WOTC doing away with free online content?

[SteveC]

Wow, I'm hoping this is not the case.

I've seen a number of web sites that I used to visit several times a day adopt this model.

None of them are around anymore.

Let me say it for the record: pay for content only works in an area where you can't get the content any other way and you value it enough to pay for it. D&D does not fit that criteria at all.

Here's hoping that was just a trial balloon and it doesn't go anywhere...

:\

--Steve

 

[DaveMage]

Interesting.

Why would I need Dragon magazine if I subscribe to the above?

I wonder how much it would cost....

 

[Razz]

A long time ago, when 3E saw the white light and was spanked to make the first sound, the D&D Website began to slowly mature into an awesome collection of new content.

Articles we all enjoyed like Monster Mayhem, Epic Insights, Spellbook, The Mind's Eye, Fey Feature, and more were blooming by the month. The Web Enhancements for the products you bought were just as good. It was extra goodies to grab for free every month for being such a good customer. Even Forgotten Realms enjoyed its share such as Portals of Faerun, Wyrms of the North, and Spellbooks of Faerun.

However, in stepped the vile bean counters who foretold the coming doom of this "Free Content". And month by month we began to see the free material go away. No more new monster or converted monster each month, nor more new spells, no more new psionic material, no more nothing but boring, dry and flavorless articles such as "SAVE MY GAME: Help, my players are ruining my life" and "WATERDEEP NEWS: People are disappearing after using their bedpans." or "Apply 10 of these templates together and you have the Supercalifragalisticexpialadocious Dire Flumph" and even the Web Enhancements were just as lame.

So endeth the Golden Age of the D&D Homepage and its myriad of wondrous web articles.
-----------------------

Ok, on a more serious note, that's basically what happened. They did away with the cool stuff on their site because the authors of the web articles were told to no longer produce content that they could possibly sell in an upcoming book. This means no feats, spells, monsters, psionics, incarnum, maneuvers, epic material, whatever.

I have heard from a few WotC employees such as Andy Collins and Mark Jindra, for example, that have stated they are planning to bring back more "crunchy" web content. I guess this must be what they mean.

Sign me up! I can have this AND my monthly dose of Dragon Magazine, huzzah!

 

[Razz]

Interesting.

Why would I need Dragon magazine if I subscribe to the above?

I wonder how much it would cost....

Because now you can have double the content each month. I don't think Dragon should be trumped by this e-zine, it should be combined with it.

 

[Mark CMG]

(. . .) dry and flavorless articles such as "SAVE MY GAME: Help, my players are ruining my life" and "WATERDEEP NEWS: People are disappearing after using their bedpans." or "Apply 10 of these templates together and you have the Supercalifragalisticexpialadocious Dire Flumph" and even the Web Enhancements were just as lame.

teh qFtRuThiNeSs!

 

[ZSutherland]

This assumes there is a finite amount of material WotC produces for free, plus that paying for a service you won't get more and/or better. That's a hell of an assumption.

I don't really think it's quite the assumption that you think it is. Consider it in accounting terms. Writers of free web-content, web-enhancements, etc. are still paid by WotC. Those are still expenses that are deducted from sales to arrive at net income. Net income, in turn, is used in a hefty number of accounting ratios that are used (along with many other tools, including net income alone) to shape the strategy of investors. Investment is what allows the company financial capital to grow, create new product lines, broaden market appeal to attract new gamers, and all the other activities that we want and need WotC to engage in to remain a successful company that keeps our game going. The only way to offset the expense (writer pay, web-hosting costs, etc) is to tack it onto book costs. As consumers, we're willing to pay a bit extra for the books because we know we'll get on-going product support on their web-site.

If they start charging for that on-going service - generating revenue for value that was once covered by the purchase price of books sold - then there are only two ways to not pay for it twice. One, the cost of WotC books drops proportional to the value reduced. Possible, but doubtful since changing a pricing set-up that's working is a risky proposition. Two, don't subscribe to their website to get your formerly free support. Then you're just paying the same for reduced value, so you still get shafted a bit, but not as badly.

Now, I'm not saying the sky is falling or claiming WotC shouldn't include pay content on their site. Some of the features on the OP's list look like new content that would potentially be worth paying for, especially some of the DM tools. However, losing access to content which we are used to getting for "free" and which in reality we've already paid for with higher book prices, seems like a pretty underhanded thing to do. It's also a risky business move in that people who do subscribe (unless you have a money tree growing in your yard) will likely reduce monthly purchases of hard product (like books and minis). That's their bread and butter. The revenue may off-set, but book stores don't stock product that doesn't move, which will make it harder to find niche products like published adventures and other, non-necessary resources. It will also put a serious pinch on 3rd party publishers (those few who still actively put out D&D material) since they are most likely to bear the brunt of reduced store-front spending by consumers. Finally, it will drive consumers to Amazon.com and other on-line retailers to get those harder-to-find products that physical store-fronts can't afford to stock. That reduces the visibility of the product and the hobby, which I don't think any of us want.

 

[Mark CMG]

It will also put a serious pinch on 3rd party publishers (those few who still actively put out D&D material) since they are most likely to bear the brunt of reduced store-front spending by consumers. Finally, it will drive consumers to (. . .)

. . . 3rd party publishers who have some free content to download and even more to sell. I agree with much of what you posted except this last bit. This is why I am not in the so-called "sky is falling" camp. I actually think that WotC's plan to potentially eliminate free content bodes well for 3rd party publishers, no matter whether WotC's plan for selling that same content and more actually succeeds or fails. I think they are potentially not only squeezing the lemons for the lemonade I will make but also putting a big sign up in front of their closed doors that sends consumers looking for me. Nice of them.

 

[ZSutherland]

. . . 3rd party publishers who have some free content to download and even more to sell. I agree with much of what you posted except this last bit. This is why I am not in the so-called "sky is falling" camp. I actually think that WotC's plan to potentially eliminate free content bodes well for 3rd party publishers, no matter whether WotC's plan for selling that same content and more actually succeeds or fails. I think they are potentially not only squeezing the lemons for the lemonade I will make but also putting a big sign up in front of their closed doors that sends consumers looking for me. Nice of them.

Without doubt, the smart entrepreneur can make something of this if they go through with it. TBH, I'm not really all that fussed because I don't make much use of WotC's website, and I buy very few of their books (haven't bought one since ECS released). My major concern is the reduced visibility factor. One of the best moves WotC made was to employ a marketing strategy that made D&D highly visible, no longer relegated to tiny gaming shops and the back shelf in hobby shops. It brought new consumers into the market who eventually went to 3rd party publishers for material and made it easier for all of us to find games and gamers. We all win that way. A large part of that strategy was to put gaming products that would sell in visible locations, like B&N, and let word-of-mouth do its work. Antecdotal though it may be, the RPG section of large bookstores in my area has been decreasing slowly but steadily for the last year or so. Reduced sales will just further limit product visibility, which is bad for a hobby already sitting in fierce competition for consumer leisure time.

 

[Mark CMG]

I'm of a mind that a bellows needs to cyclically become smaller to make the fire grow.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

As consumers, we're willing to pay a bit extra for the books because we know we'll get on-going product support on their web-site.

I doubt that anywhere near a significant portion of consumers of WotC product expect ongoing web support after they have purchased a product beyond errata.

However, losing access to content which we are used to getting for "free" and which in reality we've already paid for with higher book prices, seems like a pretty underhanded thing to do.

There were two important words in my response. "More" and "better". It still seems like you are assuming that by paying for a service WotC wouldn't apply that income towards that service to make it better that what was free or make more of what was once provided for free... that there is a finite amount of what WotC would be providing regardless of how much money WotC gets to spend on it.