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<blockquote data-quote="Beginning of the End" data-source="post: 5498841" data-attributes="member: 55271">This pretty much covers it. If an open strategy works, it works because:- A player finds a character concept in a 3PP they want to play, which keeps them playing D&amp;D instead of switching to a different game system.- A DM finds a world or an adventure they want to run, which keeps them running D&amp;D instead of switching to a different game system.And by keeping these people engaged with D&amp;D, it keeps them buying D&amp;D products. Which not only means that they'll continue buying WotC's products; it also means that they'll introduce new players who will also be buying WotC's products.WotC's management, of course, does not believe that this actually works in practice. Which makes it difficult to imagine any argument which would convince them. IMO, WotC's management would need to change before there was any chance of them re-embracing an open strategy.If WotC had vision, they would realize that they now have the ability to monetize 3PP products in a way that they couldn't in 3E. All they need to do is figure out a way to allow 3PP to sell or unlock content packs on DDI. This would vastly improve the outlook for 3PP (assuming people are correct in concluding that the DDI is the reason 4th Edition fans don't buy 3PP), and even if WotC didn't take any cut of the pie at all they would still be directly profiting by encouraging people to maintain DDI subscriptions.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Beginning of the End, post: 5498841, member: 55271"] This pretty much covers it. If an open strategy works, it works because: - A player finds a character concept in a 3PP they want to play, which keeps them playing D&D instead of switching to a different game system. - A DM finds a world or an adventure they want to run, which keeps them running D&D instead of switching to a different game system. And by keeping these people engaged with D&D, it keeps them buying D&D products. Which not only means that they'll continue buying WotC's products; it also means that they'll introduce new players who will also be buying WotC's products. WotC's management, of course, does not believe that this actually works in practice. Which makes it difficult to imagine any argument which would convince them. IMO, WotC's management would need to change before there was any chance of them re-embracing an open strategy. If WotC had vision, they would realize that they now have the ability to monetize 3PP products in a way that they couldn't in 3E. All they need to do is figure out a way to allow 3PP to sell or unlock content packs on DDI. This would vastly improve the outlook for 3PP (assuming people are correct in concluding that the DDI is the reason 4th Edition fans don't buy 3PP), and even if WotC didn't take any cut of the pie at all they would [i]still[/i] be directly profiting by encouraging people to maintain DDI subscriptions. [/QUOTE]

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