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<blockquote data-quote="Thornir Alekeg" data-source="post: 2801685" data-attributes="member: 15651"><p>Here is what I've seen over the years:</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Thornir Alekeg, post: 2801685, member: 15651"] 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. [/QUOTE]
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