Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

The developers at Wizards of the Coast have been the kings of their industries - tabletop RPGa and card games - for years. Yet it's no surprise that the time of many tabletop gamers has come under attack by digital gaming, specifically massively multiplayer online games. So it came as no surprise when WotC announced that they were developing a series of digital programs, collectively dubbed D&D Insider.  Ten Ton Hammer's Cody "Micajah" Bye has been closely following the development of D&D Insider, and he recently interview Wizard's VP of Digital Gaming, Randy Buehler, to learn about the status of D&D Insider. Keep on reading to learn more!

Ten Ton Hammer: Do you ever plan on introducing intricate animations to the virtual gaming table? It seems like it’d really make for an incredibly immersive experience if gamers could see their warriors and wizards move even the smallest amount.

Randy: Our goal is to replicate the tabletop gaming experience, not to create a video game. There’s a ton of video games out there (both good ones and bad ones) but none of them have ever captured the essence of what makes D&D great: the improvisation and the imagination. For example, once you start animating the miniatures then will folks start to limit their actions to those that have been animated? It’s a slippery slope that we have deliberately chosen to avoid.

• You can read the entire exclusive D&D Insider interview by clicking here!