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MNBlockHead
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Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Twin Cities Area, MN, USA
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Old April 30th, 2015, 09:23 PM
Some other initial impressions.

USE OF CONTENT-MARKET CONTENT WITHOUT CLOUD SERVICE
It is good that you'll be able to buy content from the content market (CM) without needing a cloud subscription. But what is the reasoning for requiring a cloud subscription to enable integration of that content into your own realm? Is it an artificial constraint to encourage us to subscribe or are there legal or technical reasons for this?

What happens if I buy a bunch of content on the CM as a cloud subscriber and integrate into my realm, then at some point in the future I cancel my cloud subscription? What happens to that integration? I assume the content I bought will still be available in separate realm, but will it no longer appear in the realm I had integrated it with. What happens to any additional content or settings (like reveals) that have been made to the CM content that was integrated...do I loose that, or will it still exist in the now-unintegrated, stand along ream for the that bit of content?

This would greatly decrease the use of content other than adventure modules. For example random-generation tables or NPC lists. How would I use these as a non-cloud subscriber? Especially since there would be no ability to print them. I would need to leave my realm, open a specific realm for that content, and switch back and forth, which is not very fluid in RW. Or I would need more than one laptop behind the GM screen. For this kind of content, I would be inclined to continue to buy PDFs or paper versions, because I could still use the PDFs or print material should I ever need to cancel my cloud subscription.

WEB-BASED PLAYER ACCESS
Very happy to hear that cloud subscribers will be able to offer Web-access to their realms without players needing to buy the player edition. It really increases the value of the subscription for me. I assume it will pretty much be view only, which is fine. I have no issues with players needing to pay for increased functionality, although what that functionality will be is not clear to me.

DUPLICATING REALMS
Great to hear that we'll be able to make copies of Realms without cloud service. I think it is fair to require a cloud subscription to have content in multiple realms be in synch, but I have some questions about that:

1. Is this a technical limitation or an artificial limitation to encourage cloud service?

2. What if I am a subscriber and I *don't* want content edited in one copy to update content in another copy? Can a cloud subscriber have a copied realm behave in the same manner as the non-subscriber? Can I select which topics/articles I want to have updated across realm copies and which I want to be changed only in the one I'm editing? If so, will this be on the topic/article level or on the snippet level?

Overall, I found the FAQs and announcement to be full of good news, but I am a little concerned about the use of CM purchases in my mostly home-brew realm if RW will rip it all out should I ever stop my subscription.

Last edited by MNBlockHead; April 30th, 2015 at 09:29 PM. Reason: minor grammatical and formatting edits
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Parody
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Old April 30th, 2015, 10:22 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MNBlockHead View Post
Is it an artificial constraint to encourage us to subscribe or are there legal or technical reasons for this?
How artificial is artificial? They designed it so that some operations are only done on the server. Anything they do on the server "could be" done locally. It'd take some amount of rework since they didn't plan on doing it locally, but it "could be" done.

In this case, it appears that only the server is allowed to link content to other content. Without the server being involved, you can only make duplicates.

My predictions on other answers:

Quote:
Originally Posted by MNBlockHead View Post
What happens if I buy a bunch of content on the CM as a cloud subscriber and integrate into my realm, then at some point in the future I cancel my cloud subscription?
The content is still integrated in your realm, but is no longer updated from its source. Links will be maintained for items as long as you don't change them, so if you get cloud service again then it would resume updating.

Quote:
Originally Posted by MNBlockHead View Post
Is {realm duplication} a technical limitation or an artificial limitation to encourage cloud service?
Again, how artificial is artificial?

Quote:
Originally Posted by MNBlockHead View Post
What if I am a subscriber and I *don't* want content edited in one copy to update content in another copy?
It seems likely that they'd give you the choice, but you could always make a minor edit to a Topic/Article/etc. and force Realm Works to separate it from its parent.

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MaxSupernova
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Old May 1st, 2015, 05:43 AM
"There will be a free level of web-based player access. This solution is built for players that just want to see the material they’ll need for a particular game session and maybe a few extra pieces of information.

Players who purchase the Player Edition will have a great many more capabilities at their disposal through web-based access. This version is built for players that want to see all of the content revealed from their GMs. "


I'd really like to hear more details about what will be available to the free web view. According to this, it's not going to be a web version of the revealed data. This does not make me happy. At all.

Last edited by MaxSupernova; May 1st, 2015 at 05:47 AM.
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MNBlockHead
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Old May 1st, 2015, 07:00 AM
Parody, I'm not sure how artificial is artificial. Poor word choice on my point. Just curious as to whether the decision was primarily to encourage subscriptions or if there are significant technical, legal, or cost involved in allowing purchased content to be part of your realm if you are only using it locally and are not a cloud subscriber.

Overall RW's explanations and announcement were all good news and should ease many of the concerns folks have expressed in the past. But I am a little concerned about the contraints placed on content bought from the CM market for non-subscribers. These constraints would make a lot of sense if the subscription gave you access to all content for use while you are a subscriber, but much less if you have to pay additionally for the content and if that cost is similar to what you would pay for the PDF or print versions of that content.

The model as outlined makes a lot of sense for folks that want to buy pre-created campaigns and adventure modules. You would save a lot of time entering content from paper/PDF can use it again and again with different parties. Cool stuff.

But it is much less useful for world builders who want to selectively add content to their worlds. For example, if a bestiary is made available for purchase from a content market, or a collection of side adventures, a fully fleshed out village or town, or an NPC collection. These are the things that must interest me. I like to create my own adventures, but it would be helpful to have sources of NPCs, creatures, villages to help in that process. It would be a time saver. But as soon as I stop subscribing—what happens?

Assuming your guess of how they would handle this is correct, ("The content is still integrated in your realm, but is no longer updated from its source. Links will be maintained for items as long as you don't change them, so if you get cloud service again then it would resume updating."), I would be happy with that.

I would assume that I wouldn't be able to print purchased content if printing would ever be added as a function. I'm okay with that as well. I just want to make sure that if I use a village purchased in my mostly homebrew world, that I would still have it in my realm if I am no longer a subscriber—understanding that I would no longer get updates on that village from the CM and would not be able to integrate the pristine version of the village in another realm.
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Acenoid
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Old May 1st, 2015, 07:01 PM
Hi!

Also from my side, Thanks for the update Liz. From my side, well I somehow hoped to get the copy / paste / integrate feature for "my own local" content as well. But - as I wrote in my hastily created other thread - the reply was out there already. Well, still have to chew a bit on that one.

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MNBlockHead
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Old May 1st, 2015, 09:01 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxSupernova View Post
I'd really like to hear more details about what will be available to the free web view. According to this, it's not going to be a web version of the revealed data. This does not make me happy. At all.
I wonder how they would do this. They could limit access to a single view and not allow the world almanac view to be shared. One could still put all of their world view content into a single view, though, so maybe they would have a volume limitation of some sort.

I'm not sure how info for a single session is all the useful, unless it is updating changes live.

I was hoping that it could be used as assisted memory, since my group meets for marathon sessions once per month. I don't know what "material they need for a particular session" means. Right now, may players can only see what I reveal to them and they are only going to see that after the session. It is not like I have a bunch of handouts or anything that I would need to provided by web for the game.

I guess I didn't read the FAQ carefully. Now I am confused again. Will have to wait and see once it is released.
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rob
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Old May 2nd, 2015, 03:49 PM
I have answered various questions from this thread and elsewhere in a new thread. Please take a look...
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