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I am not sure what you are getting at. Obviously, for different people there are different last straws.
Well, yes, but I read quite a few posts over the Internet, on forums and blogs, about "last straws" from people who then continue to support WotC until something else happens (or who has withdrawn support from WotC ages ago), and then loudly claims that the latest issue is the last straw.
And around and around it goes. Which basically means that there certainly are last straws, but probably not as many as one could be led to believe reading feedback on the Internet.
/M
__________________ iAltdorf. An interactive map of the capital of the Empire in WFRP! Download today! Can be used in any fantasy campaign!
http://altdorfer.blogspot.com - Check out the Altdorf Correspondent! A WFRP blog about life in the Imperial capital.
"All editions of D&D are awesome." - Fifth Element (EN World Forums, 2008)
”The tendency to confuse personal taste with objective quality is nearly universal.” - Robin D. Laws – Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering (Steve Jackson Games, 2002)
Since cutting off legal access to PDFs won't diminish piracy at all I think you're wrong, Ryan - unless WotC's decision makers have missed the last 10 years of internet piracy.
Given that I do not think WotC's decision makers are that stupid I think this is not piracy-related, but related to remove legal access to older editions.
Have to agree with most people in that this is a huge PR blunder but that at this point is a dead horse. A bit ago I read something up on Teleread which now seems to be down (edit it's back up). Just in case it comes back up here's the link. The quote I'm wondering about is this:
Anyone else heard that the piracy they're pursing is from dead-tree scans? Was this just something I missed in all the pages, or just random speculation on the article writer?
Here's what I think: It's because something has changed. WotC isn't doing this because they've suddenly become aware of everyday, run-of-the-mill piracy. They're doing it because the amount, or nature, of the piracy has sifted substantially in recent months. Maybe this new piracy already threatens their business, or maybe it's trending sharply in that direction. Whatever the case, it's beyond the routine.
I think it may be interesting to consider the point you're making in the context that this is the first edition of D&D to be released and targeted - at least to some degree - to the first generation to grow up with broadband internet.
I saw a documentary not so long ago about the topic of electronic downloading, in particular the topic of downloading music. There were quite a few people on the show in the 15-25 year range who admitted to downloading music illegaly and thought nothing of it; a common perspective was that if the material is available to download for free then why should anyone pay for it?
A launch of a new edition with electronic product support to such an audience could understandly see a spike in piracy of the product to a degree that would alarm WotC and perhaps goad them to take this action - not to mention the prelaunch leak of the 4E core, which certainly could not have helped matters. Still, I wish they would have put a little more thought into their response as I doubt it will generate much for them besides customer resentment.
Well, yes, but I read quite a few posts over the Internet, on forums and blogs, about "last straws" from people who then continue to support WotC until something else happens (or who has withdrawn support from WotC ages ago), and then loudly claims that the latest issue is the last straw.
And around and around it goes. Which basically means that there certainly are last straws, but probably not as many as one could be led to believe reading feedback on the Internet.
/M
In my case it does not matter what would be the last straw for me. I do not play 4E, I play 3.5, and WotC decided they won't sell the books I wanted (MIC, Complete Mage among other things) to me anymore. I did not decide anything, it was decided for me.
Well, you did decide not to buy the books while they were available. That's one thing we all can take with us from this.
PDFs are not guaranteed to be available forever. Which is a shame, but then again, I didn't buy PDFs so it's easy for me to not be bothered about it.
/M
__________________ iAltdorf. An interactive map of the capital of the Empire in WFRP! Download today! Can be used in any fantasy campaign!
http://altdorfer.blogspot.com - Check out the Altdorf Correspondent! A WFRP blog about life in the Imperial capital.
"All editions of D&D are awesome." - Fifth Element (EN World Forums, 2008)
”The tendency to confuse personal taste with objective quality is nearly universal.” - Robin D. Laws – Robin’s Laws of Good Gamemastering (Steve Jackson Games, 2002)
They pretty much are, actually. I know you meant "legal PDFs," but that's the thing: taking away the legal versions isn't going to affect the illegal versions. Except to make them more popular for less guilt and stigma.
__________________ Jeff Wilder, San Francisco Bay Area If your sig is longer than your posts, your sig is too
long. Nobody reads it, they just get annoyed by it. And if you bore me, you lose your soul to me. - Belly
Why the gap when they are unavailable? If you plan to sell them yourself why not start selling them yourself and then cut off the other retailers. No, I don't think this is part of the current plan except "down the line".
For legal reasons? (exclusivity contracts?)
For avoiding damaging industry-business and customer PRs reasons?
For technical reasons? (not ready yet but soon to be?)
For beneficial marketing reasons that come along with issuing the lawsuits?
All of the above???
So why would WotC suddenly make a policy about-face, and launch a major (for WotC, at least) and probably very expensive legal offensive?
Here's what I think: It's because something has changed. WotC isn't doing this because they've suddenly become aware of everyday, run-of-the-mill piracy. They're doing it because the amount, or nature, of the piracy has sifted substantially in recent months. Maybe this new piracy already threatens their business, or maybe it's trending sharply in that direction. Whatever the case, it's beyond the routine.
So why did they cut off all PDFs, and without warning? I don't know, but I suspect it's no accident. It's probably a tactical move related to the legal offensive. Here's something else I know for sure: Scott had to know there would be PR fallout for this approach (though I don't think anyone could have predicted the depth of vitriol). He chose to pay that price, so it must have been pretty important to the success of the legal action.
Again, this is my speculation. Slightly informed speculation, maybe, but still pure speculation and nothing else. Like everyone else, I'm waiting to see what happens next.
(Hi, Sean!)
Here's my speculation.
What changed was the resurgance of people picking up older versions of the game. This competed directly with the current version. That coupled with piracy which has always been around spurred a strategy of pulling ALL PDFs and using piracy and the legitimate court case as the scapegoat. All older product gets pulled along with new product, thus ending the self competition and forcing price increases in the after market sales of older edition material.
There will never be an end to piracy, or even a slowing of it. The RIAA proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt, but piracy makes an oh so handy scapegoat to allow the pulling of the older edition material.
IF my speculation is correct, this is what will happen:
1) 4E Electronic Media will be made available via the DDI in the not too distant future, and will be announced as the next "feature" in DDI.
2) Promises will be made that older material will appear in DDI at some unspecified future date. This alleviates the nerd rage and is the "I'll never beat you again" phase of the spousal abuse syndrome.
3) We will never see the older material legally available in electronic media again.
Yeah, I know I'm saying WotC is lying to us.
But I would say, "look at the pattern of the past two years starting with the promise that 4E was not forthcoming."
After a little research I can attest that the majority of 4E pirated PDF products currently available are not scans but official copies. The difference being a rather diminished file size (close to a third of scanned books) as well as a far better index, easier to search file and the fact you can copy paste text and images easier than you could from even the best quality of scan. Make of that what you will.
I think it may be interesting to consider the point you're making in the context that this is the first edition of D&D to be released and targeted - at least to some degree - to the first generation to grow up with broadband internet.
I saw a documentary not so long ago about the topic of electronic downloading, in particular the topic of downloading music. There were quite a few people on the show in the 15-25 year range who admitted to downloading music illegaly and thought nothing of it; a common perspective was that if the material is available to download for free then why should anyone pay for it?
A launch of a new edition with electronic product support to such an audience could understandly see a spike in piracy of the product to a degree that would alarm WotC and perhaps goad them to take this action - not to mention the prelaunch leak of the 4E core, which certainly could not have helped matters. Still, I wish they would have put a little more thought into their response as I doubt it will generate much for them besides customer resentment.
This is a valid logical argument: trying to educate public regarding the new generation. But then why this lightning like reaction? Why having to stop the PDFs? It seems less about educating and more about denying and this is what it seems that has alienated customer base and industry (see white wolf promotion for example).
Last edited by xechnao; 8th April 2009 at 01:24 PM..
After a little research I can attest that the majority of 4E pirated PDF products currently available are not scans but official copies. The difference being a rather diminished file size (close to a third of scanned books) as well as a far better index, easier to search file and the fact you can copy paste text and images easier than you could from even the best quality of scan. Make of that what you will.
Reminds me of the biggest problem of any DRM measurement that exists:
It's more a hassle to the customer than to someone using a pirated version. Sure, the pirates first have to crack your DRM, but in the end that will always be possible, since the protected material will eventually "leak out" unprotected to the users eyes, and shortly before that, it will be in unprotected digital form. (Until we have brainware encryption/decryption.)
Without legally available PDFs, people have to use the scanning route, and that doesn't get you the same results as the original PDFs.
I suppose the closest one could come to this would be creating watermarks embedded in the illustrations in a PDF. The only way to remove them would be to remove them from the image, which would likely affect its quality (due to the way image compression works) - but would this be enough to stop it? I doubt it. Ugly illustrations with rules text is still better than no rules text at all.
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Last edited by Mustrum_Ridcully; 8th April 2009 at 01:46 PM..
using piracy and the legitimate court case as the scapegoat.
You know, I work from a marketing and PR budget. Although I've never done so, I suppose I could imagine someday having to use some of that budget to give me a scapegoat for something.
But could I imagine spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars? Legal cases are expensive. Cross-border legal cases involving two foreign countries? Not a very good RoI for the PR budget.
No, this legal case is important to WotC. Really important. Probably a lot more important than the sales lost by pulling all PDFs, and apparently even more important than all the ill-will that's been generated. WotC didn't pour all these resources into a scapegoat.
No, this legal case is important to WotC. Really important. Probably a lot more important than the sales lost by pulling all PDFs, and apparently even more important than all the ill-will that's been generated.
I'm still in search of the mechanic by which pulling their PDFs helps in a legal entanglement, Charles. Can you shed some light on that, even if purely hypothetically?
__________________ Jeff Wilder, San Francisco Bay Area If your sig is longer than your posts, your sig is too
long. Nobody reads it, they just get annoyed by it. And if you bore me, you lose your soul to me. - Belly
Hmm, is it possible that because of the streamlined and balanced crunchy gamist nature of 4e, content has gained more gamist value than "fantasy environment immersion and inspiration" value and so text books could eventually seem less and less appealing than digital pdfs regarding product utility? It seems the game could very well have been made on a card format instead of a book format (except adventures-scenarios) - multiclassing and dualclassing seem the most serious reasons for a game player to be bying whole books.
So they could be afraid of some kind of fan base pdf trend developing in expense of buying the text books -and since pdfs may have less material value than text books, they could also have less long lasting appeal (because their value is mostly connected to their gamist utility) which may mean fewer customers in the long run. Add to this trend the fact that pdfs are highly subjecticable to piracy since they have less product value quality to oppose it by being mostly valued by their gamist utility and you may have a receipt for "disaster" regarding the long standing profitability of 4e.
This may be a possibility regarding what they are thinking regarding pdfs.
No, this legal case is important to WotC. Really important. Probably a lot more important than the sales lost by pulling all PDFs, and apparently even more important than all the ill-will that's been generated. WotC didn't pour all these resources into a scapegoat.
Important as what? As the financial result of the lawsuit? As a campaign against piracy that will put it to an end so they could sell more pdfs in the future?
What changed was the resurgance of people picking up older versions of the game. This competed directly with the current version. That coupled with piracy which has always been around spurred a strategy of pulling ALL PDFs and using piracy and the legitimate court case as the scapegoat. All older product gets pulled along with new product, thus ending the self competition and forcing price increases in the after market sales of older edition material.
There will never be an end to piracy, or even a slowing of it. The RIAA proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt, but piracy makes an oh so handy scapegoat to allow the pulling of the older edition material.
IF my speculation is correct, this is what will happen:
1) 4E Electronic Media will be made available via the DDI in the not too distant future, and will be announced as the next "feature" in DDI.
2) Promises will be made that older material will appear in DDI at some unspecified future date. This alleviates the nerd rage and is the "I'll never beat you again" phase of the spousal abuse syndrome.
3) We will never see the older material legally available in electronic media again.
Yeah, I know I'm saying WotC is lying to us.
But I would say, "look at the pattern of the past two years starting with the promise that 4E was not forthcoming."
I agree completely, and with the additional thought that we won't get a good honest answer from WOTC on the pulling the pdf's because "It has to do with a pending legal action and it is our policy not to comment on anything related to a pending legal action." Blah Blah Blah...
__________________ ~Joe
If you like what I said, throw me some XP. I was a goblin sharpshooter for far too long.
I think it may be interesting to consider the point you're making in the context that this is the first edition of D&D to be released and targeted - at least to some degree - to the first generation to grow up with broadband internet.
I saw a documentary not so long ago about the topic of electronic downloading, in particular the topic of downloading music. There were quite a few people on the show in the 15-25 year range who admitted to downloading music illegaly and thought nothing of it; a common perspective was that if the material is available to download for free then why should anyone pay for it?
A launch of a new edition with electronic product support to such an audience could understandly see a spike in piracy of the product to a degree that would alarm WotC and perhaps goad them to take this action - not to mention the prelaunch leak of the 4E core, which certainly could not have helped matters. Still, I wish they would have put a little more thought into their response as I doubt it will generate much for them besides customer resentment.
Wait, you mean the younger audience, the one with supposedly more disposable income that is the proverbial gold mine customer base that is preferred over the loyal 30+ customer base, <gasp> might have a perspective that supports piracy?!?! I'm STUNNED!!
Kidding aside, that's excellent information and a parallel I hadn't considered.
I'm still in search of the mechanic by which pulling their PDFs helps in a legal entanglement, Charles. Can you shed some light on that, even if purely hypothetically?
I'm not Charles, but I know of cases where a company lost their copyrights after failing to protect those copyrights publicly.
For instance, Adobe has to publicly defend the name "Photoshop", and tries to keep any media from using "photoshopping" as a verb for "image manipulation in a computer". If they fail to do so, they might lose their claim to the name.
Wait, you mean the younger audience, the one with supposedly more disposable income that is the proverbial gold mine customer base that is preferred over the loyal 30+ customer base, <gasp> might have a perspective that supports piracy?!?! 
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