D&D 5E Don't Throw 5e Away Because of Hasbro

[Micah Sweet]

Hi. I had a pirated scan of the PHB in August that every page was from the Dungeon Dudes (I think) Livestream. It was readable enough until my copy of the book came and I got rid of it.

I wouldn't bother with such a poor-quality copy personally, but I get it.

 

[Arilyn]

Pirated copies available later doesn't justify anything. Again I'm not that familiar just trying to understand the issue.

You Tubers receive copies of game books all the time. Most will show a lot of the book in their reviews. Companies never complain, in fact, they love the potential new sales reviews bring. You Tubers did the same with the PHB and WotC reacted poorly. Naturally, there was panic and dismay on the You Tubers side when one of them got a strike notice and others were given instructions after their videos were released. It was a case of WotC not getting their ducks in a row, and it caused unnecessary stress.

WotC needs to quit freaking out over piracy. Yes, it's wrong, but it will not hurt them if reviewers show pages of their books. In fact, if WotC released pdfs, there might be a reduction in unauthorized copies. I doubt that blurry stitched together copy dented WotC sales in the slightest.

 

[Kromanjon]

Compared to what companies like Meta, Amazon and Tesla are doing, I can't get angry at WotC for stock level corporating. And if I did, I'd have a very long list of companies I don't find acceptable (Disney, Time Warner, Nestle, etc).

Yes, the list would be very long. However depending on how you choose to interact with modern society some companies might be near unavoidable. Other times its much easier to "vote with your wallet" as they say.

Hi. I had a pirated scan of the PHB in August that every page was from the Dungeon Dudes (I think) Livestream. It was readable enough until my copy of the book came and I got rid of it.

Well I´m very sad to hear that.

 

[mamba]

The whole "their gonna pirate the books via video" seems like nonsense to me. Who would take the time for such a poor quality product?

yet exactly that was released because of one YTer. I doubt anyone would have gone through the trouble of assembling a copy from 10 reviews (assuming that would even get you a complete book)

Cannot really answer who would want such a copy though. If I am set on getting a PDF, I can wait the couple of weeks for a readable one

 

[Micah Sweet]

You Tubers receive copies of game books all the time. Most will show a lot of the book in their reviews. Companies never complain, in fact, they love the potential new sales reviews bring. You Tubers did the same with the PHB and WotC reacted poorly. Naturally, there was panic and dismay on the You Tubers side when one of them got a strike notice and others were given instructions after their videos were released. It was a case of WotC not getting their ducks in a row, and it caused unnecessary stress.

WotC needs to quit freaking out over piracy. Yes, it's wrong, but it will not hurt them if reviewers show pages of their books. In fact, if WotC released pdfs, there might be a reduction in unauthorized copies. I doubt that blurry stitched together copy dented WotC sales in the slightest.

If WotC sold 5e pdfs I think there would definitely be less piracy of those books, because as it stands there's no legal way to get electronic copies without tethering yourself to D&D Beyond, and even that doesn't give you a copy for yourself, just access to the information.

Give folks no legal way to get what they want, and they will look elsewhere.

 

[Remathilis]

I wouldn't bother with such a poor-quality copy personally, but I get it.

Eh. While everyone else was speculating and pouring over AMAs, I was able to look at what was changing. Even got a jump on conversion of homebrew stuff. It was a tide-me-over.

Then again, I remember watching Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers on a terrible handcam recording with increasingly desyncing audio back in 2003 until the DVD came out. I guess I'm kinda used to bad quality tide-me-overs.

 

[mamba]

Then again, I remember watching Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers on a terrible handcam recording with increasingly desyncing audio back in 2003 until the DVD came out. I guess I'm kinda used to bad quality tide-me-overs.

did that once, stopped watching a few minutes in, I can wait for a decent version

 

[Velderan]

Even if you agree that the one crossed a line, what exactly do you prevent with this? Don’t you think there are much better quality scans available within a few weeks of the product release?

And it wasn't even after the official release that better scans showed up online. Someone scanned one of the early GenCon copies and it was available online easily prior to the DDB early access release date.

 

[Remathilis]

did that once, stopped watching a few minutes in, I can wait for a decent version

Everyone had different pain tolerance levels I guess. [emoji12]

 

[Umbran]

If WotC sold 5e pdfs I think there would definitely be less piracy of those books, because as it stands there's no legal way to get electronic copies without tethering yourself to D&D Beyond, and even that doesn't give you a copy for yourself, just access to the information.

Give folks no legal way to get what they want, and they will look elsewhere.

I think you want that to be "... or they will look elsewhere."

Be that as it may, "Give me what I want or I will violate your rights," is not a morally or ethically sound position.