Att: WotC - Replacing PDF's

[Amphimir Míriel]

I know that when I was researching the Pathfinder rpg Paizo had the pdf. version for free but it was marked with my name so if I tried to 'share' it online where it came from was readily apparent.

Bel

Sadly enough, there are ways to erase that watermark, so that argument is not going to be compelling enough to WotC

 

[Samuel Leming]

Sadly enough, there are ways to erase that watermark, so that argument is not going to be compelling enough to WotC

Paizo also uses steganography to hide an identifier in some of the pictures in the files you download from them. Defeating that kind of security is sometimes difficult and always tedious.

What's sad is that people share these files after modifying them. It's not sad to have complete control over the bits on your storage devices. It's only bad if you share those modified files.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I know that when I was researching the Pathfinder rpg Paizo had the pdf. version for free but it was marked with my name so if I tried to 'share' it online where it came from was readily apparent.

Bel

Watermarks can be removed - that's the problem with most anti-piracy measures. Either the DRM is cracked or the Watermark is located and removed. The average home user might not have the ability to edit PDFs, but it exists.

 

[CapnZapp]

So, I see the two possibilities are:
-- No electronic versions of the books beyond the DDI Compendium (and therefore nothing for pre-4e or for non-mechanics), or
-- They take the time to look at the data and realize that removing PDF sales doesn't slow piracy significantly, that any alternative is too costly to bother with, and therefore they resume PDF sales.

Agreed. In the short term, I see "nothing" as the most likely option.

For the long term, "nothing" remains likely. However, I sure hope WotC won't waste effort on any alternative but standard PDFs.

So if the customer complaints can be big enough, they might resume their pdf service. But probably only in a year's time or so, when all the biggest remaining 4E sellers have been released, and when it wouldn't matter as much if crisp original PDFs resume flooding the nets.

However; all of this is wishful thinking. The most likely scenario is that PDFs isn't making significant profits in any area. When you add the fact that this fan service disrupted the real sales (because of piracy), the conclusion is that WotC has left the electronic publication industry for good.

 

[QuaziquestGM]

This is striking me as very strange.

Just the suggestion that

tabletop gamers would want to pay subscription fees for game rules that are only accessible online....

So you could only game where you have internet, and multiple connections, and 1 computer per player....

Why should we have to have a LAN party to roll dice on a table...

If we go to that much trouble we might as well play Halo...
Or just play from home with out getting together...

Or better yet, just pay a subscription for a more immersive environment....
better known as playing WoW or EverQuest.....

this just doesn't seem to be a smart direction for a Pen and paper game company to start down...

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Paizo also uses steganography to hide an identifier in some of the pictures in the files you download from them. Defeating that kind of security is sometimes difficult and always tedious.

What's sad is that people share these files after modifying them. It's not sad to have complete control over the bits on your storage devices. It's only bad if you share those modified files.

It is sad and bad that people would erase the steganographic identifiers and the watermarks in order to allow people to download entire copies of gaming books without paying.

Although, on the other hand, someone in the Internet made a really great fillable-pdf version of the 4E Character Record Sheet with auto-calculating numbers. It even allows you to put a picture of your own in the "character sketch" square in the back...

Both would probably be considered copyright infringement under the law, with the difference that the second example actually provides value to the community and is not done in the intention of cheating anyone out of revenue...

 

[fanboy2000]

This is striking me as very strange.

Just the suggestion that

tabletop gamers would want to pay subscription fees for game rules that are only accessible online....

So you could only game where you have internet, and multiple connections, and 1 computer per player....

First of all, one doesn't usually need all the rules at the table when playing. The rules that a player or DM may need are typically in paper form anyways. With 4e, all the rules a players needs to run his or her character are on the character sheet and power cards. For the most part, this is the norm. I played a goliath barbarian without any problems one game day even though I'd never played a barbarian before. Everything I needed to run the character was on a character sheet I didn't even create.

Why should we have to have a LAN party to roll dice on a table...

You don't. 4e is a lot like other RPG games I've played where I don't need anything other than the character sheet to play most of the time. Sure, I bring a lot of books to the table, but I don't need them.

Or better yet, just pay a subscription for a more immersive environment....
better known as playing WoW or EverQuest.....

this just doesn't seem to be a smart direction for a Pen and paper game company to start down...

DDI does have rules only available online, but those are easy to print out. For example, the Psion. I can print out the Psion class description/class features from the compendium and when the character builder prints out the character sheet and power cards, everything necessary to play the Psion is there for you. No internet and no laptop required.

For me, DDI takes advantage of the fact that I'd already become an amateur desktop publisher with other games. Also, I'd been using the computer to help create PCs since I started on 2e. I wrote a program in QBasic to look all my stats in the various tables for my thief. In 3e, I used E-Tools to make what amounted to my own customized Monster Manuals for my homebrew. I probably spend more time in my wordprocessing program than anything else when preparing to run a game.

 

[Dumnbunny]

Paizo also uses steganography to hide an identifier in some of the pictures in the files you download from them. Defeating that kind of security is sometimes difficult and always tedious.

Defeating steganographic watermarks is as easy as buying the PDF using an anonymous pre-paid credit card and a pseudonym.

I'll add my name to the list of those who believe that nothing is going to happen on this front. Wizard's isn't going to come up with an alternative to PDFs that will keep their books off the piracy networks. I can't see them just brining back PDFs if for no other reason than the amount of crow they would have to eat.

As for content only accessible online, while I'm sure others may find it valuable, it would completely fail to meet my needs as a gamer. Oftentimes I'll find myself needing my reference my reference material while at a place with poor or no wireless.

 

[Vascant]

Why not scan it yourself? Though we play different editions we had almost the same exact problem, I wanted to be able to word search every dragon and dungeon issue. (Luckily I had the CD which had Dragon issues 1-250). With over a year down, I have all of dragon scanned and ocred, currently working on Dungeon Magazine (Issue 126). While this may seem like a huge amount of work, the power of having it on my tablet has been a godsend.


There was a hidden bonus I found as I started to use different material, the power to be able to edit article to my liking and/flesh out flavor text to match my world exactly is really nice.

 

[Jack99]

Why not scan it yourself? Though we play different editions we had almost the same exact problem, I wanted to be able to word search every dragon and dungeon issue. (Luckily I had the CD which had Dragon issues 1-250). With over a year down, I have all of dragon scanned and ocred, currently working on Dungeon Magazine (Issue 126).

Impressive. Not all of us has the time/patience for that kind of work though. We simply prefer to pay for it.