So I've seen a lot of people showing outrage or understanding for some sort of subscription related to the content provided with D&D Beyond. Some people have suggested a one time purchase of content/books but there's a lot of people who have already bought the books twice for Fantasy Grounds and in actual hardcover format. Well my idea is to attach your books to a serial number that is attached to your WotC number. Wizards could host an event through local gaming stores similar to a midnight release for M:tG product releases where you bring in your books and get your DCI number scanned, then the employees would have serial numbers they'd attach to the back cover of your books. Then you would be able to type these numbers in on the application to give your account access. Wizards could charge a small $5 per book fee so most would be paying $15 to have their books digitized and then since it's an official event the stores could monitor serial codes going out by simply not giving a physical book that already has a serial code sticker, another sticker. This prevents people from trying to get extra codes. It also earns wizards and local gaming stores some extra income and users of the app don't have to pay so much to get content access. It will bring people to a local store for a D&D event too, which in most areas is unheard of! Let me know what you think, I'd love to argue and discuss as to why this could or couldn't work!
This is a feature my group have been discussing for a long time, I'm happy to pay extra when purchasing a physical copy to get a code to use for a digital access as well.
While I love the idea in general, the problem with a sticker, any sticker, is that with enough effort, someone can take it off a book, then resell the book on the used market to someone else, they put a new sticker in it and now Wizard's has effectively sold two Beyond subscriptions for one book. Now if the person at the gaming store physically wrote a number in the book that would be more secure. On top of that, if wizards had all numbers required to be written in the exact same spot, say top left of inside front cover, there would be little doubt on subsequent viewings of a book as to whether the book was linked to an id. Then again, if the guy at the gaming store is an idiont and either writes it in the wrong place or uses, say , a pencil then all best are off.
I really wish that Wizards had had the forethought when they started publishing 5e books to print a unique hashed ID in each book. That is very hard to counterfeit. You can't replace the number or change the number in any way because then the hash verification of the number will fail. It would be immediately verifiable. It's what they use for concert tickets. It's nearly impossible to generate counterfeit numbers so it's very secure.
Any scheme that would attempt to assign a unique id to a book after the fact will have ways for people abuse. While I hope smarter people than us find a way to do this, I suspect there is too much uncertainty (and very little desire) by wizards to do this.
I really don't think adding a code to a physical book is going to work out logistically. At the very least it'll be a small nightmare. But... since Curse is owned by Twitch, and Twitch is owned by Amazon, perhaps having a contract between WotC and Amazon to send 'new' purchasers of books a one-time code could work. Kinda similar to how they send pre-order items for games.
I would probably purchase individual books' content on D&D Beyond, but since I already have the ones I need in physical form, I wouldn't pay full price for digital copies. A small subscription fee would also work for me, as this service does truly improve ease of use.
While it would be wonderful to have a discount or freebie from physical books, I note that the OP's suggestion would be difficult or impossible to implement overseas. We are lots of players all around the globe ...
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So I've seen a lot of people showing outrage or understanding for some sort of subscription related to the content provided with D&D Beyond. Some people have suggested a one time purchase of content/books but there's a lot of people who have already bought the books twice for Fantasy Grounds and in actual hardcover format. Well my idea is to attach your books to a serial number that is attached to your WotC number. Wizards could host an event through local gaming stores similar to a midnight release for M:tG product releases where you bring in your books and get your DCI number scanned, then the employees would have serial numbers they'd attach to the back cover of your books. Then you would be able to type these numbers in on the application to give your account access. Wizards could charge a small $5 per book fee so most would be paying $15 to have their books digitized and then since it's an official event the stores could monitor serial codes going out by simply not giving a physical book that already has a serial code sticker, another sticker. This prevents people from trying to get extra codes. It also earns wizards and local gaming stores some extra income and users of the app don't have to pay so much to get content access. It will bring people to a local store for a D&D event too, which in most areas is unheard of! Let me know what you think, I'd love to argue and discuss as to why this could or couldn't work!
Great thoughts, you should post them here on the mega-thread: Pricing, Subscription Mega Thread
I so heartedly concur with the original poster's request ... easy ... accessible ... not totally over the top price wise.
This is a feature my group have been discussing for a long time, I'm happy to pay extra when purchasing a physical copy to get a code to use for a digital access as well.
While I love the idea in general, the problem with a sticker, any sticker, is that with enough effort, someone can take it off a book, then resell the book on the used market to someone else, they put a new sticker in it and now Wizard's has effectively sold two Beyond subscriptions for one book. Now if the person at the gaming store physically wrote a number in the book that would be more secure. On top of that, if wizards had all numbers required to be written in the exact same spot, say top left of inside front cover, there would be little doubt on subsequent viewings of a book as to whether the book was linked to an id. Then again, if the guy at the gaming store is an idiont and either writes it in the wrong place or uses, say , a pencil then all best are off.
I really wish that Wizards had had the forethought when they started publishing 5e books to print a unique hashed ID in each book. That is very hard to counterfeit. You can't replace the number or change the number in any way because then the hash verification of the number will fail. It would be immediately verifiable. It's what they use for concert tickets. It's nearly impossible to generate counterfeit numbers so it's very secure.
Any scheme that would attempt to assign a unique id to a book after the fact will have ways for people abuse. While I hope smarter people than us find a way to do this, I suspect there is too much uncertainty (and very little desire) by wizards to do this.
I really don't think adding a code to a physical book is going to work out logistically. At the very least it'll be a small nightmare. But... since Curse is owned by Twitch, and Twitch is owned by Amazon, perhaps having a contract between WotC and Amazon to send 'new' purchasers of books a one-time code could work. Kinda similar to how they send pre-order items for games.
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I would probably purchase individual books' content on D&D Beyond, but since I already have the ones I need in physical form, I wouldn't pay full price for digital copies. A small subscription fee would also work for me, as this service does truly improve ease of use.
While it would be wonderful to have a discount or freebie from physical books, I note that the OP's suggestion would be difficult or impossible to implement overseas. We are lots of players all around the globe ...