Is WotC still the industry LEADER?

[Wicht]

What other company has made the online effort that WOTC has?

Bella Sara.

Seriously, what other RPG publishing company has the resources to try so much with online gaming as WotC.

For that matter, why should a publishing company decide that it wants to become a major online gaming presence.

Truth be told there are plenty of other online gaming companies with better options than WotC. But most of them don't try to be publishers either. I don't think WotC is being a trailblazer so much as they are trying to expand their product line to include more online gaming. They weren't the first in the online field and they don't appear to be the best either. As far as I am concerned, I would rather a company learn to do one thing and do it well than to try and do a hundred things substandardly. YMMV.

 

[smug]

Bella Sara.

Seriously, what other RPG publishing company has the resources to try so much with online gaming as WotC.

Particularly to run so relatively far behind schedule on promised products; that must have cost a bunch above what they'd planned. Are they still paying for the virtual tabletop development? Assuming they meant to bring it out earlier, all that overrun is presumably costing dollars to make it work right.

In any case, I'm not sure what the point of the argument is; selling online services to users via subscription is an obvious thing to try to do if you have enough users and enough money to front development; subscriptions are guaranteed cash every month and the profit scales really agreeably with numbers of people signed up. WotC were the ones to try it because they have the user base and they have the financial backing. WW could presumably also do it; their parent company obviously has the expertise and they could probably deliver it in a more timely fashion, and perhaps better, than WotC have done. Even though WW itself is smaller, it is perhaps surprising that they weren't the first ones to do it, but for everyone else in the industry, I can't see it. Developing good software for that stuff is rather expensive.

 

[Hussar]

Bella Sara.

Touche. And, y'know, I've got a Scholastic catalog sitting right here that has Bella Sara books in it. At least one RPG company is getting a foot in the door as schools.

Seriously, what other RPG publishing company has the resources to try so much with online gaming as WotC.

Fair enough.

For that matter, why should a publishing company decide that it wants to become a major online gaming presence.

Ahh, but this gets to the crux of the matter. The idea on the table is that WOTC is no longer leading. That might be true. Or, it might be true that they are leading in a new direction that has not been explored before.

Why shoud a publishing company try to get online presence? Are you seriously asking that? The writing has been on the wall for a LONG time, print media is dying. Dead tree publishing is shrinking every year and online publishing is doing nothing but growing.

Isn't that what leaders do? Get out of the dead end and move into greener pastures?

Truth be told there are plenty of other online gaming companies with better options than WotC. But most of them don't try to be publishers either. I don't think WotC is being a trailblazer so much as they are trying to expand their product line to include more online gaming. They weren't the first in the online field and they don't appear to be the best either. As far as I am concerned, I would rather a company learn to do one thing and do it well than to try and do a hundred things substandardly. YMMV.

You are conflating online gaming with MMO's. I'm talking about Virtual Tabletop play. Totally different beast.

What other publisher is trying to create a huge online tabletop gaming community that will play PnP tabletop RPG's in a virtual environment?

This is one area that I've never, ever understood why the small publishers aren't taking advantage of. If WOTC can do it, you're going to see a community where you can play D&D with people who share your playstyles any time you want. This, to me, is the future of gaming. Getting gaming out of the suburbs and opening it up to anyone with an internet connection and spare time.

 

[Hussar]

Particularly to run so relatively far behind schedule on promised products; that must have cost a bunch above what they'd planned. Are they still paying for the virtual tabletop development? Assuming they meant to bring it out earlier, all that overrun is presumably costing dollars to make it work right.

In any case, I'm not sure what the point of the argument is; selling online services to users via subscription is an obvious thing to try to do if you have enough users and enough money to front development; subscriptions are guaranteed cash every month and the profit scales really agreeably with numbers of people signed up. WotC were the ones to try it because they have the user base and they have the financial backing. WW could presumably also do it; their parent company obviously has the expertise and they could probably deliver it in a more timely fashion, and perhaps better, than WotC have done. Even though WW itself is smaller, it is perhaps surprising that they weren't the first ones to do it, but for everyone else in the industry, I can't see it. Developing good software for that stuff is rather expensive.

But it can't be that expensive or you wouldn't have half a dozen Virtual Tabletops already on the market. Battlegrounds, Maptool, Kloogeworks, OpenRPG - all function well enough and were created by guys in their basement.

Like you, I cannot fathom why no one has done this before.

 

[Imaro]

...

What other publisher is trying to create a huge online tabletop gaming community that will play PnP tabletop RPG's in a virtual environment?

This is one area that I've never, ever understood why the small publishers aren't taking advantage of. If WOTC can do it, you're going to see a community where you can play D&D with people who share your playstyles any time you want. This, to me, is the future of gaming. Getting gaming out of the suburbs and opening it up to anyone with an internet connection and spare time.

But it can't be that expensive or you wouldn't have half a dozen Virtual Tabletops already on the market. Battlegrounds, Maptool, Kloogeworks, OpenRPG - all function well enough and were created by guys in their basement.

Like you, I cannot fathom why no one has done this before.

Just a thought here as far as other games versus the online tabletop play, particularly in regards to White Wolf. Honestly I think the reason you aren't seeing this from them is because... WW games, for the most part, don't rely on a precise grid, tactical movement, or physical character representations to play (I know I've never used a grid or minis when playing WW games). I mean what are they going to offer, a chat based program and die roller... forums dedicated to roleplaying... those are already out there for free, so why spend the development time and money on it as opposed to new books and new games.


I guess I look at it in the same way White Wolf games aren't really designed to promote mini purchases or tiles, but then someone turning around and saying... minis and tiles are such an obvious move to increase revenue, why is WotC doing this but WW isn't. I don't think this has anything to do with leading the hobby, since it's just not in WW's best interest to try and sell these things to their current customer base. I see a tricked out VTT in the same way. Or to put another spin on it... why isn't WotC promoting live-action play more, since WW seems to be leading in this area and it helps promote and sell their games.

 

[billd91]

But it can't be that expensive or you wouldn't have half a dozen Virtual Tabletops already on the market. Battlegrounds, Maptool, Kloogeworks, OpenRPG - all function well enough and were created by guys in their basement.

Like you, I cannot fathom why no one has done this before.

Because it's not as cheap as you think when you're dealing with a corporate as opposed to hobbyist development environment, particularly if you need to set your product off from everyone else's.

Also, why even do it when these other ones are out there? You don't have to try to compete against everybody in everything related to your industry.

 

[smug]

But it can't be that expensive or you wouldn't have half a dozen Virtual Tabletops already on the market. Battlegrounds, Maptool, Kloogeworks, OpenRPG - all function well enough and were created by guys in their basement.

Like you, I cannot fathom why no one has done this before.

I guess they want swanky appearance, maybe, but it is something of a mystery. Obvious guess would be project management SNAFU over there, but that's just a guess.

"Done by guys in basement" can be expensive to reproduce on a commercial basis, though. But WotC can afford it, I reckon.

 

[Dumnbunny]

In this context, I am baffled by one point: what purpose would watermarking pdfs serve, if pirates were not sued?

It can discourage the casual pirate, and even provide some punitive measures such as canceling their accounts.

For someone who actually sets out to pirate a book, it does nothing. Not even the hidden, single pixel watermark does anything. These pirates will simply purchase the downloads using an anonymous, pre-paid credit card and an anonymous, open wifi network.

 

[Dragon Snack]

What other publisher is trying to create a huge online tabletop gaming community that will play PnP tabletop RPG's in a virtual environment?

But it can't be that expensive or you wouldn't have half a dozen Virtual Tabletops already on the market. Battlegrounds, Maptool, Kloogeworks, OpenRPG - all function well enough and were created by guys in their basement.

Like you, I cannot fathom why no one has done this before.

Umm, maybe because 'half a dozen' VTTs already exist and they don't feel the need to reinvent the wheel? Or they don't have the market penetration to compete against free (or low cost) VTTs like WotC could?

(edit: or as WotC poll results show, there really isn't much demand for it...)

I don't see co-opting ideas that already exist as 'leadership'. It may be good for business (MS makes it work pretty well), but it's not leadership.

 

[mudbunny]

AFAIK, currently, each Dungeon and Dragon article is an individual pdf file which you gain access to with your subscription. I do not believe that you gain access to a back library, but, I too am not a subscriber, so I'm not sure about that.

Their eventual plans are to have access to prior issues linked to the period for which you are subscribed. However, that has been placed, AFAIK, on the back burner. So that someone who subscribes now gains access to all of the issues that have been released through DDI.