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Dungeons & Dragons 4E Interactive- No Competition to kLoOge

So, this article showed up on Gamespy before the weekend… yes, I’m a wee bit slow. The lead designers of 4th Edition (Rob Heinsoo, Andy Collins and James Wyatt) talked about various aspects of 4E as it pertains to digital applications (this is Gamespy, after all…).

One thing that I do appreciate about the interview is that they don’t hide from any of the questions, and their answers are, for the most part, thoughtful. It’s always a little depressing, though, when you hear a hardcore geek (and come on, these guys HAD to be from the geekdom born, right?) wax corp-speak. For example:

GameSpy: Will the digital game table be able to adjudicate rules, similar to what’s in Magic Online ? Will it keep track of in-game information, like ongoing spell effects?

Collins: There’s going to be some tools like that, that will help the DM track things, but there are a couple of reasons behind us not turning it into an automated system. The first is that we don’t have a right to do so. Digital game rights to Dungeons & Dragons aren’t owned by Wizards of the Coast. That property is licensed out, and has been for a number of years now. We can’t compete with our licensors; it’s not fair, and it’s not really nice, either, nor is it legal.

So stop right there, Andy. You nailed it (although it not being legal is the only answer that matters). But no, he keeps going:

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8Jul2008 | John | Comments Off | Continued