How long, Really?

[Zaphod Beebledoc]

Originally Posted by Acenoid

Btw while you wait, I found this :
http://jhollands.co.uk/spaceplan/


GL!

Hobbits would love that!

[wurzel]

Originally Posted by Zaphod Beebledoc

Hobbits would love that!

And potatoes. At least the end

[woobyluv]

Just adding my $0.02 here...

I understand fully that this is a complex piece of software you are developing here, but people have a limited attention span for anything anymore. We were told 1st quarter '16 would see the release of the content market. It is now mid August. Personally, I expect delays to pop up. Murphy's Law and all. I have been waiting patiently for the Pathfinder module to buy because I find that I just don't have the time to do ALL the data entry for my campaigns. I do have time to modify an existing module, however.

Having said that, my patience is wearing thin. I understand all that you have said on the matter. I know it is coming. I understand the obstacles you face in such a behemoth undertaking, but my patience wears thin. I still have faith you can get it done though. I wish for you all great health and godspeed. You will need it to succeed here.

[Joe]

Originally Posted by kbs666

As someone who has done this on a smaller scale than a Paizo AP I can agree with that whole heartedly. Are you going to make that tool available to 3rd parties?

Originally Posted by Grey Mage

I would happily +1000 having that tool available either as a part of RW or just as a tool that can be downloaded.

Originally Posted by JustinThomason

Agreed on the desire to see the import tool released in some format to the wider community. It would really be a boon for folks who use a lot of published content.

I feel as though my description of what's going on can be misunderstood, and that I should clarify further.

I characterized what we're doing as a "partially automated production line" comprised of "a number of tools". It is not a single tool and requires a multi-stage process. There is nothing even resembling documentation or tutorials for using them. It is not designed to be intuitive or consumer-friendly. It is (mostly) not integrated with the Realm Works client. This is not something we can release to anyone in its current form, and would take significant effort to reach that point. It is a messy hodge-podge of developer utilities and hacks to get the job done.

That's not to say we're philosophically opposed to making some kind of tooling like this available in the future, but it would be really bad form for us to make any kind of promises in that regard until we deliver on those we've already made. Right now we need to focus on getting the Content Market delivered, and these internal tools are a means to that end.

[adzling]

DONT PROMISE ANYTHING ELSE.
(just get your existing promises taken care of)
;-)

[Mystic Lemur]

The more questions you try to answer, the more questions people will have. For myself, I am glad to know why there were delays, but it doesn't change the fact that delays occurred. I love RW. My biggest problem right now is finding the time to do everything I want with what the product is already capable of. And y'all make it "worse" by continuing to add new things. :P

[kbs666]

Originally Posted by Joe

I feel as though my description of what's going on can be misunderstood, and that I should clarify further.

I characterized what we're doing as a "partially automated production line" comprised of "a number of tools". It is not a single tool and requires a multi-stage process. There is nothing even resembling documentation or tutorials for using them. It is not designed to be intuitive or consumer-friendly. It is (mostly) not integrated with the Realm Works client. This is not something we can release to anyone in its current form, and would take significant effort to reach that point. It is a messy hodge-podge of developer utilities and hacks to get the job done.

That's not to say we're philosophically opposed to making some kind of tooling like this available in the future, but it would be really bad form for us to make any kind of promises in that regard until we deliver on those we've already made. Right now we need to focus on getting the Content Market delivered, and these internal tools are a means to that end.

I didn't misunderstand you. LWD is not the only entity involved in producing content for the CM. Anything that improves a fairly slow and tedious process would improve the physical quality of the end products.

[Silveras]

Originally Posted by Joe

I feel as though my description of what's going on can be misunderstood, and that I should clarify further.

I characterized what we're doing as a "partially automated production line" comprised of "a number of tools". It is not a single tool and requires a multi-stage process. There is nothing even resembling documentation or tutorials for using them. It is not designed to be intuitive or consumer-friendly. It is (mostly) not integrated with the Realm Works client. This is not something we can release to anyone in its current form, and would take significant effort to reach that point. It is a messy hodge-podge of developer utilities and hacks to get the job done.

That's not to say we're philosophically opposed to making some kind of tooling like this available in the future, but it would be really bad form for us to make any kind of promises in that regard until we deliver on those we've already made. Right now we need to focus on getting the Content Market delivered, and these internal tools are a means to that end.

I think it is also highly unlikely that any such tool(s) would ever be released to the public, on legal grounds.

Why?

Because LoneWolf's licensing discussions with the publishers have emphasized protecting their intellectual property in RealmWorks' Content Market. Tools that make it easier for people who pirate PDFs to also extract that content and load it into private Realms would increase the incentive for the dishonest to try to get around LoneWolf's policing of the Content Market, and to try to sell pirated copies of content.

Yes, it is another example of how the few bad actors spoil things for the honest people, but I don't think it is an unreasonable conjecture.

[Viking2054]

Originally Posted by Silveras

I think it is also highly unlikely that any such tool(s) would ever be released to the public, on legal grounds.

Why?

Because LoneWolf's licensing discussions with the publishers have emphasized protecting their intellectual property in RealmWorks' Content Market. Tools that make it easier for people who pirate PDFs to also extract that content and load it into private Realms would increase the incentive for the dishonest to try to get around LoneWolf's policing of the Content Market, and to try to sell pirated copies of content.

Yes, it is another example of how the few bad actors spoil things for the honest people, but I don't think it is an unreasonable conjecture.

I'm not sure this would actually be a big problem with Realm Works. Since distribution has to be through LWD's cloud system for Realm Works, there is the possibility of built in policing (by LWD and the IP holders) as well as public policing by concerned individuals of anything offered up to the public. If an IP holder informed LWD of IP infringement it could be taken down quickly and the offender notified that if they did it a second time they'd be banned for a certain time frame if not for life. I would imagine that anything put up on the content market by an individual might require some kind of certification that it is holey your own material and does not include anyone else's Intellectual Property.

I think fair use would cover an individual importing the information from a PDF they own to be used with their gaming group(s) via player access. The big downside to providing the tools LWD is using would not necessarily be piracy, but a loss in revenue through the content market from those that already own the PDF version of an item also up for sale through the content market.

[Acenoid]

"Abby fine reader" (an OCR reader) scans tons of pages and text, so copyright issues are probably not the reason. But LWD has an interested to stay on good terms with all those publishers, who hope to be able to multiply their sales with books, pdfs and soon the LWD content market for the same thing.