Would you pay for so-called Online "Dungeon/Dragon" content from WotC?

[RFisher]

I don't have a lot of faith in Wizards today. Especially in this arena. (Which would've been just as true if you'd asked me a few days ago.) I'd need to hear some great feedback about it from some people I trusted.

If it were Paizo, I'd be more likely to subscribe. & to think, I was very wary about Paizo at first.

I might resubscribe to Pyramid someday. There have already been a couple of times I wished I still had access to their archives. So, it has more to do with the organization behind the effort than it being an online resource.

 

[Corinth]

There is no such thing as a product worth paying for that you can't hold in your hands. Only fools and idiots do such a thing without the immediate threat of men with guns at your head ready to do violence if you don't cough up the cash. Nothing online is worth so much as a cent; wait and it will always come up somewhere else available for free.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

I dont pay for downloaded or internet only stuff. I wont buy PDF's (I only get free ones) and while I canceled my Dragon subscription soon after the relaunch back in like 2005 I thought about renewing it. Now for sure WOTC wont get my money, or who ever where to do this, even if Paizo had kept the liscense and switched to a online only model they wouldnt get my money either.

 

[bento]

Bento,

No hate here. I am a collector. Packrat, more accurately. I have every issue of every Dragon and Dungeon magazine I have ever bought (and it goes back several years). When I need an adventure, I might dig out that old issue of Dungeon from the 2e days, and look into adapting it. I cannot do that with web content (because web content changes or, if archived on CD, can become corrupt. I cannot afford the ink to print out an e-zine monthly). That's aside from the fun of taking my magazines with me to work. Reading them there, it's more likely that someone will ask me about it, which allows me the chance to explain our hobby to someone whose only previous exposure was that abyssmal movie or MMO.

As someone who has every issue of The Avengers, Fantastic Four, The Defenders, The Amazing Spider-Man, and other comic titles going from the very start through the mid-1990s in some print form or another, I know where you're coming from. But, at the same time when I've had to move, it means transporting nearly fifty comic boxes and spending hours setting up my shelves once again. I've finally gotten to the age (40) where I've said its the content I enjoy, not the package. Screw nostalgia - I haven't opened most of the boxed up and bagged comics since 2000, and I'm contemplating selling the majority of them now that the comics are available on CD-ROM.

One bit about the FLGS thing, too. Dungeon & Dragon are the only two subscriptions I have there (it's a comic store). The thing is, though, that despite it being cheaper via Amazon, I ONLY buy my game books from that FLGS, too. (But I've been going to that store for 14 years, so one could say I have a clear bias in him staying open.. )

That wasn't necessarily directed at you, but there are earlier posters who proudly proclaim that while they don't purchase gaming books at their FLGS anymore they help keep them in business by using them as their Dungeon/Dragon magazine source. I'm just saying that with friends like these their FLGS will continue to have chronic problems staying in business. Next time buy something with a bigger margin such as a book, or better yet an outrageously marked up back issue comic!

I found myself thinking something interesting this morning on my way to said job. I consistently see comments that we net-capable RPG fans are a small percentage of all of those who play RPGs. Even if half of all those who say "no e-zines for me" and all of the ones who say "gimme the e-zine" subscribe, would there really be enough to truly justify it? Of all of the people I know who game (not just my current groups), I do not know anyone of them who check sites like this, let alone pay for premium content on one. I'm just tossing this out there as food for thought. Feel free to prove me wrong.

Not wanting to prove you wrong, but how about looking at it like this:
* People on these boards and on other web sites have been lamenting that d20 material has been selling less and less since 3.5 came out.

* People are going to play the game they want to play, no matter what the companies that produce them do in the long run. There are gaming groups that still play 2nd edition, and I've heard wild rumors of people who still play OD&D. Whatever the changes WoTC makes, its in their best interest to keep the current game alive in the long run.

* You have the luxury of calling it quits at anytime and walk away from the game with years of fond memoires. Hasbro on the otherhand has to come up with creative ways to attract new players. The really hard part for Hasbro is that often the very things which will attract new players will annoy old players.

* You run a horse buggy business and have seen it decline for several years with the introduction of the horseless carriage. Should you keep on making buggies just because horses are beautiful and noble animals? What does your family say about your decision as they slowly grow hungerier?

Just something to think about.

 

[bento]

Well, I'm glad your own attitude is so constructive a free of vituperation. Gotta love hypocrites.

It's just a hobby for most of us. Personally I make purchase decisions based on what's best for me.

I'm just pointing out the hypocracy of some other poster's claims of keeping their FLGS afloat by purchasing only a magazine there from time to time.

Its like saying I'm going to keep my local 7-11 in business by giving them exclusive rights to all my bubble gum purchases. Whoopie.

 

[Wolv0rine]

For Me, this has very little (if anything at all) to do with WotC's history of online excellence (or lack of), it has nothing to do with what this announced online service may offer or how it may offer it. The price they propose to charge means nothing.

For Me, this is about them closing down Dungeon and Dragon magazines. I don't care what happens in the world of gaming, what the profit sheets say, or how many gamers are playing... but when Dungeons&Dragons loses (of it's own volition, nonetheless) Dungeon & Dragon Magazines (regardless of who's subscribing. Your subscribers are too low to make the mag work, pair it down until it doesn't hurt, but keep it going, because they were important just BEING there) it feels to me like a part of D&D has died again.

Some people say 'WotC owns the rights to them, they can do what they want. It's not for you to say', but that's BS. If the company that owns Peanuts decided that it'd make them more money if they pulled all Peanuts comics & cartoons from all places and times forever, and transitioned Peanuts over into a porn comic... no, I don't think people'd just go "Well, they own Peanuts... okay..."

The consumer has the Responsibility (not the option, not the right...) to vocally decry their opinions and desires to the economy. That'd how it's supposed to work.

Me, I'm with the "WotC can bite it" crowd, for closing doors on Dungeon and Dragon Mags. It was a traditional masthead of the game, dammit.

 

[haakon1]

i don't even do pdfs.

Me neither. Unless they're free.

 

[haakon1]

Wizards can suck it.

What I find most amusing is that I am 100% positive that MANY of the people who are saying "NO!", "NEVER!", "I DON'T PAY FOR ELECTRONS" and so forth will be right in line to sign up if the right amount of perks are offered at the right price.

And you can take that to the bank, high-horse or no.

Thanks, you've convinced me Waldorf is right. I'll never buy online content from WOTC.

They cannot take that to the bank, but I can think of a better place for them to put it.

 

[haakon1]

I'm just pointing out the hypocracy of some other poster's claims of keeping their FLGS afloat by purchasing only a magazine there from time to time.

I'm probably going to go offline for a few days because I'm getting tired of all the hate.
. . .
For those of you who say when your buying a Dungeon/Dragon magazine from the FLGS that you're supporting their business, well your not. Magazines have a very low profit margin. If you really wanted to help out your FLGS you'd plunk down the $25 to $40 for a new hard cover. Instead I'm sure many of you are slinking over to Amazon because they have great deals.
. . .
I can always look forward to something new coming along without feeling tied to going to a physical retail outlet.

I am said hypocrite.

You didn't get it the first time I said, so I'll say it again.

What I said is, I go to one of my two FLGS every two weeks or so. When there's not something interesting to buy (e.g., WOTC has put out three new Complete Books of Useless Crunch), I still buy a Dungeon and/or Dragon, while chatting with the guy who runs the place about what's coming out next, how good DCC's are, how good Shackled City is, etc. Sometimes I'll buy additional stuff I don't really need at all, like more minis, on an Osprey miniatures book, or on my most recent trip, Axis & Allies Pacific. Because I'm there, I'm buying something, and there's ALWAYS Dungeon or Dragon, if all else fails.

I don't like going into a mom & pop shop, browsing, and buying nothing. It makes me feel like a heel. Even if all I buy is magazines, $15 on magazines is presumably at least a few bucks of profit -- say $5-7 more than if I didn't come in at all.

If there's nothing at all to buy (no Dungeon default), I'm going to go in less often. My guess is 8 times a year (that'd be once every month and a half) instead of 20 times a year (a bit less than every 2 weeks). That means my spending will go down, with fewer incidental purchases.

It's not just about buying Dungeon, it's about the frequency of browsing the merchandise. And losing 4-5 trips where I ended up buying some $30-50 item for the heck of it, that adds up to a lot more than the lose of Dungeon sales. Maybe I'm the only gamer who buys like this, but I'm guessing where there's one, there's thousands, as with most things in life.

BTW, I buy tons of stuff on Amazon, but never gaming materials. $ are votes. I vote for FLGS existence. Just because you buy your stuff from Amazon doesn't mean everyone does. Thousands do, naturally, but thousands don't.

 

[rounser]

There is no such thing as a product worth paying for that you can't hold in your hands.

Software? Digital music? Advertising? Investments?

I spend the vast majority of my saved money on things I'll never hold in my hands, and they pay off alright.