What's up with PCGen???

[antpasq]

What is going on with PCGen? I am completely lost when I read their message boards. Has anyone who prepaid for datasets received them? Is PCGen current with 3.5? Is any part of PCGen still free? Any info would help. When reading their boards I get lost in all the infighting, the legalesse, and the programmer-only posts.
Thanks

 

[Zub]

PCGen is in the process of self-destrucing right now. You got on one side list programmers who want control over their lists until they say it's perfect and release it to PCGen's source forge repository. On the other side is, I guess, everyone else. They've been fed up with the slow pace of new data sources while the rest of PCGen has advanced along nicely.

Add to that, some of the list monkeys seem to distrust CMP, and are concerned that the work they donated for free might make it into CMP's comerical products. Feeding that, some list monkeys who did do work for CMP haven't been paid yet, despite the pre-order money that CMP recieved.
I'm sure I'm over simplifying everything here. In a week or so, We'll see where the dust settles. Maybe something good will come out this and PCGen can get close to being as useful as it was when pre-3.0.

BTW, PCGen doesn't sell datasets. Currently, only CMP does. I don't know what their status is.

What is going on with PCGen? I am completely lost when I read their message boards. Has anyone who prepaid for datasets received them? Is PCGen current with 3.5? Is any part of PCGen still free? Any info would help. When reading their boards I get lost in all the infighting, the legalesse, and the programmer-only posts.
Thanks

 

[LightPhoenix]

To be fair, I think the whole "self-destruct" isn't really one at all.

WotC pulled a pretty nasty, but clever, move when they hired CMP to take over on e-Tools, effectively triggering the downfall of PCGen. Add to the fact that they reneged on their claim they'd let PCGen include their non-SRD stuff, and it's very obvious that the whole thing was designed to take out their main competition on e-Tools and get the thier own program working.

Not that Fluid didn't do a decent job, but they were woefully under-experienced for such a program, IMO.

 

[SJ]

WOTC may be much more clever than I give them credit for, but my take on the e-Tools thing was more along the lines of 'let's find somebody capable to fix/support this tool, cause we can't do it and neither can Fluid." But LP may be right, and they actually hatched a canny plan to torpedo PCGen.

In any event, as a long-time user, I agree that the board is pretty noisy right now. I say wait around and you will in fact see 3.5 rsrd for PCGen, but it won't be real soon.

Of course, e-tools is due for the 3.5 dataset release and a fresh patch as well. Even with RPM, CS, DMG, and others out there, I feel there's still demand for functional gaming assistant tools of all kinds. Especially community projects like PCGen. A community can really make a program like that. And unfortunately, a community can flush it.

 

[kingpaul]

What is going on with PCGen? I am completely lost when I read their message boards. Has anyone who prepaid for datasets received them? Is PCGen current with 3.5? Is any part of PCGen still free? Any info would help. When reading their boards I get lost in all the infighting, the legalesse, and the programmer-only posts.
Thanks

Alright, I'll try to tackle your questions:

1. The Data SB resigned on Sunday night's Board of Director meeting. From what I've gathered, its, primarily, over the issue of who owns the dataset. Others who have other insights/opinions, please feel free to comment.
2. PCGen does not charge for datasets, so there is no pre-paying for them.
3. PCGen is developing the RSRD, which is the OGC content of 3.5. The in-work files can be found here.
4. PCGen is a free program.

Does that help?

 

[kingpaul]

To be fair, I think the whole "self-destruct" isn't really one at all.

I agree.

WotC pulled a pretty nasty, but clever, move when they hired CMP to take over on e-Tools, effectively triggering the downfall of PCGen.

How did this trigger the downfall of PCGen? I'm confused by your statement.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I agree.

How did this trigger the downfall of PCGen? I'm confused by your statement.

Very simply. It created a conflict of interest for CMP, and a conflict of ideology in the community. The former is obvious - support a product for pay, or support one for nothing? The latter is evident in what is happening now.

I don't know if the whole thing was deliberate, but it was pretty darn convenient for WotC. Being the cynic I am, I tend to think that it was deliberate, but that's just me.

 

[antpasq]

I understand that PCGen doesn't charge for datasets. I meant the sets sold on CMP site. Has anyone rec'd any of these sets?

Alright, I'll try to tackle your questions:

1. The Data SB resigned on Sunday night's Board of Director meeting. From what I've gathered, its, primarily, over the issue of who owns the dataset. Others who have other insights/opinions, please feel free to comment.
2. PCGen does not charge for datasets, so there is no pre-paying for them.
3. PCGen is developing the RSRD, which is the OGC content of 3.5. The in-work files can be found here.
4. PCGen is a free program.

Does that help?

 

[kingpaul]

I understand that PCGen doesn't charge for datasets. I meant the sets sold on CMP site. Has anyone rec'd any of these sets?

Well, here is a link to the most recent news item about the data sets. I have received mine (both eTools and PCGen), as have numerous other users. Have you not received yours? If not, you need to email customer.service@codemonkeupublsihing.com .

 

[kingpaul]

Very simply. It created a conflict of interest for CMP, and a conflict of ideology in the community. The former is obvious - support a product for pay, or support one for nothing? The latter is evident in what is happening now.

What conflict of interest? Who is supporting what? CMP has staff that support their endeavors. PCGen is supported by a host of volunteers (including me) who support it.