Dragon Magazine

[Epic Meepo]

I normally avoid the WotC boards like the plague these days, but all of the recent Dragon- and Dungeon-related tantrums have been too hilarious, and just I couldn't resist the temptation to be a total wise-ass:

URL

[Túrin]

Well put. You didn't go far enough, though. Who even needs physical players these days? If everything is electronic, there's no need to meet up anymore, and once you get used to online gaming, you won't even need actual players anymore; an electronic DM and co-players will be much more efficient. So what does that give us? Exactly, a video game.

;) Túrin

[brainface]

co-players? just make all the players electronic! eDnD, the game that plays itself! It's evolved beyond its puny human participants!

On a related note, i've said before that i eagerly await the day when not only scenes, props, and characters are synthesized in movies, but voices as well: negating the need to hire any actors at all.

[Elven Doritos]

You mean, like... http://www.zshare.net/audio/digital-dnd-mp3.html

[SDragon]

You mean, like... http://www.zshare.net/audio/digital-dnd-mp3.html

That's creepy.... Brainface may be eagerly awaiting that day, but I find the implications kind of unsettling.

[Elven Doritos]

Um, I'm pretty sure he was joking there.

Just as I was when making that goofy thing, via a synthesizer program. ;)

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Genius!

[SDragon]

I'd like to throw in some ideas for those who obhect to the idea:

* Buy every issue you can afford of both magazines, from now until September.

* Boycott the online material.

* Order all of your backordered issues from Paizo, not your FLGS. (try filling out a collection this way!)

* Send complaint letters to WotC.

* Encourage others to do the same.


Any more ideas are welcome. :)

[Ishmayl-Retired]

Hmmm... not sure it will really do anything.  Wizards has shown many times in the past that they care very little for what the majority of their fans want.  Not to mention, I can't afford a bunch of issues of Dragon just for the sake of showing how "awesome" the magazine is.

[SDragon]

Hmmm... not sure it will really do anything.  Wizards has shown many times in the past that they care very little for what the majority of their fans want.  Not to mention, I can't afford a bunch of issues of Dragon just for the sake of showing how "awesome" the magazine is.

I apologize if I implied that you should spend more then you can afford. I realize hobbies aren't exactly the highest priority when it comes to financial expenses.

The reason for most of the suggestions (aside from complaint letters), is that they're practical demonstrations that we have power over what they want. It's one thing to say you don't like an endeavor, but it's much more effective to show that the endeavor isn't where the money is.

[Elven Doritos]

The reason for most of the suggestions (aside from complaint letters), is that they're practical demonstrations that we have power over what they want. It's one thing to say you don't like an endeavor, but it's much more effective to show that the endeavor isn't where the money is.

There's more money for Wizards if they publish in-house rather than license, so all it's really showing is how lucrative their cornering of the market will be. An inconvenient truth.

[SDragon]

There's more room for profit, sure, but room for profit means nothing without revenue. You could have a product that needs no expense whatsoever, but if nobody buys it from you, you're not making money.

[Elven Doritos]

There's more room for profit, sure, but room for profit means nothing without revenue. You could have a product that needs no expense whatsoever, but if nobody buys it from you, you're not making money.

And since Paizo isn't getting its license back one way or another, buying more of Dragon and Dungeon will have no bearing whatsoever on the transition into online content and whatever else WotC has in mind. Since the plan is to introduce electronic product, as near as has been discerned, it means that overhead is going to decrease and value per unit is going to skyrocket. No longer will WotC have to worry about the middle man either; direct content and direct access to their consumer base, even if it is diminished, is highly preferable to second- and third-party production.

Wizards is moving into what is, in a practical sense, a rather ingenius business model, but buying a couple of issues of an otherwise sucessful magazine by a second-party company won't change that. If you want to ensure Paizo's financial security, the best thing to do is get onboard with Pathfinder.