As preface to this post, I will clearly state that I love D&D (it's my preferred TTRPG) and I love Beyond. I've been a strong proponent for its adoption among my non-virtual tabletop friends for years, and I've eschewed paper character sheets around the table where permitted.
That said: We need to talk about Digital Dice.
Not about their existence; personally, I quite like them for what they are, and I have several sets in my inventory, some of which I've chosen to spend money on.
No, I'm talking about the Mythic and Archmage's Favour sets - specifically, the decision to remove them from the marketplace. I don't understand why this is happening. Is there some kind of odd licensing thing happening, where the artist/designer of the set(s) has opted to revoke the agreement with Fandom?
If not, then what's the deal? Because from an outsider's perspective, this appears to be nothing more than creating artificial scarcity on digital goods that, in theory, have literally an unlimited supply. I thought that D&D/Beyond was above capitalizing on FOMO but it sure seems like what's going on. And if true, what's next? NFT Dice?
I just want to point out that this isn't really a binary, there's probably a myriad of explanations between your critique of D&D Beyond's Dice as some sort of evil artificial scarcity capitalism and you being an a-hole. My guess is the reality is more nuanced between D&D Beyond's literally titled Marketplace understanding of how to move dice and the psychology behind the various critics of D&D Beyond selling digital dice in the first place. Within those explanations, D&D Beyond is neither "evil" nor are you being an a-hole.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Selling what's likely a product whose sales have bottomed out at regular dice costs at a 66% discount is not exploiting digital scarcity. It's a clearance sale (no physical inventory but simply a last call before the curated marketplace clears them out and puts something else in, as they tend to do). My guess is there's probably market research that suggests D&D Beyond users optimally entertain only x amount of digital dice options before it becomes a blur. I mean dice get pulled from the store fairly regularly and this is the first time someone is trying to wedge a wikipedia level understanding of scarcity economics in pot stirring protest at a ... 66% discount.
Dice are pulled regularly. Some of them wind up in the accounts of Master Tier subscribers at perks in due time. Some are only available for a limited time (pink fuzzy dice, and a set of pride dice, etc). How to properly price digital dice I feel is moving target for DDB, having this "clearance sale" window may give them some further pricing strategies down the line.
I mean I'm glad the OP did admit they don't really know what they're talking about, because comparing this marketplace initiative to NFT nonsense or other artificial scarcity plots is wildly associative thinking with little connection to the most likely reality. Again, neither DDB or the OP are the a-holes here. Sometimes, actually many times, there are situations where in fact there is no a-hole, which means there's no s---- to fling either. I'm guessing a relatively low selling product is being given a 2/3 discount and being retired so that eyeballs can be drawn to newer fresher dice designs in the near future (two books coming out soon, DDB tends to release dice parallel with books, among other reasons).
Compare it to actual dice online stores that need to keep their physical inventory online to sell it off. Those dice stores tend to be bloated and a frustrating user experience. I wish online dice shops had the luxury D&D Beyond has to provide a curated catalog, but they have a physical inventory requiring disposal (yes, I'm sure there's some "cost" in maintaining an item in a virtual marketplace like DDB, but "making room through closing out" is a matter of touching button which seems to be the case here). Sure there's a "get it before it's gone" old school sales gimmick, an experiment I think, but the level of cynical bordering on malicious calculation insinuated in the OP's worst case speculation seems to be too wild a pitch to connect to the sensible reality.
I guess this thread isn't really "We need to talk about Digital Dice" so much as "Can someone explain to me what a Digital Dice sale is and how come DDB doesn't keep all dice ever rendered available in perpetuity." Reality ain't always so dramatic.
I don't see anything wrong with "retiring" old designs to make way for new ones.
Really, my only request for the digital dice would be the ability to set them for specific characters. This way I wouldn't have to switch them up whenever I'm playing different characters.
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As preface to this post, I will clearly state that I love D&D (it's my preferred TTRPG) and I love Beyond. I've been a strong proponent for its adoption among my non-virtual tabletop friends for years, and I've eschewed paper character sheets around the table where permitted.
That said: We need to talk about Digital Dice.
Not about their existence; personally, I quite like them for what they are, and I have several sets in my inventory, some of which I've chosen to spend money on.
No, I'm talking about the Mythic and Archmage's Favour sets - specifically, the decision to remove them from the marketplace. I don't understand why this is happening. Is there some kind of odd licensing thing happening, where the artist/designer of the set(s) has opted to revoke the agreement with Fandom?
If not, then what's the deal? Because from an outsider's perspective, this appears to be nothing more than creating artificial scarcity on digital goods that, in theory, have literally an unlimited supply. I thought that D&D/Beyond was above capitalizing on FOMO but it sure seems like what's going on. And if true, what's next? NFT Dice?
Or am I being an a-hole?
I just want to point out that this isn't really a binary, there's probably a myriad of explanations between your critique of D&D Beyond's Dice as some sort of evil artificial scarcity capitalism and you being an a-hole. My guess is the reality is more nuanced between D&D Beyond's literally titled Marketplace understanding of how to move dice and the psychology behind the various critics of D&D Beyond selling digital dice in the first place. Within those explanations, D&D Beyond is neither "evil" nor are you being an a-hole.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Selling what's likely a product whose sales have bottomed out at regular dice costs at a 66% discount is not exploiting digital scarcity. It's a clearance sale (no physical inventory but simply a last call before the curated marketplace clears them out and puts something else in, as they tend to do). My guess is there's probably market research that suggests D&D Beyond users optimally entertain only x amount of digital dice options before it becomes a blur. I mean dice get pulled from the store fairly regularly and this is the first time someone is trying to wedge a wikipedia level understanding of scarcity economics in pot stirring protest at a ... 66% discount.
Dice are pulled regularly. Some of them wind up in the accounts of Master Tier subscribers at perks in due time. Some are only available for a limited time (pink fuzzy dice, and a set of pride dice, etc). How to properly price digital dice I feel is moving target for DDB, having this "clearance sale" window may give them some further pricing strategies down the line.
I mean I'm glad the OP did admit they don't really know what they're talking about, because comparing this marketplace initiative to NFT nonsense or other artificial scarcity plots is wildly associative thinking with little connection to the most likely reality. Again, neither DDB or the OP are the a-holes here. Sometimes, actually many times, there are situations where in fact there is no a-hole, which means there's no s---- to fling either. I'm guessing a relatively low selling product is being given a 2/3 discount and being retired so that eyeballs can be drawn to newer fresher dice designs in the near future (two books coming out soon, DDB tends to release dice parallel with books, among other reasons).
Compare it to actual dice online stores that need to keep their physical inventory online to sell it off. Those dice stores tend to be bloated and a frustrating user experience. I wish online dice shops had the luxury D&D Beyond has to provide a curated catalog, but they have a physical inventory requiring disposal (yes, I'm sure there's some "cost" in maintaining an item in a virtual marketplace like DDB, but "making room through closing out" is a matter of touching button which seems to be the case here). Sure there's a "get it before it's gone" old school sales gimmick, an experiment I think, but the level of cynical bordering on malicious calculation insinuated in the OP's worst case speculation seems to be too wild a pitch to connect to the sensible reality.
I guess this thread isn't really "We need to talk about Digital Dice" so much as "Can someone explain to me what a Digital Dice sale is and how come DDB doesn't keep all dice ever rendered available in perpetuity." Reality ain't always so dramatic.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I don't see anything wrong with "retiring" old designs to make way for new ones.
Really, my only request for the digital dice would be the ability to set them for specific characters. This way I wouldn't have to switch them up whenever I'm playing different characters.