Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="CharlesRyan" data-source="post: 3804851" data-attributes="member: 5265">Hussar, I think you're right in saying that WotC has a great potential pool of new consumers, and that the VTT will encourage many lapsed or semi-lapsed consumers to come back into the fold by offering them a new way to find gaming groups.But consider a few points:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">First, they can only engage players in the VTT if they are already subscribers to DDI. How many people who are not currently playing will pony up for DDI simply on the hopes of assembling a group online? Some, for sure, but not so many that this demographic represents DDI's future in the short-to-mid term.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Secondly, I offer this counterpoint: I already belong to at least two existing groups that can't get together due to distances and/or lifestyle. Because one or more of the members of these groups use Macs, we will not be able to get together via DDI, either. I posit that these two gaming groups do matter, in that they represent a dozen potential subscribers to DDI and a dozen players who may drift away from D&D without an ability to reconstitute their groups. I doubt that most of these players (even the PC users, who at least have the option) are keen to start shopping for a new group from scratch, but I know that they're keen to play with their friends.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Thirdly, the issue I addressed in the point above has been explicitely cited by WotC as one of the advantages of DDI.</li> </ul>You are correct: Gamers forming new groups will be an important part of DDI's success, especially in the long term as this new paradigm becomes commonly understood and accepted.But I still hold that WotC is leaving a lot of money on the table--and a lot of their key consumers out in the cold--by miscalculating the magnitude of groups affected by the PC-only decision.</blockquote>

Verification