Figured this would get the most traffic here - would anyone be interested in watching a X-Wing Vassal livestream on twitch on Friday afternoon (probably 3-6 EST then 7-12 EST) I've streamed conventional games and such on twitch and I always enjoy playing more when I have an audience to converse with. There will be a link up in this thread and the battle reports subforum with a link to the stream

// Shirako

My question is if FFG is alright with people using Vassal to play their games without purchasing their product? I know GW slapped down Vassal 40k for IP Infringement

Shirako, I think it'd be great to have more X-Wing streamers out there, but personally there'd have to be a pretty good reason for me to watch a Vassal stream instead of just playing or watching a game on Vassal myself. I mostly watch twitch streams on my phone (if I'm on a computer where I can watch a stream, I'd fire up Vassal or MTGO instead), and I don't know how watchable a Vassal game would be on a mobile device. Perhaps if you could line up some high profile players to either play against or comment on a game with you, I would be more persuaded to make time to watch your stream instead of just playing on Vassal myself.

@GML, Shutting down Vassal would only hurt FFG's sales, and they probably figured that out a long time ago, considering that Vassal has been a part of this game since nearly the beginning. Vassal is mostly a way for invested players to cram in more games when they don't have time to play IRL, and Vassal is a great tool for building the online X-Wing community, allowing normal players to watch and play with the best players in the world in real time. A thriving online community is important because it shows new players doing an initial internet search that the game is alive and well. The experience of playing on Vassal pales in comparison to playing with actual models on a full size table. FFG knows this and knows that almost nobody is playing Vassal without buying the real thing first, that playing on Vassal only makes people want to go out and buy the real thing, that Vassal supplements the real game but will never replace it. Shutting down online play would be one of the worst things FFG could do to this game.

By contrast, GW is not a game company, they're a hobby/model company that created an accompanying set of game rules to give people an excuse to buy models. They know they have customers that hate modelling and only buy overpriced DIY model kits and paints because they like the game that comes with it (myself at one time), so a system that allows people to skip the boring modelling and go straight to the action for free is a threat to GW's sales. FFG is the opposite, they are a game company that use beautiful pre-painted pre-built models to sell the main attraction, which is the game itself. People come into X-Wing because of the models (myself included) and stay for the gameplay, so a system that doesn't feature the thing that gets people into X-Wing in the first place (the models) isn't a threat to FFG's sales the way it is to GW's.