D&D (2024) The Very Real Possibility and Impact of Microtransactions in One D&D

[Oofta]

Personally I'm perfectly fine with DDB. It's convenient, a time saver and I can look at my player's characters if I need to (usually to help out a newbie). Being able to buy just bits and pieces from books is a big benefit for me because I rarely use published mods, but I'm kind of a junkie for new monsters.

If they come out with a VTT I have no plans of using it because I'd rather play in person. I cannot conceive of any way that they can or would ever want to take away playing in person. They can't use microtransactions to up a character's power level because as a DM I control content and always have. I don't allow Eberron's dragon houses, why would I allow someone to use an upgraded weapon they didn't earn in game?

Buy special minis, terrain and features for the VTT? Cool. Even better if they let me design a mini and download the STL to print or have a print-on-demand service for those that don't have a printer. It would be awesome if they had vetted monsters and additional 3PP content for sale on DDB as well that could integrate in with the system. If WOTC gets a cut of those sales, I think it could be a win-win scenario.

They can offer me cool stuff that I want to buy. But D&D is not a competitive game, they do not control play of the game at the session level. There's no way for them to implement loot boxes or anything similar. For all the concern some people have, I see no evidence that there's anything plausible other than selling content and products that I will enjoy using and enhance my fun playing the game. I simply don't see anything wrong with how DDB works or cosmetics for a VTT I don't need to use and "OOOH ... [spooky music] MICRO TRANSACTIONS [more spooky music] ... OOOH!" being particularly convincing that there's anything to be concerned about.

 

[cbwjm]

Somewhat related to the VTT, something that might make me more likely to use it, is if heroforge miniatures can be imported. Talespire allows this which is great if you've spent time creating your hero on heroforge. I think this would even be compatible with micro transactions for more diverse minis which can probably allow for more minis at a cheaper cost that creating a bunch in heroforge.

 

[Malmuria]

So, again, you're implying malice i.e. 'publishers added a bunch of microtransaction nonsense to Dead Space 3'. Are you saying that a desire for a company to be profitable is somehow reprehensible? It might be if there was harm being done to someone in the process. What's the harm being done here?

Even if there is harm being done, a company is not acting out of malice, that is a desire to do something evil for its own sake. They are acting out of a desire for greater profits. In this case of video games adding microtransactions might come at the expense of the gameplay experience or might even be designing the gameplay experience to be addictive in such a way that it drives those microtransactions.

In the case of wotc, the above claim is that they are acting in a monopolistic way (securing users within a walled garden), which might be good for them but which is arguably bad for the hobby.

 

[Clint_L]

Somewhat related to the VTT, something that might make me more likely to use it, is if heroforge miniatures can be imported. Talespire allows this which is great if you've spent time creating your hero on heroforge. I think this would even be compatible with micro transactions for more diverse minis which can probably allow for more minis at a cheaper cost that creating a bunch in heroforge.

This would be cool, which is why I expect them to try to come up with a character builder that is competitive with Heroforge's. They are trying to get more money out of players rather than DMs, and a super awesome character customizer with animation options, etc. seems like a given.

 

[Malmuria]

Those are terrible stories, but I wouldn't necessarily call the behaviour predatory. What should be cleaned up in these situations is the lack of warnings when massive amounts of money are being spent on these microtransactions. It's odd (and unfortunate) that these folks banks/credit card companies didn't block/inquire about these large payments (mine sure do!). As well, that layer of security should also exist with the game company; I would buy the argument that a gaming company not implementing this sort of system might be engaging in predatory behaviour. I mean, what are the odds that someone spending that kind of money on an online game is NOT either a child who's somehow gotten a hold of his parents' bank/credit card info or an individual with a gambling addiction?

Having said that, at the end of the day, adults are responsible for their own behaviour. If you have an addiction, please seek assistance. If there is an activity that is benign to most people but is harmful to you and you find too difficult to resist, find someone you can talk to who can help you resist those temptations.

The solution is not to ban activities that some find harmful. But the moral and ethical path IMO is to at least be cognisant of the fact that some of your customers/participants might harm themselves through this activity. Throw up some guardrails to warn, guide or prevent someone from falling through the cracks.

It's a tricky situation with addictive behavior. On the one hand, addiction is not an excuse for the destruction and harm that people cause to those around them. On the other hand, it's not so easy that people with addiction can so easily recognize that they have an addiction and get help. Further, many ftp games are explicitly designed around an addictive game loop. This isn't necessarily terrible in itself ("one more turn..."), but when paired with microtransactions I think it is a quite explicit business strategy to target people with addiction disorders. I am also not in favor of banning anything, but am in favor of regulations. The "guardrails" you mention are society which is doing a bad job of that at the moment.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I think people are expecting Wizards to completely abandon the tabletop and focus only on the virtual tabletop. To stop publishing books and only publish rules electronically. That there won't be any new hardcovers with "Dungeons and Dragons" blazoned on the cover but you can only get your D&D rules by subscribing to D&D Beyond.

I admit that I can see a future where that happens, but it isn't next year. It's sometime in the far future when paper books are like vinyl is for records now. As long as publishing books remains a profitable industry they're going to keep making books. Their digital strategy is where they see growth, but the books are where they get a constant stream of revenue currently. You don't destroy your revenue stream just to pursue another one unless you're really bad at business. Unless an alien paper-devouring microbe comes to Earth in the next year and destroys our ability to print books, we're going to get new books next year.

(And yes, I am on record as saying that the executives at Wizards are bad at business. But if they're THAT bad at business Wizards has bigger problems.)

To this I say....

How did Rockstar change their focus in the 10ish years since GTA5 was released? Was it a slow buildup to the change or did it happen in the span of a couple years?

If they make $10 from the VTT for every $1 they make in paper book sales....where are they going to focus their efforts?

 

[Oofta]

To this I say....

How did Rockstar change their focus in the 10ish years since GTA5 was released? Was it a slow buildup to the change or did it happen in the span of a couple years?

If they make $10 from the VTT for every $1 they make in paper book sales....where are they going to focus their efforts?

But it's not an either-or proposition. One of the draws of WOTC's official VTT will be that it comes with the maps that show up in adventures. Another draw would be new and cool monster models, which again, they will sell the books for.

VTT alone doesn't buy anything. You have to have product aka books, modules and supplements, to get people to play. The correlation people keep trying to make between D&D and video games is incredibly tenuous.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

But it's not an either-or proposition. One of the draws of WOTC's official VTT will be that it comes with the maps that show up in adventures. Another draw would be new and cool monster models, which again, they will sell the books for.

VTT alone doesn't buy anything. You have to have product aka books, modules and supplements, to get people to play. The correlation people keep trying to make between D&D and video games is incredibly tenuous.

Two unrelated things here.

1. My comparison is not VTT vs videogames, it's company known for the best AAA single player video games to company known for the best TTRPG.

Rockstar had a bread and butter output of super successful single player titles year after year and became HUGE for doing so. Then with GTA Online they realized they can focus 9n microtransactions and make even more money than they did with the AAA title releases...so they did so. And have continued to do so for 10ish years while putting their single player new release games on the back burner.

It's a cautionary tale for how WotC MIGHT change their outlook on DnD should the VTT content start to be a large margin of the monetization they are hunting for.

2. VTT monetization has to be something beyond just electronic versions of existing paper content or you are going to, at best, just double their revenue from paper product released.

 

[Incenjucar]

Two unrelated things here.

1. My comparison is not VTT vs videogames, it's company known for the best AAA single player video games to company known for the best TTRPG.

Rockstar had a bread and butter output of super successful single player titles year after year and became HUGE for doing so. Then with GTA Online they realized they can focus 9n microtransactions and make even more money than they did with the AAA title releases...so they did so. And have continued to do so for 10ish years while putting their single player new release games on the back burner.

It's a cautionary tale for how WotC MIGHT change their outlook on DnD should the VTT content start to be a large margin of the monetization they are hunting for.

2. VTT monetization has to be something beyond just electronic versions of existing paper content or you are going to, at best, just double their revenue from paper product released.

When one major company hyperfocuses on one model it leaves a nice big opening for everyone else to fill the niches left behind. There's no Half-Life 3 but there are plenty of shooters with physics puzzles. If WotC somehow turns their VTT into something weird then it just means the other VTTs get a bigger audience.

 

[Oofta]

Two unrelated things here.

1. My comparison is not VTT vs videogames, it's company known for the best AAA single player video games to company known for the best TTRPG.

Rockstar had a bread and butter output of super successful single player titles year after year and became HUGE for doing so. Then with GTA Online they realized they can focus 9n microtransactions and make even more money than they did with the AAA title releases...so they did so. And have continued to do so for 10ish years while putting their single player new release games on the back burner.

It's a cautionary tale for how WotC MIGHT change their outlook on DnD should the VTT content start to be a large margin of the monetization they are hunting for.

2. VTT monetization has to be something beyond just electronic versions of existing paper content or you are going to, at best, just double their revenue from paper product released.

But that's a company switching from one style of video game to another. WOTC sells a TTRPG along with peripherals. They can sell more peripherals, the can spin off other products like video games and movies.

Perhaps the games and media ventures could continue on their own, but a VTT? It would be a tool with no purpose or reason for being.

If anyone can explain what the issue is other than "A video game did it and it was bad", I'll reconsider. But there has to be something other than repeating "microtransactions bad" and pointing to a product in an entirely different line of business.

WOTC is undoubtedly looking at multiple revenue streams, but nobody is going to force you to purchase something you don't want. They can't.