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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 4837874" data-attributes="member: 58197">As it becomes easier and easier to deliver high-quality digital content over the Internet, it will become harder and harder to make a living providing old-fashioned dead-tree content.You can see it already with the DDI. I went into my FLGS t'other day to pick up a Monster Manual 2. While I was there, I leafed through the Eberron Player's Guide, and I thought, &quot;Hmm. I'm not a fan of Eberron, and I don't like artificers at all, but some of these races are really neat. Maybe I should pick this up.&quot;And then I thought, &quot;But why would I do that when I have a DDI subscription and the character builder? Heck, I could probably skip buying the MM2 as well, if it weren't for sometimes needing to whip up an encounter on the fly.&quot;Bang. There went a lost sale for my FLGS, because I very likely would have bought the Player's Guide otherwise. But I no longer need to get hard-copy books in order to cherry-pick feats and classes and races that I like.So the FLGS, to survive, must find products or services to offer that cannot be digitally duplicated. CCGs are one answer; while there are of course such games as Magic Online, those of us who play with physical cards have a substantial barrier to entry (the money we've already invested in paper), which prevents us making the jump as easily as D&amp;D players can jump to DDI.But I suspect CCGs will ultimately follow the same path. In 2007, WotC's brand manager <a href="http://www.gamespy.com/articles/818/818114p1.html" target="_blank">said in an interview</a> that MTG Online was &quot;30 to 50 percent&quot; of the total Magic business. I expect that number will grow; paper MTG will ultimately become a dead-end hobby, dominated by people with troves of expensive old cards who can remember buying Antiquities booster packs for $2.00.In the end, the Internet and big-box retail stores will kill the FLGS and take its stuff. Big-box retailers will take over the job of selling what dead-tree products remain, while the Internet will become the place where gamers meet and hang out.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 4837874, member: 58197"] As it becomes easier and easier to deliver high-quality digital content over the Internet, it will become harder and harder to make a living providing old-fashioned dead-tree content. You can see it already with the DDI. I went into my FLGS t'other day to pick up a Monster Manual 2. While I was there, I leafed through the Eberron Player's Guide, and I thought, "Hmm. I'm not a fan of Eberron, and I don't like artificers at all, but some of these races are really neat. Maybe I should pick this up." And then I thought, "But why would I do that when I have a DDI subscription and the character builder? Heck, I could probably skip buying the MM2 as well, if it weren't for sometimes needing to whip up an encounter on the fly." Bang. There went a lost sale for my FLGS, because I very likely would have bought the Player's Guide otherwise. But I no longer need to get hard-copy books in order to cherry-pick feats and classes and races that I like. So the FLGS, to survive, must find products or services to offer that cannot be digitally duplicated. CCGs are one answer; while there are of course such games as Magic Online, those of us who play with physical cards have a substantial barrier to entry (the money we've already invested in paper), which prevents us making the jump as easily as D&D players can jump to DDI. But I suspect CCGs will ultimately follow the same path. In 2007, WotC's brand manager [URL="http://www.gamespy.com/articles/818/818114p1.html"]said in an interview[/URL] that MTG Online was "30 to 50 percent" of the total Magic business. I expect that number will grow; paper MTG will ultimately become a dead-end hobby, dominated by people with troves of expensive old cards who can remember buying Antiquities booster packs for $2.00. In the end, the Internet and big-box retail stores will kill the FLGS and take its stuff. Big-box retailers will take over the job of selling what dead-tree products remain, while the Internet will become the place where gamers meet and hang out. [/QUOTE]

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