DDXP is this week, the first major gaming convention of the year in terms of Dungeon and Dragons. The past few years, DDXP has been the first time the public gets to see what WotC has planned for release over the next 12 months. The next big campaign settings are announced, new books, tools, and general initiatives are teased, and of course for those lucky enough to attend there’s plenty of gaming to be had.
But with the way that both WotC is moving and society as a whole, I’m willing to wager something big is going to be announced at DDXP this year, something that’s going to anger even more grognards then any previous edition war on record. WotC is going to shift the focus of DnD from a tabletop game that can be played online, to an online game that, if you so wish, can be played offline.
In other words, I think one of the fears from the “4E plays like WoW” camp is actually going to come true, and I think that’s not going to be as bad as people think it is.
First, some of the facts that I’m building this theory of mine on. After a few years of only having the character builder and the monster builder available, this winter has seen the WotC Virtual Table enter a closed beta. The monster builder was actually a portion of a larger suite called the Adventure Tools, but of the five possible future items slated for release, the monster builder was the only one offered.
Second, while the first major iterations of the software was client side, meaning it required a download and ran off a user’s computer, the Virtual Table and the second major revision of the *-builder tools are or will be online web apps. They run remotely on WotC’s servers, and can (in theory) share data amongst one another.
Third, not only do the tools to enable online play, including but not limited to virtual table software, VoIP (Voice over IP, services like Skype that allow voice chat through the computer), dice rollers, and character managers (iPlay4E, add-ons to virtual tables) exist, but so does the bandwidth and devices, such as broadband, high speed wireless networks, and powerful mobile computing electronics, on which to use these tools.
Fourth, WotC has already announced that they will be pulling back on some of the real life paper books they were planning on releasing this year, as well as finally retiring the painted mini line.
These are the facts on which I make the following predictions, which can be summed up as this: The focus of Wizard of the Coast’s energy will shift from the analog tabletop roleplaying setting to the virtual tools, and will not shift back in the foreseeable future. Analog DnD will not stop being a concern of WotC, rather, it will simply not see as much of the company’s time and resources, and thus product releases, as the Digital Offerings.
What does ‘a shift to Virtual DnD’ mean in more detail? Three things:
- Fewer books are coming down the pipeline because in the Compendium, WotC has a perfect digital solution, and will soon no longer need to print any books at all. If you pay x dollars per cycle, you get access to all books. More importantly, all books with up to date rules, changes, erratas, and fixes. In the virtual world of digitial roleplaying, opening a browser tab and running a search is often easier then finding the right book, then finding the right page when you’re looking up a rule or a power. In the analog world, laptops may not provide enough battery life and be rather clunky at the table, but smart phones and tablet computers are almost, if not already, at a saturation point with consumers to be common enough to assume everyone has. And programs like Sylloge already provide this streamlined process at accessing the Compendium.
This year I believe WotC is going to test the waters at more digital only content offerings, to make a DDI subscription more appearing but also, I think, for a long term play at removing the costly overhead of physical book printing entirely. WotC got spooked by their content in PDF format in the past because they couldn’t control it. The restricting of Masterplan’s Compendium access was only because one could obtain the data without having a DDI account.
- Once the Virtual Table (VT) is up and running, as well as the Character Builder (CB) and Monster Builder (MB), expect a huge push to get people to play online using these tools. Encounters type seasons that are first available online. Contests to play various one shots with big names in WotC R&D and/or Celebs in the geek world. At first, these digital tools will have the same support as the analog games. But creating map tiles for the virtual table is a lot cheaper and has a quicker turn around time then creating them for real life. At some point I believe there will be a virtual table only set of dungeon tiles, and this will mark the beginning of the shift to WotC’s digital realm. We’re already seeing it in some form, creating tokens for the virtual table costs almost nothing, if using the existing images for the Monster Manuals, when compared to creating meatspace minis to be used on a table.
Thanks in part to society’s adoption of WoW and services like Xbox live, there is less stigma attached to people sitting down at a monitor or television, getting on voice chat, and playing some sort of game online. With WoW, the Modern Warfare series, and other types of games, these online games have been constrained by the developer. What people will discover, and what WotC’s marketing stratigy would be smart to leverage, is that D&D is just like that, except it’s what ever you want it to be. One proposed tagline, “Wow, those other games only allow you to explore one world? D&D lets you explore as many as you can come up with”, or something along those lines.
- All this will eventually come at the expense of real world offerings. I’m not saying that table top gaming will be killed by the head mages at WotC. I don’t think that’s ever going away, I mean, if people still enjoy RIFTS and play that, then anything is possible in table top land. But more and more we live in a digital world. We’ve seen with music and movies that old monoliths of an industry can be cut down by technology that didn’t exist 10 years ago and systems willing to use that technology. Blockbuster/Netflix, record stores/iTunes, 4e Corebooks/VT. Better to create the technology that will kill your old system then let some other guy do it for you.
Take, for example, player fortune cards coming out soon. Over the course of the year they might release one set of physical cards for table top play. Over the course of the same year they could release those cards for use on the VT, as well as release 3 other booster sets as well. The collectability lost through virtual usage is replaced by a ‘create deck’ button that pulls 8 commons, 2 uncommons, and 1 rare for all released sets, and that is the set you can use for a given session. I mentioned earlier with dungeon tiles, one set released for table top, while other sets for the VT.
Table top won’t die, it will just become second fiddle to the digital options.
These are all theories of mine, conjecture based on what I see of the hobby as it is now and what I see of the technology out there and our willingness to use it. I think this change, while heresy to a lot of gamers, can cause the role playing hobby to grow. But I’m curious as what you guys think, both of your theories for what’s coming out of DDXP and of the digital future of the hobby.
I think you’re probably on the right track, at least. I’m not sure I want to go so far as to say that the analog product will become secondary, but at least that it will no longer have priority over the digital work. Personally, I’m fine with this. My available gamer base due to physical location is pretty small (but cool when I can actually GET there – props to Jeff Greiner’s guys!) so I like having the wider online “net” (pun intended) with which to find folks to play with. Also, I don’t have the physical space and acoutrement with which to do all the tricks (sounds, tokens/minis, maps, notes, etc) I like but the virtual space of something like the DDVT or MapTools is functionally limitless.
I mostle agree with you and this is the future I really like.
love the vt, ive gotten to play more dnd the past couple of months than i did all year
I’ll be sad if face-to-face tabletop gaming becomes secondary to online play. My regular game has been online for a few years now using maptool+ventrilo, and while it works, it definitely isn’t as much fun as getting together in-person for a game.
There have been numerous issues with WotC’s digital D&D attempts, so I’m not sure if I really want them to be focused on online play tools. Progams like maptool, ventrilo, skype, etc already exist and offer a pretty good virtual tabletop. I think I’d prefer to have WotC focused on the game itself rather than on tools for online play.
Virtual gaming is really good for some, many even, but nothing compares to the social fun of sitting down at the same table with snacks and personal interaction.
I agree with those who say virtual gaming isn’t as fun as analog. At least when it comes to a game like D&D. Honestly, I like online games (I played Neverwinter Nights online for years) but that’s because they’re video games. Neverwinter Nights, as much as it wanted to be a D&D-like experience on the computer, it wasn’t, and that was alright.
I’m sure at some point I’ll rejoin DDi and give the virtual table a shot, but I’m all but certain that I won’t allow it to replace my table top experience. I think WotC has to find a balance between the screen and the table and satisfy both groups. I just can’t see a majority of people saying “I’d rather play D&D with 2D tokens on Dungeon Tile representations on my computer than WoW.”
Had the VT been like the originally planned one, with 3D graphics, and maybe some animations thrown in, I could see it competing head-to-head with the plethora of MMOs on the market. However, the 2D graphics are only going to really appeal to the current crop of D&D players who want more gaming time. That market will only last so long before it dries up and everyone is playing some 3D Facebook RPG.
This is a trying time for D&D. I’m hoping that WotC has a solid plan in place. I’m very curious to see what they say this week at D&D Experience. I’m still cautiously confident that they won’t be completely scrapping the dead tree model, while introducing another tool (DDi Suite) that adds to the table top game, rather than replaces it.
@gnome A lot of those tools exist, and I use them already to a certain degree. But VT/CB/MB takes them all into one intergrated experience. (The voice in VT tops Skype in my opinion). I love maptools, but even I will admit that it can be finicky at the best of the time, even in the beta state the VT has less features but it just works.
@alio One of my current weekly D&D groups was actually from my City of Heroes (A superhero MMO) guilds, called supergroups there. We went from a 3d world to playing with 2d tokens on dungeon tile representations. It’s just one data point, but it does happen.
So I have to admit, I have used none of the online tools to play D&D. So, other than the occasional use of Skype to bring in remote players, have not experienced Virtual Tabletop in the like. For the folks here that have, how do you you think third party publishers of modules would be affected? Would the DM be required to re-create the stat-blocks and maps that they obtain via downloaded PDF files using some WotC tool?
@psychopez Sure, I can see that. My question would be, however, how many of you already played table top D&D in the past to have had exposure to it?
I think the key is, if WotC starts targeting kids who have never had the experience of sitting at a table, rolling dice and creating stories, they’re not going to be able to capture those people. Those kids will play games like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, or WoW and think “what do you mean your game is two-dimensional?”
How do they capture those impressionable minds is the question. I think they still have to support at least some analog presence.
That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Essentials product line is that analog presence. Or at least the model by which 5E will run from the start. A few select books that are necessary for every player, enriched by online content. I can see that being the future. I just can’t see the game going 100% digital. Not without more modern content; the very least being the originally demonstrated 3D graphics.
@ThichSkull It depends. WotC has a closed system set up with their digital tools, so they’d need some API for third party devs to create things for the official VT. Some sort of app store-like interface with VT that people could put up and buy seperate from their DDI sub, or hope WotC will buy said modules (Similar to Dungeon magazine articles) and include them in the VT menu options. On the other hand, that way provides some revenue, as with the free virtual tables I’d be hard pressed to find some way to sell modules without any form of piracy rendering them effectively open source.
The working theory is that things created in the new online based monster builder will be able to exported to the VT with a click of an export button.
@alio Myself and 3 others played table top before, 2 never played table top. Now, to be fair, this was a rp supergroup, and while everyone enjoyed the visuals associated with a 3D world, everyone felt limited with only being able to do what constraints were in the 3D world.
The switch to 2D has actually allowed them more freedom. In the 3D world, we’d have to pose some action because it was outside the bounds of hte game engine. In a virtual table top, there are no bounds, just a mechanism for resolving conflict by dice and a human judge. Then again, I’m not playing with kids, but with 20+ year old adults who crave story telling as well as action mechanics.