Charlie Foxtrot - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Charlie Foxtrot

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Alderman
Nov 18, 2010 16:39:58 After playing with the web-based Character Builder for two days, I can honestly see its potential, and I actually like the idea of storing my characters on the web. But. Wow. Bugs, crashes, missing functionality, and the list goes on. I've been watching this rollout for the past few days (after looking forward to it for weeks) and two words come to mind, and they rhyme with "luster puck".

The D&D community is sharpening pitchforks and lighting torches. It's nerd rage time, and how richly deserved [some of] it is.

Look, it doesn't trouble me that webCB has bugs. I get it, I design software for a living, as do many of the members of the D&D community. I expect some bugs in a young program, especially this one--webCB is a very complex system that has to support a vast array of interlocking rules. And the missing functionality and limited capabilities (only 20 characters ?!?) are also forgivable. It takes time to build features, and I am willing to give the devs that time. But the launch planning and rollout strategy have been awful, just awful. How much easier would everyone's experience have been if Wizards had done the following:

Agree to continue to support the old CB for a while longer. Say, through the end of Q1 2011.

Slap the word BETA on the splash page of webCB

Announce that webCB is open for TESTING on November 16, 2010. If you want to be extra nice, tell the community members that for every bug report a user files, their name will be entered into a sweepstakes drawing for--I don't know, something like a year's free subscription to DDI, or a signed DMG, some minis, or a set of premium dice. You follow me, something that doesn't cost Wizards much to supply but is a nice token of appreciation.

Take your time addressing the bug reports filed, allow webCB to mature, and make the final switchover only when you determine the software is ready to release.

Of course, that wouldn't solve all the problems--for instance, it wouldn't change the fact that you chose to build webCB on Silverlight (a questionable choice of platform at best, seeing as how even Microsoft is backing away from it). But the community would be much less traumatized, they would feel more empowered and respected, and we'd all be a lot better off.

But what's done is done. I think step 1 above would mend a lot of fences. We'll all pitch in for the testing and debugging of webCB. If the end result is a quality tool, even its suboptimal dev platform would be forgivable.

Finally, please learn from this experience, WotC, because yea verily it is going to come to pass yet again. You're going to have to port webCB from Silverlight to something else eventually, because Silverlight is a dead platform walking. We don't want to have to go through this again for webCB 2.0

Now I'm going to take a deep breath and calm down. I hope the whole community does the same. The only way out is forward, so let's learn our lessons, whip webCB into shape, and get back to the gaming table.

#2
DocSun
Nov 18, 2010 17:47:34 seconded! This should have been a beta before forcing it upon us if we want our Dark Sun or Essentials
#3
nexxus_dm
Nov 18, 2010 17:51:44
After playing with the web-based Character Builder for two days, I can honestly see its potential, and I actually like the idea of storing my characters on the web. But. Wow. Bugs, crashes, missing functionality, and the list goes on. I've been watching this rollout for the past few days (after looking forward to it for weeks) and two words come to mind, and they rhyme with "luster puck".

The D&D community is sharpening pitchforks and lighting torches. It's nerd rage time, and how richly deserved [some of] it is.

Look, it doesn't trouble me that webCB has bugs. I get it, I design software for a living, as do many of the members of the D&D community. I expect some bugs in a young program, especially this one--webCB is a very complex system that has to support a vast array of interlocking rules. And the missing functionality and limited capabilities (only 20 characters ?!?) are also forgivable. It takes time to build features, and I am willing to give the devs that time. But the launch planning and rollout strategy have been awful, just awful. How much easier would everyone's experience have been if Wizards had done the following:

Agree to continue to support the old CB for a while longer. Say, through the end of Q1 2011.

Slap the word BETA on the splash page of webCB

Announce that webCB is open for TESTING on November 16, 2010. If you want to be extra nice, tell the community members that for every bug report a user files, their name will be entered into a sweepstakes drawing for--I don't know, something like a year's free subscription to DDI, or a signed DMG, some minis, or a set of premium dice. You follow me, something that doesn't cost Wizards much to supply but is a nice token of appreciation.

Take your time addressing the bug reports filed, allow webCB to mature, and make the final switchover only when you determine the software is ready to release.

Of course, that wouldn't solve all the problems--for instance, it wouldn't change the fact that you chose to build webCB on Silverlight (a questionable choice of platform at best, seeing as how even Microsoft is backing away from it). But the community would be much less traumatized, they would feel more empowered and respected, and we'd all be a lot better off.

But what's done is done. I think step 1 above would mend a lot of fences. We'll all pitch in for the testing and debugging of webCB. If the end result is a quality tool, even its suboptimal dev platform would be forgivable.

Finally, please learn from this experience, WotC, because yea verily it is going to come to pass yet again. You're going to have to port webCB from Silverlight to something else eventually, because Silverlight is a dead platform walking. We don't want to have to go through this again for webCB 2.0

Now I'm going to take a deep breath and calm down. I hope the whole community does the same. The only way out is forward, so let's learn our lessons, whip webCB into shape, and get back to the gaming table.

Amen Alderman!

None of the ire or vitriol being cast at WoTC would have occured if they'd have approached the situation as you suggest. I'm not sure who planned this whole debacle, but I hope they learn from this...

It was just so easy to avoid, and given the product, so easy to forsee.
#4
ghostshade
Nov 18, 2010 17:55:10 To me it almost feels like wizards slapped a bastard version of ITIL on the project of creating the online CB and they forgot to use it propertly.

:P Mayby they should start to use scrum with their little project. Who knows they might understand that they have a lot to improve that way.

I am more curious how what server architecture they are using since it seems it cant handle the pressure very well.
#5
Alderman
Nov 18, 2010 18:06:02 How long have we seen the word 'BETA' pasted all over the Adventure Tools applet? So it's not like these guys are unfamiliar with the concept of letting the community test things. And this community is a sophisticated one that is perfectly comfortable on the bleeding edge, using products that are not fully polished. We'd be happy to test their code. And those of us that aren't happy testing could simply use the old CB. Everybody would win, and WotC would get hundreds of thousands of testing hours for very, very little cost.

I have come to terms with the fact that webCB is here to stay. In the Nov. 9 official D&D podcast, they discussed their reasons for moving CB to the web, and they talked about piracy at length. Their content, apparently, was prone to piracy through the old CB, or so they seemed to suggest. WotC is owned by Hasbro, a large corporation, and corporate suits tend to get crazier than stomped ants at the very mention of the p-word. It's like an immune system overreaction. So much as suggest that content is being pirated to a suit, and he'll run amok amongst your community clubbing your subscribers like baby seals. So, yeah, pressure from the boardrooms on WotC to lock down their content via a Web interface. OK, but that doesn't excuse poor planning.

Look, Wizards, I love this game and I love your content, and I'm happy to pay for it. WebCB is a a done deal, and whining from the community won't change Hasbro's corporate mind. So let's push on. Get webCB on its feet, and then let's think through the next rollout carefully.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Alderman Nov 18, 2010 16:39:58	After playing with the web-based Character Builder for two days, I can honestly see its potential, and I actually like the idea of storing my characters on the web. But. Wow. Bugs, crashes, missing functionality, and the list goes on. I've been watching this rollout for the past few days (after looking forward to it for weeks) and two words come to mind, and they rhyme with "luster puck". The D&D community is sharpening pitchforks and lighting torches. It's nerd rage time, and how richly deserved [some of] it is. Look, it doesn't trouble me that webCB has bugs. I get it, I design software for a living, as do many of the members of the D&D community. I expect some bugs in a young program, especially this one--webCB is a very complex system that has to support a vast array of interlocking rules. And the missing functionality and limited capabilities (only 20 characters ?!?) are also forgivable. It takes time to build features, and I am willing to give the devs that time. But the launch planning and rollout strategy have been awful, just awful. How much easier would everyone's experience have been if Wizards had done the following: Agree to continue to support the old CB for a while longer. Say, through the end of Q1 2011. Slap the word BETA on the splash page of webCB Announce that webCB is open for TESTING on November 16, 2010. If you want to be extra nice, tell the community members that for every bug report a user files, their name will be entered into a sweepstakes drawing for--I don't know, something like a year's free subscription to DDI, or a signed DMG, some minis, or a set of premium dice. You follow me, something that doesn't cost Wizards much to supply but is a nice token of appreciation. Take your time addressing the bug reports filed, allow webCB to mature, and make the final switchover only when you determine the software is ready to release. Of course, that wouldn't solve all the problems--for instance, it wouldn't change the fact that you chose to build webCB on Silverlight (a questionable choice of platform at best, seeing as how even Microsoft is backing away from it). But the community would be much less traumatized, they would feel more empowered and respected, and we'd all be a lot better off. But what's done is done. I think step 1 above would mend a lot of fences. We'll all pitch in for the testing and debugging of webCB. If the end result is a quality tool, even its suboptimal dev platform would be forgivable. Finally, please learn from this experience, WotC, because yea verily it is going to come to pass yet again. You're going to have to port webCB from Silverlight to something else eventually, because Silverlight is a dead platform walking. We don't want to have to go through this again for webCB 2.0 Now I'm going to take a deep breath and calm down. I hope the whole community does the same. The only way out is forward, so let's learn our lessons, whip webCB into shape, and get back to the gaming table.
#2 DocSun Nov 18, 2010 17:47:34	seconded! This should have been a beta before forcing it upon us if we want our Dark Sun or Essentials
#3 nexxus_dm Nov 18, 2010 17:51:44	After playing with the web-based Character Builder for two days, I can honestly see its potential, and I actually like the idea of storing my characters on the web. But. Wow. Bugs, crashes, missing functionality, and the list goes on. I've been watching this rollout for the past few days (after looking forward to it for weeks) and two words come to mind, and they rhyme with "luster puck". The D&D community is sharpening pitchforks and lighting torches. It's nerd rage time, and how richly deserved [some of] it is. Look, it doesn't trouble me that webCB has bugs. I get it, I design software for a living, as do many of the members of the D&D community. I expect some bugs in a young program, especially this one--webCB is a very complex system that has to support a vast array of interlocking rules. And the missing functionality and limited capabilities (only 20 characters ?!?) are also forgivable. It takes time to build features, and I am willing to give the devs that time. But the launch planning and rollout strategy have been awful, just awful. How much easier would everyone's experience have been if Wizards had done the following: Agree to continue to support the old CB for a while longer. Say, through the end of Q1 2011. Slap the word BETA on the splash page of webCB Announce that webCB is open for TESTING on November 16, 2010. If you want to be extra nice, tell the community members that for every bug report a user files, their name will be entered into a sweepstakes drawing for--I don't know, something like a year's free subscription to DDI, or a signed DMG, some minis, or a set of premium dice. You follow me, something that doesn't cost Wizards much to supply but is a nice token of appreciation. Take your time addressing the bug reports filed, allow webCB to mature, and make the final switchover only when you determine the software is ready to release. Of course, that wouldn't solve all the problems--for instance, it wouldn't change the fact that you chose to build webCB on Silverlight (a questionable choice of platform at best, seeing as how even Microsoft is backing away from it). But the community would be much less traumatized, they would feel more empowered and respected, and we'd all be a lot better off. But what's done is done. I think step 1 above would mend a lot of fences. We'll all pitch in for the testing and debugging of webCB. If the end result is a quality tool, even its suboptimal dev platform would be forgivable. Finally, please learn from this experience, WotC, because yea verily it is going to come to pass yet again. You're going to have to port webCB from Silverlight to something else eventually, because Silverlight is a dead platform walking. We don't want to have to go through this again for webCB 2.0 Now I'm going to take a deep breath and calm down. I hope the whole community does the same. The only way out is forward, so let's learn our lessons, whip webCB into shape, and get back to the gaming table. Amen Alderman! None of the ire or vitriol being cast at WoTC would have occured if they'd have approached the situation as you suggest. I'm not sure who planned this whole debacle, but I hope they learn from this... It was just so easy to avoid, and given the product, so easy to forsee.
#4 ghostshade Nov 18, 2010 17:55:10	To me it almost feels like wizards slapped a bastard version of ITIL on the project of creating the online CB and they forgot to use it propertly. :P Mayby they should start to use scrum with their little project. Who knows they might understand that they have a lot to improve that way. I am more curious how what server architecture they are using since it seems it cant handle the pressure very well.
#5 Alderman Nov 18, 2010 18:06:02	How long have we seen the word 'BETA' pasted all over the Adventure Tools applet? So it's not like these guys are unfamiliar with the concept of letting the community test things. And this community is a sophisticated one that is perfectly comfortable on the bleeding edge, using products that are not fully polished. We'd be happy to test their code. And those of us that aren't happy testing could simply use the old CB. Everybody would win, and WotC would get hundreds of thousands of testing hours for very, very little cost. I have come to terms with the fact that webCB is here to stay. In the Nov. 9 official D&D podcast, they discussed their reasons for moving CB to the web, and they talked about piracy at length. Their content, apparently, was prone to piracy through the old CB, or so they seemed to suggest. WotC is owned by Hasbro, a large corporation, and corporate suits tend to get crazier than stomped ants at the very mention of the p-word. It's like an immune system overreaction. So much as suggest that content is being pirated to a suit, and he'll run amok amongst your community clubbing your subscribers like baby seals. So, yeah, pressure from the boardrooms on WotC to lock down their content via a Web interface. OK, but that doesn't excuse poor planning. Look, Wizards, I love this game and I love your content, and I'm happy to pay for it. WebCB is a a done deal, and whining from the community won't change Hasbro's corporate mind. So let's push on. Get webCB on its feet, and then let's think through the next rollout carefully.