D&D General Is D&D Beyond Exclusivity Bad for D&D?

[mamba]

And, IMO, no, forcing customers to make PDFs of badly formatted web pages is not a solution -- it is an insult.

it’s one of the reasons why I prefer ToV (or really any other publisher, that one just happens to offer something close to 5e).

Not saying I will never buy anything on DDB ever again, but it will be few and far between at a minimum. The price hike does not help that either…

Something being digital only is not an issue, I basically gave up on buying print

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I don't see it as bad. You can still buy all the major books in print.

Can you buy the future books in print?

 

[cranberry]

WoTC/D&D is the 800 pound gorilla in the TTRPG space. Making their content D&D Beyond exclusive won't hurt them in the least.

IMO, it will contribute to shitification of D&D, but if your peer group is playing it, or if it's the latest trendy thing, the lack of quality won't matter. It's only people who have seen better, or who really care about TTRPGs that will notice the decline. And we are in the minority in that regard.

I don't care about owning a library of videos or music, but I care about owning books. So, if I cared about D&D (under WoTC's watch), then yea, I wouldn't like it.

 

[AlViking]

There's no indication that they will ever stop selling books despite the doom and gloom. The only things that are limited to online only are small adventures that don't justify the cost of an entire book. Things like these used to be published in Dungeon Magazine but times change and the days of Dungeon (and Dragon) Magazine are long gone. In the case of the adventures that they only post online, having them online instead of me reading them and then tossing them into a pile where I can never find it again is a big benefit.

Since DDB doesn't require a subscription, I don't see what the issue is. If you want a published book you can buy them multiple places and get them electronically on other platforms like Roll20.

If this is a DRM (digital rights management) issue you can always get a copy of whatever you purchase either by converting to a PDF, print them out and stuff in a notebook or download to the DDB app on your phone. Meanwhile I play games that reside on Steam, watch movies on Netflix, listen to music on Spotify ... the list goes on. Technology has changed and you can either jump on the north bound train or you can sit in the dark at the station reminiscing about the "good old days".

 

[Shiroiken]

I also dislike the idea of "access" instead of ownership, but WotC are going to use whatever business model generates the most profit. Their job is to make money by providing a product; nothing says you have to buy the product. Hell, you don't even have to buy the basic rules anymore. If you feel that you need content that WotC isn't providing in the format you'd like, try supporting one of the many 3PP out there.

 

[Distracted DM]

Pretty sure @SlyFlourish has posted some strong opinions on the topic, see: the Walled Garden. I believe that was more relevant for 3pp but this touches on that.

Is it bad for customers? Short-term no, long-term yes. It's the path to enshittificiation. I'd feel bad about using that word so often if it weren't so pervasive and well-deserved nowadays.

 

[Reynard]

I want to re-state something because there seems to be a little confusion: this is not about things you can buy in other formats. This is about things that are only available in D&D Beyond. Right now, that is relatively small stuff, but we don't know what the future looks like. RIGHT NOW, they are producing D&D content that can only be purchased on Beyond. How do you feel about THAT.

 

[Remathilis]

I think the OP is pointing to an emerging future, however, where that hardcover won't exist. The material will only be accessible through DDB.

I'm not sure print is going away anytime soon. But I could see it going for a premium market (paperback books are already a dying breed, but hardbacks are still profitable, both on traditional books and gaming). Further, I expect WotC is banking on selling print baubles (map packs, DM screens, spell cards, dice) to help supplement print.

The future is uncertain, but I wager WotC is still interested in selling actual books for a good while yet.

 

[Reynard]

I think the OP is pointing to an emerging future, however, where that hardcover won't exist. The material will only be accessible through DDB.

For clarity: I am not. I am talking about the situation right now.

 

[Koloth]

One harsh reality in the US is not everyone has broadband Internet and a high data cap. If something becomes available on-line only, a percent of folks just won't be able to access that something. Other folks with Internet may not want to spend a portion of a limited data quota to access an on-line only resource. It is one thing to be able to download once and have the pdf available locally from that point forward. Can be a problem if that resource has to be loaded into browser cache every time it is needed.

On-line only also carries data security issues. A common meme in cyber security circles is "Gee, a day ending in y, another company suffers a data theft." Followed by questions of how many folks will be offered a year or so of 'data monitoring' as compensation. Except for the all the years of monitoring running concurrently instead of consecutively, I have probably received enough offers of data monitoring to last until 2200.

A tell going forward will be if future Organized Play for D&D starts requiring or even just allowing use of on-line only stuff.

But all of this are things that will be decided by the accounting staff(or the AI replacements) of Hasbro.