I have been reading a lot about 4th Edition as well as what DnD Insider brings to the DnD community. I can see why the changes to 4th Edition were implemented, mostly due to a declining player base due to the rich content that MMORPG's like DDO, WoW, EQ, the list goes on and on. The changes in 4th Edition are obviously to tailor the DnD tabletop game in such a way to make it a bit more familiar to the massive online players.
This post is a personal perspective based on my experiences with tabletop gaming and beta testing MMORPG's.
The DnD Insider concept is great on paper however there are some major marketing motivations that have created an achilles heel for the idea.
The major problem is that the idea of a subscription based approach to usage of the different tools, based on the availability of options determined by the proposed subscription levels, the majority of gamers that enjoy RPG games will not give these tools more than 10 minutes of attention.
For example, being able to play only 3 online DnD adventures at the cost of $9.95 is silly. The fact that there would be 24/7 access is irrelevant to the argument of game availability doesn't matter much when you consider a player can go play a game such as DDO anytime of the day, as long as they wish, for just a little more than $9.95. The DDO content is beautiful, the action is fast paced, and it is much more immersive.
The GameTable tool is a high-tech application of a traditional concept but the fact is that it provides very little compared to what online RPG gamers already can get, some of those games provide a much more immersive experience for only $5 a month!
Now I am not about to say the GameTable as well as the other online tools that will be eventually available in DnDi are a total wash. I can't say that only because they haven't been 100% released yet. I'm not going to knock it since I haven't tried it.
What I am saying is that based on the market being targeted, I am certainly hoping that for $9.95 a month I can play the DnD virtual tabletop version online with other RPGer's whenever I want however many times I want.
I don't think that the core DnD developers are responsible for this, in fact, I think many of them are still cringing a bit at the idea WotC is clearly pushing from a perspective of profitable gains and sustainability for future market expansion.
I won't delve much deeper than this only because that would require the same amount of time to write a novel.
Only my 2 cents though. What you make of this post is your choice and I certainly don't object to other opinions except for trolls in the forums.
-Crimsus
The fact that the magazines are included is of great value, but I can only guess that most of us will only check certain parts of the releases, where other may read through the entire content.
I can only guess, WOTC is trying to reach the average gamer, and a monthly cost of $15 is supposed to give acces to all their availble features.
I think we really need to wait and see what WOTC come up with as a yearly suscription, and the fact they have said their first month or so will also be disscounted answers to all of us who are already D&D players.
One last thing to mention, is we do get first line access to the columns that appear, and the fact that we can scour supplement rules as part of our payment can really eat into the savings. Considering the fact I own about 85% of all the supplement 3e books, I'm thinking i'm going to be much better off cost wise now :o)
Wow. You would have thought that they would have done extensive market analysis before they gave the green light to such an endevor.
They did say they did market research, but never said how much time or extensive it was. However they did say market research indicated a Windows only platform was the way to go for initial release. *shrugs*
I would like to see the report, however I suspect that will never happen.
The wise decision would have been to write the tools in something like Java and to use OpenGL for the graphics/3D models. This would ensure that Windows, Mac OS, Unix, and Linux users would all be able to run the tools.
Runescape is a good demonstration of implementing an RPG on multiple platforms successfully. While the graphics aren't astounding, I know from experience that I could play Runescape on a Linux machine and a friends Mac without any problems and then if I was on the road I could use my Windows laptop to play.
I think the problem is that the research and software development team was a little too focused on one market and didn't take into consideration how much it would benefit them to use something like Java and OpenGL to make the tools available on almost every platform.
I remember that the first text-based MMORPG I played back in the days of the BBS and 1200 baud modems was written on a DOS based server but since I had to use a Terminal Emulator to login I could play using my old 386 machine or my good 'old Mac Plus. These text-based MMORPG's are what really built the foundation for todays online RPG gaming community regardless if they are now 3D, text-based, or HTML/Java based.
-Crimsus
When I need a new computer and get the money my next new computer is going to be a Mac. Since more and more companies are dropping support for 2000's. I was moderately excited about D&D Insider if the price was decent, and it worked well but now no support. I'm not going to bother myself over it. I was looking forward to the Dungeon Builder and Game Table but well never mind that now.I would be inclined to agree on the idea that more than likely it will be rare that a group will be able to get together more than a couple of times a month (however, the advantage to the game table is nistead of half a day marathons or more, you could split it up to a couple hours every few nights as people don't have to drive, either to schedule stuff like that but I digress). But one example I saw was that if you had a choice between the two and the decision was purely based on cost (obviously there is something to be said by physically getting around a table and drinking beer/energy drinks (depending on your mood) then you could figure it this way. Say you played twice a week currently. Say that the average drive is 15 miles away (not unreasonable I don't think). For me this would come out to about a gallon and a half of gas. In California where im at, thats about $4.50. Twice a month, thats $9-$10 for gas and miles. Nevermind lost time driving. Purely based on that, and assuming your commute to where you game was 15 miles and not more, the $15 a month is not in my mind all that unreasonable. Obviously this is 1 example and may not even fix most peoples, but I think something to consider (again obviously if the tools suck and are not really usable then its a moot point).
This is actually a good point, Gizmo. I was trying to nail down something along these lines--the DnDi tools are a bonus if you consider time, gas, etc. saved. That is one thing I try to keep in mind when weighing the options of price. I hope everyone does the same in their considerations on the same thing. For me, though, while your math is accurate and your reasoning sound--it's still just not enough for me to be willing to shell out $15 an other than some fancy 3d imagery, no one has yet been able to step forward and tell me the value of their product over the ones readily available.