Who is interested in the Digital Initiative?
- Thread starter gribble
- Start date
gribble
Explorer
JustKim said:
Ha ha ha... sorry - should have been clearer. Never meant to say that ENWorld = "the online D&D community". I realise it's much bigger than just ENWorld (the RPG.net and Wizards online communities to start with...), but it is probably fairly representative of the community as a whole.
HeavenShallBurn
First Post
After what they've done to the two iconic magazines of D&D I wouldn't touch the Digital Initiative if it were the hottest thing since Madame Curie and cheap too simply out of spite.
As for online content in general: I do not trust the internet for all that I use it, and unless I can personally save a full independent copy with no DRM/copy protection on my own computer I wouldn't pay a cent. Furthermore if I am going to pay on a subscription basis without the ability to see things before hand I'm also going to have to trust the overall quality of the work which sets an even higher bar.
As for online content in general: I do not trust the internet for all that I use it, and unless I can personally save a full independent copy with no DRM/copy protection on my own computer I wouldn't pay a cent. Furthermore if I am going to pay on a subscription basis without the ability to see things before hand I'm also going to have to trust the overall quality of the work which sets an even higher bar.
mhacdebhandia
Explorer
I'm happy to pay for online content if it's good, and portable - if I can't save it to my PC, I'm much less interested.
If the new DI content is free I will probably look at it once in a while. I will not subscribe to an online "replacement" for Dragon or Dungeon it not the same and will not be an improvement.
As a practical matter, I have no internet access in my bathroom and I can not lie in bed and fall asleep reading a computer screen.
When I buy something I want to be able to physically hold it
Having the mags sitting around is a "recruiting" tool to get people involved in the hobby
Just a few reasons why I do not want to lose the magazines
As a practical matter, I have no internet access in my bathroom and I can not lie in bed and fall asleep reading a computer screen.
When I buy something I want to be able to physically hold it
Having the mags sitting around is a "recruiting" tool to get people involved in the hobby
Just a few reasons why I do not want to lose the magazines
Herremann the Wise
First Post
Ditto.mhacdebhandia said:
When it comes down to it, as guttered as I am to lose Dragon and Dungeon, I can't help being a consumer. I love the look of Pathfinder and will wait to see what WotC offers.
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
Arkhandus
First Post
Eh, I don't want to pay for online content, so no. What disposable income I have I prefer to spend frugally on good, time-consuming games, movies, or reading material, not something I'll read in a day and never look at again (or never be able to look at again, if it gets taken off the internet or my files are corrupted/lost by my cruddy machine).
My computer is awfully unreliable sometimes, I can't even come close to affording another or even just some disks (doesn't help that my CD-ROM/RW inexplicably quit working half a year ago and I don't have the cash to do anything about it), and I just plain don't like electronic media for gaming material.
It's more cumbersome with my mediocre, refurbished laptop (that I only got by chance from my parents, something they won at work, and which I normally wouldn't be able to afford), and my computer is strained enough when I run a campaign over OpenRPG while referencing notes on my Rhunaria webpage and my text documents for it and my HTML copy of the previous week's session log.....
I can easily carry the few books and magazine issues I may need for any given face-to-face gaming session, and they're generally quicker/easier to spread out and check through any time I need to find a particular piece of info. I know their layout and material well enough, it's no hassle, and it's generally easier to mark spots in a book than it is for an electronic document or the like.
I'll buy a magazine or two on most months when I go up to the bookstore or something, but that's reading material for when I don't have access to my computer; or don't feel like staring at a screen for several more hours that day; or don't feel like booting up my PC just to read for twenty minutes or so while I'm waiting to leave the house for a movie or something. I spend enough time each day staring at computer screens or TV screens, and typing, and probably growing ever-closer to extreme nearsightedness and carpal tunnel syndrome. I really don't want to develop those conditions, let alone speed up their arrival if I'm going to suffer them anyway.
*grim treehugger mode engaged*
Besides, it's not like the end of two gaming magazines is going to save a bunch of trees. Now if all gaming-related magazines went purely digital, it might save some slightly-noticeable number of trees, but really the paper industry is just going to continue contributing to deforestation anyway regardless. It'd take a huge conversion of paper media to electronic media for this sort of thing to make any kind of dent. Most likely, reducing the amount of wasted office paper and school paper used is going to be the most effective, efficient, and agreeable manner of reducing deforestation.
*grim treehugger mode disengaged*
My computer is awfully unreliable sometimes, I can't even come close to affording another or even just some disks (doesn't help that my CD-ROM/RW inexplicably quit working half a year ago and I don't have the cash to do anything about it), and I just plain don't like electronic media for gaming material.
It's more cumbersome with my mediocre, refurbished laptop (that I only got by chance from my parents, something they won at work, and which I normally wouldn't be able to afford), and my computer is strained enough when I run a campaign over OpenRPG while referencing notes on my Rhunaria webpage and my text documents for it and my HTML copy of the previous week's session log.....
I can easily carry the few books and magazine issues I may need for any given face-to-face gaming session, and they're generally quicker/easier to spread out and check through any time I need to find a particular piece of info. I know their layout and material well enough, it's no hassle, and it's generally easier to mark spots in a book than it is for an electronic document or the like.
I'll buy a magazine or two on most months when I go up to the bookstore or something, but that's reading material for when I don't have access to my computer; or don't feel like staring at a screen for several more hours that day; or don't feel like booting up my PC just to read for twenty minutes or so while I'm waiting to leave the house for a movie or something. I spend enough time each day staring at computer screens or TV screens, and typing, and probably growing ever-closer to extreme nearsightedness and carpal tunnel syndrome. I really don't want to develop those conditions, let alone speed up their arrival if I'm going to suffer them anyway.
*grim treehugger mode engaged*
Besides, it's not like the end of two gaming magazines is going to save a bunch of trees. Now if all gaming-related magazines went purely digital, it might save some slightly-noticeable number of trees, but really the paper industry is just going to continue contributing to deforestation anyway regardless. It'd take a huge conversion of paper media to electronic media for this sort of thing to make any kind of dent. Most likely, reducing the amount of wasted office paper and school paper used is going to be the most effective, efficient, and agreeable manner of reducing deforestation.
*grim treehugger mode disengaged*
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
mhacdebhandia said:
Agreed ... provided the cost-to-benefit ratio is improved over a print product. You have to offer me more for my money to compensate for the inconvenience of computer use. If I had to pay the same price as a Dungeon/Dragon subscription for the same content, online on line, then it's no way/no how. Kind of hard to take my desktop to a gaming session, you know?
I'll reevaluate when more information is known, but for now -- forget it.
delericho
Legend
None of the poll answers really fit for me.
When it hits, I will evaluate the DI, and subscribe or not depending on what I see there (likely not).
However, my decision will not be based in the slightest on their replacements for Dragon and Dungeon - what I'm interested in above all else is this Virtual Tabletop thing they've mentioned before. If it is significantly better than the existing tools in that vein, and if the community base is large enough that I can essentially game whenever I want, then I'll subscribe. Otherwise, I'm not interested.
When it hits, I will evaluate the DI, and subscribe or not depending on what I see there (likely not).
However, my decision will not be based in the slightest on their replacements for Dragon and Dungeon - what I'm interested in above all else is this Virtual Tabletop thing they've mentioned before. If it is significantly better than the existing tools in that vein, and if the community base is large enough that I can essentially game whenever I want, then I'll subscribe. Otherwise, I'm not interested.
Mercule
Adventurer
I'll consider it. As I've said elsewhere, it depends on the cost/benefit. If it's a kick-butt character and campaign tool (that isn't on-line only, because that would run counter to "kick-butt"), along with good Dragonish content and some adventures, then I have a very high potential buy-in.
If it's an auto-calculating PDF sheet -- or online only chargen, regardless of other quality -- and/or just the web extras, maps, indexes, etc. that they've had up on the WotC site, plus DRM, then someone is smoking crack if they think I'll be participating.
Somehow, I doubt it's at either extreme of the spectrum, though. Thus, we'll have to see what they come up with.
If it's an auto-calculating PDF sheet -- or online only chargen, regardless of other quality -- and/or just the web extras, maps, indexes, etc. that they've had up on the WotC site, plus DRM, then someone is smoking crack if they think I'll be participating.
Somehow, I doubt it's at either extreme of the spectrum, though. Thus, we'll have to see what they come up with.
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