Arcane Power: How long before the pirated DDI-CB update appears? 10 days.

[Harr]

I've just been told that the April update (ie the update that carries the Arcane Power content) of the DDI Character Builder has appeared on torrent sites as of today. Which is what... 10 days after it became available for subscribers (or at least 10 days after my CB was able to update itself).

This strikes me as coincidental with the amount of time it took for the actual book to appear (I think 10-15 days, but not sure). 10 days is definitely a slowdown from what it used to be before PDFs were pulled, which was a couple of hours.

So maybe the questions here are: First, is a 10 day buffer enough of a lead for WotC to get a worthwhile advantage from having pulled PDFs? And second, why not just delay PDFs going on the market for 10-15 days after the books? Hell why not delay them for a whole month then? Hardly seems so complicated that it couldn't be done!

Also consider this, if pirates KNEW that the official PDFs were coming in a month, how many of them would go to the trouble of scanning and OCRing? This is lazy cheap people we're talking about... so possibly the 10-day buffer could actually be increased to an effective 30-day buffer?

 

[Oompa]

Don't say pirates are lazy and cheap, you don't know them..

And for the 10 day delay or the month delay.. it doesn't matter..

The books are still going to be pirated because the request, for pirated books is bigger now.. And as a pirate, when you scan it and do it good, you'll be famous in the community.. That is why people pirate to..

I really hope wizards finds a way to bring back their books online for people who want them.. But the pirating will not be stopped by wizards..

 

[Derren]

There is just a 10 day delay because there isn't much interest in D&D.

If the D&D brand would be (much) bigger there would be 1st day releases or, in the case of books, releases before the actual shipping date.

 

[JohnRTroy]

Also consider this, if pirates KNEW that the official PDFs were coming in a month, how many of them would go to the trouble of scanning and OCRing? This is lazy cheap people we're talking about... so possibly the 10-day buffer could actually be increased to an effective 30-day buffer?

Maybe this is a moral or economic choice for the company? Maybe the benefit of exploiting the PDF audience (at least PDFs not protected by DRM) is not worse the economic costs.

Like I've said elsewhere, I think D&D will ultimately morph into something requiring a special board, collectable cards, a much thinner ruleset, and miniatures. I think piracy will be one of the key reasons why they go in that direction.

 

[baphomet68]

Up and Down

Many of the DL sites that were listing the DDI CB April patch have already scrubbed it, I just looked at Google (giggle) and the top 4 entries lead to "removed by request" pages. Found a working DL of it, but had to be shrewd to find it.
While I heartily support the idea of digital Piracy, i have to admit that WOTC might be able to slow down Piracy of their product this way. If you have to have special skills to find the DL, its like havin the DL available only on private file sharing networks; sure, it happens, but in tiny, unimportant numbers.

 

[Mistwell]

Many of the DL sites that were listing the DDI CB April patch have already scrubbed it, I just looked at Google (giggle) and the top 4 entries lead to "removed by request" pages. Found a working DL of it, but had to be shrewd to find it.
While I heartily support the idea of digital Piracy, i have to admit that WOTC might be able to slow down Piracy of their product this way. If you have to have special skills to find the DL, its like havin the DL available only on private file sharing networks; sure, it happens, but in tiny, unimportant numbers.

Out of curiosity, why do you heartily support the idea of digital piracy of a niche subscription-model computer software suite like the DDI?

 

[CapnZapp]

If you have to have special skills to find the DL, its like havin the DL available only on private file sharing networks; sure, it happens, but in tiny, unimportant numbers.

I agree. If Google can't find it, why bother? It might as well not be there at all (for its non-existent impact on sales, that is).

 

[baphomet68]

My Answer: Property is Theft

Out of curiosity, why do you heartily support the idea of digital piracy of a niche subscription-model computer software suite like the DDI?

I support the concept of Digital Piracy in the particular because I believe Property is Theft in general. As I cannot accept the idea of personal property beyond what one maintains through physical possession, I cannot accept the idea of limiting the distribution of, say, a niche subscription-model computer software suite like the DDI to those willing to pay for it.
If anyone would care to debate the benefits vs harm issue, or have a go at my title line, lets fork to a new thread. A lot of these "PDF Policy" threads dance around what are clearly strongly opposed worldviews, held by people who dearly love this game. I.E. I really believe that freely distributed content promotes this hobby/lifestyle, and rewards quality offerings by businesses while ruthlessly culling the half assed. From his posts, I'm pretty sure Mistwell doesnt share my opinions, or most of my convictions, save a genuine concern for our shared hobby. We are unlikely to pursuade one another through dialog; but it would be pretty simple to come to understand one anothers perspective.

 

[Oompa]

It is on one of the biggest torrent websites.. and google stopped linking to torrents i believed..

 

[Mistwell]

I support the concept of Digital Piracy in the particular because I believe Property is Theft in general. As I cannot accept the idea of personal property beyond what one maintains through physical possession, I cannot accept the idea of limiting the distribution of, say, a niche subscription-model computer software suite like the DDI to those willing to pay for it.
If anyone would care to debate the benefits vs harm issue, or have a go at my title line, lets fork to a new thread. A lot of these "PDF Policy" threads dance around what are clearly strongly opposed worldviews, held by people who dearly love this game. I.E. I really believe that freely distributed content promotes this hobby/lifestyle, and rewards quality offerings by businesses while ruthlessly culling the half assed. From his posts, I'm pretty sure Mistwell doesnt share my opinions, or most of my convictions, save a genuine concern for our shared hobby. We are unlikely to pursuade one another through dialog; but it would be pretty simple to come to understand one anothers perspective.

I do appreciate your response. It was thoughtful, concise, and complete. I disagree with you, but as you say this isn't the forum for that.