pawsplay's dealbreaker list

[roguerouge]

The open content movement is dying all over the place. Radiohead used it as a gimmick and they still relied on traditional album sales to make their money and they have already indicated that they will be using standard release methods for future albums. Without some kind of robust system in place to reward artistic creativity, it is up to the use of copyright, and every method that provides, to generate income for these activities. To do otherwise is to end the entire enterprise of professionally designed games.

Please see:

www.creativecommons.org

There is another way.

 

[roguerouge]

Also, for those arguing that we need zealous enforcement of copyright to stop digital downloading from ruing the gaming industry, we might look to what studies have shown about digital downloading:

Researchers at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina tracked music downloads over 17 weeks in 2002, matching data on file transfers with actual market performance of the songs and albums being downloaded. Harvard professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee’s results showed that it took 5,000 downloads for the sale of an album to be reduced by one copy. In addition to this startling discovery came an even bigger one: when it came to popular artists, record sales actually improved from downloading music – sales increased by one copy for every 150 downloads. Even high levels of file-swapping seemed to translate into an effect on album sales that was "statistically indistinguishable from zero," they wrote. (Borland, John. “Music sharing doesn't kill CD sales, study says.” Cnet News. 29 March 2004)

I agree with the OP: the OGL was a reason to support them, as it was a voice of cooperation.

 

[AllisterH]

What monsters arent we getting in this MM?

 

[Mirtek]

It's true that a lot of the fanboys choose not to discuss the merits of the game in rational, thoughtful terms. But it's also true that most of the anti-fanboys are also quite abrasive, and this is actually *less* encouraging for rational discussion than just "wai wai wai 4E roxxors."
People who don't appreciate 4th Edition would be much better off in their efforts of presenting clashing viewpoints if they calmly presented their arguments without overwhelming and obvious pessimism. They're angry at WotC, so they don't. And this is their mistake.

Actually it doesn't matter. Even the bestly presented most well formulated argument against 4e will be hooted down by the "wai wai wai 4E roxxors" anyway.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

What monsters arent we getting in this MM?

Frost Giant, Delver, as far as I know. I must admit, I had a soft spot for the Delver, but I think I'll get over it.
And weren't a lot of Dragons missing, too? (Metallics?)

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Actually it doesn't matter. Even the bestly presented most well formulated argument against 4e will be hooted down by the "wai wai wai 4E roxxors" anyway.

No.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

Please see:

www.creativecommons.org

There is another way.

That is a legal framework, but not an economic framework. It;s always possible to give things away for free, but there is not incentive. WOTC is simply doing the responsible thing by taking maximum advantage of the rents available to it through copyright law. To do otherwise would to be to hurt the interests of its shareholders and employees.

 

[Mirtek]

No.

Yes. It's a lose-lose-situation. The pro-4e side it not in the slightest more reasonable than the anti-4e side.

Just listening to some pro-4e threads gives the impression that 3.x was the worst and most unpopular system ever and WotC should have never sold a single book because everybody hated it (obviously they all were just buying 3.x books so that they could torch them and curse them while they burned)

Not a single bit better than the anti-4e rants, neither side can claim to have anything over the other in regard to reasonable behaviour

 

[Will]

Uh, I don't know where you saw those pro-4e threads, but most of the pro-4e threads I've read are much more focused on stroking themselves raw about how unbelievably wonderful 4e is and how excited they are and so on.

Very few focus at all on 3e.

 

[AllisterH]

Frost Giant, Delver, as far as I know. I must admit, I had a soft spot for the Delver, but I think I'll get over it.
And weren't a lot of Dragons missing, too? (Metallics?)

Um, surely there's more than that...The Delver I thought was created for 3E while Metallics don't get used that often. As for Frost giants, one monster is a make or break issue?

From reading the OP, I thought we were losing whole swathes of the 1E/2E/3E Monstrous Manual.

Personally, I think we could've stood to lose more creatures (really, do we need entries for kobolds, goblins, orcs, hobgoblins and gnolls and please, PLEASE let's not get more than 1 entry for aquatic evil humanoid!!!))