Hasbro makes money, everyone wins

[Solvarn]

"Researcher DFC Intelligence projects the U.S. and European market for virtual items in free-to-play games will grow to more than $3 billion by 2015 from $800 million in 2009. Companies are moving to quickly get into this market by outsourcing the technical aspects of adopting a virtual economy, such as the ability to create and sell the merchandise and track the trading of the virtual goods." -Cliff Edwards, The Tech Beat, Bloomberg Businessweek, July 26, 2010

Microtransactions are and will continue to be the best way to deliver digital content for both Hasbro and the player base for D&D.

Allow users to purchase digital content for certain books, certain classes.
-If a user needs a monster for an encounter and can’t afford an entire book worth of digital content they can purchase a monster. If someone only wants certain content from a book, they only need to purchase one class so they can use it in the builder. The company is still getting revenue from someone that otherwise might not provide it.

Allows for the purchase of content without a continuing subscription.
-Once the content has been purchased, it can be accessed at anytime. This allows people not currently making purchases or using services due to inactivity to be brought back using promotions or special offers. In addition, the mandatory subscription price doesn’t discourage people from participating. They are only paying for the content they want, on their terms.

Modularity and R&D.
-Continuing efforts on product development can be intensely focused on what is driving sales. This also allows for more players to use player only content. The player may not need access to the dungeon builder, additional tiles, settings, or monsters, or anything else “DM” related.

Making DM’s.
-Sponsor workshops on how to run a game, where participants can receive content based on their participation. Track and follow DMing, rewarding those that DM with additional content (to supplement their collection). The company can incentivize certain behaviors with additional content (i.e. bonuses for running open games, etc.)

Develop strategic partnerships with gaming stores.
-LFGS can sell point cards for purchases that include special content. Local RPGA participants can be rewarded for their activities with virtual content, driving them to the online presence, and conversely sending online participants to stores so they can get the exclusive content for their online account.

 

[fuzzlewump]

I like it. I hope they wait for 5E to unleash such a model though, just because people would have bought books very differently if they knew that's how the online tools would have worked. It would be cool to have a one-time use code sealed in books that gave you the online transactions as well.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Allow users to purchase digital content for certain books, certain classes.
-If a user needs a monster for an encounter and can’t afford an entire book worth of digital content they can purchase a monster. If someone only wants certain content from a book, they only need to purchase one class so they can use it in the builder. The company is still getting revenue from someone that otherwise might not provide it.

Too bad WotC isn't doing this, AFAIK... For the web-based CB it is "all or nothing". You either pay the monthly premium and get all the info in the CB, or don't pay and get nothing.

I think that is a wonderful idea however that they should adopt. Something that would help against piracy and allow for an offline version of the CB. Follow me here...

WotC should release a "base" CB for free. It would have the base classes and feats in it (from PHB and/or Essentials).

Then, users could purchase what classes (and other items) they want/need. These could be purchased on an individual basis or as a "package" deal. So if you want just the Battlemind, you would be charged X amount for that. If you want everything from PHB3 you would be charges Y for that.

What about piracy? Well, each purchase would come with a unique key code (much like how online games have them). Once the code is used, its used, and you forever have access to that. Your file or character builder gets deleted? WotC will have a record of your purchase and key code. Once certain info is verified, you can re-download it. If certain info doesn't match, you can't download it (to help against piracy).

This can be entended to other things, not just classes. Monsters for the Monster Builder. Feats and Powers and PPs and Classes from Dragon Mag.

 

[evilref]

I think that is a wonderful idea however that they should adopt. Something that would help against piracy and allow for an offline version of the CB.

If you're using it offline then the tool and its data is downloaded onto the user's computer. If the tool and data are on the computer then, perforce, it is not helping against piracy. As a web-based tool it is considerably harder to pirate than anything put wholesale onto hard drives. Pirate communities engaged in hacking and distributing the CB have had a definitely worried reaction to the idea of it going web-based with some very concerned responses to whether they'll be able to 'hack' the new version.

 

[babinro]

I like the options this provides to players...but I'm sure like nearly all micro-transactions the prices will be absurd.

What is a fair price for one monster stat block? $1.00 plus taxes would be my guess. $10.00 for a full class maybe...

I'll likely continue to purchase full books, but providing users with options is always a good thing.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The idea is kind of neat but..........

If you thought power creep was bad before just wait until it can be charged by the tiny chunk. I can see classes, monsters, items, etc. all being released in ever increasing magnitudes of power.

 

[TikkchikFenTikktikk]

This is very, very dangerous.

It works with iTunes because Steve Jobs is almost superhumanly focused on making the entire experience, from shopping to buying to using to upgrading to etc., better for his customers while making the behind-the-scenes business stuff as efficient as possible without sacrificing the user experience. (Amazon MP3 works because they copied iTunes and are the "not-Apple" choice.)

It works with Farmville because people who play Farmville are generally idiots and the Zynga guys had a flash of brilliance.

But done poorly it nickle-and-dimes the end user, which only engenders resentment towards the product and the huckster shilling it. (Hmmm... too many Americanisms in that sentence?)

Ideally, buying the electronic equivalent of a Heroes of the book costs less than the paper version, buying the basic player rules plus each race and class individually costs slightly more in total but very much less individually, and people who had been sharing books give money to WotC instead.

But, then again, maybe to get the books stop getting published except with the basic player rules and getting equivalent rules for what come in them now costs significantly more? Remember the almost redundant rules for a zillion types of different polearms that yielded extremely marginal benefits in early versions of D&D? Now you get to pay $1 for each!

Finally, this deals in the digital realm. WotC has demonstrated time and again their inability to accomplish anything there with any competence.

I am clearly not on the bandwagon.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

It works with Farmville because people who play Farmville are generally idiots and the Zynga guys had a flash of brilliance.

Wonderful. However, some of my contacts on Facebook who play Farmville have PhDs, are university professors or highly-paid professionals in other sectors. Perhaps only the people you know from hyperbole-land are generally idiots?

 

[Jhaelen]

Wonderful. However, some of my contacts on Facebook who play Farmville have PhDs, are university professors or highly-paid professionals in other sectors. Perhaps only the people you know from hyperbole-land are generally idiots?

Well, I wouldn't exactly call them idiots, but they're certainly careless. Having a PhD or being a university professor doesn't indicate you're computer-savvy.

Creating a Facebook account is something I would never consider, much less playing Farmville.

 

[DracoSuave]

Wonderful. However, some of my contacts on Facebook who play Farmville have PhDs, are university professors or highly-paid professionals in other sectors. Perhaps only the people you know from hyperbole-land are generally idiots?

To resort to a D&D analogy:

Intellegence, Wisdom, and Charisma are three different things. Being smart with academia, being saavy with consumer products, and having good taste in recreations are three completely different things, and having proficiency in one doesn't make you immune from being an idiot in the other two.

Look at how many people with doctorates and masters call in to tech support with the dumbest questions. No offense intended, but PhDs don't include 'Immunity to enjoying mindless cash grabs.'


As an example:

Look how many educated people in this and other threads actually believe the consumer base for D&D would want a complete digital package? Newsflash: Games are better touched than downloaded. D&D has miniatures and boards and physical hardware for a reason... any game which involves some form physical manipulation is more involving.

Ask many salesmen: It doesn't matter the product, you multiply the chance of selling the product if the customer can hold on to it. Books are tactile, and portable, and relatively cheap. E-readers, and computers are not relatively cheap, nor are the files tactile.

Microtransactions are convenient for music, for computer programs, for video games, sure. But these are things you can't touch, so you have to resort to other methods to increase revenue. Going to a free-to-play, microtransaction model is about reducing the barrier to entry.

However, for physical games, it is not ideal: Having the customer touch your product is far more effective in the long term.

Finally, this deals in the digital realm. WotC has demonstrated time and again their inability to accomplish anything there with any competence.

Yeah, what ever happened to Magic: Online anyways? That had such potential.....

Oh and that Eberron video game thing that's free to play these days. I suppose that doesn't qualify as a success either, what being the most popular free to play game ever...

[/sarcasm]

How's this, instead of coming to a conclusion that fits your thesis, how about coming to a conclusion that fits the premise:

Wizards is capable of taking tactile products into the digital realm with success. D&D (the game system itself) has proven difficult to do so, due to it's nature of not being composed of digital objects, and due to the lack of ability to play it through their digital offerings.

See, all the digital forms of the books in the world won't change the fact that you still need physical dice on a physical table with physical miniatures resting on a physical game tiles. It's a game designed around the physical presentation, losing a big part of its game mechanics if you cut those out. Physical books are the best way to integrate that into the majority of groups... the best you can get out of digital offerings is a handy way to put together characters. Without that digital game table, making the game wholy digital is only cutting off their own foot and saying it'll make them faster in a running race.

What is a fair price for one monster stat block? $1.00 plus taxes would be my guess. $10.00 for a full class maybe...

I'll likely continue to purchase full books, but providing users with options is always a good thing.

That's too expensive. I can get 8 classes, 5 races, and a panoply of feats and other stuff for less than that in paper. A dollar for a monster block? How is that even a good deal compared to buying hundreds of monster blocks for 40 dollars?

And don't get me started on the inability to properly preview stuff in advance. That's the thing with digital offerings: I can't crack open the book at the store, see what's inside, and decide if it's worth picking up.

This is not good for any consumer.