Web Access Video

[rob]

1- So are we hearing that the player version of RW is worthless? I mean from what I see here, your not going to need it, so why would we buy it? As GMs buying tools is part of the game, however sometimes it can get difficult to have our cheaper players invest in tools we want them to use. If web replaces the player edition, then why do we even have it?

Just the opposite. As I indicated in my reply to @mirtos, there will be two levels of player access. Anyone with a Player Edition license will have access to many more web features than someone without. So there will be lots of value in Player Edition.

Tablets, Yes we all know IoS followed by Droid rule the tablet space currently. However that's changing and will continue to change at a greater pace, it may be prudent to stop omitting the windows tablets from you MAC infomercials. You may want to buy a windows tablet for testing.

We have Windows tablets. We will be testing there. However, anyone with a new Windows tablet will be running essentially the same browser on the tablet as the desktop. And we expect that the majority of users on Windows tablets will prefer running the (more powerful) desktop version instead of the web version of the product.

So we didn't consider it a crucial point to mention Windows tablets in the 2-minute preview video. We focused on the platforms that users will be most keenly interested in. Please don't read anything into this that isn't there.

 

[Exmortis]

Just the opposite. As I indicated in my reply to @mirtos, there will be two levels of player access. Anyone with a Player Edition license will have access to many more web features than someone without. So there will be lots of value in Player Edition.



We have Windows tablets. We will be testing there. However, anyone with a new Windows tablet will be running essentially the same browser on the tablet as the desktop. And we expect that the majority of users on Windows tablets will prefer running the (more powerful) desktop version instead of the web version of the product.

So we didn't consider it a crucial point to mention Windows tablets in the 2-minute preview video. We focused on the platforms that users will be most keenly interested in. Please don't read anything into this that isn't there.

On part one, great! That clears it up. Thanks Rob.

On part two, I would advise to mention windows as well as IoS/Android, the reason I stated that is you do not know how many non-techie will actualy believe you do not support windows tablets. I am in the IT engineering group for my enterprise and it was my presentation that got the SP3 our desktop standard now, and even in that presentation I had to explain those ideals, to people who should know.

Everyday non-techie need to have it all spelled out, I am just saying it woudl be a good idea to mention it, you may find people will move along not wanting to buy a new product and OS for a tablet.

Right now most people think Tablet=Apple.

 

[Dark Lord Galen]

Right now most people think Tablet=Apple.

Spot on FACT

 

[mirtos]

My numbers might be a bit off, as these are about 1 year old.

The reality is microsoft tablets are less than 5% of the tablet marketshare. Android tablets are more than 60% of the market share, but pretty splintered. iOS tablets are just shy of 40%, but cohesive.

Im an android person, by the way, so im not an apple fan boy.

EDIT: The tablet market has also been changing significantly for the last couple of years, so who really knows what it will be like in 2 years.

 

[Parody]

I did a small bit of poking around for numbers and didn't have much luck finding anything newer. What I did find is that it's hard to find numbers that account for everything that could be a Windows tablet (so including convertible laptops, whether folding or separating) but not Windows RT devices (which can't run the Realm Works native client).

If you have to make a distinction, I'd focus on how well RW's native and web interfaces work with touch rather than if a Windows device is a tablet or not.

 

[Dark Lord Galen]

My numbers might be a bit off, as these are about 1 year old.

The reality is microsoft tablets are less than 5% of the tablet marketshare. Android tablets are more than 60% of the market share, but pretty splintered. iOS tablets are just shy of 40%, but cohesive.

Im an android person, by the way, so im not an apple fan boy.

EDIT: The tablet market has also been changing significantly for the last couple of years, so who really knows what it will be like in 2 years.

I agree Mirtos... to clarify the supporting statement above... I meant most people "think" Ipad when you say tablet...
When we were considering utilizing tablets at our table I to found that there were nearly none that supported a full operating system for windows use (since we needed MS Office products, Herolab, and Battlegrounds at the time)

At that point (4 years ago) I went with the Fujitsu 4220 that was run in XP.

I did a small bit of poking around for numbers and didn't have much luck finding anything newer. What I did find is that it's hard to find numbers that account for everything that could be a Windows tablet (so including convertible laptops, whether folding or separating) but not Windows RT devices (which can't run the Realm Works native client).

If you have to make a distinction, I'd focus on how well RW's native and web interfaces work with touch rather than if a Windows device is a tablet or not.

As parody points out, RW wont work on RT devices and without a basis in the web accessing market, your choices are limited..

We (My table this past January) have been converting over to the Asus T100 with an SSD drive and Windows 8... mainly because as noted before it is a full version of windows & at the time they offered a free upgrade to the MS office products we already had...

 

[Exmortis]

At our table we have:

GM: laptop, Win 7.
P1(me): Surface Pro 3 Win 10
P2: Surface Pro 2 Win 8.1
P3: Laptop Win 7
P4: Laptop Win 7
P5: Ipad / Laptop Win 7
P6: Ipad

When I GM the current GM will switch to an Ipad, and I will bring laptop and SP3(SP4 or SP5?) both running Windows 10.

Two of the laptop users both have and bring Ipads, but they are not used at the table for the game. I have a droid Tablet but its sits collecting dust, most worthless money I have spent in some time.

I am not saying Rob needs to market windows over Ipads over Droid, what I am saying when they speak of tablets then say "Ipads/Droid" also state Windows to ensure possible buyers do not think they need to replace their hybrid/convertables that sell well.

As far as tablet market, it's sinking because all those who thought Ipads were going to save the world, are now realizing they need their PC and are upgrading/buying a new one. Hence the big rise in PC sales.

No market numbers do Windows tablets justice, they all consider the products differently, and fair enough, they are. However in 2014 Microsoft saw a 24% increase in sales due to the SP3 release, and its gaining steam. The SP4 is coming with Windows 10, which may mean one of my group members will likely buy my SP3 as I upgrade.

I am just stating prudence, it is in LWDs best interest to make all perspective buyers aware they support as many platforms as possible. And I get tired of then having to explain that they mean Windows tablets as well, because the software supports windows natively.

 

[Dark Lord Galen]

Well put.

Our table:
4 Asus T100 w/windows 8.1
2 Fujitsu T4220 w/windows 7
2 Fujitsu T4220 w/ XP
1 HP pro book w/windows 8.1
1 Lenovo yoga w/windows 8.1

DM station is abit different > a small form factor in room running windows 8.1 tied to a server

Our table is very influenced by not only the use of OS platforms, but those programs that are supported by soley (or mostly) utilized via them. In our case Microsoft. Even before we utilized these to make printed copies to work from. We used excel, word for tens of years, and now, we progress toward electronic "character sheets" with hero lab, realm works and others leading that progression.
As to prudence, you are correct, LW should be aware and clear on the detail of that path.

 

[ShadowChemosh]

As far as tablet market, it's sinking because all those who thought Ipads were going to save the world, are now realizing they need their PC and are upgrading/buying a new one. Hence the big rise in PC sales.

I constantly use my iPad at home and work. When I run to a meeting I don't want to disconnect my laptop and shut down the 15 software tools I have running. So much easier to bring the iPad. I easily take hand written notes, take text notes in Evernote. And we often have white board designs that I then take a picture of and put into Evernote. Hell several different apps let me log into the servers from my iPad. For the few that doesn't work on I use splashtop to log into my laptop and view it from there.

Now if I need the notes for the meeting I have them on my iPad, my laptop, and my iPhone. Same with the pictures that are auto-synced between my i devices. Plus more and more people on my job site are using text messages or google hangouts to talk to each other. And now "yammer"... ug facebook for work... Those are all have very nice apps that work on i devices and they sync between my devices. So if all I have is my phone I have a copy of all the conversations.

I see those that that bring laptops but just as many people on my job sites have an iPad in the meeting. Lighter, easier to use, and does everything my laptop can do. Ok it can't run an eclipse IDE but I don't need that for 90% of what I do during the day.

Even cooler is one of our conference rooms has a new Apple TV instead of dumb plasmas. So I can now easily display my iPad info (word documents, excel document, design documents) to the Apple TV using AirPlay.

 

[Parody]

Our table:

1 Transformer T100TA (older)
1 iPad (3 or 4) + Desktop (though often neither is in use)
1 Nexus 7 (2012)
1 Windows Laptop (pretty old)

And me with a T100TA (newer) and Nexus 5, though normally I don't dig out the Transformer.

We're currently playing Shadowrun 2nd, so the devices aren't used nearly as much as they were for Pathfinder.

I constantly use my iPad at home and work....

At my last job most people brought a notepad and pencil/pen to meetings. Only rarely did anyone bring their laptop assuming they had one; many people had a desktop as their main computer. (You had a choice between a few limited models when it was upgrade time.) Files needed for a meeting were kept on the file servers. Nobody had tablets or convertibles, external devices weren't allowed on the network, and while they had WiFi for customers it was highly restricted and not on the internal network.

 

[Exmortis]

I constantly use my iPad at home and work. When I run to a meeting I don't want to disconnect my laptop and shut down the 15 software tools I have running. So much easier to bring the iPad. I easily take hand written notes, take text notes in Evernote. And we often have white board designs that I then take a picture of and put into Evernote. Hell several different apps let me log into the servers from my iPad. For the few that doesn't work on I use splashtop to log into my laptop and view it from there.

Now if I need the notes for the meeting I have them on my iPad, my laptop, and my iPhone. Same with the pictures that are auto-synced between my i devices. Plus more and more people on my job site are using text messages or google hangouts to talk to each other. And now "yammer"... ug facebook for work... Those are all have very nice apps that work on i devices and they sync between my devices. So if all I have is my phone I have a copy of all the conversations.

I see those that that bring laptops but just as many people on my job sites have an iPad in the meeting. Lighter, easier to use, and does everything my laptop can do. Ok it can't run an eclipse IDE but I don't need that for 90% of what I do during the day.

Even cooler is one of our conference rooms has a new Apple TV instead of dumb plasmas. So I can now easily display my iPad info (word documents, excel document, design documents) to the Apple TV using AirPlay.

First what does plasma have to do with apple TV? Personally I own a plasma because no LCD with or with out LED back light can compare, plain and simple. However, bring on the OLED!

Shutdown apps whe you disconnect? no need dude, sorry but something isn't strring the coolaid there, I never shut down a single app when I disconnect and go, ever, unless I am going home. But I agree Ipad over lappy? big deal in carrying weight.

We are going wireless in our building, cutting the cord over the next year, so as we now transition to MS surface, our workstationa are tablets, no need for more than one machine, its light, and runs at the meeting room same as it does at your desk, minus the keyboard/mouse/big screen. The MS surface dock? does not get any easier, its so good I bought one for home for my personal SP3

We do not need any of the outside products mentioned, in our enterprise we have complete sharing solutions and document management in house, as well as MS Lync services to all in the enterprise. Though not my fav app, its all tied into outlook, so set a meeting, can be online, or meeting room or a hybrid, link the docs to share them, and soon everyone will be bringing their surface still connected to our network no matter where you are.

One device to rule them all...OK OK yeah we still need out BBs as of 4 months from now we will not have any land lines.

 

[Agyess]

Did I misunderstand... or was there an implied real-time reveal (both map and content) to the web based versions?

 

[Silveras]

The web-based client will use the company servers. Immediate syncing is not a feature currently supported for any client, though it is on the roadmap for the future.

 

[Pollution]

One would assume though, that the turnaround for reveal wouldn't be that long.

Most of the time, something like this would be updated from change to view in about the same time as sending and receiving an email. It really would be an unknown value of time from reveal to players see it (and then only after a refresh maybe?)

It would depend on how they decide to do the update time on their end (i.e. every 5 min, every 60 sec, every hour, etc...). Reveal, save, data is sync'd with the Server, wait for next web refresh, data is revealed. It could be any value of time from instant to a few moments to a few minutes.

We just don't know enough about it at this point.

And to be fair, it's about the same with the desktop version. Reveal info, players don't see it. Save topic, players see it then. Like when running with a Map in the players view. You have to save it, and even then there's a slight delay (depending on your PC's speed/RAM/Graphics Card/whatever).

 

[Ghost Matter]

Will the web version require an account/purchase to use? Right now, I'd buy it for some players (so they can view) but they don't all run Windows so the desktop client is out of the question.

Any timeline (even vague)? I tried to search and Google but haven't found anything. The "Future of Realms Works" document has little to go on for web specifically.

I don't want to use Obsidian Portal but looks like I might have to.

 

[mirtos]

im hoping they stick with their original price plan, which was the player version (or the light-player version) on the web would be free... is that still the case?

 

[liz]

@Ghost Matter and @mirtos, Rob mentioned this earlier in the thread. There will be a free level of web-based player access. There will also be a much more powerful "Player Edition" via the web.

@Ghost Matter, we don't have an ETA for the release right now. Once we have more information, it will be a formal announcement on our website.

 

[Ghost Matter]

Thanks, liz!

 

[manchuwook]

So excited for the web edition. Many of our handouts are in a bunch of different files on dropbox or sent out through emails.

 

[GuernseyMan]

Web based implementation

Just been thinking about this.

Does the web-based implementation have to be through the internet. Some of our gaming venues have pretty ropey connections.

Would it be possible for me to use the GM edition on my laptop whilst "serving", through the local LAN, to my players tablets? I have a local copy of the entire database and, regardless of connection speed, it would be far faster to update than uploading it and waiting for the download.

If so that would make it the most useful roleplaying tool I have ever seen. (Especially for conventions!)