Anyone else feel indifferent about the PDF thing?

[Maggan]

Seriously, one of the common themes of you "relaxed ones" is your confidence that the old editions will eventually be made available by some method.

I like to think I'm relaxed about the whole thing because I already have several feet of shelf space filled with printed roleplaying games, a third of those shelf feet being devoted to D&D.

I don't need any more out of print books. Heck, I don't need any more in-print books. I don't need any more gaming stuff.

I want more gaming stuff, but I don't need it. That's why I'm fairly relaxed about the whole thing. It's still a move I consider to be ill-advised, but ultimately it's up to WotC to make the call about how they want to handle their properties.

/M

 

[Maggan]

Indifferent, yet enjoying another floor show of rage.

I can't wait to see what WOTC does next.

Are there any major mistakes left to make?

/M

 

[Remathilis]

On the plus side, each thread about the PDF situation is another not about edition wars.

Nah, half of them degenerate into "WotC sux. First they killed D&D with 4e, now X" where "X" is the crisis du jour (PDFs, GSL, Fansites, DDi, etc).

 

[Invisible Stalker]

Are there any major mistakes left to make?

/M

5th Edition will have a lot to live up to.

 

[pathfinderq1]

I must admit that I'm mostly unfazed by their choice- I don't really agree with it, but it doesn't affect me much.

With that said, I find it oddly amusing that the sidebar ads I get when reading about the topic have popped up ads for software to edit and share .pdf files more often than any other choice...

 

[Tinker Gnome]

It does not affect me. I do not play 4e, so I do not care what WoTC does with it. I am much more interested in Pathfinder. Heck, I just downloaded my first Gaming PDF today, the Tri-Stat dx system, and that was free.

 

[Drkfathr1]

I prefer the print copies to electronic any day, but sometimes a pdf sure is convenient, and for collecting out of print material its invaluable. Especially if you don't want to engage in bidding wars on ebay.

However, even if you don't normally buy the pdf's, this type of decision/action by WoTC should be concerning to all of us. It's indicative of a particular management style that's certainly not healthy for the brand.

I find it really odd that they wish to spearhead the Digital Age of RPG's with the DDI, yet they decide they're going to remove all pdf's from sale. Without having an alternative ready yet.

And what alternative are you going to use that the rest of the world is going to eagerly adopt? Isn't PDF pretty much the world-wide standard? Are we going to try e-readers/kindle? Devices that would require significant up front costs just to read a file that could previously be read on any computer?

Now don't get me wrong, they are perfectly within their rights to combat piracy and to file suit against said pirates, but considering removing the PDF's won't affect pirating, and according to Mr. Leed's interview was only part of the reason they did this, this just doesn't make sense.