A new gamers opinion
I think my opinion on this subject is noteworthy for one huge reason:
I am a new Tabletop Gamer. So new, I've only played for 3 months total.
My brother and I bought a game called Descent Journeys in the Dark for Christmas because I remembered how much I enjoyed HeroQuest as a kid (The only thing I had ever played that comes close to DND prior to Descent). Once I went back to home far away from my brother, I decided I wanted to continue that style of gameplay, so I turned online.
As I researched for games that could be played online that were similar to Descent, the most famous of all RPG's of course caught my eye. I researched DND and found it to not only be like Descent, but more fun because Character personality is involved. I enjoy creative writing, so this looked even more appealing.
But I still needed to play online, I couldn't do a DND group that meets once a week. Plus that sounded more like Improv theater than my interest in Creative Writing. So then I found a Play by Post site that hosted DND games. I was hooked.
Then I needed to decide how to purchase the materials for DND. My wife gets extremely annoyed whenever I purchase anything not on the basis of money, but on the basis of space. She doesn't like a lot of books on the bookshelf, and she certainly would hate it if I started buying miniatures (She bitterly tolerated Descent). So I researched if there were some sort of Digital Distribution for DND materials. There was the DNDinsider, but I wary of monthly subscriptions. That lead me to RPGnow and their PDF store, and I was thrilled. I started purchasing one book a month.
And yes, I went into my local stores, both chains and a game shop, and flipped through the books available to me before I bought them online. I did this twice. I didn't read the entire things like retailers get upset about with comics. I just flipped through them.
I logged in today to purchase a copy of the Monster Manual (The PHB's were more important to me out of the gate) and I learned the terrible news that they no longer sell WotC products.
So here's my response. I will NEVER purchase any DND products that are not Digital. I will NEVER pay a monthly subscription for a service that I do not get to keep once the monthly subscription is over. So that pretty much leaves PDF's as the only option for me to enjoy RPG gaming. I find it confusing that right after WotC wins a new customer, they point me to the exit. They were going to get some of my money today, but now they won't.
Again, let me stress the number 1 reason for this. My wife will not let me purchase the hard copies of WotC products. Both she and I get frustrated with too much clutter, and we don't need a new hobby taking up space in our house. However, space on a hard drive is totally fine.
So yes it sucks that some Retail stores may be getting hit bad by Amazon or PDF sales. But unfortunately, that's the way the business world turns. I doubt Obama will promote a stimulus bill to save geeky hobby shops, so it looks like the retailers are on their own to figure out how to stay in business or opt to sell now before it gets really bad. I wish you guys the best, but at the same time if WotC wants my money, they have to release their product digitally. The idea of forcing a dying business model (print media) for the sake of locally owned businesses is heartwarming but ultimately fatal.