Forked Thread: How much does WotC policies matter to your enjoyment of the game

[Dumnbunny]

As I said in the 'Weaning off the Sauce' thread, I've let it go. Yes, I'm not happy that I can't buy .pdf files anymore, but don't any reason to punish myself (not playing or buying D&D) to protest.

Also, I don't see why so much anger is directed at WotC while seemly less anger is directed toward the pirates that caused this action in the first place.

Where is the outrage against the piracy? It seems like they get a free pass just because they seem unstoppable.

It's quite simple, really. People are expressing their opinions about Wizards' actions because it's something they can (at least theoretically) effect. Wizards has changed course and can hopefully change course again. Look at, for example, DriveThru dropping DRM.

Raging against the pirates does no good. There isn't even a theoretical chance of having any effect on them, so why bother?

 

[Mallus]

Not at all... until WotC begins clubbing baby seals, exploiting children, or poisoning tracts of land, at which time I'll still enjoy the game, but refrain from purchasing any new materials from them.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Same reason some people don't buy products from manufacturers who are known to use child labor in sweatshops. They don't want to support a company that performs in ways that the buyer objects to (even if they like the end product).

(Note: I am not comparing WotC's actions to child labor.)

(Note: I am not comparing WotC's actions to child labor.)

Agreed, lining up WotC as some evil villian, calling a poor marketing decision unethical, or comparing their practices to child sweatshops seems a bit overboard. I'm not going to change my personal preferences simply because WotC's marketing wing is dumb.

...or comparing their practices to child sweatshops seems a bit overboard.

Man, I thought it would take far more then just seven posts.

 

[Umbran]

Raging against the pirates does no good. There isn't even a theoretical chance of having any effect on them, so why bother?

But there is a theoretical chance - better than that, really, as the effects of peer pressure are well documented. If we don't tolerate it, our friends will tend not to, and their friends, and so on.

 

[Ariosto]

Well, it would be nice if I could still direct interested parties to WotC's PDFs of out-of-print material.

Instead, I'll go for Goblinoid Games' Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future, with high-quality free PDFs and spiffy bound books (LL even via game stores). I look forward to the availability of OSRIC in the latter format, and in the meantime will make do with my stock of used AD&D books.

(OSRIC v.2 seems to me too heavy a job to print at home, and I reckon the 4E books are even more so -- so I wonder how much pirates really cut into book sales.)

 

[FlareStorm]

I thought I was the kind of guy who would say "whatever, they're gonna do what they do despite what I buy/think" but I must be growing up or something. The 'screw-ups' in the past actually affected me a little personally (Dungeon/Dragon cancellation, Dragonlance, smudging ink on books)

So I started looking at non-WoTC stuff, and not only were the company practices oh-so-much better but the quality of the products, IMO, was comparable or often superior.

Now I don't buy WoTC or play 4th. So I guess their policies & practices had the domino effect on me not using their stuff.

 

[mxyzplk]

They affect everyone plenty.

I liked my Dungeon and Dragon magazines. They were awesome. Then they went away. Now they're back as part of a horrid electronic-only boondoggle.

I liked using adventures and supplements from Green Ronin, Atlas Games, etc. I liked OGL variants like Mutants & Masterminds, Conan, et al. WotC tried to crush them using anticompetitive language in the first GSL, but has backed down to settle for "no more where that came from!" (Of course the OGL stuff can still flourish outside their grasp, but there can't be that innovation on the current D&D branch.)

I liked buying some things in PDF for easy searchability (Spell Compendium!). Now, I can't.

So yes, if your gaming life was entirely homebrew or totally limited to "whatever one product WotC wants to sell me this month for the current version of D&D only" - all these moves won't affect your gaming. For me, however, it does.

 

[mach1.9pants]

What I cannot understand is the mentality that has people saying they will no longer support a company for reasons that hvae nothing to do with the price or quality of their product.

It does have something to do with the quality of their product, if I can't get a PDF of the rules then the product is worse than one I can. PDFs beat paper copies hands down for many gaming needs (and vice versa!) but unless I get both the product is worse.

 

[Andre]

I know there are fiction writers who I've liked till they opened their mouth and spoke and then I really didn't like the writer anymore. Same can be said for actors and other high profile people. So, I can understand were people are coming from.

I have the same reaction. There are a handful of authors and actors I just can't stand because of something they've done or said. Ditto for a few 3PP's who I feel crossed certain lines on these boards.

But someone has to do something that really bothers me for it to be much of a factor in my buying decisions. And I try not to judge an entire company by one person's actions - even the owner's.

 

[thedungeondelver]

Given that WotC released less and less relevant-to-my-gaming products over the years, they became less and less relevant to me.

Now that they quite deliberately and calculatedly destroyed a major path to playing vintage D&D, their quite frankly offensive policies matter a great deal to me.

Go rot, WotC management.