I wasn't asking him to subscribe.
I was telling him that the best way to get the D20 material is to buy the one
that has D20 material in it, and by doing so he'd serve the whole D20 community.
No, i wouldn't. WotC/Paizo would never know that i liked that issue more because it had OGC. Writing them a letter would let them know that i was pleased with it--and they'd never know whether i, as one person out of tens of thousands, also bought that issue, or whether i generally bought the magazine, beyond my say-so. Voting with your dollars, when it's for a multivariat and idea-laden commodity like a magazine, is a very sloppy way to make your voice heard. Sales could go up for that issue, and they could conclude any number of changes were the reason for the better sales--and they might be right, since it's likely that no one factor caused all the additional sales. I could easily be the only person who bought the magazine for OGC, but normally wouldn't have, while they saw a 5% boost in sales solely because of, say, an article on variant wizard classes.
And, to be clear, i don't really care if i support the "D20 community"--i have a very strong interest in supporting the "open gaming community", it just so happens that most people who share that interest with me are D20 System developers. In fact, frankly, i'd rather any of a long list of other systems were dominant, rather than D20 System (for starters, something *much* more beginner-friendly, to more easily grow the hobby/market). And, i *really* wish there was a viable alternative ogl to the WotC OGL, which i think subverts the very open content development ideals it purports to espouse. [Luckily, on this last point, it is possible to use it in a way that i consider more in accord with open-content development, i just can't force others to do the same.]
But, in this particular case, it is much simpler than that, with no high-falutin' ideology involved: there's no way that the content in question is worth the ~$5 it'd cost me to buy the magazine. And, having looked at a fair number of recent Dragon magazines (i have friends with subscriptions), i'd be absolutely amazed if any recent Dragon mag, in toto, was worth $5 to me. I'd love to have a conceptual summary of that particular article--i don't need numbers or other crunch--but if the choice is nothing or buy it, i'll do without. It's just not that important to me (especially when i'm unlikely to use any of it verbatim, due to all the changes i'm making in other areas).
--
woodelf <*>
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"If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats." Richard Bach -- "Illusions" _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
