Responses to Questions about the DI

[Khairn]

Well, WotC has finally begun to respond to questions about the DI.

There's very little new, but there is a confirmation about a free trial which is nice, and a confirmation that there will be some form of DRM type security, along with acknowledgment that players who don't have access to computers and the net are not part of WotC's plans for supporting D&D

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=862010

Take a look.

 

[Wolfspider]

Well, WotC has finally begun to respond to questions about the DI.

There's very little new, but there is a confirmation about a free trial which is nice, and a confirmation that there will be some form of DRM type security, along with acknowledgment that players who don't have access to computers and the net are not part of WotC's plans for supporting D&D

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=862010

Take a look.

DRM eh?

Ugggg.

And the idea was so promising....

 

[Mouseferatu]

along with acknowledgment that players who don't have access to computers and the net are not part of WotC's plans for supporting D&D

Let's not exaggerate. He said that those without net access are not part of the target market for the DI. But that's hardly the full extent of WotC's D&D support.

Or do you not consider the actual books to qualify?

 

[Alzrius]

The thread did post some nice info (I like that guy's direct answers; he seems to appreciate speaking plainly rather than laying down company rhetoric), but I found some of it discouraging. Most particularly, the parts about DRM and the focus on printing.

The major advantage, for me, is that the Digital Initiative is digital. Printing is all well and good, but I'm not going to be keeping hard copies of this; I'm going to be burning it onto a DVD for storage along with the rest of my files. That means that I'll be viewing it on other computers (my current one alone is slowly dying), which is something DRM will interfere with.

Saying the DI will have the least amount of DRM possible is like saying it'll have the least amount of suck possible; you'd rather it just wasn't there at all.

 

[Khairn]

Let's not exaggerate. He said that those without net access are not part of the target market for the DI. But that's hardly the full extent of WotC's D&D support.

Or do you not consider the actual books to qualify?

Books, are exactly that. Books. I separate books from support the same way WotC does. According to WotC, the economics that support the decision to eliminate the magazines and go 100% DI are not valid when applied to core books. The 2 are distinct in my eyes and WotC's. Dragon and Dungeon supplied support in various ways for the D&D community. The DI is designed to replace that support and hopefully enhance it. You might not consider D&D players who do not have access to computers or the net to be marginalized by the reality of the DI, but I do.

Of course this is all subjective opinion.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

Saying the DI will have the least amount of DRM possible is like saying it'll have the least amount of suck possible; you'd rather it just wasn't there at all.

I'll post here what I posted in the comments section about the thread in question:

Lots of digital products you own have DRM. Some DRM solutions are rather onerous (like Windows XP) and others are relatively light like watermarking a "pdf" (for lack of a better term) type file with your name. They are both forms of DRM. DRM does not imply lack of ownership.

You are right that DRM does not discourage piracy. People that want to will hack systems and find the work arounds to any form of digital protection will do so. There are some bad apples out there but we largely work under premise that our customers are honest. DRM does not have to be a pain in the butt to the consumer but can offer the business some protection, even if slight.​

 

[mhacdebhandia]

One good thing that leaps out at me:

Q. Will we be able to download and print articles?

A. Yes, you will be able to print articles. Our goal is to follow the model of "You buy it, you own it. Forever."​

Even if there's DRM more onerous than watermarking - which is my personal ideal "maximum level" - that's a reassuring statement.

 

[Hussar]

I would point out that if you are able to print something, in all likelihood, you will be able to keep it in digital format as well. It would be extremely strange to only be able to directly print material from your browser. I suppose that's possible, but, really wonky.

In other words, if you can print it, you can burn it.

Starting to sound pretty good though.

 

[amethal]

This is what I like.

Q. How much will full access to the DI cost me?

A. We haven’t finalized pricing yet, but there will be some content that is available for free to everyone and other content exclusive for premium members.

Looks like people like me, who have vowed never to subscribe, will be able to "stick a toe in the water" free of charge, and eventually join up with everyone else.

 

[humble minion]

Still saying very little. I wonder if they're really scrambling for time and making it up as they go along, as it sometimes seems, or whether they've actually got developers, plans, in-house beta versions etc and are just waiting for the right time to show them off? Really, if they're trying to slide the DI in after the final issues of Dungeon/Dragon, they've got two months to do it in. Now, I work in software (relatively small-scale) and we do two months of testing on our release candidates before they go out. If WotC truly don't know the answers to ANY of those questions, then either the DI is not going to be out in time to replace the magazines, or else it's going to be a buggy, unreliable disaster.

Price is the killer as far as I'm concerned. If I'm getting exactly the same amount of content as I was with Dungeon/Dragon, then I'd expect to pay probably half, or less, the subscription amount for the DI, since I'll have to pay for printing etc myself (laptops don't go to our gaming sessions), and will end up with an inferior quality product once I've done so. Obviously I can't make that judgement until I see what sort of content we'd be looking at, and what sort of guarantees I get that content goes up regularly and in useful quantities, but my gut feeling is not optimistic, at this stage...