First, your understanding of American Copyright law is......shall we say extremely limited and inaccurate.
Secondly, gaining a player who isn't a customer is useless to them. As long as you aren't a potential buyer, your opinion means essentially nothing.
Thirdly, it would be shocking, and shockingly stupid (and impossible) for them to get cleared through any channels. There would be no hype build-up, not marketing campaign AND they would be giving away their new content for "essentially" free to every subscriber.
1. I'll leave Copyright stuff to Danny, he's better suited for arguing the points out.
2. Gaining a player who isn't a customer isn't useless in all cases. I still pick up the new book and check it out at the local store to see if something really catches my attention with it. In cases like mine it gives them a potential. What if my groups version of 4e runs well to my likely. That in turn increases the likely hood of me purchasing 4e products. Everyone is a potential buyer, it is a question to what degree.
3. Psst it was sarcasm to the extreme. Mainly illustrating the point, as an online tool it actually offers less long term value than the older on the PC version. IMHO, YMMV.
Doesn't 3.5 still have PCGen? I've never liked it's interface, but the program works. (And isn't it available for Pathfinder?)
GURPS has a couple of them. A commercial one for GURPS 3 and new commercial one for GURPS 4 and a free java one for GURPS 4.
PCGen does do pathfinder. I'm looking at it now, and thinking of diving into the code.
If your diving into the code look up the Yahoo groups on PCGen. They are regularly making changes to the code and all discussing it. I get emails everyday about it since I joined them.
The problem with PCGen, isn't if it works or not. It's in Data use.
It's not officially supported by WotC and is limited (unless you happen to have the old datasets) to the SRD and what you input yourself. If someone were to say make a fully usuable version of Cityscape and put it into PCGen than pass it along to a friend they would technically be violating rules/laws whatever.
I wanted to clarify this a bit:
Gotta spread the XP around. Thanks for the clarifications Danny.
Going web with the CB looks like a desition made to please the higher ups (we are doing something about piracy, see!?) instead of the costumers.
Which is really really stupid of course.
There is a high possiblity that is a correct assumption.
But I don't think that's the case in this one.
There have been numerous threads on the Character Builder prior to this change, where members of here such as myself talked of using the CB downloaded via a subscriber because we were in the same group. While not heavily encourcaged on the WotC side, neither is it a 'frowned on activity'. Much like someone that pops a grape into their mouth in the checkout line before it's weighed and paid for. Sure by law it's theft, but it's also morally gray. WotC I'm quite sure took into account that groups would share it within themselves.
Putting it to an online status I equate more to the 'bait and switch'.
How many 'subscribers' are subscribers just because of the Character Builder and it's updates? Was there anything else as a subscriber that was worth the monthly cost?
The real test of this move won't be anything in this thread. It will be how many current subscribers pre-announced change, renew their subscriptions.
If there is a net gain, WotC made the correct decision. If not, they made the wrong one.
One positive thing, I could say for it being online is it will allow an easy metric of how much Players/DMs use the Character Builder as an online tool. This in turn will allow them to easily justify their spending in electronic support.
You have to be vocal in your feedback though. Just saying it crashes doesn't help. It especially won't help convince someone (like myself) to subscribe for it. Give details of what you did, time/date it occurred, any screenshots, and what browser/system you were using at the time. Send that report into WotC.
We want them to improve, give them the feedback they need without the Raging Rant to go with it.
