Yes, yes, yes, yes, according to Erik's post right after yours:
He worded it nicely; I worded it in the most brutal and dismissive fashion possible. However, they both boil down to the same thing -- your market segment isn't statistically significant. You or people like you will be moved into another segment.
Of course, Erik will probably think I'm a jerk for using his very PC text to defend my very blunt text, but I'm OK being the jerk. The bottom line is that they care about the market that buys both and they priced for it, just as Lisa said. /me shrugs. There is nothing new under the sun.
EDIT: perhaps the reason I am fine with this state of affairs is that I am exactly the market they are claiming. I intended to have nothing to do with Pathfinder until this $9.99 price point, and now that they've "caught" me, I'll likely buy some hard cover books too.
Wow.
Alright, lets do this slowly.
1. EM makes the argument that Lisa did not mean to disparage or ignore the demographic that will purchase pdfs and not hardcopies if the price point for a pdf is right for pdf, and which will purchase hardcopy if the price point is wrong for pdf. He's misreading her, of course, basic literacy and a reading of Lisa's post clearly show that she's attempting to divide customers into two categories of format preference, and to argue that they don't overlap based on price. Her entire argument about the effect of inexpensive pdfs on gamings tores fails if there's a meaningful group of people who do in fact price shop formats.
2. You misread EM's post to say that the price shopping demographic is insignificant. He doesn't say that at all. He just says that he's sure that Lisa didn't mean to overlook that demographic. He is perhaps misreading me as someone who feels insulted... I'm not, I'm just an internet pedant who doesn't believe for a moment that pricing is irrelevant to format choices. Anyways, he doesn't say the things you apparently believe he says. I'm really not sure how you misread him since he only wrote three sentences.
So... yeah. I think Lisa is wrong. EM misreads Lisa. You misread EM.
I don't know why this is hard for people. Of course cheap pdfs hurt stores that sell more expensive hardcopy. An alternatives to purchase in stores hurts stores. Cheap, convenient alternatives to purchase in stores hurts stores more. This shouldn't be controversial.
For the record, again, since I'm not sure people are entirely grasping this, I really, really, genuinely do not have a problem with this. I do not consider gaming stores to be some sort of ethical cause that we are obligated to support. I do not think that offering consumers a desirable alternative to purchases through brick and mortar stores is somehow wrong. On the contrary, I think it is a very positive thing.
I just don't feel the need to make up rationalizations or crazy arguments to the effect that one's preference in RPG format is somehow a 0% elasticity good just so you can reach the counter intuitive conclusion that cheap alternatives don't trade off with existing choices.
The bottom line is that they care about the market that buys both and they priced for it, just as Lisa said. /me shrugs. There is nothing new under the sun.
