Mearls' Latest Thought on the Industry

[Vigilance]

No. I am sure that it is growing all the time. However, I think you are giving the net savvy folks too much credit. The only people I know who actually use PDFs are people who love KaZaa and people on ENWorld.

Well the numbers I see are PDFs trending up all the time, and print sales trending down.

When you combine that with the fact that distributors have a nasty of habit of, oh, NOT PAYING for books that sold (this happened to RPGObjects and several other companies recently in the Osseum meltdown) that definitely puts PDFs in the "non-screw" category of small companies' bottom line.

 

[BSF]

Isn't this the same thing we always seem to hear from other publishers? WOTC is only saying these things because we are hurting D&D.

Honestly, the PDF industry cannot touch D&D. IT has, however, truly screwed smaller publishers.

In what way? How do you define a 'small publisher'? Wouldn't PDF publishers be considered small as well?

How does the existence of a PDF stifle innovation? There is an assumption that the folks producing PDFs would still be designing material if they couldn't make a living at it. Listen, I would love to be a designer. But after I get done with my 40+ hour a week day job, I don't have the energy to do much design. If somebody like Phil Reed can make enough money from PDFs that he can be a game designer, more power to him.

I really don't see the stifling of collaboration and innovation due to the existance of PDFs any more than I see it from a community of small press publishers that are unwilling to collaborate because they have tied up all their operating revenue in the next dead tree book.

It's a growing process and the OGL has not been around for very long. This isn't a parallel with the computer industry because the free sharing of software was around long before the GPL was. A little package called Sendmail was given away for free. The GPL was brought into existence as a reaction to several conditions. Some are of interest to other industries, others (such as security) are not as interesting to other industries. My point is that you can't draw too many parallels between the GPL and the OGL and the OGL is much younger.

We are moving more toward an environment where online material will become more prevalent. Children today are growing up with greater acceptance of electronic media and a greater awareness of the environmental cost of supporting dead tree publishing. Right now we are in a strange middle stage. PDFs probably won't help bring a new gamer into the fold. But my experience with my local LGS is that they are not helping bring new gamers in either. Obviously this isn't true everywhere, and I wish my perception was different locally. But it does make me wonder how many other stores are still stuck in a cliqueish mode where most parents would not feel comfortable allowing their children into the store.

I digress. The thing is, the OGL and PDF industry is still so new that it will still take time before we do see where it is going and how it will grow. In my opinion, PDFs are much more suited to collaboration and innovation. It is easier to change a PDF product and update it to your customers. ST Cooley Publishing has already done this, to a limited degree, with the Enchiridion of Mystic Music. The release I have on my computer is improved over the first one that I purchased. It also includes material from 37 sources aside from the SRD. The update was free for me since I had already purchased the product previously. Is that innovation and collaboration? I would deem it so, but obviously that is a value judgement. I do know that those changes never would have happened with a traditional book.

 

[Vigilance]

I agree.

Too many "big" or "print" publishers just take their products and make them into PDF books. Some don't even bother to bookmark their material. Others don't bother to make the material printer friendly. Such material is better than nothing for the person who wants it on the go, but it's overall utility, and actual useage, is diminished.

Yeah but its hard to find time to increase utility and stifle innovation at the same time Joe.

And then we have to set aside time to twirl our mustaches and stare into the abyss.

There's only so many hours in the day

 

[Belen]

Belen, if it's only a "tool for grognards", how is it screwing small publishers, or the industry in general? At worst, one could argue it has no effect, but if the industry is nothing but grognards to begin with, then it's in a lot worst trouble than anyone realizes. I see a good many signs that it's more than just 30-year olds, but that it's not growing to the phenomenon-like stages of 25 years ago.

What worries me is that Mike Mearls, whose opinions and works I've liked for a long time, is making statements that are becoming more yes-man-like as time goes on. This, the OGC movement, it's almost like he's hinting, "anything NOT WotC is hurting RPG's."

Say it ain't so, Mike!

Whoa...I think you misunderstood, Henry. Mike says that PDFs harm the OGC movement by locking up new ideas. I agree because those new ideas tend to only serve a very small market.

How many fan sites have disappeared because those people have moved on to PDF publishing?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Whoa...I think you misunderstood, Henry. Mike says that PDFs harm the OGC movement by locking up new ideas. I agree because those new ideas tend to only serve a very small market.

How many fan sites have disappeared because those people have moved on to PDF publishing?

Well, how many fans sites have disappeared because of it? Do you have a number or are you just wondering? Curious minds and all that.

For example, I know Phil didn't have a "fan" site per say before doing his PDF material.

And of course this doesnt' count the pages of free materail given away even here at the En World store.

 

[philreed]

Whoa...I think you misunderstood, Henry. Mike says that PDFs harm the OGC movement by locking up new ideas.

And WotC books do not do this exact same thing?

Example: I would like to write 101 Planar Touchstones. I've asked WotC a few times in the past (as most recently as last week) for permission. Not once have my e-mailed requests to do this been answered.

If the rules were OGC I could proceed without special permission and players using the planar touchstone rules would have 101 new planar touchstones to use in their games.

Why is it that WotC locking up rules helps the industry but the existence of PDFs, most of which are declared as 100% OGC, hurts the industry?

 

[Umbran]

If they want to put their material up for sale in PDF, it's their own prerogative. Just as it is my own prerogative not to pursue a credit card account so I can purchase d20 PDF online.

Note that Mr. Mearls does not say they have no right or perogative to engage in this activity. He merely says that when grouped together their choices have repercussions and consequences. Is this somehow a new idea, that going after profit may have consequences?

Nor does Mr. Mearls say there is no innovation going on at all. Seems to me that what he's saying boils down to this - if all those folks making small pdfs were to instead contribute to the pool of free material that we can all hash over for free, we'd have more innovation overall.

What Mr. Mearls misses is that the gaming community lacks something that the software open source community usually has - organization and editors who know what they're doing. You can't just dump all the content in the world onto message boards and wikis and expect the gamers to suddenly be able to find all the good bits. The content has to be edited, organized and compiled into a useful form for the end users.

So, rather than asking Mr. Mearls if he wants to offer his own designs for free, perhaps we should be asking him if he wants to be the d20/OGC version of Linus Torvalds? I don't know about his organizational and management skills, but he's got the systems knowledge and design knowhow to head an editorial board.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Here is what I've seen over the years:

Once upon a time, there were a few major publishers of RPG materials. People looking for gaming materials went to the hobby store to get it.

Then came the internet. Gamers began posting some of their ideas onto the web. Some were good, some were crap, for most it was a matter of opinion. Many were rough and uniquely sited to their particular game. A gamer trying to locate these ideas had a lot of searching to do (I know, that is how I came to find EN World in the first place). Once found, they downloaded it, used it for themselves and often never did anything more with it. Some people would tweak or discuss these ideas and they would improve, but they still tended to be scattered, piecemeal and inconsistent.

Then came PDFs. People with ideas could suddenly make them and sell them easily. Some were good, some were crap, for most it was a matter of opinion. Many were rough and uniquely sited to their particular game. They were often easier to find as they tended to end up on websites that handled the sales of them. People purchased and downloaded it, used it for themselves and often never did anything more with it. Some people would tweak or discuss these ideas or post reviews of the ones that really impressed them. More and more began to appear. That meant more crap ones as well as good ones, but many improved as they realized they had to provide some measure of quality if they ever wanted to sell more.

I don't think, if there were no PDF market, that there would be any kind of open source explosion. People overall are not going to spend a lot of time and effort for nothing more than feeling good. The PDFs give some people the incentive to actually write down their ideas and share them with a larger audience.

 

[Belen]

And WotC books do not do this exact same thing?

Example: I would like to write 101 Planar Touchstones. I've asked WotC a few times in the past (as most recently as last week) for permission. Not once have my e-mailed requests to do this been answered.

If the rules were OGC I could proceed without special permission and players using the planar touchstone rules would have 101 new planar touchstones to use in their games.

Why is it that WotC locking up rules helps the industry but the existence of PDFs, most of which are declared as 100% OGC, hurts the industry?

It may be that WOTC does not see any benefit in allowing the material to be released by a PDF that may be seen by only a few hundred people.

 

[philreed]

I don't think, if there were no PDF market, that there would be any kind of open source explosion. People overall are not going to spend a lot of time and effort for nothing more than feeling good. The PDFs give some people the incentive to actually write down their ideas and share them with a larger audience.

Excellent point. It's as if the implication is that I would devote my time to writing RPG supplements even if I wasn't making my living at it. For me, this isn't a hobby. I've quit my job at a game company in order to do this. If I wasn't being paid I would go back to work somewhere. I'm not saying I would never write new material but it certainly wouldn't be as much -- or as good.