WotC puts a stop to online sales of PDFs

JeffB · Apr 7, 2009

I was away for a few days and now see all this. Dang. Although I like 4E, I don't buy any 4E products except from Goodman, but there were a quite a few O/B/X/A D&D PDFs I still wanted but had not purchased yet

I cannot believe they pulled them down so quickly? WTF??

Voadam · Apr 7, 2009

Arivendel said:
My point was that rather than that being the case, it is possible that WotC just became aware of Paizo's/RPGnow redownload policy, a policy which could very well be the reason for this whole thing, after all like i said it is possible WotC contract refer to selling single pdfs if thats the case then the redownload policy could be interpreted as illegally copying and distributing their IP since people are technically getting a "buy 1 get 4+ free" deal and thats 4+ instances in which WotC make no profit.

Only if WotC was ignorant of the actual open practices of the distributor they contracted with and decided upon discovering the practices that WotC irrationally decided they were being hurt by these vendor backup practices.

I do not think WotC was ignorant or irrational in this way.

People can legally make backups for themselves and get a buy 1 get 200 deal if they want off a single download, this was just rpgnow doing it for them.

I find that supposition very unlikely.

Umbran · Apr 7, 2009

Lonely Tylenol said:
It baffles me that there is still some kind of confusion on the legal realities of copyright law, considering how many times I've seen this exact point explained in detail on these boards.

I don't think there's actual confusion, so much as different contexts. "Piracy is theft" in a legal context is incorrect. In a moral or ethical context, however, they are arguably more equivalent.

I think more often folks around here who say piracy is theft are speaking in the ethical/moral sense, even if they don't explicitly realize it.

Voadam · Apr 7, 2009

I typically picked up between 1 and 4 WotC old edition pdfs a month.

I'm not sure if I have more than a hundred currently, I do know that I was planning on continuing in this vein for at least a decade more as there were hundreds of interesting ones I was still interested in that I had not gotten yet.

That's $5-$20 a month that WotC is no longer getting.

:erm:

Plissken · Apr 7, 2009

On Puget Sound said:
As a past owner of a brick and mortar store (different hobby - aquarium not gaming), I applaud WOTC for shutting down PDF purchases. Now if they could just do something about Amazon, we might be able to save at least a few places people can go to talk to, and game with, actual live humans, and also save those live humans' jobs.

So websites like RPGnow adn drivethru are run by sentient robots?

Friadoc · Apr 7, 2009

Umbran said:
I don't think there's actual confusion, so much as different contexts. "Piracy is theft" in a legal context is incorrect. In a moral or ethical context, however, they are arguably more equivalent.

I think more often folks around here who say piracy is theft are speaking in the ethical/moral sense, even if they don't explicitly realize it.

One of my criminal law courses hammered this point home relentlessly and, to be honest, folks, if you were charged with piracy, it'd be much easier on you if it was actual theft, instead of infringement. See, theft of a $30 gaming book is next to nothing, usually a slap on the wrist, community service, or a couple weeks behind bars. However, infringement, it falls under a whole other bailiwick that ain't that nice since it falls under federal purview.

jmucchiello · Apr 7, 2009

I can't believe WotC could make a mistake of this magnitude. Every other PR fiasco has happened on a Friday giving us a whole weekend for wild speculation and chest thumping pledges of being for or against WotC. Who dropped the ball and hit the switch on a Monday? I'm sure heads will roll over this.

Scribble · Apr 7, 2009

Kask said:
No, ceasing to sell 1st & 2nd Ed PDFs does nothing to stop pirating of 4E material. The only logical reason is that they don't want people playing older editions (spending $ on them) as they see it as eroding 4E sales. It costs them nothing to have people sell older PDFs and makes them $. The only reason to stop it is because someone doesn't like the current 4E sales numbers and in a misguided move decided to eliminate some competition.

Hrmm I'm not sure I can see how that's the "only logical" explaination or reason.

To me, it seems the most logical explaination is that when the decision was made, it was easier to just stop ALL sales of PDF product rather then a split decision.

Lonely Tylenol · Apr 7, 2009

Obryn said:
For me? I'm disappointed, but as I said elsewhere, I'm disappointed because it's simply a dumb move. It's like when your buddy gets back together with a horrible ex who's bad for him. It's forehead-smacking idiocy and a feeling of dread, not anger and rage.

Yeah, exactly. It's just one more on a long chain of events that have made me say to myself, "hmm...I wonder what's going to happen with WotC?" I really have no idea how what the outlook is like there. They're very careful to never let any hints drop. But I haven't seen many good signs. The books are apparently selling like hotcakes, but there seem to be a lot of bad decisions being made, and I wonder if the quality of the product is going to start to suffer for it. Certainly, they're not doing a great job of maintaining good relationships with their existing customer base.

mach1.9pants · Apr 7, 2009

More Beef

As a disabled individual, I'm unable to read hard bound books. I have to read PDFs from drivethrurpg on my computer or send them to my kindle. This move has left me unable to read new D&D books, like Arcane Power, because there will be no accessible product for me. Thanks Wizards/Hasbro, or whoever, for making it impossible for me to enjoy the game to the degree of your able-bodied customers.

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