WotC WotC'S May Community Update Talks School Support, Accessibilty, & Creator Marketplaces

The Community Update page on D&D Beyond has a new entry which briefly covers topics such as ongoing support for schools and clubs, accessibilty of D&D Beyond for players with disabilities, early plans for the third-party creator marketplace, plans for convention attendance, and the upcoming Virtual Tabletop.

It's mainly a (very brief) recap of things which came out of the recent D&D Creator Summit (see D&D Creator Summit--VTT & One D&D, D&D Creator Summit--'D&D Beyond And Beyond', D&D Creator Summit -- Morning Sessions) but the key points include:

• One D&D reiterated again as being 5th edition, not a new edition. This is something WotC is repeating frequently, and is a message they are clearly very keen to get across.
• School and club support includes teaching kits, afterschool club kits, and free access to D&D Beyond resources for educators.
• Plans to connect with accessibility experts to ensure D&D Beyond is a tool that everybody can use.
• Migration to D&D Beyond as the 'front door' of D&D.
• Intention to eventually create a third party marketplace, but this is a long way in the future.
• A new creator summit at Gen Con in August.
• Pre-alpha tests of the VTT with small groups.

D&D Community Update

D&D Beyond - Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition Tools, Rules, Races, Classes, Items, Spells, Monsters, and More

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

My point is they should be.

Why? Why spend the time, money, and resources to design and build something that can take 20x its normal load for a day or two. That is excess waste if you ask me. I would those resources be spent elsewhere personally.

 

[Lanefan]

Why? Why spend the time, money, and resources to design and build something that can take 20x its normal load for a day or two. That is excess waste if you ask me.

It's excess waste only until it isn't, at which point it becomes vital to preserving (or earning!) a reputation for reliability and consistent performance.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

It's excess waste only until it isn't, at which point it becomes vital to preserving (or earning!) a reputation for reliability and consistent performance.

Except reality seems to prove you wrong!

 

[SkidAce]

I say you take the absolute highest volume you could ever conceive, then multiply it by a big number, and build for that.

Agreed, however the budget people never let you do that.

 

[Oofta]

Agreed, however the budget people never let you do that.

This is usually the issue. Either you don't have the resources to stress test or even if you know you need more horsepower available at launch it's not in the budget.

 

[Mournblade94]

And ... once again every thread has to devolve into trashing WOTC.

Oh man go to Twitter. The game 'community" there doesn't actually talk about games they talk about the ills of capiatalism. Game sites like this are great because nobody is standing on soap boxes saying how WOTC is keeping everybody down. Want a laugh? Go to the TTRPG "Community" on twitter. Community it is not!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Community it is not!

It is a community. It's just not the one you wish it were. (Which is how communities often go!)

 

[Dausuul]

My point is they should be.

How much more are you, the customer, willing to pay for the extra development time and infrastructure required to harden the system to this level?

 

[Mournblade94]

It is a community. It's just not the one you wish it were. (Which is how communities often go!)

It is a community with factions I guess that are at each other's throats. For example the indie design crowd, the ones that make games for pennies really come at D&D Players in an Unseemly way. Then theres the antimilitary gamers being vocal around surprise! lots of military gamers.

You're definitely correct, but I just think calling the TTRPG crowd one bucket community with all of its differences, some not reconcileable (sp?) leads people to some wrong ideas.