Interview with Scott Rouse, Chris Perkins & Bill Slavicsek

[Thaumaturge]

Morrus, thanks for putting together the interview. I'm hoping the DI works out as well as it might. There is great potential in that there interweb.

Thaumaturge.

 

[MerricB]

I want to answer this question - the challenge for me in using Dragon's content is portability. I can't bring 100 back-issues to my game. It would be a huge hassle, and copying/scanning/re-typing it is a lot of time and effort.

That's an example of how this could be made very useful to me.

I agree. It's one of the big flaws with the magazine format: portability.

Cheers!

 

[Cyberhawk]

Hey Morrus, thanks for doing this.

The WOTC folks "Scott, Chris and Bill" are asking for what we'd like to see. Here are few things I would like:

Campaign Classics. The Campaign Classics issue was one of my favorite things in Dragon. I would love to see this picked up, especially as an online venture we can see content at times year-round instead of only once a year.

Class Acts: The new 'overview' style of Class Acts (ie Adventurer, Warrior, etc. instead of 'cleric', 'Fighter' etc.) was both useful and entertaining. I'd love to see that continue, although I would also add a "Psionic" as well.

Low DRM: I have no problem with watermarking downloadable content, but if the DRM is heavier than that then I doubt I'll be purchasing it.

I'm happy to hear that the new initiative will be a welcoming place for outside writers, but I would like to hear what is going to happen to the articles submitted but not printed by Paizo and the Queries that were sent to Paizo before this was announced. (obviously this may be more of a concern for Paizo instead but thought I'd bring it up...)

Thanks.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, for starters, they really don't sound like folks with a concrete plan as of yet. I've been on both sides of such interviews in the past, and I certainly understand saying "we can't say that yet" (I worked for a very, very closed-off videogame company and my primary responsibility was dealing with the press and fan community), but there's an awfully high percentage of "we can't say" there compared to anything concrete.

It's also interesting to hear that Dragonlance may not be a settled issue from the point of view of Wizards. Is this Margaret Weis power-playing Wizards or are they in the process of talking to someone else about the license?

It's also dismaying that they felt they had to respond to some of the more out there responses. Did anyone genuinely think that D&D was going to be replaced by a MMORPG in the near term?

I think this was well-intentioned on their part, but none of this was a surprise to them, and they should have had at least a small nugget to say "this here is an example of what we will be selling you in the future." Going back to the videogame industry, no one in a company comparable to Wizards just announces a new product without immediately having something to preview, even if it's just concept sketches, a logo and maybe a mock-up game screen. The DI should have a logo, a short bullet point list of things folks can look forward to (with the caveat that stuff is still changing) and a new piece of art relating to one of the planned features.

Wizards normally seems to run a much more polished operation than they appear to have in the last few weeks.

 

[Ranger REG]

It's one of the big flaws with the magazine format: portability.

That's a non-issue for me.

The same argument could be applied to the D&D printed products.

 

[blargney the second]

There are a few things that I particularly enjoyed about Dungeon that I'd like to see continue in the DI:

1) Awesome artwork. There was a lot of original & evocative artwork that added significant value to the magazine. Being able to show my players a page with a piece of art was invaluable.
2) Eberron adventures. I love the setting, and I want more adventures set there! I really enjoyed the three adventure mini path that came out a year ago.
3) Awesome artwork. While I appreciate (and have used) the free adventures on the WotC site up until now... I really hope that the DI has more original pieces.
4) Portability to the table. I run adventures from Dungeon by bringing the physical mag to the table. (That being said, the encounter page formatting could be wonky, particularly with ads breaking things up.) Easily printable adventures are an absolute must before I even consider the DI.
5) Did I mention artwork? It's particularly useful when there are separate pictures & maps for players & DMs. Paizo's web enhancements for Dungeon were great for that.
6) Variety to cost ratio. I got many different things in Dungeon for a cheap price. When pricing the DI, bear in mind that I will need to pay for the ink to print it in order to use it. Unfortunately, good art is going to be expensive on my end one way or the other.

-blarg

 

[MerricB]

I'm a little worried myself. I work with the Internet for a living, and creating a good online content strategy isn't easy. And in general WotC's Internet presence, and most especially their forays into software development, in the past haven't inspired a huge amount of confidence that they have what it takes.

Hmm. The trouble of talking in general is that you miss the specifics. The specificality I'm talking about at present is Wizards' presence with Magic: the Gathering. Their online site is exceptional in the content it offers.

Their Magic: the Gathering Online game, despite the problems it has had, is also extremely successful.

Wizards on the D&D side hasn't been great online - although it's had some great successes - but it looks a lot better on the Magic side.

Cheers!

 

[WhatGravitas]

First of all, nice interview, thanks for the efforts, Morrus. That wasn't exactly clearing up everything... but sooo much better than the "oops, we dropped"-reaction last friday.

=Chris Perkins]"That said, we’re working to make WotC R&D and Brand team members more accessible and visible online, and this interview is a beginning step toward that long-term goal. We’re excited by this opportunity and look forward to participating more fully in the future."

Sounds nice... I always liked seeing some people actually online/responding, and Monte is still posting on his boards (occasionally). If they get this again, coupled with the friendliness/directness (unlike these "Ask Wizards"-thingies)... would be great. Looking forward to this.

That’s a much more important and timely message at this moment than what WotC plans to do down the road.

That part with Paizo sounds reasonable and good.

"We have not come up with a solution for “portability” of content after your subscription has ended but we are discussing ideas with in our development team. We do not have a DRM solution yet but have a range of options available to us."

DRM. Ugh. If it's not watermark... then it'll be ugly for the paranoia people (like me). :\

"As with the magazines, the online content represents only one part of our D&D efforts, and those without Internet access will have other options."

Perhaps I'm just misinterpreting it... but it sounds like "No internet? Suck it up." Not happy.

"Sounds like a great idea! In fact, it’s been part of our plans all along."

So... compendium/hardcover is planned... at least something, so they're showing some redeeming qualities...

"Yes. This is exactly how I broke into the industry, and we’re always looking for new talent to complement our core team."

Okay. That is something, that sounds genuinely cool - while non-print articles are far less glorious, they're at least keeping that channel open!

_______________________

So, the bottom line is: Much corporate speech. Marketing speech, but some gems... and that they're still working out things (crucial things, like DRM), makes me a bit anxious about the result... may end in a "fall flat on the face", colour me skeptic :\

EDIT: Whoah! This thread is moving *fast*! 15 new posts since starting typing!

 

[lrsach01]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Simplicity
Hmmm. I'm not actually finding the interview to be very revealing....


I don't know...I found the statement about Dragonlance very interesting:

Scott: No decisions have been made regarding the Dragonlance license, and we don’t discuss the details of ongoing negotiations.

That ALMOST sounds like they are shopping Dragonlance around. Is there another reason not to confirm that setting information would be included in the digital format. I'd feel a lot better knowing that WotC will continue to produce Dragonlance content. I'm sure the fans of Dark Sun, Birthright, Ravenloft and Greyhawk would love to know they were going to get new material too.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Is it just me, or are these not answers to the question posed to them?

/meta on

This is why the Q&A format, which is very common online, is a bad idea in general. It makes those answering questions look evasive if they don't answer to a reader's satisfaction (and while I agree with you in this case, someone ALWAYS feels a question isn't fully answered) and it sometimes hurts the questioner in a similar fashion.

It takes more work to write up in a news story format, like Comic Book Resources, to pick an example, tends to, but the results are almost always worth it.

There were a TON of questions and long answers, though, and a lot of pressure to get these results up now, of course. No criticism is intended toward Morrus, just airing some general long-term observations on the Q&A format.

/meta off