Interview with Scott Rouse, Chris Perkins & Bill Slavicsek

[Scott_Rouse]

. (Oh, and don't think I have forgive you already. It would need much more work than that. I just acknowledge, I see you trying hard!!!)

Thank sfor the advice.

Can I send you some chocolates?

 

[Sledge]

Thomas, the decision was made a year ago, but that doesn't mean staff were told about it. If it was general knowledge that means that nothing in the last year has made staff relax their emotions. That has bad implications for what people at WotC actually think of DI.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

So I can't have print magazines then? How about a pony?

Would a War Pony do?

 

[Sledge]

Can I send you some chocolates?

Chocolates? What kind of cheap date do you think we are?
We're the kind of date that you take to the store and tell the clerk you are going to spend an obsene amount of money. Really offensive. We aren't cheap at all.

 

[Thomas Percy]

Thomas, the decision was made a year ago, but that doesn't mean staff were told about it. If it was general knowledge that means that nothing in the last year has made staff relax their emotions. That has bad implications for what people at WotC actually think of DI.

They could sing: "(...) who am I to blow against the wind?" It helps.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

Chocolates? What kind of cheap date do you think we are?
We're the kind of date that you take to the store and tell the clerk you are going to spend an obsene amount of money. Really offensive. We aren't cheap at all.

Oh did I say chocolates? Silly me I meant a vacation house in the Alps with a jacuzii and fully stocked gaming room. My Bad

 

[Sledge]

Oh did I say chocolates? Silly me I meant a vacation house in the Alps with a jacuzii and fully stocked gaming room. My Bad

*sigh* I think I'm in love!

 

[Wye]

My read of it isn't that the DI is for everyone, but rather that for those that don't want internet stuff, there will still be plenty of D&D print products, including compilations of the online material.

If they are replacing the magazines with the digital initiative, it follows they are hoping (or have the certainty) that a majority of people liking the magazines would migrate to the digital initiative. But I don't see that; it certainly is not my case.

Saying that there are plenty of print products DOES alleviate my fear that the whole game is going online, but it DOES NOT fill in for the product lost. "Do you miss Class Acts? Don't worry, there is a splat book for that. Core Believes? There is a splat book for that too." doesn't cut it (and I'm not bashing books here, I have a lot to say about that too (good ideas, bad ideas, etc), but this is not the post for it). Inspiration comes from the amalgamation of ideas presented in an easy to carry, and easy to read, format. Reading 200+ pages of a rulebook of the same theme doesn't inspire me. Having sections of different material leads my busy little brain to mix and match things (from other magazines or my own ideas) and create something bigger and interesting.

So, the way I see it, it's not a replacement of the magazines. It's something completely different, targeted at people with different needs. I still don't see why it has to be treated like a replacement. In fact, more and more I see this as two separate events that happen to coincide in timing:
(1) Dragon and Dungeon magazines will die.
(2) Some newfangled subscription based wesbite is coming up.

Please note that I'm not a hater. I'm trying to expose my impressions clearly with full realization that what is done is done... and was done many months before I knew anything about it. If I'm here is because I care, not to flame.

 

[Khairn]

Please also keep in mind that we have no idea what the print initiative will have as content, how often it will be published, or what the price point will be. So before everyone gets all "warm & fuzzy" over the commitment to print additional material aside from the standard books, just remember that we know next to nothing.

How long we'll know nothing is still unknown.

 

[SnowRaven]

If they are replacing the magazines with the digital initiative, it follows they are hoping (or have the certainty) that a majority of people liking the magazines would migrate to the digital initiative. But I don't see that; it certainly is not my case.<snip>
Please note that I'm not a hater. I'm trying to expose my impressions clearly with full realization that what is done is done... and was done many months before I knew anything about it. If I'm here is because I care, not to flame.

I just meant that in that specific quote of "what about those of us that hate online stuff", it was probably referring to the books (especially the "online compendium") as products they're using to support folks that won't like online stuff.

From my point of view, I don't think it's a matter of "what will you replace Dragon with?" since to my view, the publications were ended and on a separate note, here's other stuff we're doing. The DI doesn't seem to be a year old IMO, but not sure. There are plenty of implications. It's possible that the decision to end the magazines is not as linked as it seems.

I mean, think of all the "Will they make an AoW hardcover?" topics over the last few months. Paizo obviously couldn't comment, but I can't imagine the topics aren't linked, and the Paizo statements are odd, knowing what happened a year ago.

It's obvious that a lot can't be said because of NDA's (though, a lot of these NDA's seem sort of silly, competition wise they don't have to be as stringent as other industries really...), but there is obviously lots more to the story.