Dark Psion said:
Dragon magazine is delivered to my mailbox, it is delivered to magazine racks, bookstores and game stores every month.
The internet is not delivered anywhere. I have to choose go to the site.
EnWorld does not come to me, I go to it, and then I have to click on the message boards, choose the thread and then participate. If I did not know EnWorld existed, I could not play there.
Well, if you ask me, just about anything on the internet is just as accessible as any book sitting on my bookshelf. Putting my shoes on to go outside and check my mailbox, or looking through old boxes trying to find old issues of magazines, both take much more time than opening a web browser and clicking on a bookmark. So I don't agree with your point.
Yes, but you're preaching to the choir. How many kids got their first exposure to D&D just by "seeing" a Dragon magazine on a magazine rack or borrowing one from a friend?
Good question. Honestly, I don't think it as many as you think. I know my own experience is anecdotal, but I never went into book stores much until I was already into the hobby. Game stores were intimidating for me for quite a while after I was already playing D&D. The FLGS is not so friendly and familiar for people who are not part of the active D&D community. They can be seen as strange or scary. I was posting on the official WotC message boards for a long time before I ever walked into a FLGS. I first heard that Dungeon and Dragon existed on the Wizards message boards.
Also, isn't it a lot easier to spread information about digital content than physical objects these days? If you want to lend a magazine to a friend, you have to give them the physical object. For digital content, a link sent via e-mail is often good enough, and showing a friend the content on your laptop is just as easy.
Once again, the internet is a personal experience. The only other eyeballs on my screen is the person looking over my shoulder. A magazine can be seen by anyone anywhere. I read mine at work while eating lunch, others have mentioned reading while traveling. Gaming is a shared experience between people.
In many ways the Internet is an Illusion, created by carefully arranged mirrors called servers. But there are many ways this illusion can fail; viruses, hackers, and power outages. Plus in my household, this illusion can only be seen in one room. If I walk to the kitchen, the illusion is lost.
I am afraid your argument here is not a logical argument, but is instead an emotional appeal, and since I don't relate to your sentiments here at all, it isn't terribly convincing.
Does WotC not want these people to play D&D anymore?
Since when was it a requirement that people must subscribe to Dungeon and Dragon in order to play D&D? Dungeon and Dragon have always been nothing more than one particular venue for supplemental material for D&D. In practice, they are little different from splatbooks or adventures published in book format. And as many threads at ENWorld have said lately, you don't need to buy supplements in order to enjoy D&D.
What we do not understand is why Dragon & Dungeon have to die to create this web initiative. It's apples and oranges to most of us, Dogs and cats, ....well no it is not.
It is Dogs and Goldfish.
One can go anywhere with you and do a lot of things together with you.
The other you just sit a watch in one room of your house.*
*Additional fish cost extra.
Well, I think a number of people have made pretty good logical arguements for why the print magazines did have to cease to exist in order to allow the web version to survive. And frankly, you are seriously downplaying the prevalence and effectiveness of various kinds of technology that allow the internet to "go anywhere with you". To be blunt, such technology existed since the lowly days of printers and floppy disks, let alone the modern days of cheap high storage USB flash drives, laptop computers, and PDAs. My laptop is probably lighter than the weight of carrying a few D&D books and magazines, and where I play D&D there are easily accessed wireless internet services.
