A Technical Look at D&D Insider Applications

[w_earle_wheeler]

My concern for this is for the brick and mortar store.

Will they have to shrink-wrap their D&D 4e books to keep people from copying/scratching off/stealing the code?

If they do, that's one more reason for people to buy their books online.

 

[Ceresco]

I got it. WotC could put a sealed enevelope in the back of their books with a unique code in it. Then when you use the code to purchase the online copy of the book, it gets a digital watermark identifying you as the owner.

Buyers are protected by knowing whether the code has been open and used, and WotC knows who is responsible if a digital copy gets leaked on the web.

Many of my nursing text books have a scratch off card attached with the code for accessing online support. When you buy a used text you know what you're getting up front. The code allows an account to be created and that is password protected.

 

[PoeticJustice]

You know, I buy some of my books from Half-Price and other secondary sources. So I'm certainly sympathetic.

But I have to say, if this is a problem for the secondary market... I'm not sure it matters. It just means people pay for the book, and only get the book--exactly as things are right now, and have been for all the years before the DDI existed.

I really don't think it's incumbent on WotC to make sure that an optional extra is available for people who make secondary market purchases. Sure, it would be nice if they could, but I hardly think it needs to be their priority, or that it's somehow a failing on their part if they don't.

That's interesting, but not actually what I was referring to. I assume they'll take some measure to protect this feature, or they, as a publisher, may as well be selling books for one or two bucks a shot. I say this because, if they do nothing, a custome could just go into a store, copy the number in the back of the book, and go on his merry way. How do they get around that?

Shrink wrap? Not happening unless a lot of people are willing to buy before browsing. I can't speak for others, but I never buy RPG stuff sight unseen.

Keep the book behind counter or lock -and-key? Same problems?

A scratch off insert in the back of the book? I may sound pessimistic, but there's going to be at least one scumbag who takes the info without buying the actual book.


See, these are ways textbook companies protect their books' online functionality. They work because people buy textbooks sight unseen and often somebody has to get the book for them off the shelf. I struggle to think of an alternate method that would allow for the buyer and only the buyer to get the electronic copy, and I hope somebody at Wizards is more inventive than I.

 

[SteveC]

I just wanted to be a little bit of the voice of doom here, because I haven't done that in a while. Individual codes in a book is really a waste of time, since it requires ongoing resources to manage and maintain, and won't address the piracy issue at all.

Here's another stone-cold, lead-pipe lock prediction: you will find all of the D&D books for 4E on P2P sharing networks within 72 hours of the books launch. And that's probably 48 hours too long.

So I enter this code and go to WotC's website and download my ebook version of the PHB. Is that a one-time thing or many? If it's many times, what happens when my account is lost or disabled? Is there some time limit for how long I have to activate my download? If so, how about that book that's been sitting in the warehouse for a year before I ordered it? What happens when my code simply doesn't work?

Ugh!

Far better to simply have a reasonably priced download service available for the books entirely separate from the original purchase. I'd pay $10 (each) for a normal PDF (bookmarked, searchable) of every D&D book I own, and I am not alone here.

--Steve

 

[Ander00]

As long as I don't hear anything concrete about DDI subscriptions without one or both of the magazines, I will remain uninterested.


cheers

 

[Exen Trik]

Regardless of how protected the electronic versions are, it won't stop someone from just scanning the book and distributing it that way. On the other hand, the official version is likely to be of much better quality and usefulness, and nothing beats having the actual book in your hands. Together, they make doing it legally much more appealing than having just having a bootleg scan.

And really, that's what makes an anti-piracy effort successful: making the legal option also be the better, easier one.

 

[Scribble]

Regardless of how protected the electronic versions are, it won't stop someone from just scanning the book and distributing it that way. On the other hand, the official version is likely to be of much better quality and usefulness, and nothing beats having the actual book in your hands. Together, they make doing it legally much more appealing than having just having a bootleg scan.

And really, that's what makes an anti-piracy effort successful: making the legal option also be the better, easier one.

Exactly... I'm pretty sure WOTC knows that they aren't going to be the company that somehow manages to defeat digital piracy once and for all.

They're just taking a tip from itunes...

People are for the most part honest.

People are also, for the moster part, lazy and cheap.

If you make the legal copy easy to get, and not very much money, it will be less of a PITA to just buy the thing, and DL it, instead of wasting hours online searching for a copy that is both good and doesn't have a virus attached. Plus it works with their other online stuff. (And I'm guessing the people they're marketing this too are people like me. Who like the hard copy, but want the digital copy for game prep.)

They also protect the brick and morter shops as well. Instead of forcing an either or, they make the two products work in synch.

What I think they will do is have some sort of system like they have when you buy gift cards, or phone cards... You can steal the card, but it won't do a darn thing unless it's been activated by the cashier. Easy to do with an RFID tag. Small enough to fit in the book without making it awkward.

Won't do much for the second hand book trade, but as other have said, thats not really WOTCs concern.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Regardless of how protected the electronic versions are, it won't stop someone from just scanning the book and distributing it that way. On the other hand, the official version is likely to be of much better quality and usefulness, and nothing beats having the actual book in your hands. Together, they make doing it legally much more appealing than having just having a bootleg scan.

And really, that's what makes an anti-piracy effort successful: making the legal option also be the better, easier one.

Or people just get a fully digital watermarked copy that works perfectly fine from someone who used a fake account and the file sits in some Eurasian server that WotC can't go after in the courts.

 

[caperpger]

I have nor read everything in the thread. But i want to know about the fee WOTC is charging for you to access the eletronic copy of the book.
Is it a one time fee? do they charge you EVERY time you access it? is it a monthly fee?

 

[Mark]

I've got a number of pals from this site that I could be playing with online.

Count me among them when the time comes.