Like many others, I started gaming in the early 1980s, when the original Red Box was the most current incarnation of Dungeons & Dragons. Throughout the 1990s, I played a multitude of games, and gradually D&D (and/or AD&D) slipped into the background. Skip ahead a decade, during which I worked in bars, got laid and eventually even married, and I’ve come full circle.
Back in the 90s, I was heavily involved in the Danish gaming community. I was a staff writer with the only national rpg-dedicated magazine at the time, and was even paid to run gaming groups in after-school programs. But at some point I got tired of the few but loud people, whose presence can ruin the fun for everyone else. I continued gaming, but just with my friends behind closed doors.
Coming back to Dungeons & Dragons has been great. I’ve a rekindled love for the old game, even though it’s a new game system. I like the way it works now, it’s fast, fun and furious compared to older editions. I’ve written more about that earlier.
However, no community can satisfy all of its members with every change, and though I believe in two-way communication, some people just like to argue. For instance, there’s an “Edition War” going on, where a few old-schoolers who love the older systems diss those who prefer the new system and vice versa. To me that seems just as retarded as the Mac vs. PC debate, which has been raging for decades and refuses to die. It’s pointless. Some prefer one, some the other. Who cares? Just play what you want, already.
I started thinking about this after the most recent “controversy” in the Dungeons & Dragons community, namely the announcement that the Character Builder (software which allows easy creation and management of player characters) will move from being a locally installed program to an online cloud based service. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but others are up in arms about having to be connected to the web, storing their data on Wizards’ servers and a lack of features — specifically a file export feature, allowing third party software to import the character sheets. However, most of the missing features have already been announced as part of future updates, including character export.
The doubters do have a few points worth noting. Wizards of the Coast has a bad track record when it comes to living up to their promises with regard to software. Also, the new online version is based on Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, which is quite the gamble, given the fact that Microsoft has stated they will focus their own efforts on HTML5 – a competing technology generally regarded as the future of web development. Silverlight also does not work on the iOS platform, which means no iPad/iPhone compatibility.
See also: The official FAQ regarding the Character Builder.
However, these are hard facts: The new service is launching in a few weeks. No amount of complaining will change that. Regardless of what some are suggesting, Wizards of the Coast is not actively looking to piss their client base off. I am guessing this is more likely where they are coming from:
Dungeons & Dragons is a niche product, with new additions coming out all the time. The profit margin on hardcover books is, well, marginal. That’s why the new Essentials series is in paperback. Still, Wizards needs a better way to make money and realize that raising the price on the books is not the answer. The solution is to beef up the online subscription service, Dungeons & Dragons Interactive, which up until this point has seemed a little half-assed. Diplomatically put. Especially to Mac users like me, who only has access to half the content even though I pay the same as everyone else. By making it more appealing to subscribe, more players will eventually do so. Part of that is discontinuing support of the old products.
Will this new approach scare away customers? Absolutely, but in the long run – supposing Wizards deliver on their promises this time – I think there’s huge potential in a streamlined suite of web based tools. Of course, I’m thrilled that I’ll finally have access to the Character Builder, but I’m not terribly concerned about iPhone/iPad compatibility at this point in time. I’m hoping they will eventually develop some decent apps for mobile devices, and it is possible to do so, even if the browser version uses Silverlight, as long as the back-end is accessible. So, I’m going to give them a chance and see how they do, before I cancel my subscription in a fit of nerd rage. The critical consumer in me wants everything right now and all the time, but the realist in me knows that the world doesn’t work this way. That said, I’m not going to pay and wait forever.
At the end of the day, D&D is a game. I have no high stakes bets running on next week’s session, and if I get tired of playing it, I’ll move on to something else. As it is though, I don’t see that happening any time soon. Nor do I see myself canceling my D&DI subscription.
I know I wrote a snarky post about the new update but this is really more along the lines of what I should have written.
Fantastic, concise and well-written post! Good job!
I would agree, they should try to make more money around the DDI subscriptions. But this is NOT the way to do it.
There are already several nice projects around Character Builder, and they should embrace such projects. Instead they are alienating them.
Furthermore, mobile devices are *hot*. Especially when you have some practical use for them. I already seen several players using an iPad to maintain the character sheets during games. This would have exploded if they would used proper developing. There is no need to use Silverlight or Flash for creating a Character Builder.
IMHO the proper way for any community, is to listen to their users ( and customers ) and develop tools which are there to augment the experience. Which this version of Character Builder they ruined the change of entering the Gametable with interactive tools.
If the looked at tools like iPlay4e or Battle Map ( http://www.razeware.com/battle-map/ ) they would have noticed that people are starting to use mobile devices on the Gametable.
I agree that Silverlight was a bad choice and that ignoring the community was a mistake. But at the same time, if they can deliver a good product, the same community will eventually forgive that mistake. I think many people are extra angry because of the recent update issues. If they keep rolling out good updates and fresh tools from now on, this will soon be water under the bridge. And if not, it’s a perfect example for the I-told-you-so crowd. I just choose to give Wizards the benefit of the doubt, rather than go ballistic over something I have not used yet.
Nicely put column. As another Mac user, I’m also thrilled to see this key element of DDI finally available to me. (And add me to the chorus of voices that’s mystified by their choice to go with an iOS-excluding technology.) I agree that DDI’s value proposition has demonstrated itself as an evolving creature–it’s getting better (for me, anyway) on November 16, and I would expect it to continue to get better going forward as it has over the past couple of years.
Like you I want to be hopeful for the future, but its hard not to remember the huge suite of software we were promised would be ready for 4E launch, and then for end of 2008 and then for 2009 and then were forgotten.