The End of the World as We Know it?

[DEFCON 1]

Or both, with options for sortability.

What's depressing is they used to have both, but they eliminated the categories page unfortunately. I loved when they had that, because it had already sorted all the articles for you (from both Dragon and Dungeon all grouped together). You wanted to look at all the Bazaar of the Bizarre articles, you could get at them all together, rather than have to go page by page on the Archives tab.

I mean you can still technically get all of one category of articles to show up by clicking on a category in the archives list... but the only downside is you have to go page by page to actually find one of the articles that was in the categories you want. It's several annoying steps to get there.

 

[The Little Raven]

I mean you can still technically get all of one category of articles to show up by clicking on a category in the archives list... but the only downside is you have to go page by page to actually find one of the articles that was in the categories you want. It's several annoying steps to get there.

No, you don't.

 

[Dedekind]

If you apply the model of other online magazines (like Slate), DDI seems to hit pretty close to that. Slate typically has X number of new articles everyday and a section to discuss topics. DDI now has 2-4 articles everyday (albeit some just art compilations) and a section to discuss topics.

Over the past month, I've switched to checking DDI everyday because there is typically something I want to read everyday. Thank goodness!

 

[Ryujin]

And, where you've begun checking it every day, I've simply stopped checking it. I used to stop by, occasionally, to see if anything interesting had been put up, but by and large I would wait until the entire 'magazine' had been compiled to a single download. I don't want to be farting around with hundreds of files, when I could just have a dozen.

 

[Skyscraper]

I wonder if this article is a way of introducing a much larger topic, such as abandonning printed books altogether and moving forward into a totally digital era (or if not totally, very importantly).

There might be a thread between:

- Mearls discussion on what D&D should include to cater to different audiences;

- the Pathfinder popularity that presumably surpasses that of D&D for printed products only;
- the growing discrepancy between printed books and DDI content as errata appears;

- this editorial by Steve Winter.

Online content would be easy to customize per Mearls multi-faceted game approach; easy to errata; and cost less to produce.

Just talkin' here, of course

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I understand all of the advantages to emedia.

But personally, if I can't access it when I don't have access to electricity, it's not a "book" or a "magazine" to me. If my only access to the material is via some kind of computer, it's not a "book" or a "magazine" to me. If it shifts printing costs- sans economies of scale and a certain level of quality- to me, then it is not a "book" or a "magazine" to me.

And as soon as I find a way to login over there, I'll tell them precisely thatZ

 

[Dannager]

I understand all of the advantages to emedia.

But personally, if I can't access it when I don't have access to electricity, it's not a "book" or a "magazine" to me. If my only access to the material is via some kind of computer, it's not a "book" or a "magazine" to me. If it shifts printing costs- sans economies of scale and a certain level of quality- to me, then it is not a "book" or a "magazine" to me.

And as soon as I find a way to login over there, I'll tell them precisely thatZ

From the article that started this thread:

Digital delivery is such a game-changer that even the word “magazine” is called into question. Some of you may have noticed that we seldom refer anymore to “Dragon and Dungeon magazines.” Instead, we refer to “Dragon and Dungeon online.” It’s emblematic of the situation in electronic publishing that no new word has arisen to replace magazine, even though one is clearly needed.

Sounds like you don't need to tell them anything. They already know.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

At a certain rhetorical level, yes, but perhaps not as deeply as I feel.

 

[Dire Bare]

I understand all of the advantages to emedia.

But personally, if I can't access it when I don't have access to electricity, it's not a "book" or a "magazine" to me. If my only access to the material is via some kind of computer, it's not a "book" or a "magazine" to me. If it shifts printing costs- sans economies of scale and a certain level of quality- to me, then it is not a "book" or a "magazine" to me.

And as soon as I find a way to login over there, I'll tell them precisely thatZ

Welcome to the digital age! Traditional paper magazines and newspapers are failing and struggling, ebooks are beginning to overtake paper books in sales . . . you may not like it, but it is the direction modern media is going. We've already made the transition with music (mostly), video is next in line, with print right behind it.

WotC isn't abandoning its customers who prefer print, rather it is embracing the modern age and its customers who prefer digital. I'm sure if WotC felt they could profitably maintain a print magazine and a stronger line of print books they would do exactly that.

With all this hullaballo about Paizo outselling D&D in print, lots of folks are confusing the two companies different industry positions and marketing strategies with "success" or "failure". Paizo embraces the old way, and finds success in a limited, niche market. WotC embraces the new way, and finds its own success in a wider market. In time, Paizo will also have to further embrace the digital age, and WotC will be ahead of them (which again, has no direct correlation with success or failure).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Welcome to the digital age!

Been a part of the digital age for some time. I just happen to value the benefits of physical product more highly than most.

For instance, high-tech smart-phones are nice (I don't own one, but that's a different story), and you can access all kinds of stuff on them.

However, if I were to travel to Russia today, as I have before, I wouldn't take one with me. You have to jump through so many hoops to bring something like that into the country that unless you do it frequently, its simply not worth it.

I also don't care for the data plans. I can do a lot with my $30/month that will make me happier than spending it on that, especially over the projected span of my phone plan.

Until wi-fi becomes nigh-ubiquitous, my other portable electronics spend most of their time unable to access the internet. And since I live in Tornado Alley, the occasional power outage is a fact of life. So a magazine or book still has significant value for me.

(And that's without getting into my history with ever-changing data formats...)

WotC isn't abandoning its customers who prefer print

True, but it isn't treating us as well as the online adopters. There is much I've heard about in 4Ed that interests me, but is only available via DDI.

And simply put, a monthly/annual subscription-fee based economic business model for something I wish to keep for decades is NEVER going to win me as a customer.