Interview with Scott Rouse, Chris Perkins & Bill Slavicsek

[Thurbane]

Being disappointed with the answer is not the same as the questions not being answered.

We know more than we did before. Their responses contained some real substance.

I'll also have to humbly disagree with this. For my mind, very little of real substance was present in the answers, and did basically zero to make me feel any better about the end of the magazines, or any more enthusiastic about the launch of the DI.

If anything, it only solidified many of my concerns about the DI...

 

[Thurbane]

Obviously, I'd love everything to be accurate when first put up, but that's not realistic.

...sorry, but why?

I know we had a lengthy thread here a little while back about proofreading and errors, which went into great depth on the subject, but I am still not convinced that basic errors in products are "inevitable" or "inescapable".

With all due respect, glaring stat-block errors and contradictory text are NOT acceptable in a product you expect people to shell out hard earned money for (not to mention minor spelling and typographical errors). Errata is all fine and well, but it is no substitiion for catching errors in the first place. Such errors REALLY irk consumers, let me assure you.

My 2 cents anyway.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

It appears people are talking about two different things in this thread. The problem is that they haven't told us WHICH one of the two things it is. The DI is either:

1) An online "service" that offers articles, information, but also tools and interactive material. Likely the information would come out in packets (for instance, an article on "Feats of the Shieldlands in Greyhawk" would come out on Wednesday and on Thursday there would be "Spells of the Ice Mage" and on Friday "DM Advice", etc). Information could be printed out, but you'd be printing off these "packets". Want a 10 page adventure that was just put up on the service? Print it off if you want to use it offline.

2) An online "magazine". This would mean that all the information would be compiled into one document that could be downloaded and read with a table of contents, a beginning and an end. These could be printed off and read in "order".

All the evidence points to it being the first one as far as I can tell, however. This makes the most sense to me and seems to make the most efficient use of the online medium:

-You don't have to print anything you don't NEED (Don't like Eberron then don't print off the article about Stormreach, don't like the new spells in an article then don't print them off, if you play D&D with a laptop with internet access in front of you you never have to print anything)

-Information is easily modifiable (Find out there is a misprint in a new PrC you printed you can correct it instead of having it in a physical book that can't be corrected, if you have more "Spells of the Frostmage" submitted to you you can just add it to the previous article)

-Interactivity (You can make a character creating program that is automatically updated when new books come out, a map making program that gets new art automatically, a treasure generating program that gets new magic items in it as new books come out)

-Personalization (You can save your settings since it is user based allowing you to log into the service from your friends house and have all your favorite articles saved or your characters all saved online ready to print out if you forgot your printout at home)

It has a couple of disadvantages to go with the benefits. The biggest of which is that it no longer has physical copies which means no reading in the bathroom or on the bus without a print out.

However, it appears that they are counting on people who like physical copies just to buy the compilations when they come out. I think it's a safe bet that for people who like physical copies, this should satisfy them.

It IS true, though, that it is likely that Dragon and Dungeon as magazines in the current format are dead. We should mourn their passing. Then we can move on.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

...sorry, but why?

I know we had a lengthy thread here a little while back about proofreading and errors, which went into great depth on the subject, but I am still not convinced that basic errors in products are "inevitable" or "inescapable".

With all due respect, glaring stat-block errors and contradictory text are NOT acceptable in a product you expect people to shell out hard earned money for (not to mention minor spelling and typographical errors). Errata is all fine and well, but it is no substitiion for catching errors in the first place. Such errors REALLY irk consumers, let me assure you.

My 2 cents anyway.

Nothing is inescapable, but it's a matter how much much money are you willing to spend for perfection.

As a rough example. Say you pay someone...20 dollars an hour to write up a PrC. After writing it(2 hours), playtesting it (5 hours), changing it based on playtesting (1 hour), playtesting again (5 hours), last minute edits based on more playtesting and having read through it (1 hour), having an editor go through it and check for errors and consulting with him (2 hours), last minute editing based on editors feedback (1 hour), and meetings discussing deadlines and progress (5 hours).

That's 22 hours there or 440 dollars for one PrC. And that's just the one writer being paid. Assume other people get paid to manage, play in the playtests, edit, market the book, etc....

Then the fact that there are a number of PrC, feats, spell, etc. per book. It adds up. At a certain point you just have to give up and say "We think it's good enough. It might not be perfectly balanced. During that last phase of editing, we may have changed something in the PrC that made the example invalid, but I don't think so. Let's get it out before the deadline and just print it now."

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

J.R.R. Tolkien spent decades trying to chase all the typos out of the LoTR books. I get the impression that editing is much tougher than most people give credit for.

As for Majuro Oakheart's note about what people think the DI is - does anyone really think that #2 is what they have in mind? I can't imagine that as a possibility.

 

[deadDMwalking]

J.R.R. Tolkien spent decades trying to chase all the typos out of the LoTR books. I get the impression that editing is much tougher than most people give credit for.

While a few typos are always possible, and extremely difficult to avoid completely, they are much easier to deal with now. Before the advent of computers, a manuscript would be re-copied a few times, including with print setting. Each time a copy was made an error could creep in that was not there before.

Now, the finished manuscript is essentially the final print product. Thus, there should not be any 'new errors' added to a product after it is completed, which originally was an 'unavoidable error'.

Even if that is the case, the number of errors and the type of errors can easily be unacceptable. I don't play in the Forgotten Realms (at least, not usually), but I do look over the books for that product line. I could not believe that the first page I opened to in Serpent Kingdoms had more than three easy to recognize typos.

I make mistakes with my spelling, and I've accidentally put one word in place of another, or left part of a sentence out. My posts are usually better edited than the products that Wizards of the Coast has released. If they don't release perfectly edited books, I won't hold it against them, but I will cringe each time I come across an obvious error (particularly if they use there or their instead of they're).

 

[Vocenoctum]

Sammael,

Don't get me wrong, I do see your point. I suppose we simply differ in views regarding trust.

I don't wear glasses, but would you believe I have rose colored eyes? I do...really

May, June, and August. Hopefully Wotc will reveal more about the DI before August. I also hope they will have a beta test of the DI starting soon.

Previews is only up to July now, as of the last one, so I'm figuring next month's (Junes) Previews will have info maybe.

 

[DanFor]

Hasbro stays out of our day to day business of operating the D&D brand.

I know who to blame now, at least.

To the rest of my fellow ENWorld community: I offer you a challenge. We are all shocked. We are all taken back by these decisions. ENWorld is a safe place to share our feelings and opinions, work out our emotions, and fortunately for all of us, share our thoughts on how we hope to shape the future of our favorite passtime. So, here's the challenge: TRUST - those that were chosen to shepherd the Dungeons and Dragons game, because its all we have, RESPECT - that everyone is entitled to there own opinion, SUPPORT - be there for those with the greatest responsibility and those who need your help, ENCOURAGE - use the energy you feel, that may initially be negativity, and invest it into making this game great, however best you can do it. Many of you have, and continue to, live up to this challenge. Thank you for making this a special place.

Why would I trust, respect, support, or encourage a company that makes bad (IMO) management decisions? How many people here trusted and encouraged T$R and Lorraine Williams back in the day?

 

[caudor]

I know who to blame now, at least.

Why would I trust, respect, support, or encourage a company that makes bad (IMO) management decisions? How many people here trusted and encouraged T$R and Lorraine Williams back in the day?

Well, in my case, I trust them because I like their past and current products, and I don't think they have bad management. I think the company is doing very well.

 

[DanFor]

Well, in my case, I trust them because I like their past and current products, and I don't think they have bad management. I think the company is doing very well.

I respect your opinion. I hope the digital magazine works out for you.