regarding software license fees and development

Posted on By Wil

Earlier this afternoon, I tried to open up Echofon, my desktop Twitter client of choice. It gave me a persistent “401” error, which meant that it wasn’t working with Twitter’s API. I did some searching and learned that Twitter had changed its API, and if I wanted to continue using Echofon, I’d have to upgrade to the current version.

No problem! I upgrade things all the time! I hit the update link in the menu, and the app told me that I was using the current version. Uh oh. A little more searching, and I learned that Echofon wasn’t supporting the version I bought, but was supporting a version that I could buy through the App Store. I didn’t want to pay again for the same app, so I looked for something different, and now I’m very happily using Tweetbot.

An interesting thing happened, though, that I thought was worth discussing in more depth than 140 characters at a time allows.

I said:

A non-zero number of developers were offended, and a growing shitstorm swept across my desktop. The general gist of the response was that I suggested users should expect free support forever and never pay to upgrade software. I read what I believe to be a large number of false equivalencies, and rather than try to respond point by  point on Twitter, I’ll talk about it here where we can probably have an interesting and informative discussion.

First off, I never suggested that developers should not get paid for their work, because I do not believe that. I did not mean to imply that all upgrades (like OS 1 -> OS 2) should just be free. I also realize that, in this specific instance, Echofon did nothing wrong. The developer ended support for its desktop version (which I had bought a license for in-app) and began to support mobile and App Store versions. So I would be wrong to expect Echofon to give me the App Store version because I’d already paid for the version I was using. In other words, I wasn’t paying twice for the same app; I was paying twice for essentially the same app that would be supported through different channels. I still don’t feel okay doing that, and I think it’s silly to expect users to pay again because Twitter changed its API, but I support Echofon’s decision to conduct their business the way that they feel is best for them. For the record, someone at Echofon offered to give me a license key to use with the App Store if I sent an e-mail copy of my receipt to them. I don’t know if they’re extending this offer to everyone.

One of the many false equivalencies was “would you do Star Trek again for free if it was reshot to 16:9”. This is absurd, not only because I’m more suited to play Riker than Wesley, but the more I thought about it, I began to consider what this person may have been saying.

What I think this person may have been saying was something like, “if you were asked to do your job again because the technology had changed since you first did it, would you think it’s reasonable to not be paid for your job.” Another wondered if someone who paid for w00tstock 4.0 could reasonably expect to get into w00tstock 5.0 without paying. Again, I believe this is a false equivalency (the w00tstocks are entirely different shows — versions, if you will –, while the specific piece of software I was talking about had stopped working and would not work again if I didn’t pay for the same software in a different distribution channel), but I see where that person is coming from. If I was a software developer and I read my tweet, I may have pulled out my jump to conclusions mat and decided that Wil Wheaton was saying my job isn’t worth getting paid for, and what I make isn’t worth supporting. Man, that Wil Wheaton is really a dick!

So, to be clear: everyone who makes things deserves to be compensated for their work. I fully support developers who make awesome software (and Echofon is awesome) and fully believe that those developers should be able to earn a living from their work.

Further: I would never expect that I am entitled to OSX 10.5 simply because I bought OSX 10.4, especially if the new OSX was fundamentally different from the old one. However, I do believe that it would be wrong for Apple to make me pay an additional fee because something I already bought from them stopped working through no fault of my own.

This point is where I feel like what I was saying and what developers on Twitter heard diverged. If you invest lots of time and energy into a new version of your product, and you believe it’s fair to charge users for that new version, that’s entirely your prerogative. I do not believe that it’s right to charge users for what’s essentially a maintenance update, but as I am not a developer, I can’t say if that’s fair or not.

What I do know is that I will always support development of projects I love and which provide me value when I use them. All things (in this case, features) being essentially equal, though, I will give my money to the developers who provide me with the best service experience, and in this case, I got a better service experience from Tweetbot than Echofon. Your milage may vary.

Beginning production on Tabletop Season 2.5

Posted on By Wil

Last year, we shot the entire season of Tabletop in 10 straight days. I think we maybe took two days off in there somewhere, but my memory is a haze of rolling dice (badly), having all kinds of fun with awesome people, and losing games. Oh, the losing games.

This season, we had to split production into two different weeks, and in three hours, we’ll start production on the back half of season two. To prepare, I’ve spent tons of time in the last month or so playing the games we’re featuring, so I not only know them well enough to guide players who are new to them, but maybe have a chance at just winning one fucking game on my show. Just one, Gaming Gods, that’s all I’m asking for.  IS THAT SO WRONG?!

Um. Sorry. Lots of coffee at the moment.

So last night I set my alarm for 7am, managed to fall asleep around midnight even though I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve … and then woke up at 5:45 because I’m so damn excited to get into production. It’s going to hurt my brain around the time we wrap tonight, I’m sure, but the excitement and joy of playing games I love with awesome people is going to keep me going all day, like it does during every day of production.

I’m sure I’ll be posting pictures and maybe a few stupid cell phone videos from the set on Twitter, so if you want to see them, I’m @wilw.

I have this idea, and I need your help to make it happen: I’ve heard amazing stories from thousands of people over the last year about how Tabletop has touched their lives in a positive way. I would love to share some of those stories with my crew, so they know how much the show they’re working on matters to people they don’t even know. If you have one of those stories, would you please post it in a comment here? Every morning, I’ll print one or two out and read them to the crew before we start shooting.

 

in which i play games for my job, and i am grateful

Posted on By Wil

Last night, my friend and associate Tabletop Producer, Boyan, came over to play some games with me as we prepare for season 2.5 of Tabletop, which we start filming a week from tomorrow.

We’re going to play Ticket To Ride: Europe, because I think it’s a wonderful example of a Tabletop game that’s a variation on a theme, with some minor changes, that’s just as fun to play as the original. In fact, this is the version of Ticket To Ride that made me fall in love with the game. I didn’t like the original the first few times I played it (it wasn’t the game’s fault; I was carrying some baggage from a few really bad games of Power Grid with me), and the smaller map, stations, and tunnels made Europe a game that I still love to play.

2013-05-30 20.22.34

As you can see by the blurry hand up there, trying to hit the table, I asked Anne if she’d come back on the show and play this game with us.

2013-05-30 21.00.28

She said yes, so the three of us played this game and a couple others last night, to prepare for filming next week. And not that it matters, but I won all the games we played, because the cameras weren’t rolling.

But here’s the thing … for almost 4 hours yesterday, I got to sit in my dining room and have a beer while I played boardgames I love with my friend and my wife … and it was legitimately for my job! I was actually working and loving it. So I want to take a moment and just say thank you to everyone who watches Tabletop, and everyone on our crew and at Geek and Sundry, for making this life I currently have possible.

Phoenix Comic Con 2013

Posted on By Wil

This year’s PHXCC had everything from a brand new Awesome Hour to shenanigans with John Barrowman to a convention-center-clearing fire alarm.

It was certainly memorable, and a whole lot of fun for me and Anne.

We got to Phoenix Thursday evening, and prowled the con floor during preview night. I picked up some really great art and some Team Hawkeye stuff (Hawkguy is my favourite comic this year), and caught up with some friends who I only see at cons, but never have time to talk to when we’re there.

Friday was pretty quiet during the day, giving me tons of time to vist with the people who came to meet me and get my autograph on stuff. I never felt rushed, which made me really happy. The photo-ops at Phoenix CC were really brilliantly run, too. I never felt like a single person was rushed, I got to talk to everyone, I had all sorts of fun posing for silly pictures, and I think everyone left happy.

Friday night, I did my awesome hour, which ended up being an awesome hour and twenty minutes, almost 40 minutes of which was me doing a stand up set I’ve been working on since January. It ended up being way more dirty than I intended, but the audience (just over 1100 people!) didn’t seem to mind, and actually seemed to find it pretty funny. It was tremendously fun for me, and allowed me to introduce the concept of the cum-slick Zamboni to our mutual horror and delight.

Uh, you should probably not read the end of that previous paragraph if you’re easily offended.

Saturday was incredibly busy from the moment we walked into the convention center until we left about 9 hours later. The cosplay at the show was just amazing, as you’ll see in the photos I’m attaching at the end of this post.

Sunday was … eventful. After a morning of meeting people, signing things, an incredibly fun panel with John Scalzi that I hope ends up online, and picking up the last few purchases I wanted from the vendors, I was in my final photo-op of the convention, when the fire alarm went off.

Fire alarms go off at cons all the time (the fire alarm in my hotel went off on Saturday night, because teenagers think that sort of thing is awesome and hilarious. Memo to teenagers: you are wrong. It is not either of those things. It is childish and annoying and can end up actually hurting people if there’s a panic. Also, walking up 14 flights of stairs because the elevators were shut off makes me want to kick you in the face nine times) so I looked up, when “huh, some jackass pulled the fire alarm,” and prepared to keep taking pictures. But that’s when the staff of the con came into the photo area and made it clear that this wasn’t a joke, it was a real thing, and everyone needed to get out of the building. Right now.

Yeah. 40,000 people needed to get out of the building. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, a lot, as it turns out … but nothing did. It further turns out that nerds are great at following directions, not panicking, and leaving the safe confines of our preferred gathering — the convention — for the deadly exposure of the outdoors and our natural enemy, the Sun.

We were outside for about 15 minutes before the fire department sounded the all clear and let us all back inside. I wasn’t ever able to get a completely official report, but I understand that there was smoke in a meeting room that had nothing to do with our convention.

I will share one observation: I’m 40, and I’ve been dealing with this sort of thing my whole life. Fire alarms go off, and most of the time it’s a false alarm. No big deal. But when I looked around at the younger people, the teenagers and the twentysomethings, I saw a real fear in their eyes as they waited to find out what was going on. I heard lots of them talking about the bombing in Boston, and how they were genuinely afraid that there was some kind of bomb or something inside the building.  It says something about the different worlds we’ve grown up in, that my first reaction was “not this again” and theirs was “oh shit I hope it’s not a bomb.”

After the all-clear was given, we moved back into the building, and I went back to resume photos. It took a bit of time, but the attendees came back in, and I stayed for about another hour to get as many photos taken for as many people as possible, before I had to go to the airport.

A funny thing happened at Phoenix Comicon this year: I never got exhausted. I never felt completely drained or burned out. Sure, I got tired (it’s a lot of work and requires a lot of emotional energy), but I never felt … used up. I also felt this way leaving Ottawa Comicon, and I’m hoping to get a hat trick at Denver Comicon this weekend, because a week from today I start production on season 2.5 of Tabletop and it would be great to go into that energized, instead of wiped out.

I’ll explore why I’m feeling this way instead of the other way on a future episode of Radio Free Burrito. Now, it’s time for pictures from the convention, which I’m putting behind a jump, because there are a lot of them:

(more…)

My Fast and Furious Fan Fiction

Posted on By Wil

Hank Green posted a Fast and Furious thing on his Tumblr, and wondered where the novelization tie-ins were … so, being easily amused, I answered the call:

The Fastest and the Furioustest

I know, right? Don’t be discouraged, though; with enough practice, you too can capture the essence of these magnificent films for yourself, just as I have.