Another Cease and Desist Letter: 4E Powercards

[carmachu]

WotC is losing a lot of money on different forms of pirated content.

ANything to actually back it up with numbers, or is it going to be an hysterical throw away line?

Anything to quanitfy how much?

 

[catsclaw227]

WotC's move isn't at all surprising to me, based on their similar behavior in the past. It still makes me mad, though -- regardless of the "legalities" of it (which were all made into law by the urging of the lobbying businesses like Hasbro over the decades). Anyway....

I wonder how Joe Goodman would feel if I took some of his books or adventures, cut out the encounters and then posted them online as "FREE 4E ENCOUNTER AREAS!" or as Delves. Or taking his new monster book and posting his monsters online in my own 4e monster wiki.

I imagine he would be pretty angry, and interestingly, I am guessing that the community would rally around him in anger at me for doing it.

Sorta double-standard, dont'cha think?

What's annoying is that unless someone has pirated copies of the rules and hasn't in any way compensated WotC for playing 4e, there just isn't any harm in using a site like 4E Powercards. You need WotC's products to make use of it in the first place. It only enhances something that WotC makes money off. I bought and paid for the books (even though their business practices make that morally harder and harder to do), and that site was useful to me. As I think on it, I am not exaggerating when I say that 4E Powercards added value to the game for me.

Well, if I can just download the power cards from a fan-site, why do I need the PHB for power text and descriptions?

I wouldn't necessarily say that 4E Powercards added value for WOTC. If anything, they made it easier for a group to share a PHB and then just download power cards for use during gameday.

I have to wonder if the perceived "value" WotC gets out of this "market research" is really worth it when stacked against their legal department's expenses and the cost in customer goodwill. Sigh.

It isn't "market research". WOTC has talked about putting out power cards for a long time, well before 4epowercards came online. And the [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Players-Handbook-Power-Card-Display/dp/0786952733/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235080862&sr=8-1"]product is due to be released[/ame] in less than a month. Heck, I imagine that the product was listed in a trade catalog months and months ago.

 

[Phaezen]

ANything to actually back it up with numbers, or is it going to be an hysterical throw away line?

Anything to quanitfy how much?

As baseline here, roughly 80-90% of pc game installs are pirated. FOr backup to this claims, there are links off this page.

So the short answer is if piracy rates amongst gamers is anywhere near as high as that, and my experience is that that is a distinct possibility, WOTC are loosing a bucketload of sales.

Even discounting those players who wouldn't buy the books anyway and only counting those who aren't buying the books/ddi subscriptions because it is easy enough to find pirated copies WOTC and other gaming companies must be taking a large hit in sales.

Phaezen

 

[Tarrl]

Bummer! Thanks for the great cards you put out for all of us to use. It made the game much easier to play and WOTC should thank you. BTW, I have bought all my books.

 

[DimitriX]

Well, regardless of legality or not, I can say that I'm enjoying 4e less and less with each gaming session. And, I'm liking WotC less and less with each one of these news items I read.

 

[Xyxox]

Bummer! Thanks for the great cards you put out for all of us to use. It made the game much easier to play and WOTC should thank you. BTW, I have bought all my books.

Yes, but will you buy the power cards when they are released?

 

[jensun]

I understand that a company must defend its copyright, or risk losing it.

Copyright doesnt work that way. Trademarks do, Copyright doesnt.

 

[jensun]

WotC's move isn't at all surprising to me, based on their similar behavior in the past. It still makes me mad, though -- regardless of the "legalities" of it (which were all made into law by the urging of the lobbying businesses like Hasbro over the decades). Anyway....

Copyright laws have been around since before America existed as an independant nation never mind Hasbro.

 

[Piratecat]

Yes, but will you buy the power cards when they are released?

I love the fact that the ddi character builder fills these out for you. You know, on that wotc survey, there were two questions near the end - "Do you trust WotC to deliver quality electronic products" and "do you trust WotC to deliver electronic products in a timely manner?" My answer on both of these was "No." The character builder is a notable exception that is doing almost everything right.

I'll echo the folks who said that sites like the ones taken down, even excellent ones, had to come down. Copy and pasting powers isn't okay.

 

[DimitriX]

I love the fact that the ddi character builder fills these out for you. You know, on that wotc survey, there were two questions near the end - "Do you trust WotC to deliver quality electronic products" and "do you trust WotC to deliver electronic products in a timely manner?" My answer on both of these was "No." The character builder is a notable exception that is doing almost everything right.

I'll echo the folks who said that sites like the ones taken down, even excellent ones, had to come down. Copy and pasting powers isn't okay.

Actually, you need to double check those. One of the people in my gaming group built his character using the character builder and found that it didn't always include all of the bonuses from his magic items and some feats into his powers. That's one of reasons why I clicked 'No' to both of those answers too.