Some things you cannot pay for..so you must do it yourself. While I agree with you as far as doing the entire magazine runs, yes a lot of time but to do just what 1 or 2 books a month? That is just a day or two and it is done. Odds are you have spent more time on posts voicing your issues over this matter. I am only stating this because I did the exact same thing with NPC Generation software, I can't tell you how long I was banging my head against the wall with CMP to add decent NPC creation functionality to E-Tools. In the end, it took me a year to code my own software and they still didn't do it in that time. So if you really want this, then odds are you are the only person who can or will give it to you.
Att: WotC - Replacing PDF's
Some things you cannot pay for..so you must do it yourself. While I agree with you as far as doing the entire magazine runs, yes a lot of time but to do just what 1 or 2 books a month? That is just a day or two and it is done. Odds are you have spent more time on posts voicing your issues over this matter. I am only stating this because I did the exact same thing with NPC Generation software, I can't tell you how long I was banging my head against the wall with CMP to add decent NPC creation functionality to E-Tools. In the end, it took me a year to code my own software and they still didn't do it in that time. So if you really want this, then odds are you are the only person who can or will give it to you.
Crothian
First Post
Assuming you own the books could you pay someone to do it for you?
kitsune9
Adventurer
I agree that WotC should provide us an alternative, but I am not holding my breath for it.
Jack99
Adventurer
I have all the books. And I could pay someone to do it, I guess. But considering that I am already paying $60 for a hardcover book and minimum wages over here are around $20 an hour, you can see how quickly this will get very expensive. While I do not mind spending money, the madness must still make sense in a way.
It would be much cheaper for me if WotC got their act together and delivered what was promised. An alternative to the PDF. A digital product would also ensure that I do not get my books weeks after they are released in the US (okay, that one doesn't happen often, but it can).
Obviously if/when WotC comes out and tells us that they won't make a digital product, then I will either have to do it myself, pay someone or perhaps seek alternative ways to get a PDF of the books.
Drkfathr1
First Post
Hmmmm. Answers from WoTC? What a novel idea!
Add me to the list of those expecting nothing at this point. (Would love to be proven wrong)
Jack99
Adventurer
I still trust Scott to drop a hint or something, once he gets back from fly-fishing in Montana!
(yeah, I am naive at times, I know.)
I think he would - if he had any idea.
However, I have to say, the piracy thingy seems to be pretty bad. When I recently searched the interwebs for an article or thread about assigning domains to the Eberron pantheon, it seemed about 2/3 of the hits were links to torrents. Sad.
mach1.9pants
Hero
I would expect nothing from WOTC on this, for a couple of reasons:
1) Their move did *nothing* to prevent PDFs of their products from showing up on various pirate sites. Copies still appear, but they're scanned instead of purchased PDFs, and take a few days longer to appear -- but that's been the only effect of their cunning plan.
2) The lawsuit they filed against the folks who had distributed pirated copies of PHB2 was able to be brought because they were able to identify those users through existing security methods. In other words, watermarking and steganography WORKED, and provided the needed info to the publisher. So to turn around and claim that they were pulling PDFs to "combat piracy" was... an odd choice, to put it kindly.
You're looking at a lawyer-derived policy, made by folks with a) little connection to the products themselves and b) even less connection to the community.
It won't change, and you won't see any true alternatives. What you will see is something completely different, with none of the same functionality, touted as a valid replacement.
1) Their move did *nothing* to prevent PDFs of their products from showing up on various pirate sites. Copies still appear, but they're scanned instead of purchased PDFs, and take a few days longer to appear -- but that's been the only effect of their cunning plan.
2) The lawsuit they filed against the folks who had distributed pirated copies of PHB2 was able to be brought because they were able to identify those users through existing security methods. In other words, watermarking and steganography WORKED, and provided the needed info to the publisher. So to turn around and claim that they were pulling PDFs to "combat piracy" was... an odd choice, to put it kindly.
You're looking at a lawyer-derived policy, made by folks with a) little connection to the products themselves and b) even less connection to the community.
It won't change, and you won't see any true alternatives. What you will see is something completely different, with none of the same functionality, touted as a valid replacement.
Yeah. I sometimes think the only really effective anti-piracy measure would be to make it worth Google's while to not show torrent sites in its search results. Obviously WotC couldn't do this, but movie studios and record labels could.
Similar Threads
