Wizards of the Coast aims to expand its presence in the digital media field

PAX07:
Wizards of the Coast aims to expand its presence in the digital media field
By
Michael Lafferty

Gleemax to
open online doors a little wider

Wizards of the
Coast has long been at the center of the tabletop gaming industry. With Magic:
The Gathering and D&D, the company is the frontrunner, or – as vice president of
Digital Gaming Randy Buehler says – it is the “800 .lbs gorilla in the trading
card game.”

But WotC is
first to admit that it caters to a niche group and that group is starting to
shrink a bit as the core hobby group ages. There are not a lot of younger
players entering the arena, though the gamers that would be likely to jump into
the genre are out there. It is merely a case of them, maybe, not being aware of
the community and events, or even how to play the games that are very popular.

To try to fill
that void and to make the tabletop gaming world more accessible, WotC is
introducing a new multimedia concept called Gleemax, a Web site that will have a
variety of uses, not only as an entry point for tabletop gamers (card and
miniatures), but also to serve as a portal for other games, events and the like.

“We are a niche
company,” stated Randy Buehler, vice president of digital gaming, “we know that
but we take pretty good care of our guy.”

Who is the WotC
guy? Demographics show the gamer is male, 16-34 years old who plays an average
of eight hours a week. Gleemax is being built to cater to that gamer, but – as
Buehler was quick to point out – it is also hoping to broaden the fan base with
a social network consisting of three pillars: editorial content, community and
games.

“Gleemax is the
myspace.com for gamers,” Buehler said.

The editorial
voice aims to be the champion of great games and it is intended to be both gamer
friendly and a home for gamers. The site itself will be free to access and it
will have an Indie Games page to market developers’ digital distribution of
games that receive the Wizards of the Coast seal of approval.

“We want to try
to turn the Wizards of the Coast seal of approval into something of value,”
Buehler said.

Small
developers will have their games looked at and the best will be featured on the
Indie Games section. Of course, one of the arms of WotC is Avalon Hill and
Wizards is already working on taking some of the Avalon Hill board games and
transferring them to online games. When Gleemax launches in full (the current
timeline calls for a public alpha in September followed by a public beta in
November and the site to be fully functional by February 08), Wizards hopes to
have seven games ready for the site. Some of the games will follow a
subscription but put it in the confines of turn-based gaming with players only
able to make one move a day. One of the games is Uncivilized, a title that lets
players control a tribe of goblins and competing with up to 47 other gamers. The
game is expected to last 2-3 months.

When one thinks
of Wizards, one cannot help but think of Dungeons and Dragons, and that
franchise is getting some love in the new digital vision that Wizards has. D&D
Insider will allow the tabletop game to actualize on monitors. There will be the
same format as a D&D tabletop game with players guiding avatars through a
dungeon controlled by the dungeon master. However, the difference will be that
players will now be able to better visualize the settings. A tool set will allow
the dungeon master to create the dungeon, complete with hidden elements, and
players can build customized avatars to move through it. While some of the rules
will be affixed to the online version, the whole of the game will still rest
firmly in the hands of the DM.

While the scope
of this may sound ambitious, Wizards is not going it alone. It has put together
an advisory board that is comprised of members of the gaming press and even some
selected gamers. And WotC has its battle plan mapped out: the first step will be
to recruit existing tabletop gamers and then work on exposure to the peripheral
group of new gamers or those who are looking at the variety of tabletop and
board games for which Wizards is known for the first time.