Why Wizards Has Lost Touch w/ Its Base

[Crothian]

That means about 1 in 6 D&D players is affected by the axing of the mags (perhaps 1 in 7, to account for non-American players). I consider that to be substantial.

Affected how though? My group consists of 4 people, half of them get Dungeon. We've used on adventure out of in in the past 3 years. So, it is not like not having new adventures every month is going to hurt us. We have years of them we still haven't used and even with that we are going to get Pathfinder. It isn't hurting us, it is just changing how we get the gaming stuff we use.

 

[naturaltwenty]

Hurray - you've made the first step. You may say it's not about money but what exactly are you talking with? YOUR WALLET!

You've just verified that it is about money.

Hello kettle, this is the pot calling.

I will spend my game money elsewhere among people who play the game and not a bunch of corporate execs who are not a part of the hobby.

 

[Steel_Wind]

The thing I don't get here is the automatic assumption a lot of people seem to have that just because the content that used to be in Dungeon and Dragon is moving to online distribution that it suddenly no longer has value.

But I'm not going to run around screaming "The sky is falling!" just because WotC made a business decision. Especially not before it can be objectively demonstrated to be a bad decision.

Oh come on.

Look - we already know that it won't be the same content. We know this because the people at Paizo who turned Dungeon and Dragon around and who have been stewarding the publications to their respective golden and silver ages won't be involved in it anymore.

If this was a move of the current Dungeon and Dragon magazines to electronic format, with Erik Mona & Co. still at the helm and no real change other than dead trees for electrons, there would not have been this storm of bad press.

It would have been nasty - but not this.

So to say "Well hold on there, we don't really know yet" is disengeuous in the extreme. It is, in fact, false. We know what we have now - we know we like it - and we objectivelty know that the people responsible for making it what it is are no longer going to be in the loop and making it on a going forward basis.

So yes - we certainly do know important objective facts in order to come to a determination.

 

[Vanye]

Thay haven't "stopped looking at you". This isn't just about you.

They have made a decision that enough people will try out for-pay web content to make it a better deal for them than Dungeon and Dragon as paper magazines.

I'm actually looking at resubbing to Dun & Dra for the first time in several years. Not because the content was bad, prior to this, but because I need to get RID of stuff, not add more stuff to it. Beacuse the magazines were not (legally) available easily in PDF format, I had to be very picky & choosy as to which ones I bought. I know that I've misssed much excellent content, but having space for my family to live in, and for us to game in, was more important than adding more stuff.

 

[Felon]

You are kidding right? The 30+ demographic has more disposable cash than the 18-25? With kids, mortgage, car payments, bills etc.?

Some people in their twenties have kids. Many people in their thirties don't.
If you're not paying a mortgage, you're probably paying rent. And mortgages are often more cost-effective.
Car payments? Bills? Twenty-something don't have cars and credit cards?

Factor in the likelyhood that a thirtysomething will have a higher-paying job, and your incredulity should fall to the wayside.

There's a reason that entertainment caters to that age bracket and not to mine. They spend all the money.

Watch 60 Minutes sometime. They annually do a report on how false this perception is. Older people are generally a heck of a lot more solvent than younger ones. The twentysomething age bracket manages their money more impulsively, but they don't have more of it to spend.

 

[Pyrex]

So to say "Well hold on there, we don't really know yet" is disengeuous in the extreme. It is, in fact, false. We know what we have now - we know we like it - and we objectivelty know that the people responsible for making it what it is are no longer going to be in the loop.

So yes - we certainly do know important objective facts in order to come to a determination.

True, we do know what we aren't getting more of: Dungeon and Dragon.

We don't know what's replacing them. We don't know if any of the authors who regularly contributed to the print magazines will continue to contribute to the electronic format. We don't know how much content WotC will provide or how often. We don't know what the quality of that content will be. We don't know what additional e-tools they'll make available to subscribers. And most importantly, we don't know how much they're going to charge for it.

Until some of those "dont's" fall away there is no way to compare the value proposition of the print magazines to the new format.

 

[TheYeti1775]

Some people in their twenties have kids. Many people in their thirties don't.
If you're not paying a mortgage, you're probably paying rent. And mortgages are often more cost-effective.
Car payments? Bills? Twenty-something don't have cars and credit cards?

Factor in the likelyhood that a thirtysomething will have a higher-paying job, and your incredulity should fall to the wayside.


Watch 60 Minutes sometime. They annually do a report on how false this perception is. Older people are generally a heck of a lot more solvent than younger ones. The twentysomething age bracket manages their money more impulsively, but they don't have more of it to spend.

I made a heck of a lot more money during my 20's in a year than I am right now. But was living to far above my means when it crashed on me.

 

[jaerdaph]

Im there right now.

Is it really worth it? Get back to work on making me more d20 Modern and True20 products instead and take my money.

 

[Maggan]

You just said you didnt read the magazine. Haven't for years. They didn't consider you when making this decision. You missed your chance to vote with your wallet.

No, no, that's wrong. He did vote with his wallet, and his vote was "no Dragon".

And it worked. Not that it was the intent of the vote, but it did work. Enough people voted "no Dragon" with their wallets to not make it profitable enough for WotC to keep.

/M

 

[Vigilance]

Is it really worth it? Get back to work on making me more d20 Modern and True20 products instead and take my money.

You think I need to devote my FULL concentration to Belen?

Now I really am insulted

Chuck