Wizards of the Coast: how ignoring your audience brings your business down Date: 2008-12-07 06:04:38
The first round of layoffs at WotC isn't really a big surprise to D&D gamers, but you have to love the brilliant bullshit speak Greg Leeds oozes out on this occasion:
Yeah, it's not a good sign when a company gets rid of the people who actually design and make the product. That's not streamlining, it's the end of the road. You can't outsource the very core of your business and companies who do that lose the ability to turn out anything.
Aside from that, the reasons why Wizards of the Coast needs to "streamline" operations are undoubtedly all about the dreaded 4th edition of D&D. While it's predecessor had a complex set of rules and settings, providing a huge fascinating multiverse to explore, 4th edition is little more than a half-assed attempt at bringing bland trading card rules to pen and paper roleplaying. Due to its Open Gaming License, 3rd edition had a rich ecosystem of third-party content and it quickly became the standard RPG system - on the other hand, 4th edition is a locked-down and tightly-copyrighted work that doesn't allow people to contribute unless they are official publishers willing to pay the license fees.
But the absolute worst thing that happened when they designed 4th edition is not even about all of the above. See, the reason why people play D&D is largely because it's a framework for storytelling. Unlike gamers who play WoW, trading cards or miniature tabletop, pen and paper players are in it for the content and not game mechanics. Typically, a pen and paper system is successful only when it enables users to experience cool stories and settings, and 4th edition actually created a system which prevents that from happening.
It's easy to understand where they came from when they made that initial design decision for 4th edition: in order to grow not market share, but to grow the market itself, complexity must be reduced and the amount of effort required by players (and GMs) must be reduced. This is the lesson of World of Warcraft, a game that historically made MMORPGs socially acceptable for the mainstream.
So Wizards set out to make a WoW for pen and paper gaming. However, reducing complexity can quickly cut away the essential experience of a game. Blizzard succeeded because they were able to preserve the essence and the fun of MMO gaming for most players. Wizards did not. 4th edition actually introduced content and rules that are so nonsensical, they effectively disrupt the suspense of disbelief necessary to enjoy a good fantasy story. And that was their audience: players and game masters who wanted to enjoy a good piece of interactive fiction, instead of a glorified board game.
Wizards of the Coast is well positioned to maximize future opportunities, including further brand development on digital platforms. The result of this consolidation is a more streamlined approach to driving core brands.
Yeah, it's not a good sign when a company gets rid of the people who actually design and make the product. That's not streamlining, it's the end of the road. You can't outsource the very core of your business and companies who do that lose the ability to turn out anything.
Aside from that, the reasons why Wizards of the Coast needs to "streamline" operations are undoubtedly all about the dreaded 4th edition of D&D. While it's predecessor had a complex set of rules and settings, providing a huge fascinating multiverse to explore, 4th edition is little more than a half-assed attempt at bringing bland trading card rules to pen and paper roleplaying. Due to its Open Gaming License, 3rd edition had a rich ecosystem of third-party content and it quickly became the standard RPG system - on the other hand, 4th edition is a locked-down and tightly-copyrighted work that doesn't allow people to contribute unless they are official publishers willing to pay the license fees.
But the absolute worst thing that happened when they designed 4th edition is not even about all of the above. See, the reason why people play D&D is largely because it's a framework for storytelling. Unlike gamers who play WoW, trading cards or miniature tabletop, pen and paper players are in it for the content and not game mechanics. Typically, a pen and paper system is successful only when it enables users to experience cool stories and settings, and 4th edition actually created a system which prevents that from happening.
It's easy to understand where they came from when they made that initial design decision for 4th edition: in order to grow not market share, but to grow the market itself, complexity must be reduced and the amount of effort required by players (and GMs) must be reduced. This is the lesson of World of Warcraft, a game that historically made MMORPGs socially acceptable for the mainstream.
So Wizards set out to make a WoW for pen and paper gaming. However, reducing complexity can quickly cut away the essential experience of a game. Blizzard succeeded because they were able to preserve the essence and the fun of MMO gaming for most players. Wizards did not. 4th edition actually introduced content and rules that are so nonsensical, they effectively disrupt the suspense of disbelief necessary to enjoy a good fantasy story. And that was their audience: players and game masters who wanted to enjoy a good piece of interactive fiction, instead of a glorified board game.
Comments
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EMSPV says
(2008-12-09 06:53:23)
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Udo says
(2008-12-13 03:34:45)
Exactly! | |
 Hank |
Hank says
(2008-12-15 15:12:10)
Call it dumbed down, but 4th ed brought quite a lot of new people to the table. Granted, it looks like the core audience is leaving, but still..! It's not quite as bad as you make it out to be. Have you tried it out? |
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Ben says
(2009-04-29 06:20:11)
"4th edition actually introduced content and rules that are so nonsensical, they effectively disrupt the suspense of disbelief..." Can you be more specific? I've been playing since 1987, I've played every edition of D&D. Although I agree with you that some of the flavor of 4th is terrible, like dragonborn for example, The simplified rules make it more accessible for busy people. I have introduced the game which I've loved all my life to casual gamers who love the story element. I feel that a good game master makes the story. The rule set can be modified to taste by simply removing ingredients. The trading card feel and simplified spell and combat system makes it easier on everyone. 4th edition has made my tactical power gamers happy and given my specialist story tellers more depth and options with their characters. It's a good gaming system you should give it a try. | |
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Udo says
(2009-04-29 07:22:05)
- Healing Surges - no more individual skill profiles per character - powers on trading cards - de-emphasis of narrative - de-emphasis of non-combat powers, especially magic - ridiculous, nonsensical grid map mechanics and related special powers - magical class abilities for everyone, just like Pokemon (or possibly WoW) - Destiny Quests and other stupid end-game rules - one-sided alignment system - deleted the entire cosmology and replaced it with generics - NPCs/monsters and characters are now different concepts with different mechanics In short, for a story telling GM or player, 4th edition is like Windows Vista for roleplaying games, only worse. If your priority is on tactics and fighting on grids, there's probably nothing wrong with 4E. I agree that a lot of it depends on the GM. However, a GM would have to make many house rules in order to implement a rich and consistent world like in 3.5 | |
 Simon |
Simon says
(2009-05-01 04:36:39)
Garry would be smirking right about now, as people realize how far D&D has moved from the original, and return back. Long live AD&D First & 2nd Edt. |
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Udo says
(2009-05-01 04:45:50)
Probably ;-) I'm not adverse to change though, 4E is just not something I'd like to use. And that's a shame, because I was kinda looking forward to a new edition. Also, I worry about the content of the new source materials. On the other hand, I practically never used them anyway. Well, with the exception of the Monstrous Manuals, Libris Mortis, the old Planescape stuff, some Forgotten Realms sources... but that's about it ;-) | |
 James |
James says
(2009-05-25 00:04:57)
Good post Udo. I never saw the need for 4th edition. Wizards just needed an excuse to sell more books I guess. They should have branched out into the MMORPG market earlier instead of doing 4th edition. Now between WOW on the computer side, and Warhammer on the tabletop side (both simple games) Wizards is going to be squeezed in the middle. Sad because DnD got a new life when it was bought out by Wizards. TSR ran a horrible business model. I thought Wizards knew what they were doing, I guess not. Gary Gygax is rolling in his grave right now. |
There will be a huge market on ebay for the old D&D 3.5 stuff, and more than one company will gain lots of money by just creating new source books, adventures and other stuff for the old system. WotC will eventually opensource D&D 4, but it will be to late, then. However, yet another company is going to pick up D&D 4 some months after that, anouncing a new D&D edition 4.1, based on D&D 4, but with more D&D 3.5 on it. Eventually the fans will find out that D&D 4.1 is essentially D&D 3.5 with new graphics, new texts and, lets say, 10 new rules. They'll scorn that very company, but buy it anyways, glad that somebody filled that gap. All old source books will be ported to 4.1, and people will go on playing 3.5 for another ten years, but call it 4.1 instead.