Please direct me if i am off base here. I have hard cover versions of every book, and only recently learned that DND Beyond has an online version of a character creator with all the updated stuff in it. The problem is you cannot use any of that content until you start buying the digital copies of the books. There is no code in the books to upload to show you already paid for them. I see no subscription model that would be a monthly, allowing you to use all digital content. It appears unless I am blind that I need to rebuy every source book digitally to unlock all the classes, feats, etc... Or did I just miss something?
You are correct in your observation that to use content not found in the SRD, you need to purchase it here on D&D Beyond. First, the very quick why:
D&D Beyond and Wizards of the Coast are two different companies
D&D Beyond needs revenue to; pay developers, keep the servers on, pay content licenses, develop tools etc
There are no unique identifiers found in the physical books because D&D Beyond came about several years after the current edition of D&D released
The subscription tier allows you to; remove adds, make unlimited characters, save other users homebrew and (for Master tier only) share purchased content in campaigns
Now for your options:
You can buy the books, not the cheapest option, but buying a book gives you everything found within it to use in the DDB tools
Buy content piecemeal; buy just a race or a subclass or a selection of spells. Much cheaper
Use the homebrew tools to enter the content from the books into D&D Beyond for personal use only
D&D Beyond and Wizards of the Coast are two different companies (Thank you for the clarification)
D&D Beyond needs revenue to; pay developers, keep the servers on, pay content licenses, develop tools etc (Residual Income in King for long term financial sustainability)
There are no unique identifiers found in the physical books because D&D Beyond came about several years after the current edition of D&D released (Makes sense because of point number 1)
The subscription tier allows you to; remove adds, make unlimited characters, save other users homebrew and (for Master tier only) share purchased content in campaigns (this is stupid, because residual income I believe would be far more profitable long term. If they charged me $20.00 per month for unlimited use of the system including all existing and new books... I probably would be a subscriber for life. That would make the company FAR more than pay per digital copy. God Knows I have been paying for World of Warcraft for 15 years now and I do not even like the game anymore. DnD... I have been playing for 30 years and still play. So limiting what is available for a subscription seems totally crazy to me.)
What ever the case may be, thank you for taking the time to clarify things for me a bit.
The subscription tier allows you to; remove adds, make unlimited characters, save other users homebrew and (for Master tier only) share purchased content in campaigns (this is stupid, because residual income I believe would be far more profitable long term. If they charged me $20.00 per month for unlimited use of the system including all existing and new books... I probably would be a subscriber for life. That would make the company FAR more than pay per digital copy. God Knows I have been paying for World of Warcraft for 15 years now and I do not even like the game anymore. DnD... I have been playing for 30 years and still play. So limiting what is available for a subscription seems totally crazy to me.)
Meanwhile, people like me wouldn't pay for a $20/month subscription, but would buy individual content (books) as one time purchases. I have no idea whether there are more people like me or more people like you (who prefer subscribe for content) who play D&D and want to use online tools. What I do know is that DDB has been fabulously successful, consistently outpacing projections, so what they are doing is working for them, even if it's not the model you prefer.
One suggestion I've seen made here before for those who prefer the sub for content model is to decide how much per month you would spend for such a subscription, and then spend that much each month on content purchases. If that appealed to you and you want some of the benefits of the subscriptions DDB does offer, you could factor that in to your budget as well. One of the advantages to DDB's pricing model is that anything you spend on content from a particular book...or on books in a particular bundle....is credited toward the price of that book or bundle. So you aren't spending more by purchasing piecemeal than by buying the discounted bundles. I bought the MM this way: buying individual monsters I needed for an adventure I was running, as I needed them, until buying the entire book was only a few dollars. Did the same thing with Xanathar's and spells. Folks who have the patience can keep an eye out for sales and discount codes and get things even cheaper. [Although the rule is what you actually spend is credited, not the "non sale" price. So a few really savvy shoppers have managed to pick up the entire contents of the Legendary Bundle for less than the bundle price because they only purchased when they could get 25% or more off. They don't get the 15% off on future purchases if they purchase this way, but they've already demonstrated that they can hold out for sale codes and keep saving more money than the Legendary Bundle discount would save them.]
There are no unique identifiers found in the physical books because D&D Beyond came about several years after the current edition of D&D released (Makes sense because of point number 1)
To expand on this point, physical and digital being bundled together in some way shape or form is not the norm, and I do not think it has ever been the norm. Physical and digital products are considered separate and independent. Physical and digital products have been released together side by side this way for well over twenty years now, and this distribution method has been mainstream for at least the last decade. Maybe such expectation was more common over twenty years ago, but such expectation is definitely rare, unreasonable, and absurd now. Even if Wizards owns Beyond, it is completely standard practice to charge both physical and digital versions of their products at full price without ever bundling them.
Consumers of every other media has grasped this concept and understand that owning one version of the product does not entitle them in any way, shape, or form to the other version. - No Taylor Swift fan expects that buying the physical album entitles them to the digital version or attend her concerts for free or at discount. - No one who reads Harry Potter or A Song of Ice and Fire expects physical books being bundled with audiobooks or ebooks, and no one expects audiobooks and ebooks being bundled together either despite both being digital products. - Absolutely no Nintendo gamer I know complains about buying a physical Pokémon game from a Nintendo store (or third party game stores) and not being able to download the same game from Nintendo's eShop, despite Nintendo owning both their physical stores and digital stores as well as supplying third party game stores whom Nintendo has no ownership over. And this applies to Microsoft's Xbox too, as I have not seen anyone complain about buying a physical copy and not being able to download the digital version. - No one complains about watching a movie in theaters, online, or on DVD all have to be purchased separately and independently of each other. - Buying the physical Gloomhaven board game does not give one access to the digital version on Steam, and I have yet to see any reviews on the Steam page complaining about this.
If they charged me $20.00 per month for unlimited use of the system including all existing and new books... I probably would be a subscriber for life. That would make the company FAR more than pay per digital copy. God Knows I have been paying for World of Warcraft for 15 years now and I do not even like the game anymore. DnD... I have been playing for 30 years and still play. So limiting what is available for a subscription seems totally crazy to me.)
Why would it seem crazy? From what you mentioned above, D&D Beyond has offered you a cheaper option to use their services? Isn't this a win?
If they charged me $20.00 per month for unlimited use of the system including all existing and new books... I probably would be a subscriber for life. That would make the company FAR more than pay per digital copy. God Knows I have been paying for World of Warcraft for 15 years now and I do not even like the game anymore. DnD... I have been playing for 30 years and still play. So limiting what is available for a subscription seems totally crazy to me.)
They $30/book. If they charged a $20/mo subscription, at the end of 12 months that’s $240. For the same money I could flat out own 8 sourcebooks. The subscription model seems crazy to me. I would never pay that subscription. If it worked that way I would stick to hardcover and skip DDB altogether.
I think you could do a subscription to the core books and one or two supplements for $4.99 per month (payable as a 12 month sub; per month cost might be $7.99 or something). But I don't know how you protect the content from piracy without significantly changing the reading experience to the detriment of the whole platform.
I don't believe any of the VTTs offer subscription models to their licensed content, WOTC or otherwise?
DNDB is a digital access to the games books. And has a nice character sheet function, which works best IF you had purchased the PHB. In fact, this whole site is based on the char sheets and you MUST buy the PHB at this site or the sites char sheet function is pretty much weak.
So, you can buy the books and access them with your pad or computer or phone. That's what it's designed to do. As a DM with a pad and phone, it's super handy!
Hey, if you bought the RL books, and you play with friends at a table and don't need a digital version... DNDB is not needed.
Well, think of it like this, they are missing lots of to be customers, who already owns, lets say 8 books, and don't want to purchase it again here for the same price just to include them in Beyond's digital tools.
There are bazillions of digital tools out there which can be used for similar purposes but most people would be more than ok to give their money to Beyond if they'd counted their previous hardcover purchases with proof etc.
As an example, every single DM in my community (one of the 2 biggest communities in my humble country) has a Beyond account for some purpose, but only 1 or 2 has actual books purchased here. So the business of online services, while still successful & profitable for Beyond team as claimed, is just a fraction of what they could've gained if they'd acknowledged hardcovers already bought. DMs and players would buy all the new releases here and DMs would happily go subscription for additional benefits. Lets be honest, it is nearly all about the use of online tool anyways.
Well, think of it like this, they are missing lots of to be customers, who already owns, lets say 8 books, and don't want to purchase it again here for the same price just to include them in Beyond's digital tools.
There are bazillions of digital tools out there which can be used for similar purposes but most people would be more than ok to give their money to Beyond if they'd counted their previous hardcover purchases with proof etc.
As an example, every single DM in my community (one of the 2 biggest communities in my humble country) has a Beyond account for some purpose, but only 1 or 2 has actual books purchased here. So the business of online services, while still successful & profitable for Beyond team as claimed, is just a fraction of what they could've gained if they'd acknowledged hardcovers already bought. DMs and players would buy all the new releases here and DMs would happily go subscription for additional benefits. Lets be honest, it is nearly all about the use of online tool anyways.
Sorry for the necro, just noticed.
Again, the issue here is regardless of where the physical books were bought, this is a different company. They are not WotC. They are not trying to shake everyone down for more money. It's not a double dip as some like to call it. They are their own company that sells the digital versions of the books and just happen to spend their time making fantastic tools for their users for free. They don't owe anyone a free digital copy just because they have the hardback at home.
REMEMBER: Wizards Of The Coast does not own DDB, they are two different companies. When you buy a physical book, WotC receives the money you bought it for, not DDB and vice versa. If you want a digital key to get an online book for free because you have the hardcopy book then DDB makes no money because you don't buy off DDB you buy off WotC, so please stop making threads about this issue. DDB needs money to continue helping people and servers aren't cheap.
Well, think of it like this, they are missing lots of to be customers, who already owns, lets say 8 books, and don't want to purchase it again here for the same price just to include them in Beyond's digital tools.
You do not have to pay to include them in Beyond's digital tools. You can use private homebrew and input all the information in manually for free. The only cost to you is time. If you think your time is too valuable to do even simple data entry, then why do you think Beyond's time is so invaluable that they should give people the digital information for free?
In literally every hobby besides D&D, I have never heard of vocal minority being this entitled to get stuff for free. I have not heard anyone complain about buying a physical music album and not being able to download it for free from Google Play or the App Store. I have not heard anyone complain about buying a movie DVD or book and demanding Amazon give them that movie and book for free. Even Nintendo gamers do not complain about buying physical Switch games and not being able to download it from the eShop, and Nintendo owns both their own physical and digital storefronts, AND they supply games to third party physical AND digital stores too.
Every other consumer and hobbyist out there can grasp the concept of digital and physical products being independent and separate. I am not why it is so difficult for a minority of D&D players to understand this.
Well, think of it like this, they are missing lots of to be customers, who already owns, lets say 8 books, and don't want to purchase it again here for the same price just to include them in Beyond's digital tools.
You do not have to pay to include them in Beyond's digital tools. You can use private homebrew and input all the information in manually for free. The only cost to you is time. If you think your time is too valuable to do even simple data entry, then why do you think Beyond's time is so invaluable that they should give people the digital information for free?
I am sorry to misrepresent my opinion, i really don't care whether they do this or not. It could've been nice, but i am unsure if it is even something doable.
As i have noted, there are bazillions of other tools which does a similar job, which you can manually add homebrew rules to play your dnd. I just wanted to point out that they might be missing income from people who already have the books and does not want to spend that amount on a platform to use it in an online tool, just for automatic integration.
In literally every hobby besides D&D, I have never heard of vocal minority being this entitled to get stuff for free. I have not heard anyone complain about buying a physical music album and not being able to download it for free from Google Play or the App Store. I have not heard anyone complain about buying a movie DVD or book and demanding Amazon give them that movie and book for free. Even Nintendo gamers do not complain about buying physical Switch games and not being able to download it from the eShop, and Nintendo owns both their own physical and digital storefronts, AND they supply games to third party physical AND digital stores too.
Think of it like buying a hardcopy of a video game from store and adding it to a game platform of your choice, like steam. Is this so alien to you?
Every other consumer and hobbyist out there can grasp the concept of digital and physical products being independent and separate. I am not why it is so difficult for a minority of D&D players to understand this.
It is not "entitlement" to voice a positive opinion on Beyond platform and to point out what they might be missing from my own perspective. That was all.
I am sorry to misrepresent my opinion, i really don't care whether they do this or not. It could've been nice, but i am unsure if it is even something doable.
As i have noted, there are bazillions of other tools which does a similar job, which you can manually add homebrew rules to play your dnd. I just wanted to point out that they might be missing income from people who already have the books and does not want to spend that amount on a platform to use it in an online tool, just for automatic integration.
Then you are missing the point of DDB, which is to sell the books to use with the tools they made for them.
Think of it like buying a hardcopy of a video game from store and adding it to a game platform of your choice, like steam. Is this so alien to you?
You can already do this through the homebrew system.
It is not "entitlement" to voice a positive opinion on Beyond platform and to point out what they might be missing from my own perspective. That was all.
The problem with that though, is that you are basically stating, "If DDB would only take my word that i have the physical books and give me the digital one for free, I would buy all the new stuff from them and subscribe."
But they can't do that though. Numbers have to be kept and money has to be paid to WotC for the digital items sold. If they did this, WotC would profit from you buying the physical copy, then from the digital copy that has to be paid for as well, while DDB would be losing money for doing it. The object of a business, no matter how much they might love the products they are working with and want everyone to enjoy, is to make money. If you owned a local game store and people kept coming in saying they bought the digital book on DDB so they now wanted the hardcopy for free from you, would you give it to them? :)
This website is not owned by the same company that publishes D&D. This website is more like an online bookstore that only sells digital D&D books. And they made all of these additional tools like the character builder for us to use for free with the materials we purchase. They are a bookstore, how do you expect them to make any money if the don’t sell books?!?
This website is not owned by the same company that publishes D&D. This website is more like an online bookstore that only sells digital D&D books. And they made all of these additional tools like the character builder for us to use for free with the materials we purchase. They are a bookstore, how do you expect them to make any money if the don’t sell books?!?
Exactly like Steam. Valve does not produce most of the games sold on Steam and it is an online gameshop that you can use with games bought from retail as well. They let you add your games to your library and Steam is the biggest online store for this purpose.
As ive noted, it might not be possible to create a valid proof mechanism in the first place, but idea is totally worthwhile, again, just like Steam.
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Hello Community.
Please direct me if i am off base here. I have hard cover versions of every book, and only recently learned that DND Beyond has an online version of a character creator with all the updated stuff in it. The problem is you cannot use any of that content until you start buying the digital copies of the books. There is no code in the books to upload to show you already paid for them. I see no subscription model that would be a monthly, allowing you to use all digital content. It appears unless I am blind that I need to rebuy every source book digitally to unlock all the classes, feats, etc... Or did I just miss something?
Zoabb
Yes, you need to buy it here or copy the book as "homebrew content".
You are correct in your observation that to use content not found in the SRD, you need to purchase it here on D&D Beyond. First, the very quick why:
Now for your options:
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
What ever the case may be, thank you for taking the time to clarify things for me a bit.
Meanwhile, people like me wouldn't pay for a $20/month subscription, but would buy individual content (books) as one time purchases. I have no idea whether there are more people like me or more people like you (who prefer subscribe for content) who play D&D and want to use online tools. What I do know is that DDB has been fabulously successful, consistently outpacing projections, so what they are doing is working for them, even if it's not the model you prefer.
One suggestion I've seen made here before for those who prefer the sub for content model is to decide how much per month you would spend for such a subscription, and then spend that much each month on content purchases. If that appealed to you and you want some of the benefits of the subscriptions DDB does offer, you could factor that in to your budget as well. One of the advantages to DDB's pricing model is that anything you spend on content from a particular book...or on books in a particular bundle....is credited toward the price of that book or bundle. So you aren't spending more by purchasing piecemeal than by buying the discounted bundles. I bought the MM this way: buying individual monsters I needed for an adventure I was running, as I needed them, until buying the entire book was only a few dollars. Did the same thing with Xanathar's and spells. Folks who have the patience can keep an eye out for sales and discount codes and get things even cheaper. [Although the rule is what you actually spend is credited, not the "non sale" price. So a few really savvy shoppers have managed to pick up the entire contents of the Legendary Bundle for less than the bundle price because they only purchased when they could get 25% or more off. They don't get the 15% off on future purchases if they purchase this way, but they've already demonstrated that they can hold out for sale codes and keep saving more money than the Legendary Bundle discount would save them.]
Trying to Decide if DDB is for you? A few helpful threads: A Buyer's Guide to DDB; What I/We Bought and Why; How some DMs use DDB; A Newer Thread on Using DDB to Play
Helpful threads on other topics: Homebrew FAQ by IamSposta; Accessing Content by ConalTheGreat;
Check your entitlements here. | Support Ticket LInk
To expand on this point, physical and digital being bundled together in some way shape or form is not the norm, and I do not think it has ever been the norm. Physical and digital products are considered separate and independent. Physical and digital products have been released together side by side this way for well over twenty years now, and this distribution method has been mainstream for at least the last decade. Maybe such expectation was more common over twenty years ago, but such expectation is definitely rare, unreasonable, and absurd now. Even if Wizards owns Beyond, it is completely standard practice to charge both physical and digital versions of their products at full price without ever bundling them.
Consumers of every other media has grasped this concept and understand that owning one version of the product does not entitle them in any way, shape, or form to the other version.
- No Taylor Swift fan expects that buying the physical album entitles them to the digital version or attend her concerts for free or at discount.
- No one who reads Harry Potter or A Song of Ice and Fire expects physical books being bundled with audiobooks or ebooks, and no one expects audiobooks and ebooks being bundled together either despite both being digital products.
- Absolutely no Nintendo gamer I know complains about buying a physical Pokémon game from a Nintendo store (or third party game stores) and not being able to download the same game from Nintendo's eShop, despite Nintendo owning both their physical stores and digital stores as well as supplying third party game stores whom Nintendo has no ownership over. And this applies to Microsoft's Xbox too, as I have not seen anyone complain about buying a physical copy and not being able to download the digital version.
- No one complains about watching a movie in theaters, online, or on DVD all have to be purchased separately and independently of each other.
- Buying the physical Gloomhaven board game does not give one access to the digital version on Steam, and I have yet to see any reviews on the Steam page complaining about this.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
Why would it seem crazy? From what you mentioned above, D&D Beyond has offered you a cheaper option to use their services? Isn't this a win?
They $30/book. If they charged a $20/mo subscription, at the end of 12 months that’s $240. For the same money I could flat out own 8 sourcebooks. The subscription model seems crazy to me. I would never pay that subscription. If it worked that way I would stick to hardcover and skip DDB altogether.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I think you could do a subscription to the core books and one or two supplements for $4.99 per month (payable as a 12 month sub; per month cost might be $7.99 or something). But I don't know how you protect the content from piracy without significantly changing the reading experience to the detriment of the whole platform.
I don't believe any of the VTTs offer subscription models to their licensed content, WOTC or otherwise?
Just my opinion Zoabb,
DNDB is a digital access to the games books. And has a nice character sheet function, which works best IF you had purchased the PHB. In fact, this whole site is based on the char sheets and you MUST buy the PHB at this site or the sites char sheet function is pretty much weak.
So, you can buy the books and access them with your pad or computer or phone. That's what it's designed to do. As a DM with a pad and phone, it's super handy!
Hey, if you bought the RL books, and you play with friends at a table and don't need a digital version... DNDB is not needed.
I already just bought the required books to make characters and left it at that. Not sure how to close the thread.
Well, think of it like this, they are missing lots of to be customers, who already owns, lets say 8 books, and don't want to purchase it again here for the same price just to include them in Beyond's digital tools.
There are bazillions of digital tools out there which can be used for similar purposes but most people would be more than ok to give their money to Beyond if they'd counted their previous hardcover purchases with proof etc.
As an example, every single DM in my community (one of the 2 biggest communities in my humble country) has a Beyond account for some purpose, but only 1 or 2 has actual books purchased here. So the business of online services, while still successful & profitable for Beyond team as claimed, is just a fraction of what they could've gained if they'd acknowledged hardcovers already bought. DMs and players would buy all the new releases here and DMs would happily go subscription for additional benefits. Lets be honest, it is nearly all about the use of online tool anyways.
Sorry for the necro, just noticed.
Check your Essentials Kit. It has a coupon with a discount for the Players Handbook. The rest you have to buy on this site to use on this site.
Again, the issue here is regardless of where the physical books were bought, this is a different company. They are not WotC. They are not trying to shake everyone down for more money. It's not a double dip as some like to call it. They are their own company that sells the digital versions of the books and just happen to spend their time making fantastic tools for their users for free. They don't owe anyone a free digital copy just because they have the hardback at home.
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↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
REMEMBER: Wizards Of The Coast does not own DDB, they are two different companies. When you buy a physical book, WotC receives the money you bought it for, not DDB and vice versa. If you want a digital key to get an online book for free because you have the hardcopy book then DDB makes no money because you don't buy off DDB you buy off WotC, so please stop making threads about this issue. DDB needs money to continue helping people and servers aren't cheap.
You do not have to pay to include them in Beyond's digital tools. You can use private homebrew and input all the information in manually for free. The only cost to you is time. If you think your time is too valuable to do even simple data entry, then why do you think Beyond's time is so invaluable that they should give people the digital information for free?
In literally every hobby besides D&D, I have never heard of vocal minority being this entitled to get stuff for free. I have not heard anyone complain about buying a physical music album and not being able to download it for free from Google Play or the App Store. I have not heard anyone complain about buying a movie DVD or book and demanding Amazon give them that movie and book for free. Even Nintendo gamers do not complain about buying physical Switch games and not being able to download it from the eShop, and Nintendo owns both their own physical and digital storefronts, AND they supply games to third party physical AND digital stores too.
Every other consumer and hobbyist out there can grasp the concept of digital and physical products being independent and separate. I am not why it is so difficult for a minority of D&D players to understand this.
Check Licenses and Resync Entitlements: < https://www.dndbeyond.com/account/licenses >
Running the Game by Matt Colville; Introduction: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8 >
D&D with High School Students by Bill Allen; Season 1 Episode 1: < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52NJTUDokyk&t >
I am sorry to misrepresent my opinion, i really don't care whether they do this or not. It could've been nice, but i am unsure if it is even something doable.
As i have noted, there are bazillions of other tools which does a similar job, which you can manually add homebrew rules to play your dnd. I just wanted to point out that they might be missing income from people who already have the books and does not want to spend that amount on a platform to use it in an online tool, just for automatic integration.
Think of it like buying a hardcopy of a video game from store and adding it to a game platform of your choice, like steam. Is this so alien to you?
It is not "entitlement" to voice a positive opinion on Beyond platform and to point out what they might be missing from my own perspective. That was all.
Then you are missing the point of DDB, which is to sell the books to use with the tools they made for them.
You can already do this through the homebrew system.
The problem with that though, is that you are basically stating, "If DDB would only take my word that i have the physical books and give me the digital one for free, I would buy all the new stuff from them and subscribe."
But they can't do that though. Numbers have to be kept and money has to be paid to WotC for the digital items sold. If they did this, WotC would profit from you buying the physical copy, then from the digital copy that has to be paid for as well, while DDB would be losing money for doing it. The object of a business, no matter how much they might love the products they are working with and want everyone to enjoy, is to make money. If you owned a local game store and people kept coming in saying they bought the digital book on DDB so they now wanted the hardcopy for free from you, would you give it to them? :)
This website is not owned by the same company that publishes D&D. This website is more like an online bookstore that only sells digital D&D books. And they made all of these additional tools like the character builder for us to use for free with the materials we purchase. They are a bookstore, how do you expect them to make any money if the don’t sell books?!?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Exactly like Steam. Valve does not produce most of the games sold on Steam and it is an online gameshop that you can use with games bought from retail as well. They let you add your games to your library and Steam is the biggest online store for this purpose.
As ive noted, it might not be possible to create a valid proof mechanism in the first place, but idea is totally worthwhile, again, just like Steam.