Exclusive interview WotC President Greg Leeds

[Feylock]

I mean, 10:1 illegal PDF downloading to legitmate copies?!?!?! I'm assuming by "legitmate copies" he means legally downloaded rather than physical copies. But still, 10:1!!!! Holy Schnikes!!!

I expected this number to be a LOT higher. like 100:1 or so. 10:1 is a small ratio considering how easily available piracy-pdfs are.

Also dont forget that many owners of the physical books are sometimes downloading their books in pdf format from torrents for ease of use.

 

[JeffB]

A quick note from WotC:

The 10:1 ratio that Greg references is for PDFs only – it has nothing to do with the physical books. For every one PDF purchased legally, there were at least 10 downloaded illegally. And yes, we can track it.​

If thats the case I don't blame them one bit for pulling the PDFs. I just wish I had not been out of town when this went down- there were several more O/B/X D&D PDFs I wanted to purchase.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I feel bad for Scott Rouse having to come on here and follow up that line of answers. His hands are likely going to be tied, in that he has to follow the brilliantly elucidated speaking points from the Leeds interview. In any question asking for more detail or further clarification, he is going to have to say something like "That question was answered fully, and might I say masterfully by our magnificent CEO in his interview."

Just reading the thing forces a skill check to counter his Bluff for content veracity and a Concentration to actually get through it and determine that he said nothing.

Or, more likely, Rouse and the few other WotC employees in touch with the community will go on communications blackout.

 

[Windjammer]

A quick note from WotC:

The 10:1 ratio that Greg references is for PDFs only – it has nothing to do with the physical books. For every one PDF purchased legally, there were at least 10 downloaded illegally. And yes, we can track it.​

Wow, that was quick! Thanks for that clarification. I'm glad you also put it straight on page 1. Little things like these further add to the impression that WotC at least deem it important to enter a direct means of customer communication at all.

This is in stark contrast to the non-communication about the termination of the German license of D&D. It currently looks 4E is dead as a German language product for good, and the complete silence over the whole affair for the past months has been a huge damper on the community.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

If thats the case I don't blame them one bit for pulling the PDFs. I just wish I had not been out of town when this went down- there were several more O/B/X D&D PDFs I wanted to purchase.

People buy the hardback at full price. They aren't likely going to also buy the PDF at the prices they are asking. Therefore, they pirate.

I'm certain that if there was a way to get the PDF for <$5 by showing proof you have the hardback, sales would more than quadruple.

But apparently WotC would rather sell zero copies for $20+ than a few thousand copies for $5.

 

[Stankeye]

This is what they need to do.

• Reproduction and Redistribution Restrictions: This security system has been implemented through the use of a free Adobe Acrobat plug-in that "locks" the PDF file to the computer on which it was first opened. Once a PDF file has been locked to a computer, it can be opened only from that computer.
• Networking Restrictions: Secure PDF files cannot be used in a multi-user, network environment. If you are interested in purchasing standards for you internal corporate network, please contact your local IHS Office to obtain a network version of the document(s) and a network license.
• Viewing Restrictions: You will be required to download the free plug-in to view any secured PDF document. There is no limit to the number of times a document may be viewed on your computer.
• Printing Restrictions: The plug-in limits the number of times the document may be printed to one copy. Since printing a part of the document is interpreted by the software as the one allowable print attempt, we recommend you print the entire document.
• Copy & Paste Restrictions: The ability to copy and paste text from the PDF file has been disabled.

 

[zacharythefirst]

And now, my video response to Mr. Leeds.

 

[joethelawyer]

A quick note from WotC:

The 10:1 ratio that Greg references is for PDFs only – it has nothing to do with the physical books. For every one PDF purchased legally, there were at least 10 downloaded illegally. And yes, we can track it.​

I still say BS.

The only reason they had firm numbers of downloads with PHB2 was because some idiots uploaded it to Scribd, and Scribd provides information on numbers downloaded. Comparing those numbers to actual numbers of pdf's sold gives a ratio. If several thousand were downloaded from Scribd and several hundred sold, you get a ratio of 90%. However, I doubt you can track torrents, Limewire type services, and just plain old emailing or swapping on usb drives.

After this mess, I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to put stuff on Scribd again. But if they did, I would imagine it would be harder to catch them, since the sale of the pdf had the hidden watermark. A good old fashioned scan of a book has no such identifying features.

I know next to noting about how to pirate stuff, but it seems to me that if you are left only with other means of distribution than Scribd, which while they may be trackable on som individual basis if you know the person doing it and get a warrant to track all traffic through his IP address, I doubt you can just go out to some master internet tracker and get numbers of pirated copies downloaded.

So basically, what WOTC has done here is increase market demand for pdf's, taken away some of the guilt of doing it as well as their ability to track it, and alienate their customer base.

Nice.

 

[Morrus]

This is what they need to do.

• Reproduction and Redistribution Restrictions: This security system has been implemented through the use of a free Adobe Acrobat plug-in that "locks" the PDF file to the computer on which it was first opened. Once a PDF file has been locked to a computer, it can be opened only from that computer.
• Networking Restrictions: Secure PDF files cannot be used in a multi-user, network environment. If you are interested in purchasing standards for you internal corporate network, please contact your local IHS Office to obtain a network version of the document(s) and a network license.
• Viewing Restrictions: You will be required to download the free plug-in to view any secured PDF document. There is no limit to the number of times a document may be viewed on your computer.
• Printing Restrictions: The plug-in limits the number of times the document may be printed to one copy. Since printing a part of the document is interpreted by the software as the one allowable print attempt, we recommend you print the entire document.
• Copy & Paste Restrictions: The ability to copy and paste text from the PDF file has been disabled.

What, like they used to do then stopped because of the massive community backlash against it?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

This is what they need to do.

Make the PDf next to useless? I'm not sure that's going to increase sales.
In fact, the guys at RPGNow/DriveThruRPG can tell you just how ineffective any sort of DRM is.

People despise DRM. It's too much of a hassle, and it doesn't stop piracy. There are ways of stripping out protection, and it only takes one person to do it and post it to the net.