Hi. My name is Ken Troop. I work at Wizards of the Coast. Specifically, I am the executive producer for D&D Insider.
What does that mean?
It means I ultimately have the responsibility of leading and coordinating the various efforts of a lot of people here at Wizards who are getting D&D Insider off the ground and eventually into the hands of you, the D&D players who are eager to try D&D Insider. (If you're not interested in D&D Insider, then this message probably isn't for you).
In this first post on the boards in my official capacity, I want to address a few things, in the hopes of both giving all of you more information as well as being the start of what I hope and expect to be a fruitful dialogue between the D&D Insider team and the community.
First, a few ground rules --
1) Flaming -- I don't mind being flamed. I don't mind people venting their anger. I've been on the other side of the fence many times. I know what it feels like to be a player, a fan, a devotee of a game and occasionally think, "those numbskulls...they have no idea what they're doing...arrgh!" I know what it feels like to care passionately and to wonder how, if Person-In-Charge had any clue, could they make such a wrong decision on Issue Y. (Note I don't speak for our moderators or our moderation policy. I'm only saying for me, personally, I understand that flaming happens)
2) Constructive Feedback -- That said, while I can understand expressions of anger and frustration, it doesn't mean it's going to lead to better results for D&D Insider. What will most help D&D Insider evolve the fastest into its ultimate awesome state is constructive feedback. Of the content that is up there, what's working well and what's not? Of the content/features that you know we have planned, what do you like and what don't you? Remember that positive feedback is just as important as negative...most of the people who like something don't bother to tell us...until we decide that "oh, random feature Z must not be that important, because we don't hear about it, so we can cut/change/'improve' it."
3) The Contract -- I look at D&D Insider and whether people should like it or not, believe in it or not, pay for it or not, very simply...at a certain point we will decide D&D Insider is ready. Or enough elements of it are ready that we think have enough value to players to charge them for it. At that point, players will decide if, indeed, those elements do have value. They will then pay for it. Or they won't. It's a fairly simple calculation.
As above in ground rule #1, I don't mind being flamed. Or D&D Insider being flamed. And if D&D Insider isn't for you, for whatever reason, I respect that. I wish you luck in whatever you find that is for you. Truly. But, if what you truly want to say is, "Ken, D&D Insider should be for me. I want it to be for me. But it isn't because of X, Y, and/or Z..." then say that. Because that's a conversation I want to have.
4) The Truth -- I like being straight and honest in my communications to an audience. Not only do I like it, it's good business practice -- having nothing you say be respected or trusted is not good business practice. I also love explaining details...writing long, copious messages that go into great detail about why we did what we did. That said, there will be times, perhaps plenty of times, when I can't go into that detail. Where I can't explain all the reasons why we're doing what we're doing. And not because we're engaged in anything nefarious or diabolical, but simply because those are the realities of working inside a large corporate structure.
So I'm not asking you to give me a free pass...but I want to be upfront that there will be times that we will do things that, on the surface, make less sense than they would if I were able to explain everything...and I will not be able to explain everything. C'est la vie. (There will also be times in which we just made a bad decision...in this, alas, we are not immune to being, like the rest of you, human)
5) Responses. Pretty much everything that gets posted gets read around here...whether by me, another producer, community, R&D, Brand, etc...we have a lot of people who are very interested in what you have to say. That said, we usually don't have time to respond to most of the posts we see. At times we'll be very present on the boards, at other times, less so. Again, this is not to get you to accept it, but just to be clear that is reality, and that reality is not likely to change.
Hmm, those ground rules seemed very simple inside my head...already a lot of text here. I'll post another message right below.
Sorry for the long context above, but context is important to me. The more shared premises that exist between two people, the more likely productive conversation will follow. And that productive conversation is why we're here.
I want to start by trying to summarize what I see as the largest questions/concerns on the forums over the last two days and my perspective on them. I'm not going to cover every issue, and these are also paraphrases, not actual quotations (I think) --
1) "How could Wizards not have D&D Insider ready for the launch of 4th edition?"
From the very beginning of this project our goal had been to launch the full suite of D&D Insider tools and applications with the launch of 4th edition. How could we want to do anything else?
But to mangle a quote from the Princess Bride -- "Software Development is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something." And for those of you who want to tell me how your company does software at perfect quality and on perfect schedule and budget -- thank you for sharing. I'm truly glad it is so easy for you. It makes me happy to know those stories exist.
This is one of those times where I won't go into all the details. See G.R. #4 (the Ground Rules in the above post). And G.R. #3 is even more relevant...at a date sometime in the future we're going to decide D&D Insider is ready and that we can charge for it. That's our decision. After our decision is made, then it becomes your decision. Are you going to pay for it? Of course I want and hope for that answer to be yes, and we're all working very hard here to make sure that answer is yes. But it is still a simple set comprised of two decisions...and if we can make that transaction of decisions as painless and drama-free as possible, I think we'll both be happier for it.
My second answer to that is, "Yes, even though we did, we could have done a better job overall."
Part of that is all of us have had our heads down in the trenches over the last few months trying to get as much of D&D Insider as possible ready to use and deploy for launch, or failing that, as soon as possible thereafter. With such tunnel vision, it can be difficult to remember to put down the code and the content and talk with your audience.
But regardless, we didn't do a very good job here of keeping up good lines of communication with the community. We're trying to get better at it. We'll appreciate hearing when we do better, and when we still miss the mark.
3) "I'm very sad that Game Table/[insert your favorite app here] isn't ready today."
We are, too. Very much so. In the meantime, 4th edition D&D is a wonderful game, and able to enjoyed on its own merits...just like D&D has always been.
And we'll be offering more info over the next several weeks on the applications and where they're at...for example, check out this thread where Wotc_DM gives a sneak peek at a screenshot for the Character Visualizer http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1041844 (Wotc_DM is the producer in charge of developing the various applications, reporting to me, and his posts are usually full of great detail about the current state of the applications).
4) "When will everything be ready?"
A very important question. Also one of the hardest to answer.
The baseline here, and please understand it's not a flippant response -- Everything will be ready when we decide it's ready. Software development planning is still an inexact process...far more so when you deal with such a subjective experience as entertainment software...all the budgets and schedules and process in the world can't guarantee a given experience is "fun." So we're not going to release this until we decide it's ready to release.
I could give you a tentative set of dates, but those dates are likely to change. In fact, it's generally accepted practice in this industry not to mention dates at all.
The very next focused goal for us is to get the Compendium, in its first iteration, up and running as soon as possible. Expect a more formal note from me about the Compendium posted onto the website soon. The first iteration may go live in a couple of weeks, it may be longer than that.
As for the rest of the applications (Game Table, Character Builder, Character Creator), I'd say a safe bet is at least a few months from now, probably longer. Either way, we're very likely going to be rolling out one application at a time, to ensure as smooth and quality a launch as possible. Also take it as a given that each application will get roughly a "month-window" to launch in, meaning there would be at least a month in-between launches.
I'm giving you this context because I understand how frustrating it is to have no information. But ultimately, if you go back to the line of, "We'll launch them when they're ready", then you have your best and most succinct understanding of the situation.
5) "Dragon and Dungeon articles look great."
Thank you, we agree. Chris Youngs and his team have done a fantastic job getting the magazines ready...we're glad you liked what you saw on Friday, and expect a lot more of it over the weeks and months to come. And also continue with your specific feedback...I saw the response asking about improving the readability -- keep those comments, both good and bad, coming.
If you haven't already seen one of the articles, go here for the link to a great Dragon article by Chris Sims about the Warforged --
At this point, I'll wrap up for now. I'm excited about 4th edition. I'm excited about the re-launch of Dragon and Dungeon magazines and the soon-to-be launch of the Compendium. I'm excited about the eventual launch of D&D Insider. As I said at the very beginning of this, I wrote all this to both give everyone some more information, as well as kick off the first of what I hope will be many, many productive conversations about the shape and nature of what D&D Insider can and should be.
I may not be able to post responses to this thread next week, but please know I, and others here, will read every response.
I'm going to say this now: Duck. This will probably become a mini-war field within minutes.:D
But thanks for this. Although it's frustrating to know that we probably won't have everything till at least late summer, probably early or even mid-autumn, it is at least nice to know you guys are definitely acknowledging this fact.
But thanks for this. Although it's frustrating to know that we probably won't have everything till at least late summer, probably early or even mid-autumn, it is at least nice to know you guys are definitely acknowledging this fact.
You're still going to want to duck though.
Agreed, thanks for taking the time to post here and let us in on what is going on with the DnDi. Hopefully you will get more constructive comments than just negative ones. I for one am happy that someone is willing to face the firing squad.
Welcome to the arena, Ken. I advise a broadsword and heavy shield, along with at LEAST three healing potions.
Now, I understand that you want to have everything 'perfect' before launch, but can I make some advice?
Release it alpha. Build a feedback and bug reporting system. Use your fanbase to correct glitches AS you add features. Make the software show a splashscreen for 10 seconds saying "THIS IS BETA!".
And then use that to improve and upgrade it all.
Now, I know that your servers are going to have to be up to do this, and those cost money. Of course, you can't charge for beta, since it's not a finished product. That costs money.
So beta the tools that will work WITHOUT the net connection to the servers.
honestly. This is D&D. It's been a work-in-progress since the 70's.
And which is better? So offer the beta to appease those coming in and asking 'where do I get the software?', or to just tell them that it does not exist yet, no matter what they were told.
Either way, it's possibly not even your decision, but the actions now are not building a lot of consumer trust. We really want D&DI to work, and many of us are willing to put forward effort to make sure it does. We just want that effort to actually HELP.
I would like to thank Ken for some very informative and well communicated posts. That said and in light of Ken's request for constructive feedback I would like to post my number one concern regarding D&D Insider.
I am concerned that the pricing policy for D&D Insider will leave me and many other potential users frustrated and alienated. There is great merit to the concept of full access for a fixed monthly price but I fear that WotC will chose to flood the users with add-on components at high prices. While I understand the liberal approach that everyone should be required to pay for only what he or she is going to use the case regarding online subscription based content is somewhat special. Basically what ensures that I will never purchase extra options for my subscription is that those investments are bound in the sense that they become useless if I at some point chose to end my subscription. This is very much unlike the case of D&D expansion books that will serve me very well without a monthly fee.
Holding this in mind there are two concepts that would not alienate me as a subscriber:
1) Have a flat monthly fee that gives access to all content. This is not an outrageous request. Many online services regularly provide their loyal customers with new content that is included in the subscription fee.
2) Let access to D&D Insider be gained through a larger one time fee with the option of purchasing expansions for one time fees as well. This option would ensure that you are not b inding yourself to a monthly expense in order not to have lost your investments.
Cynically I understand the idea behind making subscribers feel that they are "bound" since they have invested money that they do not want to lose but to me it is a very shady business model and one that will make me feel very alienated and saddened. I suppose my hope is that you and the rest of WotC wish to earn money through the loyalty of fans rather than through customers who in the end will feel used.
Thanks for listening. I hope for a reply but understand if time does not allow such.
Well, too bad that the apps, especially the game table, won't be out for a few months. In a few months I'll be very busy. I don't have a group of friends to play with in my area, and am not interested in getting a group together, because that would most likely mean I'd be DMing. I was looking forward to being able to play online with friends from the internet and those I've moved away from.
My schedule is light this time of year. In a few months, it won't be. If I had started playing now, I would likely make sure I set aside time when my schedule got busy to continue. But because I can't start now, I can't really set aside time for some undetermined future date. So when my schedule gets busy, if I'm not already playing, it'll be very difficult to start.
I planned on buying the books when the online component was up. The delay may have cost you a customer.
I have been one of DDI's biggest critics-I thought the silence regarding the DM table (the thing I really need) was deafening. These posts, on the other hand, actually give (hoped for) milestones, what comes first, etc. I'm glad to see it. I hope you have good luck in the glitch-stomping department over the next few months. My only advice/need is that it be user-friendly, since counter-intuitive software is beyond my ken.
Ken, thank you for the post and possible time line. Precision timelines in any corporate structure are hard to project, even worse with software and delays, as you said, are not only possible but pretty much expected across the industry. These delays, you really have little if any control over, but communication, that you have pretty much full control over. It is nice to see the communication starting to become two-sided. It is also nice to see that input from the community is not only read but wanted.
My concern for the suite of tools your team is creating is the customizability for those that run more detailed or slightly differing game worlds. Allowing input into the downloaded tools of custom designed items, feats, skills, etc. If you could share your team's vision on that aspect, I would appreciate it. As a GM, if a tool won't allow that, I have to continue to use other tools that will.
Good luck and I hope your skin is thick. There will be a lot of frustration and anger thrust your way.
