Any news on DTRPG?
- Thread starter Funksaw
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Patrick O'Duffy
First Post
Sorry Funksaw, but I've had nothing but good service and satisfactory files from DTRPG thus far. But hey, keep tilting at those windmills.
Derulbaskul
Adventurer
When will see the old Judges Guild products made available?
Why no alternative for people who can't use a DRM capable version of Adobe Reader?
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
mythusmage said:
But you see, DRM vendors don't care about you. They think everyone has to have a squeaky-clean internet connection, a good computer that is less than three years old (or the money to afford one so get one, right now! That's why you're buying cheap PDFs instead of books, 'cuz you're loaded!), a totally bug-free computer and the latest greatest Acrobat 6 (no other PDF readers!) or you're a "dinosaur". And if you can't do all that, you can always take computer classes or hire a computer tech to fix your computer, if there's some weird problem. Sure it costs a lot of money and keeps you from your computer from hours to days, but that's a small price to pay for the better quality of DRMs.
Oh yeah, and you better be a computer genius, since they figured only computer-literate people will download PDFs, even though it's so easy that anyone who knows how to read and can find RPGNow (or whatever site) can do it with a few clicks and the ability to type with one or more fingers.
And since you can't buy from them, they don't even consider you a potential customer and don't try to get your sale. As a result, they're missing out on potential customers.
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buzz
Adventurer
General FYI:Patrick O'Duffy said:
http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showcreator&creatorid=1213
I've d/l'ed free copies of BESM and Twilight:2000 from DTRPG, which is kind of neat. I don't know if I'll ever buy anything from them, however.
Morrus said:
They're hardballs, but they're polite.
Mr. Weick, in the short months that DTRPG has been online, much of the praise as to DTRPG's usability and conveinience that has appeared on online message boards have come from people who either currently work for or who freelance for White Wolf or one of it's subsidiaries or business partners. Is this an "astroturf" campaign, like the one that Microsoft launched, in which employees of Microsoft were enticed to give positive opinions of Microsoft products? (Thanks for inspiring this one, Patrick!)
You've often given evasive answers as to the ownership of DTRPG - claiming a number of times that it is not owned by White Wolf (although it makes little effective difference since those who own White Wolf own DTRPG) and have given, at a couple places, half-truths about the capabilities of DTRPG, which differ from the Adobe speculations or practical experiences. Did you attempt to *use* DTRPG on a number of different computer platforms - beta testing it, if you will - before you offered it to the public? In short, were you aware of the capabilities and limitations of your product before you started marketing it?
Mr. Weick, considering that the best response you get from customers is that they are "indifferent" to the DRM, and the worst response you get from customers is that they are opposed to it morally, combined with the fact that Adobe DRM has been shown to impede neither the casual nor the experienced hacker, why do you continue to use the DRM?
Have you recieved complaints from companies other than Malhavoc Press which which to sell their un-DRMed products through the White Wolf store? Will you offer "outs" to companies that wish to leave DTRPG, as you did with Malhavoc Press? Now that Malhavoc Press has a product on DTRPG and an un-DRMed file on White-Wolf.com, has there been an increase in sales at White-Wolf.com compared to DTRPG?
Before you signed up with Adobe, did you do any research on what DRM was, how it had been used, and what other companies offered it? If so, what did that research yield? If not, why?
Considering that none of your PDF competitors use DRM - RPGnow and E23, as well as several companies such as Hero Games that sell directly through their own websites come to mind, - why did your company decide to take these steps when others found that business model was not to their liking?
What value does DRM add for the end-user? Does it remove value?
Considering that WW has more to fear from big companies like Sony ripping off IP than it has from kiddies bartering illicit files on Kazaa, why has White Wolf expended - I would say wasted - so much time and effort on this scheme which is doomed to failure?
Who wrote the infamous "first professional e-book" press release? Why did it take so long to change after the complaints started rolling in? Why did you decide to use this phrasing after explicit help from RPGnow? Why did the original changes to the press release keep the wording but fail to remove the insult?
Why have you decided to make a move that has endeared no one to WW but has pissed off a sizable portion of internet-savvy customers, those most likely to buy electronic gaming materials and those most likely to be early adopters for new game lines, such as the many new game lines that WW is coming out with in the near future?
Why have you decided to make DTRPG invitation only?
When can we expect a change in White Wolf's business practices to remove the DRM from the files? (even if he answers "never" at least we know where we stand.)
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