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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Mar 2013 : 14:20:30
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I am not disagreeing with you. 
What I am saying is that many of the people who 'may have' jumped on-board with 4e/4eFR were greatly disappointed initially by what they saw, and now WON'T even consider anything being produced as something they might want. That's a very hard thing to fix, people's perceptions.
So yes, the current crop of articles ARE indeed being reviewed in terms of desirability, and people who are reading them are getting precisely what they want... but that does absolutely NOTHING to attract new people to the DDi and get them to read them (unless those articles are so damn good those people who ARE on-board are illicitly sharing them with friends... which in this case would be the best thing that could happen for WotC.
You can't know if you'll like something if you are not willing to try it - that's the whole problem at this time. Many of the folks that would have been pleased have already moved on.
What they need to do is create another 'first impression', and they'll get their chance with 5e. Ed's current articles are going a long way to helping that along, but its probably not enough. What they actually need to do is make the DDi free again for three months or so, and make sure that during that time the articles are amongst the best ever written - the kind of material folks will be talking about for years. You know who buys crack? Crack-addicts, thats who. You are not going to sell some soccer-mom housewife crack... unless you first get her to try some.
They need to go free for a while again, and NOT blow it this time. People are NOT going to pay for something they've already decided they don't like (except for caviar... I still haven't wrapped my mind around why anyone would even eat that for free). Think Woolly - he is the PERFECT example of the kind of person who's mind we need to change. You aren't going to do that by begging him to pay for something, you are going to do that by allowing him to see just how good it is. Ed's articles are good, but not enough - they need to do more. they need to show everyone that FR is a great setting once again (and I am not saying it was ever not a great setting, I am just stating how a lot of folks are seeing things right now).
They need to do something BIG, in a BIG way. The RPG fans are there... I met a bunch of them at Gencon. There are a great crop of gamers just coming into the hobby that know nothing about FR - thats our target audience. Right now Paizo is wowing their socks off. WotC needs to 'out-wow' them. How a billion dollar toy company can't do that up against what amounts basically to a 'garage start-up' is beyond me.
They put up a beautiful 20' tall Lolth statue at Gencon that everyone wanted to see, which was brilliant. Then they made people go through this 'hallway' to get to it, wherein you were shown glimspes of the up-coming video game. WTH did that have to do with FR or D&D? Where is the common sense? Paizo is running an entire floor of games (that people werestanding in line for hours just to play), and people were sneaking past the video-game preview just to look at the Lolth staue... and then walk away. In fact, even one of the guys working the booth couldn't understand why the WotC booth wasn't selling any WotC products. 
Ball, dropped... once again. Lots and lots of great ideas that somehow get run through a meat-grinder of stupidity. You gonna shell-out big-bucks for a 20' Lolth, at least try to sell somebody something, instead of showing them a video game... something that most attendees were NOT there to do. No-one was playing or selling anything at the WotC booth... even the guys working it thought that was odd as hell.
You want to sell 5e and the 'new' Forgotten Realms? Chain Ed Greenwood to a chair in that booth (probably the biggest 'booth' on the floor... more like a huge room) and have him run games and talk to folks for four slid days. tThats solid gold right there. A half-dozen bored looking* employees standing around a big statue with nothing much to do (except talk about a video game at a convention for people who want something MORE) is not going draw crowds... people just take pics with the statue and move on to things more entertaining. Could they possibly make it look less fun? When there is an ENTIRE FLOOR above them filled with Pathfinder players hootin' & hollerin' because they are having the time of their lives?
I've gone quite a bit off-topic, and I apologize. I get kinda worked-up when I see people making mistakes like this. Since the release of 4e what I haven't seen on anyone's part (at WotC) is an ounce of business-savvy, and my mind reels at the opportunities lost. Did anyone (other then me) actually 'work the floor' at the con? Do they even know what that means? Its sad... really. Ed does that naturally... just let him run wild. A ten minute talk with him will have most of those pre-25 year olds buying an FR book, or at least looking forward to one when it comes out.
Its about more then just producing a great product.. its about getting the word out. Right now the only people that folks who love FR are talking to are other people who still love FR. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36797 Posts |
Posted - 30 Mar 2013 : 19:48:01
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quote:
Originally posted by Jeremy Grenemyer
Consider: for most of their existence, the online versions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines have been set up by WotC to allow people to download articles individually from the two magazines (only within the last five months have they started combining each month’s articles into single-issue downloads).
That's not what I want. I want to pay only for articles, and not access anything else. I don't need their character builder, or the online ruleset, or any of that other stuff. But if I want the articles, I've got to pay for it.
Look at the music industry: since music went digital, people can pay for an entire album, if that's what they want. Or they can pay for just a single song, if that's all they want. That's the option I want WotC to give me, with their digital content.
And I'm sorry, you may be loving the online magazines, but from what I saw before they put up the paywall, the online magazines offer less than the online content they used to give us for free, and that's after taking away the print magazines. WotC was offering less, but asking for the same amount. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 31 Mar 2013 : 17:44:39
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I have said this before: If they did a buck-an-article thing, I think they would make far more in the long run, and also convince folks (who are buying many articles a month) to simply sign up for the DDi.
They need to produce MORE articles, split the profits with the writers (50/50), and let US decide what we want to buy, a'la cart. The writers make more, they can truly see what (and who) sells, and it cost them NOTHING (aside from a few minutes of an already-employed webmaster to simply post the articles). There is absolutely NO downside to that, for anyone. Everyone wins. Writers write what they want, Fans buy what they want, and Wizbro just sits back and rakes in the profits with almost no effort on their part.
And if we find ourselves buying more then 9 articles a month (and we probably will), then the DDi membership becomes a no-brainer at that point. Not sure how they'll do the profit-sharing with writers concerning members... maybe the writers will just have to accept that as part of the bargain (unless it proves extremely unfair, like nearly everyone eventually just being DDi members, in which case there should also be a flat-rate attached as well). Or maybe a sliding-scale depending upon the popularity of the writer's articles (which means there should be a 'rate this article' button somewhere after its read).
The only reason I can see them not wanting to do that is if in-house guys feel they won't sell enough articles, but they are employees and therefor should have to write articles outside of the profit-sharing mode (which does indeed mean freelancers could potentially be making more then in-house, but that is as it should be - it should be based upon TALENT, not who you know). |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 31 Mar 2013 17:45:53 |
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Razz
Senior Scribe
USA
749 Posts |
Posted - 31 Mar 2013 : 20:24:52
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| I used to be on the boards until 4E came along. The minute they lumped everyone's complaints, worries, and anger at the the way the new edition was unfolding into one single thread was my last straw. It was a method of deceiving the public that 4E was going to be the greatest edition ever and, if you happen to look on the boards, seeing so much discussion and positive feedback would definitely make you think this. Unless you happened upon the 100+ page thread on all the negative feedback on 4E. But chances of that were thin considering where they placed it. And anyone starting a thread on complaint with 4E were warned or banned and redirected to that one thread. It made anyone angered, with logical reasoning, look like a bunch of fools for clinging to the edition that was, well, actually doing extremely well by collecting them into a dustpan and flung under the carpet. |
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Dark Wizard
Senior Scribe
USA
830 Posts |
Posted - 01 Apr 2013 : 02:14:24
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I'm among those WotC failed to convert in the initial transition, however, going on five years, that's all in the past now. I'm not strongly against 4E (never was, actually wanted to try it at one point, but never found a group interested), and the 4E Realms do not bother me as much as they used to. In fact, I know the DDI Dragon and Dungeon have lots of material for general fans of the Realms.
Why haven't I signed on for DDI? No reason really, there just hasn't been much buzz or hype to make me say to myself "I've got to subscribe to get this or that article."
The transition to 4E came at a weird time for me. I had finished college and worked for a couple of years at that point. My financial situation stabilized greatly. For the first time, I actually had disposable income. In the initial dislike of the direction WotC headed in for 4E, I switched to other companies and products.
For that reason I stuck with Paizo (from print Dragon and Dungeon) and I have most of the Pathfinder stuff, all the hardbacks, setting supplements, Adventure paths, most of the modules, some of the novels.
I even have hardcopies of some OSR material or retro games (C&C, S&W, DCC RPG, ACKS, AGE). Occasionally, I go on used book/ebay binges for 2E and older FR materials. Heck, I'm even grabbing 3E OGL stuff, like most of the Green Ronin historical setting books, and several of the 3rd party settings of the era (Midnight, Dawnforge, Kingdoms of Kalamar, etc.).
I'm not limited to 3E style material either. I at least try to get a hold of any newer or indie style RPG if it strikes my fancy (Fate Core, Dungeon World, 13th Age, Savage Worlds, Marvel Heroic).
Maybe I'm hanging in different circles and those circles are excited about these other games. The drop in products over the last year or two hasn't helped. In 3E, FR and Eberron had a setting supplement every quarter. Between those and the core books, there were at least a few items every year that caught my attention. Aside from the initial setting books, there hasn't been much for me since I don't play 4E, thus less reason for me to play attention to WotC's site, forums or advertising.
Thing is I want to like the D&D strain of RPGs. I tuned in to the livestream announcement of 5E. That was a big enough announcement for me to "sign on" but it was two years away at that point, so my attention just went elsewhere. It also means there's less of a reason to invest in 4E at this point. The coming of 5E means 4E is a "dead" system. I may pick up some of the books in the fire sale of 4E when 5E arrives.
What else stirred the people I follow on social media/blogs? The return of TSR/WotC PDFs on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow. That got people talking for a while, but that died down after a bit. |
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Just curious...
