Whoa, interesting info on the 4th ed. - I think D&D is being heavily influenced by MMOs since that's what they're competing against. It sounds like WotC is less concerned with fun people can have around a table with their friends, and more concerned with the idea of Every Player Buys A Set of Expensive-Ass Books, with updates/supplements/revisions/etc. every few months, just like the software updates to online games (also relevant is that whole focus on powergaming and acquisition of l33t g34r). I think there's something terrible about my 2nd ed. books having a $20 cover price and my 3rd ed. ones having a $40-45 price... granted, the nice art is worth a little extra, but I can see them losing lots of book-buyers when it ends up cheaper and easier to play MMOs. I can't help but wonder if the new rulebook will break the $50 barrier...
I can't see any reason their "one book per player" policy is going to work out since a) that's not the way tabletop usually works, there's always that one guy who buys every single book and everyone just uses his and b) they now have to compete with online games, which they didn't 10 years ago and I can't see how this can work in their favor. The new generation will just play Warcraft instead, and the older gen will use their (and their friends') communal stacks of 3rd or 2nd ed. books because both of those options are cheaper than WotC's. They're trying to keep D&D afloat, but I don't think RIAA-style tactics are their best answer.
But then again, to me, it still feels like 3rd ed just came out. :)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-08-20 02:29 am (UTC)I can't see any reason their "one book per player" policy is going to work out since a) that's not the way tabletop usually works, there's always that one guy who buys every single book and everyone just uses his and b) they now have to compete with online games, which they didn't 10 years ago and I can't see how this can work in their favor. The new generation will just play Warcraft instead, and the older gen will use their (and their friends') communal stacks of 3rd or 2nd ed. books because both of those options are cheaper than WotC's. They're trying to keep D&D afloat, but I don't think RIAA-style tactics are their best answer.
But then again, to me, it still feels like 3rd ed just came out. :)