Are digital-only rules acceptable?

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

4 hours ago, Lexington said:

Asking if all-digital rulebooks are acceptable in 2022 feels...uh...a bit odd to me. Can't remember the last time I brought a physical book to a game table for anything. Electronic copies of nearly all GW books are easily available if you know where to look, and every non-GW game I play has long since switched to electronic rulebooks and apps for in-game rules reference.

I think the question is much more "in an age of widespread smart devices, how long can GW keep rules gated behind physical rulebooks before it becomes a Problem"?

A lot of people, myself included, would be very upset if they moved to digital only.

some people still enjoy having the hard copy.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I'm one of those people who prefers reading things on paper (or an e-ink screen) rather than on a PC/laptop/tablet screen. Having said that, I also find searching for stuff in digital files much easier than leafing through a printed book. It's probably no surprise then, that I really like Osprey's approach to providing rules - you can have a book, PDF, or ePub, and if you buy two formats at the same time, you get a discount off of both.  (Modiphius will also give you the PDF for free if you buy the book)

On 8/22/2022 at 6:40 PM, Joe said:

Shifting to a digital-exclusive model would be incredibly discriminatory against people with visual impairments.

Is that really the case? Assuming a well-constructed PDF or ePub file, it's possible to adjust the text size to suit, remove the background to fix contrast ratios for those with low acuity, and have the text read aloud. Most platforms (even Linux!) have pretty well-developed accessibility tools these days. Obviously, the elephant in the room is access to electronic gizmos in the first place (as people with disabilities tend to have lower incomes, etc), and publishers sticking to accepted file standards.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Firedrake Cordova

[Arkangilos]

My preference is who THW (Two Hour Wargames) does it.

Every print has a PDF. If you buy the print, you get the PDF.

If the rules have some changes or aren’t clear, he’ll update the PDF, and you can download it with the corrections.

I think GW should do this. You can buy just the PDF or the Codex. If you buy the codex you get the PDF automatically.

Every time GW update the points and rules, or have faq’s, it automatically updates the PDF.

 

(it doesn’t literally have to be a pdf, but you get the point).

 

[MegaVolt87]

6 hours ago, Arkangilos said:

My preference is who THW (Two Hour Wargames) does it.

Every print has a PDF. If you buy the print, you get the PDF.

If the rules have some changes or aren’t clear, he’ll update the PDF, and you can download it with the corrections.

I think GW should do this. You can buy just the PDF or the Codex. If you buy the codex you get the PDF automatically.

Every time GW update the points and rules, or have faq’s, it automatically updates the PDF.

 

(it doesn’t literally have to be a pdf, but you get the point).

 

 

We are pretty much here at this point already, except the digital pricing is still too expensive vs the book. With the current digital pricing GW has, I buy the book and use the code in the app for the rules which are updated.