Merric's view: Thoughts on the Digital Initiative.

[Garnfellow]

Odd thought of the... err... too late at night: If Wizards had announced that they were cancelling the magazines, but replacing them in an online form headed by Erik Mona (they're not, as far as I know), would you have been as unhappy?

To me, this is a crucial point. I'm not congenitally opposed to taking Dungeon or Dragon online. I can apprehend the huge advantages to both the producer AND consumer by going electronic. Personally, I love to have my adventure material in electronic format so I can tweak things to my heart's delight, and I love the idea of having content online and INDEXED, rather than hunting through six books and 16 issues of a magazine for that one feat that should be perfect . . .

But to me, Erik and James have been doing great stuff with the magazines, and frankly, I think right now Dungeon and Dragon are the best they have ever been -- and my first issue was #46.

I think all of the former editors and such that Wizards trotted out a couple of weeks ago are probably all good folk and they all did decent enough jobs back when they ran the magazines, but for my money none of them did their jobs anywhere near as well as Erik and James have.

And despite all the benefits that an electronic medium will bring, at the end of the day it's all about the content. And while I don't think that anything Wizards is going to put out will be junk, I also don't think the content will be quite as consistently good as what Paizo has been producing for the last 3 or 4 years.

That, to me, is what really bums me out about this deal.

 

[Teemu]

I'm skeptical about this. I've seen many comments from various regular contributors to Dragon and Dungeon who have stated they don't know how they will be able to publish certain things with the magazines ending. They haven't been contacted by WotC, and the creators would be the first people contacted about such a project.\

I expect this will be limited to WotC staff and perhaps a few favored freelancers (and at least one person I mentioned is a WotC freelancer).

I remember this part in the big interview:

DRAGON and DUNGEON have always been stepping stones for writers and artists breaking into the RPG industry. Will this still be the case with the online content? Will you continue to accept submissions from freelance writers?

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

 

[gribble]

What are the advantages of the web format?
Subscribers will be able to save their favourite articles to their hard disks, or print them out and just keep a folder of the best of the best - or the relevant material for their current game.

While I'm (reservedly) looking forward to the DI, as I think it could be pretty cool if the creative team involved are paying attention the the threds here about what it should be, I have to call shenanagins on this one.

To date we know *nothing* about the format the DI will be in, and WotC have said they are looking at DRM technologies (as I expected them to, and any company with valuable IP should).

For all we know you won't be able to keep folders of content (especially after your subscription lapses), and it's not outside the bounds of possibility that you won't even be able to download the content to your local hard drive (or, at least, not in any usable format). Even printing might not be possible...

Personally I don't expect them to go that far, but we don't yet know that they won't.
:\

 

[gribble]

I remember this part in the big interview:

DRAGON and DUNGEON have always been stepping stones for writers and artists breaking into the RPG industry. Will this still be the case with the online content? Will you continue to accept submissions from freelance writers?

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

Hate to be cynical, but this doesn't necessarily imply that they will be using freelancer's submissions for the DI, or that if they do it'll be of the same quantity as dungeon/dragon.

It could just be coincidence, but the above seems carefully worded to me to leave the reader with an *implication* that things will be the same as dungeon/dragon, without actually stating that it will be.

Bear in mind that WotC (I assume) currently accepts submissions from freelancers for anything. What percentage of those do you think end up contributing to a rulebook? We could see the same situation with the DI - i.e.: the occasional gem get submitted, and WotC uses it and adds the author to the stable of currently used freelancers/staff - but it's a rare day when that happens, much like with the current sourcebooks.

Again, I hope we *don't*, but that doesn't make it any less likely that we *could*.

 

[tadk]

I have bought a single issue of Dragon in the last 3 years I think
The last WOTC item I bought was d20 Past about 1.5 to 2 years ago, right after it came out
Otherwise I am all 3rd Party

I have talked to one person who was hired for the DI, good programmer, awesome content provider, good person, a gamer.

I loved and bought every print issue of Pyramid.
I have not subscribed to the online version.
I wont to the DI either.
Just one person though.
Back to making my stuff for free to give away.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

Hate to be cynical, but this doesn't necessarily imply that they will be using freelancer's submissions for the DI, or that if they do it'll be of the same quantity as dungeon/dragon.

It could just be coincidence, but the above seems carefully worded to me to leave the reader with an *implication* that things will be the same as dungeon/dragon, without actually stating that it will be.

Bear in mind that WotC (I assume) currently accepts submissions from freelancers for anything. What percentage of those do you think end up contributing to a rulebook? We could see the same situation with the DI - i.e.: the occasional gem get submitted, and WotC uses it and adds the author to the stable of currently used freelancers/staff - but it's a rare day when that happens, much like with the current sourcebooks.

Again, I hope we *don't*, but that doesn't make it any less likely that we *could*.

I hear this (rather bizarre, from my vantage) theory tossed about quite a lot around here.

Here's what I don't get: WHY would Wizards not take freelancer submissions, and in fairly large numbers? Unless they intend to drastically cut back on the content they put out (either losing sourcebooks or putting up no more than the current free site), they would certainly end up paying far, far more to salaried employees and regular freelancers.

Paizo, for example, paid 5c/word, scaling up with seniority. Wizards could drop that a cent or two and still stay near the top of the pack, even before you consider their prestige. In any case, even the current base rate is small change to a company of Wizard's size. Heck, it practically is to a company of PAIZO's size; I'm sure the other expenses of producing Dragon and Dungeon dwarf the writers' fees. Compare that to the salary (plus benefits, etc.) of even an entry-level designer. It's not even close. Regular freelancers who've worked on sourcebooks are likely to command a higher per word rate, too.

The financial incentive would seem to be to use as many inexperienced freelancers as you can to fill up the pages, provided they put out good content. Market with name/staff writers, obviously, but fill up the pages with young, hungry freelancers. With the direct feedback you get on web articles, you even have an easy way to see which ones fly with the audience.

 

[Agamon]

If the DI is a subscribe or have nothing model, I don't care how cool it is, I'll pass. If it's a subscribe and keep what you get model, I might look into it, and if it's incredibly awesome, check it out. If it's a pay-per-month model, I'll be more likely to get one once in a while if i like what I see. But, most likely, I'll just wait for the print versions to come out and just get them. They'll have the best of the content that will be better edited than the first online versions. And they'll be in print.

 

[MerricB]

As a note: it is inconceivable that you won't be able to print out the adventures offered through the DI.

I expect them to, most likely, be PDF files with watermarks. Wizards have - incredibly - shown their willingness to do so using drivethrurpg.com.

Cheers!

 

[Agamon]

As a note: it is inconceivable that you won't be able to print out the adventures offered through the DI.

I expect them to, mostly likely, be PDF files with watermarks. Wizards have - incredibly - shown their willingness to do so using drivethrurpg.com.

I'll only use PDFs on my PC. Printing them out, even with a laser printer, hasn't ever turned out to be a very good idea.

 

[coyote6]

Odd thought of the... err... too late at night: If Wizards had announced that they were cancelling the magazines, but replacing them in an online form headed by Erik Mona (they're not, as far as I know), would you have been as unhappy?

I wouldn't have been. I like what Mona & co. have done with the magazines.

Aside from Dungeon, I've bought far more PDF adventures than I have print; given a choice between print & PDF, for most adventures, I go with PDF -- then I can print the pages I need, reference the PDF from my laptop (and at work), etc. The exceptions would be adventures with big foldout maps & the like -- those are a pain to print & put together, and don't look as good.

Thus, I'd be pretty okay if they'd said, "Yeah, we're taking Dungeon electronic. But don't worry, aside from electrons replacing paper, it'll be mostly the same", I'd have been fine. (Though I'd miss the cool poster maps Paizo included; the four-part Greyhawk map rules.)

Instead . . . they haven't said much. I have to surmise that they either don't know exactly what their plans are (which isn't reassuring), or they have plans, but don't know what they can deliver (which still isn't very reassuring).

When they announced 3e, I recall that WotC laid out a plan -- "previews every month" (in Dragon . . . hmm). And then there was all the info posted on certain websites, and posts from WotC employees.

(Which makes Scott Rouse's recent postings seem a little like old times. Hey, Henry! How about "C'mon, undefined later point in time!" )