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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Riastlin" data-source="post: 5623268" data-attributes="member: 94022">I do think that digital distribution is absolutely the future.  Not just for RPGs, but for pretty much all books.  Heck, just look at Borders.  Sure, you can argue that Borders could have been run better, and maybe they could have, but the bottom line is that they are a major bookseller that appears to be on the verge of total collapse.  Same thing happened with Blockbuster (albeit movie rentals, not book sales).   So I would be shocked if the next edition didn't have a digital distribution method.  With the rise of tablets, kindles, and other readers, e-book formats seem to make complete sense -- particularly since a lot of rpg players are also technically savvy and/or into the "gadgets".  I also think that DDi is likely to only grow as the tools improve.  Although there certainly are some valid complaints with the current DDi offerings, there's really little mistaking the fact that at the very least, the Character Builder makes building and levelling up characters much, much easier.  Sure it isn't perfect, but its still a great tool AND it gives you access to all of their crunch content, something that would cost you hundreds of dollars otherwise. All that being said, and while maintaining that digital distribution is the future, I do agree that WotC will not fully pull out of the physical book sale arena until they are left without a choice.  Physical books are great for the FLGS.  They are a great way to advertise in book stores, and they are a great way to introduce somebody to the game who might not otherwise try it.  So WotC will continue to print books, but I think that their print offerings will start to dwindle.  They will more and more point to DDi for their offerings, particularly of pure crunch and player options, etc.   Eventually though (and keep in mind this is pretty distant) they will stop printing books altogether.  Why?  Because I think books in general will stop being printed.  Eventually everyone will be using readers, laptops, tablets, or whatever other new device is out there, to get their literature.  Its not practical to do so now (too many people refuse to try them, or think they can't learn how to use them -- my mom actually took a class at Barnes & Noble on how to use her Nook).  But soon enough, it will be second nature.  Three year old kids nowadays understand how to use IPads, CD players, etc.  They will have no problem with readers.  Even for most middle aged on down people right now the only things holding them back from going the reader route are a) initial cost of the reader b) concerns about battery life/glare and c) the "feeling of curling up with a good, physical book".   Going onto the side note of dropping edition tags, that's an interesting thought.  I could certainly see it happening.  The key though is that in order to make it work they would have to either a) allow filtering in the online tools for choosing which options are available or b) make the changes so gradual that the game seemlessly flows from release to release.  What you can't do is make a change like we saw from 2nd edition to 3.0 or from 3.5 to 4.0.  The systems just are not particularly compatible.  3.0 to 3.5 and 4.0 to Essentials though works much better.  In fact, as has been shown, you can play essentials along side 4.0 "classic" without any trouble.  3.0 to 3.5 was a bit more difficult to make compatible but was certainly not as big as say the move to 3.0 or 4.0.</blockquote>

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