NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tdewitt274" data-source="post: 5280599" data-attributes="member: 20117">To Hassur:  Well, you are correct.  You are getting no added value by purchasing a GM copy of any VTT.  You are, however, getting added functionality.  Yes, they are different.  You do have a valid argument on price, which I would like to comment on.The simple economics of computer software are obvious.  Less functionality means less price.  Check out any of the Microsoft Office productivity software.  You are getting less if you only buy the basic package.  Pay a little more and you get Access.  Look at the Windows OS.  Buy the Basic and you don't get the added features that make.  Why would you buy the lesser?  Price and need.  Don't need Access, buy the smaller option.  Yes, even some Open Source has this option (in the form of Service Plans) and "core OS".What does this have to do with VTT?  It's a similar concept to the OS example.  If you have the GM and Player software at the same price, why bother selling two versions?  Because a Player doesn't want to pay $40 for what they are not going to use.  This translates into a lost sale.  If you lower the price and strip the functionality, you have a product that appeals to the Player.  Sure, the GM gets "shafted" because they have to pay a higher price.  This is the nature of economics in a computer software environment.  Sure, they could lower the GM price.  However, this would need to be compensated with raising the Player price to offset development costs for the ENTIRE application.  There are more players out there than GMs, just look at PH/DMG sales for proof.Your group is unique in that you have so many people willing to be a GM.  In the glory days of my group, we had 14 people and only 3 of them would GM.  Now, we have 5 and only 2 GM.In the end, VTT is a business.  I don't know how the Free VTTs do it, but I'm sure there's some kind of community support or advertisments that offset the bandwidth for hosting a game, downloading the application, supporting, customer feedback, development, and their main site.  It all depends on the business model.  Maybe that additional cost helps with the above in some way.Finally, I stumbled onto this thread because Sylrae was asking for recommendations of VTT.  The others are trying to answer your question and Sylrae's at the same time.  They are not trying to influence you, only to give their viewpoint as well as defend a product that they find valuable.For the record, I have only used Fantasy Grounds.  I find the challenge of programming a ruleset intriguing and the Campaign Mangement features are appealing to me for when I do eventually GM.</blockquote>

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