gleemax feature request" forum are people begging for basic social networking and blogging features.) It's like the site was designed by people who didn't know anything about gamers, social networks, or blogs. Gleemax is a questionable idea made worse by poor planning and inept execution. The only people who really seem to like it were WOTC forumites to begin with. If this was WOTC's attempt at expanding beyond the borders of its own fans, they're failing miserably, and losing ground they won't regain. [/QUOTE]

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