GameSpy has an interview that goes a bit more into what to expect from Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. I’m not sold on the D&D Insider subscription idea, and it seems like there’s a trend toward player-created resources being co-opted by the company that creates the game, rather than leaving it to grassroots efforts like, well, Ex Libris Nocturnis. I find that a bit worrying, to be honest. Not just because I run ELN, though as much as certain competitors have attracted some of our users, the revamped forums at White Wolf’s own site didn’t exactly help. ;P

Anyway, fan sites have always been an integral way of making players feel like they are giving something back to the greater community of gamers, and getting recognition when they do. That they were never as large, or all-inclusive, is actually a positive, because the sheer scale of what Wizards is proposing not only makes it harder to be noticed, it is more intimidating for a new person looking to contribute. Not to mention that, if Blizzard’s World of Warcraft Forums are any kind of indicator, a central (and though I hate to use the term, mainstream) gathering point demonstrates John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory quite handily.

I guess we’ll have to wait for December’s Races and Classes preview to find out much more.