Why does WotC hate Macs?

[pukunui]

I'd just like to say that I can log into Gleemax using Safari on a Mac with OSX. That's what we've got at school and I've been able to log in and access my account on a number of occasions (in fact, I can't log in using Firefox, but that's because of the school firewall. Fortunately for me, the firewall doesn't extend to Safari for some reason, so I use that whenever I want to do stuff like log into my Gleemax account or my Facebook or whatever ...).

 

[VannATLC]

Blizzard: yeah, there's so horrible, they do such silly things as make sure everyone can play their games, and gee-whiz, they're head and shoulders above their competition. Those jerks.

There is no particular technical reason Blizzard are above their competition. They had good IP, good timing.

They have lousy support, and a lousy development cycle.
Decent parts of that second problem may be cedable to supporting Macs, but I strongly doubt it.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Yeah, I always sided with John Hodgman in those damn commercials.

So you are a dedicated Mac user?
John Hodgman is.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Woo-hoo! Just like Microsoft, WotC seems to be actively preventing the Mac community from accessing their sites.

I don't think they hate Mac users (or Linux users, not that you mentioned it), but I think WotC's choices are going to seen a poor ones. D&D, as a group-based activity, is subject to network effects and Metcalf's Law. That means that the value of their network increases in a non-linear manner with the number of additional nodes you add to it. Meaning that capturing that last 10% of users would increase the value of DDI by a lot more than 10% - probably more like 30%. They're leaving money on the table by not supporting the one guy in a group who has a Mac.

As a simple example, consider two products: DDI and generic online gaming platform (GOGP). DDI has more feature and supports 4E specific stuff, but GOGP gets you 90% there - it has generic fantasy minis, a square-based grid a DM can draw stuff on, and interfaces with Skype group chat. The difference is that GOGP runs through a browser and can run on any system with a free Firefox add-on.

If your group has even one player who uses Mac or Linux, you have to use GOGP rather than DDI if you want to not kick that poor guy out of the group. And while only 10% of the market uses Apple or Linux, I bet at least 30% of groups have at least one user that does. So DDI could be leaving fully 1/3rd of the market to the competition (and there will be competition - it's a law of nature).

 

[Incenjucar]

It may simply be that they judged the development cycle for a broader platform to take too long to get to market.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Safari is an outright terrible browser. I use a Mac at work, and Firefox is miles ahead of the default browser.

I beg to disagree. I work Tech Support at Network Solutions and I open more websites then probably anyone on this board. By and large, Safari works fine. Of the issues you run into, some are browser-based while others have to do with Apple's poor Java Support. Don't get me wrong, I like Firefox a lot and I use it, but Safari is superior in a LOT of ways.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Doesn't this thread violate ENWorld's "no religious discussion" rules?

Nice!

 

[Dice4Hire]

Is bitching and moaning a requirement for owning a Mac? Sure seems so.

 

[small pumpkin man]

I'm on a very non-cutting edge Mac and I routine keep a dozen or more tabs open in Firefox, and leave the browser up all week. (I currently have nine tabs open.)

I run into memory issues only if I have Firefox, InDesign, Photoshop AND Word open at the same time, but even my gaming rig at home (PC) starts to complain at that point.

Firefox 2 is known to have annoying memory problems, it's one of the largest problems people have with it.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I'm sure WotC doesn't hate Macs. I'd imagine the majority (if not all) of their artwork and layout is done on Macs. Considering that they are in the publishing business, I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that a considerable amount of their computers are Macs. The majority of the designers and publishers I know use Macs as well. Kinda funny they went this route, but I think it was more from convenience than anything else.