Virtual Play and the D&D Next Playtest
Okay, here’s the deal. Virtual play (via Skype and Google Hangout) have, in the last year, become essential to how I play RPGs. From Kobolds Ate My Baby to Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple, I’ve had a universally stellar experience rolling dice with my friends, unchained by geographic location.
Man, I get to game with people all over the world thanks to virtual play. I have the opportunity to play games I’ve never (and would never) play thanks to an effective virtual tabletop. Heck, we even use Google Hangouts to play with our local Pathfinder group on weeknights when life and work make it impractical to travel to each other’s houses for a few hours rolling dice.
And I know I’m not alone. I’ve got a whole group of people who play with me and this is the only way many of them game.
Which gets me to my point: It’s straight up foolish for WotC to NOT allow virtual play for the D&D Next open playtest.
For starters, it’s alienating a chunk of the gaming public. If you’re out to get opinions, you shouldn’t stifle the ability of some to actually play. Quashing their opportunity by making virtual play against the rules means they can’t actually PLAYtest. All they can do is read the playtest documents and bitch about save or die mechanics. You want to use the playtest to gather data on how the game is played? Let us game via Google Hangout.
Second, with more and more people doing some virtual gaming, the next version of D&D needs to be virtual-friendly. Playing with friends and family around the world is awesome and I was so stoked to get to play D&D Next with my friends across the US and Canada. These are my favorite players – people I trust to help me bend the system and explore the nooks and crannies of the playtest with the hope that D&D Next would be the ideal fantasy RPG for our virtual table.
Buuuut, I can’t. Because we aren’t allowed to play on a Google Hangout.
This effectively limits the data that WotC can collect about the game. I understand that there are very specific “rails” for this playtest. WotC has set up the controls for this experiment to collect specific information about the characters, bad guys, rules, etc. But I can’t help but feel stifled by the restrictions.
Finally, having a D&D that plays well on a virtual table will bolster sales.
First, they can hammer out kinks in the system that may quash virtual play. Even if those kinks aren’t in the rules as written, they can be presented as sidebars and tips for ease of play behind a computer screen. It’s worth investigating and making part of the game.
Second, by openly playtesting the game for a virtual setup, WotC encourages people to play using tools like Skype and Google Hangouts, giving gamers without a local group the opportunity to roll dice and buy books. Creating a game for the virtual table widens the market.
Before the new NDA prevented us from playing D&D Next via Google Hangout, we were going to give the system a go this week with our virtual group. But, now, looks like we’ll just be playing Pathfinder instead. So, WotC, if you’d like my opinions (and my dollars), you should probably take some time to consider how important virtual play is to your customers. And your bottom line.
Unnecessary regressiveness on WotC’s part (speaking as someone usually open to coming to WotC’s defense).
My common mantra when people rage about the edition wars is that no-one lost – there’s a D&D flavor now for everyone that wants to play it and active communities of people interested in them.
The natural next extension of that is that no no-one should complain much about not being able to find fellow like-minds now that the technology is finally free and easy. No rejection of face-to-face here, but the toolbox is getting bigger all the time.
This is part of the future of gaming (podcasts!). Embrace or get labeled as regressive.
WOTC has become extremely technophobic ever since pulling PDFs. It seems almost as if they fear their products having any digital contact not completely behind their lock and key will cause them to lose money (that they were not making in the first place anyway). The very first D&D Next Playtest I saw was over an IRC chatroom. The FAQ is probably legally necessary for them in some way – but it is futile and makes them look out-of-touch.
I think that has less to do with WotC and more to do with Hasbro. At least I hope it does.
The irony is that the agreement you have to tick and confirm you have read before receiving the playtest download link is an Online Playtest Agreement. It explicitly permits you to playtest online. In fact, there’s nothing in the agreement which says you are allowed to play __offline__!
As this is a legal document and the FAQ isn’t, I would say that it takes precedence. If you want to playtest the game online, go ahead. the agreement you “signed” says it’s ok.
Here’s a link to the agreement, if you want to check: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_BXqzLd_KP-SUxZbXhFMGJQOUk/edit
I’ve seen this going around on G+ and Twitter, and I can’t say whether or not this is true.
But what I can say is that a lot of people who would be great to have in the playtest want to play online, but want to work for WotC in the future and don’t want to jeopardize a business relationship over a rule like this.
Unlikely? Sure. Hard to enforce? Definitely. But there are people who don’t want to take chances with it, and it’s really unfortunate for them.
I think, greywulf, that you and I approach the world very differently. I am well aware that the G+/Skype/etc ban is in the FAQ, not the actual agreement. I read them both.
However, since they’re the FAQ for the playtest AND WotC employees have confirmed that it is “against the rules,” I’m going to honor that. I don’t agree, but I’m not comfortable trashing explicit instructions or absolving myself of guilt through technicalities.
greywulf is Lawful Good: he only follows good laws.
I have the exact same complaint and technically, they could probably prosecute (however unlikely) for virtual tabletop gaming. Specifically, you may not transmit the materials in whole or in part, which seems difficult not to do since mechanics will be discussed during play as part of virtual tabletop gaming. They could also get you on not using the materials to “benefit” a third party. That seems more likely considering the specific wording in the FAQ.
However, my problem lies in the practical. ANYONE can sign up for the playtest and get the materials. That means everyone can access the materials at any time as long as they sign the agreement, so why can’t you all sign it and then play? More importantly, even if someone at a third party somehow “rips them off”, it wouldn’t matter because any derivative or duplicated product would violate copyright law. I’m sure an attorney put in this language for specific reasons, but is that reason good enough to alienate a huge proportion of potential fans? My ultimate question is are they setting a precedent for not playing via virtual tabletop ever? The same thing could happen at any time in the future after all with Skype “benefiting” from people playing the product they bought (and for which WotC offers no substitute) over that service. I’m talking about a mindset precedent not legal precedent as I’m not sure the copyright stuff would be an issue and you wouldn’t sign an agreement to not use the stuff to “benefit” a third party when you buy the book.
Ultimately, I think it’s just myopic and pointless to impose this restriction.
I am mixed because I really want to play with some people instead of having to wait for my group in over a week. I can also see the paranoia from WotC.
I am very hampered by this as I have no one locally to play with at this time. I have been wanting to try virtual tabletop gaming, and the friends I gathered were hoping to try D&D Next, but because we can’t, looks like we will play Pathfinder instead. Way to go WotC, you’ve made Paizo’s lead over you in rpgs even bigger.
I really think this is Hasbro’s lawyers – they have never understood RPGs, and, I suspect, never will. The fact that they explicitly forbid quoting from a playtest document shows that they have no idea how a playtest is supposed to work. Um, if we find they way a rule is written doesn’t sound right, we can’t point it out by quoting the rule?
Out of curiosity, has WotC/Hasbro given any official explanation for this policy? I agree that, from what I can see, it seems a little silly and myopic, but maybe they have some specific reason for it?
We have a lot of folks in the Roll20 beta that are upset about this too (myself included). I think it’s probably just the lawyers getting too overbearing, but that’s no excuse: quit worrying so much about people playing the game in ways you aren’t directly monetizing and just try to get more people to play D&D in general, and you’ll win out in the long run. It’s always amazing how short-sighted they can be…
Huzzah! WotC has changed their policy! Way to go outspoken members of the community.
Official retcon allowing Skype, Google Hangout, etc. games here:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4news/dndnextfaq
Virtual Tabletop is still not allowed, but this is at least a huge help.
I’m dancing in my office! Can’t wait to get to play with Lyndsay!