But Piracy Can't Be Stopped!
That's probably true. And piracy has been around since before the first D&D PDF was released, and WotC has always known about it. (I'm the guy that launched the first current-edition PDF sales, so I know what I'm saying here.)
We agree on this point. So you can see why WotC making "stopping piracy" their first impression was a bad move. Never treat customers as if they have no common sense. But that's exactly what they did.
It's pretty clear to me that what WotC is reacting to is a trend in piracy. Based on these events, I'm guessing there's been a pretty dramatic increase in piracy, particularly of key titles. WotC may not be able to put an end to piracy, but that's not likely the goal. The goal is to change the trend.
You have no evidence for this position. Moreover, if such evidence did exist, you're hoping that WotC will eventually share evidence for this position. And you just said that stopping piracy was not possible. Reducing piracy by preventing legitimate purchases is nonsensical; the demand for their pdfs has no place to go BUT to the black market. Imagine if a DM said that the monarch was shutting the city marketplace to fight smuggling. As a player, you would assume that the monarch had intelligence as his dump stat.
You have faith that they have evidence that you don't have. But since their strategy is so obviously flawed, you can understand why most customers would not have your faith that they have the evidence that will make it possible for them to construct a plan to fight piracy that no other company has been able to pull off.
But 4E Has Already Been Pirated!
Yeah, it's too late for the PHB, MM, DMG, and PHB2. But it's not too late for the MM2, the PHB3, or any number of other strong titles. It's still early in the 4E life cycle.
You're begging the question. It's too late for the MM2 and the PHB 3 too, as they'll be pirated as soon as they're available. The point is that such piracy is evidence that it's ridiculously easy to create copies. You can't reduce piracy by driving up demand for blackmarket goods. You attack the pirates and you drive down demand for their services through features, quality, and reliability.
But I Didn't Get to Download My Purchase Five Times!
It's been less than 24 hours since this was announced, and clearly it took the resellers by surprise. Take a deep breath. I'd bet money that they and WotC will make a good effort to reimburse anyone who wasn't able to download their purchases or redownload a lost file. WotC obviously did this because they had big fish to fry--not because they want to steal your pennies.
So, with no evidence, you assert that WotC will be reimbursing people. How much compensation will they be giving customers for lost access to an online storage facility for their gaming materials? Or are you really betting that WotC will be off-loading the cost onto small businesses like Paizo and RPGNow? 'Cause I'd take the former bet, but not the latter. After the GSL, I'm completely confident that WotC would let other people pick up the tab for their choices.
But Bad WotC Didn't Give Us Any Warning!
I'm not a legal expert, and I have no special info on this issue, but I bet it's no coincidence that this happened within hours of the lawsuits being filed. I bet WotC needed to get all their ducks in a row--and all their court summons served--before tipping their hand to organized pirates. The lack of warning was probably a specific tactical move--not a PR fumble. That might suck for us, but it's no reason to heap vitriol on WotC.
So your best defense is that WotC was more concerned with vengeance than they were with their customers?
But . . . But . . . I Like PDFs!
Yeah, me too. But in the grand scheme of things-I-want-to-buy-that-are-no-longer-sold, this is really not that big a deal.
Really? It's not a big deal when a superior technology is abandoned? You don't think that DnD becoming MORE technologically backward as it attempts to compete with World of Warcraft and videogames might be a sea-change in the health of our hobby?
Seriously, would you really react like this if you went into The Home Depot for a string trimmer and found out it wasn't sold any more? Those evil bastards at Black & Decker! They've lost this customer forever!!!
Wrong metaphor. The equivalent would be if Black & Decker said without warning or defensible reason that they would no longer honor any warranties for their product's loss or damage, because you purchased through Home Depot online, rather than at a brick and mortar store. And that would piss me off to lose something valuable (peace of mind) for no good reason.
Look. You seem like a nice guy who has experience with the company. I just want you to think about why nice people who don't have experience with the company might be outraged about this decision.
