Gleemax is Dead

[CountPopeula]

The way I see it, no matter how you try to spin it, this is bad news. Gleemax kind of sucked, and it didn't work right. Okay, fair enough. But it is a service people use, and telling us how awesome it is that we're going to have reduced functionality is kind of insulting.

It reminds me of when Netflix announced that in order to provide better service and more functionality, they were eliminating separate queues for members of the same household. Now they reversed this decision (and it is about the only thing that makes netflix worth the extra dollar a month over blockbuster), but it was kind of insulting to word it as such.

And I feel this is the same. "Hey, isn't it great we're eliminating our free content section so we can do more work on the stuff we can charge you for?" It may be a sound business decision, and we, as grown ups, can handle that it was made as such. But to tell us "this is a good thing" that we're losing functionality is an insult, and it's dishonest.

Butch up and admit that it was a financial decision, that you simply didn't have the money to do Gleemax and DDI, and decided to close the one that was free. As other people have mentioned, the fact that you can't manage to put together a myspace clone and have it work when even my local NBC affiliate can does not exactly fill me with confidence towards your ability to deliver on any other web initiatives. Telling me it's good that you failed just makes you seem dishonest.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

It was called something like Radiant Machine, right?

Yeah, it was called Radiant Machine. I knew there was a partnership hammered out, but I never knew things fell through between them. Of course a press release is regularly made when something big begins, rarely when something big ends.

Is there anyone out there who can shed light on the details of the ending of Radiant Machine's/SolutionsIQ's partnership with WotC? Radiant Machine clearly has some role in Gleemax and may have even been a factor in Gleemax never living up to billing.

 

[SteveC]

I guess here's my take on the long and the short of this issue. Gleemax failed, spectacularly. WotC management needs to do some real soul searching to figure out what went wrong and why. We haven't seen any of it in public, which is fine, because frankly the in-house stuff isn't any of the fan's business.

The problem is that we now have DDI coming along, with a lot of the same promises being made, and, once again, little to show for it. Could it simply be that the people who are managing these lines, as good gamers and great people as they are, don't have the experience and talent to design and implement a project like this?

It's not too late, but remember that continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different outcomes is unlikely to meet with success.

--Steve

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It reminds me of when Netflix announced that in order to provide better service and more functionality, they were eliminating separate queues for members of the same household. Now they reversed this decision (and it is about the only thing that makes netflix worth the extra dollar a month over blockbuster), but it was kind of insulting to word it as such.

Blockbuster also provides edited versions of movies instead of the theatrical cuts, without any indication of such. (Typically it's the Wal-Mart cut, but there's a lot more awareness that Wal-Mart does this.) I'll take Netflix giving me the movie I want to see, rather than the version that Blockbuster wants me to see, any day of the week.

 

[CountPopeula]

Blockbuster also provides edited versions of movies instead of the theatrical cuts, without any indication of such. (Typically it's the Wal-Mart cut, but there's a lot more awareness that Wal-Mart does this.) I'll take Netflix giving me the movie I want to see, rather than the version that Blockbuster wants me to see, any day of the week.

Actually, I didn't know that about Blockbuster. But I was going to switch to them if Netflix had gone ahead and eliminated profiles, just to show my displeasure with my buying power. Actually, announcing the change and then going back to business as usual did gain Netflix some general good will from me, it shows they're listening to their customers and reacting to what they want from their service. But it goes to show you how fickle consumers can be. Even though Blockbuster doesn't offer the service Netflix was planning on eliminating, I was far from the only one considering switching if Netflix did eliminate this function.

I wonder if anyone is considering not buying Wizards' products because of the loss of Gleemax? I wonder if a failure of DDI would effect sales of D&D books.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

My take . . .

I wonder if anyone is considering not buying Wizards' products because of the loss of Gleemax?

Unbelievably unlikely.

I wonder if a failure of DDI would effect sales of D&D books.

Not a chance.

 

[Vanuslux]

Well, my hat of e4 know no limit (OK, not really...) but I've been very impressed with the Dragon articles. I've heard few real criticisms of them; they've been well written, imaginative, full of useful crunch, and say, to me, "This is what 4e could have been like if we weren't forced to fit a very tight page count." The Dragon articles give me hope 4e can grow into the game it deserves to be.

Dragon is awesome in my opinion and as far as I can tell most people seem to agree that it's good. Dungeon, though, as far as I can tell lost a lot of faith with Rescue at Rivenroar, the first installment of the new adventure path, and I think the mag is still recovering somewhat from a lot of people who were crushingly disapponted with that adventure.

 

[2WS-Steve]

RE: A failure of DDI affecting sales of D&D books:

Not a chance.

I definitely believe it will in an opportunity cost way -- in that, a successful DDI will increase sales of D&D books since a good DDI will make it easier for more people to game, and those people will then have a reason to buy more books.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Unless one assumes, based on nothing, that various WOTC people are outright lying about 4e sales, it seems 4e can only be considered a success in terms of books sold. The question, though, is how much of the business plan is based on DDI. If the idea was "We will make a decent profit on the books; DDI is gravy!", then, it really doesn't matter what happens to DDI. OTOH, if the plan was "We will sell the books at cost; we'll make our profits on DDI", then, it becomes very important.

The fact 4e was launched before DDI was ready indicates it's seen as supplemental, not primary, income.

I don't believe that setting a MSRP of over $100.00USD for the 3 core rulebooks indicates in any way that the physical books are a "loss leader".

I am pretty sure that Wizards is getting a profit out of the books... Now, they see D&DI as a new way to gain revenue, and I am pretty sure that they are counting on its success.

I asked him what it meant if his hunch was correct? He said he wouldn't be surprised if buyers were being discretely sought.

Like I said total unfounded rumors and wild speculation.

... and people still choose to avoid the facts in order to do that.

People, the 4th edition core rulebook sold so well, they went into a second printing ahead of schedule!.

And, while D&D wasn't even mentioned in the Hasbro shareholders meeting, everything indicates that Hasbro and WotC are doing just fine, thank you.

Dragon is awesome in my opinion and as far as I can tell most people seem to agree that it's good. Dungeon, though, as far as I can tell lost a lot of faith with Rescue at Rivenroar, the first installment of the new adventure path, and I think the mag is still recovering somewhat from a lot of people who were crushingly disapponted with that adventure.

For what its worth, I was not impressed Rescue at Rivenroar, but regained confidence with Last Breaths of Ashenport.

All of the Dragon content so far has kept me happy... If I were not in the third world, I would probably pay $10.00USD a month just to get the magazines.

 

[Erik Mona]

Yes, we do. I've given Pathfinder a few looks, not happy. I apologize for hitting one of my Paizo traps. I'm still pissed off about the "deformed Mongoloid stillbirth" comment from Erik Mona.

Ah ha! _That's_ why you're such a crank!

Well, sorry about the comment. It was made off-handedly and was not meant to offend. I apologize for torquing you off and I should have chosen my words more carefully.

--Erik