Let me go on and get this out their I am a nerd. Though this blog will encompass a wide variety of things it will also include my nerdly passions. Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) is one of those.
So those of you who have been keeping up with Wizards of the Coast, are aware that last year launched the 4th edition of this Iconic pen and paper Role Playing Game (RPG). with this launch they also launched the DnD Insider program, this is what I am about to rant on.
begin Rant
DnD insider is an attempt to attract the lucrative Massively Multi player Online (mmo) gamers to the traditional Pen and Paper world. Promising grandiose features such as digital 3d Gaming Tables, character designers, and monthly published articles. This all looked like a dream come true, there was a price attached to it, but with what they were promising that didn't seem to be a problem. This was all back in early '08 the sky was the limit and the Internet was new and shiny...
Fast forward to now 4th ed. has been around a year, we have already seen the release of the second Players Handbook, and both the Forgotten Realms and Eberron campaign setting. The promised articles are being delivered but have a quality of editing on par with my own (which is really really bad). We have yet to see truly hands on use of the 3d character designer, much less the digital game table. The only product that has been consistent is the Character Builder a program designed to ease the process of creating and leveling your character. The Character builder has been a great tool but has been plagued by unusual bugs since launch and the patches have seldom alleviated the problem, commonly only changing the bug from one place to another.
All this and they recently increased the price of subscription to the program...
I am currently trying to ride out the storm but I really must say I am unimpressed. An Internet presence is certainly important in the current business climate. Constant over promising under delivering has severely tarnished the image of the Dnd Insider(DnDi) program, lack of polish on the released products has not improved that image. If Wizards wants to keep the concept alive I feel it needs to stop and look at where it is and where they want to be, talk openly about the problems they are facing and give more realistic goals. If they approach the problem now they can pull themselves up and dust off, if not I fear we shall see the DnDi program be considered a failure and dusted under the rug like so many other great ideas with piss poor follow through.
ok my meaningless rant is over.
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Opieself
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