The Very Real Possibility and Impact of Microtransactions in One D&D

[Faolyn]

They marked the first two books as legacy and removed them from the site but they are still available to those who already purchased them.

Are you sure? Because I've read a lot of things suggesting text was removed from the available descriptions. Like, text saying that various monsters were racist or used slavery. Is this not the case, and that text is still available?

 

[Alzrius]

I still see items from VGM still present, labelled as "Legacy". So, while I think people feared they'd remove those items, they left them clearly marked instead.

Did you try clicking on any of that VGM content? Because when I go to this page and try to click on anything, I get kicked over to here:

Legacy Content

Legacy Content The introduction of Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse to the Dungeons & Dragons game has revised old...

www.dndbeyond.com

Legacy content will continue to be accessible and function consistently with other areas of the D&D Beyond website for anyone who owns that content. This means as an owner of Legacy content, there will be no disruption to how you wish to use and interact with that content as you do today.

Legacy content cannot be purchased directly in the marketplace.

 

[Umbran]

Did you try clicking on any of that VGM content? Because when I go to this page and try to click on anything, I get kicked over to here:

Legacy Content

Legacy Content The introduction of Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse to the Dungeons & Dragons game has revised old...

www.dndbeyond.com

Stuff that I had bought, I still have access to. Stuff I haven't bought, I don't. That's what I expect - I don't expect to be able to access stuff I have never purchased.

And they are under no onus to continue to sell every product they've ever made. They get to choose what they have for sale.

So, they didn't "yank" any content I've already paid for. I see no problem here.

 

[MGibster]

Yup. The fact that people will spend $400 on a wizkids dragon mini still boggles my mind. But it's their money and they feel it's worth it.

Ditto. I got mine on sale for about $180. Much more reasonable.

 

[Alzrius]

Are you sure? Because I've read a lot of things suggesting text was removed from the available descriptions. Like, text saying that various monsters were racist or used slavery. Is this not the case, and that text is still available?

Sourced, including copies of the text that's said to have been excised:

Dungeons & Dragons: Wizards of the Coast Removes Problematic Lore

WotC excises problematic content from D&D books.

screenrant.com

 

[Oofta]

Ditto. I got mine on sale for about $180. Much more reasonable.

Still something that, while I could easily afford it I wouldn't. I have many other things to waste my money on that i guarantee other people would find a complete waste of money.

Have you ever actually used it, or is it just a super awesome display that I am totally not jealous of?

 

[MGibster]

Have you ever actually used it, or is it just a super awesome display that I am totally not jealous of?

I bought the unpainted gargantuan red dragon and haven't painted it let alone used it. It is totally impractical but I swear when you look at it you'll hear someone shout "rad" and here a sweet guitar riff. Seriously, it's going to be logistically difficult to transport it outside of my home for gaming purposes.

 

[cbwjm]

Are you sure? Because I've read a lot of things suggesting text was removed from the available descriptions. Like, text saying that various monsters were racist or used slavery. Is this not the case, and that text is still available?

Other than the Hadozee description change (which I feel went from an interesting history to bland history), I haven't heard of other descriptions that have been changed. Still might have though, but I doubt many would notice.

 

[Alzrius]

Other than the Hadozee description change (which I feel went from an interesting history to bland history), I haven't heard of other descriptions that have been changed. Still might have though, but I doubt many would notice.

See the link in my previous post.

 

[Oofta]

I bought the unpainted gargantuan red dragon and haven't painted it let alone used it. It is totally impractical but I swear when you look at it you'll hear someone shout "rad" and here a sweet guitar riff. Seriously, it's going to be logistically difficult to transport it outside of my home for gaming purposes.

Yeah, I'm always tempted but they're not practical at all. A buddy used one similar in a game once. Super cool, couldn't see half the battle mat.

Still, pulling that out for an encounter just to see reactions would almost make it worth it. Almost.

 

[Faolyn]

Yeah, I'm always tempted but they're not practical at all. A buddy used one similar in a game once. Super cool, couldn't see half the battle mat.

Still, pulling that out for an encounter just to see reactions would almost make it worth it. Almost.

It reminds me of that old Dragon Magazine advertisement that used a (raw) chicken as the dragon mini.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

It reminds me of that old Dragon Magazine advertisement that used a (raw) chicken as the dragon mini.

I used to subscribe to Dragon back in the 80s. I don't remember that ad though.

Do you mean raw as in:

or as in:

 

[Faolyn]

I used to subscribe to Dragon back in the 80s. I don't remember that ad though.

Do you mean raw as in:

View attachment 274937

This one. I'm pretty sure it was from the late 90s, and after issue 250.

 

[Malmuria]

Boogeyman. In theory, it can be yanked. In practice, yanking content is a customer relations issue. Yanking en masse would be a large customer relations issue - you'd need to have a lot of profit hanging on taking things away to make it worthwhile.

Stuff that I had bought, I still have access to. Stuff I haven't bought, I don't. That's what I expect - I don't expect to be able to access stuff I have never purchased.

And they are under no onus to continue to sell every product they've ever made. They get to choose what they have for sale.

So, they didn't "yank" any content I've already paid for. I see no problem here.

I think the issue arises in services that are 100% subscription. Netflix, spotify, etc, add and remove content every day.
The other issue are terms of service violations, in which a company can decide to ban an account, usually with little to no recourse for the end user. For example, Steam can ban a user, who then loses access to all the games they had purchased (since they were only licensing the games).

 

[Clint_L]

I think the issue arises in services that are 100% subscription. Netflix, spotify, etc, add and remove content every day.
The other issue are terms of service violations, in which a company can decide to ban an account, usually with little to no recourse for the end user. For example, Steam can ban a user, who then loses access to all the games they had purchased (since they were only licensing the games).

Amazon Prime changes streaming content all the time, but the stuff I have bought is always available to me. DDB works like that. Some stuff might come and go, but the stuff you buy is yours, even after it goes out of date.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Are you sure? Because I've read a lot of things suggesting text was removed from the available descriptions. Like, text saying that various monsters were racist or used slavery. Is this not the case, and that text is still available?

This is right and in my opinion not (always) a bad thing. In some cases, offending material was removed, in some cases things that were not appropriate for children was removed.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'd have to have a better understanding about the items we're purchasing and how that would play into the VTT environment. I'm not against microtransactions, especially cosmetic ones, especially ones well-implemented without "loot box" mechanics. But a VTT is a different space than a video game. If I have to pay $1.00 to "unlock" a species I want to play or something, that could be an issue. But if I get a gray mini for free and I can buy a $0.50 "paint pallete" to apply to it, meh, there's worse things.

 

[Faolyn]

This is right and in my opinion not (always) a bad thing. In some cases, offending material was removed, in some cases things that were not appropriate for children was removed.

In this particular case, I more or less agree--personally, I would rather the old stuff remain available but perhaps with a big ol' content warning attached, but that's just me, and I understand and accept why they did it.

But, it also means they could decide to remove material for other, less acceptable reasons. Which is why I prefer actual books or pdfs to begin with.

 

[Faolyn]

I'd have to have a better understanding about the items we're purchasing and how that would play into the VTT environment. I'm not against microtransactions, especially cosmetic ones, especially ones well-implemented without "loot box" mechanics. But a VTT is a different space than a video game. If I have to pay $1.00 to "unlock" a species I want to play or something, that could be an issue. But if I get a gray mini for free and I can buy a $0.50 "paint pallete" to apply to it, meh, there's worse things.

Well, going by the Dragonlance example that was linked, they're already charging $2 for a single feat, or $9 for all the feats; $2 for a background of $3 for both; the one archetype for $2, $2 for each monster or $15 for all of them.

And $2 for the kender race, which in all honesty they should be paying us to take the kender off their hands. Like, you ever bought a D&D book in your life, they give you $2.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

Well, going by the Dragonlance example that was linked, they're already charging $2 for a single feat, or $9 for all the feats; $2 for a background of $3 for both; the one archetype for $2, $2 for each monster or $15 for all of them.

And $2 for the kender race, which in all honesty they should be paying us to take the kender off their hands. Like, you ever bought a D&D book in your life, they give you $2.

Creating 'too micro' a transaction (e.g. $2/feat) is a turn off (from a marketing/consumer happiness perspective) for sure. The concept is sound; don't ruin it by making me feel like I'm being nickeled and dimed. I'd be happy with being able to purchase sections of a book. For example, if I see a setting book with races I find interesting but the setting itself doesn't light my fire, I might consider buying the 'crunchy' race segment of that publication at a discount.