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Eclipse Phase: Sexy
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<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4905586" data-attributes="member: 40961"><p>"Approve" isn't really the right word. Posthuman has the right to make whatever call they think is best. I don't view it as any different than deciding to sell your product cheaply in pdf form, or to sell it only in brick and mortar stores while setting a price floor, or any of the other myriad decisions they could make about distribution. It is what it is, and I figure they have some plan to earn money off of their work. So to the extent that "approve" suggests liking or disliking, I don't "approve" or "disapprove" of other people's business models.</p><p> </p><p>I've played a number of miniature wargames which offer their rules for free online. They're a great example of how to do this right, business wise- the rules are free, but you'll want miniatures to play. The rules cost $30 to $40, but the miniatures are likely to add up much, much higher over time. It is obviously far too difficult and costly to offer miniatures as a free sample. But a pdf can be distributed inexpensively and operates as a lengthy glossy advertisement for your other work.</p><p></p><p>If you've got a way to profit from your work, they're viable. The wargame companies I mentioned above (Infinity and Anima Tactics, for the record) seem to be doing just fine.</p><p> </p><p>CC licenses or other open releases can fill a number of functions. They can act as free samples, to encourage you to desire other, non-free products. They can act as a signalling mechanism of your company's corporate image- new, hip, internet savvy, not like those old dinosaur companies. Probably more. I'm sure that, done properly, these things can help your company.</p><p> </p><p>I'm just less convinced that KM's vision of a CC project is viable- the vision where companies release CC products that people could obtain for free if they chose, but where they voluntarily choose to pay for hardcopy anyways. There may be a window right now where this works, because the internet hasn't fully worked out how to deal with large CC works, because most people haven't quite got it through their heads that this product is available for free, because there's no obvious place to go for a free copy, and because the initial flush of enthusiasm for CC hasn't worn off yet. </p><p> </p><p>But eventually there will come a day where releasing a CC version of a game just results in the immediate creation of a website with a URL like freeeclipsephase.com, that contains nothing but a distributable, free copy of your game. Or a website with a URL like CCLibrary.com, that contains copies of all kinds of free materials and which functions as a distribution center for these things. </p><p> </p><p>Once that internet infrastructure is in place and becomes well known, the first thing that people do after hearing about a CC game is to rush over to that webpage and download a copy. After browsing it, a few things will happen. First, the chance of getting impulse purchases will have been crushed. Impulse purchases will become impulse downloads. Second, the added value of a physical copy will fall. Purchasing a physical copy will be motivated purely by the added value of a physical copy, not for the value of the rules. And third, to the extent that you need a copy of the book at the table to play, it is possible that between the right to print copies and the right to remix the game, there will be the ability to create short, printable copies of the rules actually required at the game table. A DM screen or character sheet of sorts.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4905586, member: 40961"] "Approve" isn't really the right word. Posthuman has the right to make whatever call they think is best. I don't view it as any different than deciding to sell your product cheaply in pdf form, or to sell it only in brick and mortar stores while setting a price floor, or any of the other myriad decisions they could make about distribution. It is what it is, and I figure they have some plan to earn money off of their work. So to the extent that "approve" suggests liking or disliking, I don't "approve" or "disapprove" of other people's business models. I've played a number of miniature wargames which offer their rules for free online. They're a great example of how to do this right, business wise- the rules are free, but you'll want miniatures to play. The rules cost $30 to $40, but the miniatures are likely to add up much, much higher over time. It is obviously far too difficult and costly to offer miniatures as a free sample. But a pdf can be distributed inexpensively and operates as a lengthy glossy advertisement for your other work. If you've got a way to profit from your work, they're viable. The wargame companies I mentioned above (Infinity and Anima Tactics, for the record) seem to be doing just fine. CC licenses or other open releases can fill a number of functions. They can act as free samples, to encourage you to desire other, non-free products. They can act as a signalling mechanism of your company's corporate image- new, hip, internet savvy, not like those old dinosaur companies. Probably more. I'm sure that, done properly, these things can help your company. I'm just less convinced that KM's vision of a CC project is viable- the vision where companies release CC products that people could obtain for free if they chose, but where they voluntarily choose to pay for hardcopy anyways. There may be a window right now where this works, because the internet hasn't fully worked out how to deal with large CC works, because most people haven't quite got it through their heads that this product is available for free, because there's no obvious place to go for a free copy, and because the initial flush of enthusiasm for CC hasn't worn off yet. But eventually there will come a day where releasing a CC version of a game just results in the immediate creation of a website with a URL like freeeclipsephase.com, that contains nothing but a distributable, free copy of your game. Or a website with a URL like CCLibrary.com, that contains copies of all kinds of free materials and which functions as a distribution center for these things. Once that internet infrastructure is in place and becomes well known, the first thing that people do after hearing about a CC game is to rush over to that webpage and download a copy. After browsing it, a few things will happen. First, the chance of getting impulse purchases will have been crushed. Impulse purchases will become impulse downloads. Second, the added value of a physical copy will fall. Purchasing a physical copy will be motivated purely by the added value of a physical copy, not for the value of the rules. And third, to the extent that you need a copy of the book at the table to play, it is possible that between the right to print copies and the right to remix the game, there will be the ability to create short, printable copies of the rules actually required at the game table. A DM screen or character sheet of sorts. [/QUOTE]
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