Anyone else feel indifferent about the PDF thing?

[Jeff Wilder]

I honestly believe that over 60% of those who play D&D aren't even going to be aware of the change, let alone upset about it.

Well, okay, but 100 percent of those who want to buy WotC PDFs are going to be aware that they're not available. Which is 100 percent of that audience. Which isn't good.

 

[Rechan]

Well, okay, but 100 percent of those who want to buy WotC PDFs are going to be aware that they're not available. Which is 100 percent of that audience. Which isn't good.

And that depends on how big that audience is.

After all, WotC was willing to sacrifice the audience that wanted to buy Print Dragon and Dungeon.

 

[Nymrohd]

I don't doubt that. I've bough several 4E products in pdf form and have tons of AD&D stuff as well. My collection of old products is pretty much complete but I still want to be able to get pdf version of certain new 4E products (anything that is rules heavy). I'm annoyed about that but I expect that WotC will find a way to make them available through their site because honestly, it doesn't make financial sense for them not to. I certainly don't see a reason to predict their doom.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

If WotC were to go risk going under because of some angry people, their buildings would have been aflame ten minutes after they launched Magic.

WotC survived the Dragon/Dungeon controversy. On the grand scheme of things, this PDF debacle is a tempest in a tea-cup compared to that, both PR wise and business wise.

That said, I would like to see WotC change their PR strategy. It would make EN World a lot nicer to hang out at.

/M

perhaps I am overreacting, but this was a pretty big splash in the RPG pool, and once again, I'm afraid to get in.

 

[Rechan]

I'm annoyed about that but I expect that WotC will find a way to make them available through their site because honestly, it doesn't make financial sense for them not to. I certainly don't see a reason to predict their doom.

They kind of all ready do:

DDi.

Through the Character Builder and the Compendium, you have access to all 4e rules. New books are dumped onto those within two weeks of being out.

WotC may be trying to funnel those who want the PDFs to instead go to the DDi. DDi (at least the compendium and character builder) are much more difficult to pirate.

 

[WhatGravitas]

And that depends on how big that audience is.

After all, WotC was willing to sacrifice the audience that wanted to buy Print Dragon and Dungeon.

That's the delicious irony - they sacrificed the print magazine audience in favour of an internet-based audience - and for this audience, pulling the PDFs hits much, much closer home (of course, that may be the reason why they're hunting pirates now - because of the presumeably larger internet audience they got by the massive DDI ads in their books).

Cheers, LT.

 

[Nymrohd]

I do wonder though, how hard is it for the DDI to double up as a library. Some books are practically in the DDI in their entirety (MP for instance). Many people speculate they may start selling 4E pdfs themselves which certainly makes sense. Why not older products as well, if at least for limited releases? I could see selling all FR material on their site so as to support FR and then add Eberron when that is launched and so on with each setting they convert for instance.

 

[technoir]

Okay I don't jump in on discussions often but I will take a swing here.

Why is it a big deal?

A couple of reasons. First off, while PDF's are not your cup of tea they are a growing segment of the market. Do they represent a large percentage of D&D sales? No probably not. Were there more and more people buying them? yes. As things like eReaders, I pod Touch, and laptops slowly become more common at the game table the PDF becomes more and more useful. Right now the precentage of people using them may be low but it is most definitely growing.

WotC declining to persue selling them any further is an unfortunate decision but not terrible. Okay they loose out on sales they might have otherwise gotten. However when they began suing people for pirating said PDF's is where you run in to some real idiocy. If you eliminate the only legitimate source for your product and there is still demand, then people will persue the illegal sources. Sue the folks sharing these files is just a bad idea. It will not eliminate their being shared. Ask the RIAA how well that tactic worked for them. Not only will it not stop them but it earns you a lot of ill will.

It is a big deal when an important company in the industry begins doing the stupid. Will it effect your local game? probably not. But honestly if it was not that big a deal to you, why did you start a thread about it?

 

[Wormwood]

Do I *like* their policy? Not really.

But since I don't buy PDFs, Wizard's decision doesn't concern me at all.

edit: I take that back---it might concern me a little if this place ends up more heated and annoying as a consequence of the PDF thing.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

It's not a big deal to me. I vastly prefer hardcover, dead-tree editions. .pdfs are, for me, a secondary concern at best, a convenience that I can load up on my flash drive and take to work with me so I don't have to open the books at my desk and I can goof off even more than I already do.

I mean, I gamed for a couple of decades without .pdfs so I'm not going to shed a tear if some of them go away.

Edit: Though I don't necessarily think WotC handled the cessation of their .pdfs properly.