Responses to Questions about the DI

[Mark CMG]

I am still interested in knowing if there will be advertising in the DI?

Mark, that's a question for next week.

I look forward to the answer.

 

[megamania]

Seems better than the first impression but my computer will still have loading issues no doubt.

Cost and loading time will be HUGE factors for me.

 

[3catcircus]

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.

What're you gonna do if the DRM won't let you save the information or burn it to DVD?

 

[rgard]

Yes we are plannning this.

Most excellent.

 

[rgard]

How about porn? Will DI have any good elf porn, for example? Or perhaps "Vadania Gone Wild!"?

No, just the creepy guy who plays her.

 

[Grimstaff]

It's my definition so you don't have to agree with me. Guess it may not be up with the industry Jargon but it is what is is and in this case helps to frame my thoughts on what a DRM (or anti-priracy) solution should try to acheive.

I beleive that 99.9% of our customer base is honest. Did they download some Metalica songs off Napster back in the day or once buy a bootleg of the Star Wars Christmas Special at GenCon? Maybe so, but generally speaking they are honest people who given the choice would rather buy official product from a publisher than get pirated stuff. When I think about protecting copyright (which is my main consideration when I think about DRM) I keep in mind that when given the opportunity most of our customers willingly give us their money for a product and no matter what I do I can't stop pirates and the people who buy priated copies.

But honest people sometime screw up. Today customer service emailed me a link to web site with dozens of D&D 3.5 and older PDFs on them. I would guess that the person who created this site is a mostly an honest, hard working, calls his mom every Sunday kind of person who thought it would be cool to create an online lending library of all his D&D books? In my opinion he can't do this and our lawyers will send him a note stating that. I can't say if these are purchased PDFs or scans. Scanning that many books is a lot of work but people do it (based on the fact they are all over share services like bit torrent). If they were purchased PDFs a watermark stating this is Joe Smith's book would likely have been enough of a "wait a minute moment" for this person to think twice about sharing with the rest of the world. I can't stop the scanners or other cheaters who want to "screw WOTC" by dumping files onto a share site so I don't worry about them (until I find them then I sick the lawyers on em). What I want is something that helps prevent the stupid, time wasting piracy, with a reasonable but not onerous solution that keep the honest people (mostly) honest.

I know a great way to keep piracy down! Print a whole bunch of copies of the DI, with glossy pretty covers and a catchy title that refers to the game it supports. Then place it on magazine racks in stores so customers are forced to pay for each copy they want. You could even reach shut-ins or overseas folks by offering to deliver the "pre-printed-DI-with-a-glossy-cover" on a monthly basis for a set yearly fee.

If R&D likes my idea, I expect compensation.

 

[Nifft]

No, just the creepy guy who plays her.

That's cruel and unusual fanservice.

-- N

 

[rgard]

That's cruel and unusual fanservice.

-- N

Sorry, I think my mind is hardwired to post something about the creepy guy whenever hot elf chicks are mentioned.

I'll see if I can get this fixed with prescription drugs.



Thanks,
Rich

 

[Mark CMG]

Sorry, I think my mind is hardwired to post something about the creepy guy whenever hot elf chicks are mentioned.

I'll see if I can get this fixed with prescription drugs.

Careful. That is how the creepy guy became the creepy guy.

 

[rgard]

Careful. That is how the creepy guy became the creepy guy.

I'm doomed.