EN World GameStore Closing

[Morrus]

No. I don't feel that it was adequate notice.

The contract I signed was with RPGnow. Although I haven't pulled it out to double check, it was my understanding that ANY changes to that contract (not just rate changes) required 30 days notice. I'm also pretty sure that contract didn't include a provision for sticking my products on the DTRPG site.

I was given a day's notice that my products were going to be appearing on DTRPG. They are there now, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that (rate hike issues aside). I didn't fail to list my stuff on their site out of laziness, I had reasons for choosing not to list there. I was not given enough time to consider whether those reasons were still of importance to me, or of sufficient importance to outweigh the benefit of being with the combined store, yet my products are there. I wasn't given the option to decline in advance of the move.

If I should decide in the next day or two that I do not want to go with OBS after the 30 day delay on the rate hike, I also cannot simply remove my products from DTRPG while maintaining them on RPGNow until I can choose another outlet and change all my links, etc. I'm forced to have my products on both sites, or neither, until I make other arrangements.

If I had been given 30 days notice prior to these changes, I would have had time to think this over, decide how I wanted to proceed, and could have taken action in an orderly manner prior to the move. I wasn't given that opportunity. I think I should have been.

So I think the "one day's notice" accusation is quite appropriate.

I can see your point there. To clarify, I was reply to the person who was talking specifically about the notice given for the rate change. My post didn't address any other issues.

 

[Vigilance]

And (for the purposes of your arguement alone) I refer you back to Microsoft on this issue. You seem to be unaware that such things can happen, and do happen. I'm not saying 'The govt needs to jump in here on this' or anything so silly, I'm merely addressing your arguement, which is failing to take this into account.

Talking about this issue in monopoly terms is just silly.

I'll make the point here I made in general.

When I started writing PDFs 4-5 years ago there was one company: RPGnow. In the 4+ years since I've seen the market go from one company, to five (RPGNow, DTRPG, ENGS, e23 and Paizo) and now back down to three (OBS, e23 and Paizo).

This does not equal a monopoly by any definition to me.

Chuck

 

[Geoff]

I was given a day's notice that my products were going to be appearing on DTRPG. They are there now, and I'm still not sure how I feel about that (rate hike issues aside). I didn't fail to list my stuff on their site out of laziness, I had reasons for choosing not to list there. I was not given enough time to consider whether those reasons were still of importance to me, or of sufficient importance to outweigh the benefit of being with the combined store, yet my products are there. I wasn't given the option to decline in advance of the move.

I don't know about you, but our contract reads as follows:

1. GRANT OF LICENSE. In accordance with this Agreement, the Publisher grants MDC a non-exclusive license to sell the submitted Products via the web site known as rpgnow.com and www.rpgshop.com. The Publisher retains title and ownership of the Product.

 

[madelf]

I don't know about you, but our contract reads as follows:

1. GRANT OF LICENSE. In accordance with this Agreement, the Publisher grants MDC a non-exclusive license to sell the submitted Products via the web site known as rpgnow.com and www.rpgshop.com. The Publisher retains title and ownership of the Product.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure mine does too. I'm not ticked enough to dust it off and call a lawyer, but it does annoy me slightly that they just transferred all my products to another site without giving me time to consider whether I wanted them to (enough that I was compelled to call BS on the idea that they gave full notice of impending changes, anyway).

 

[Angellis_ater]

So in essence, RPGNow and thereby OBS is in breach of contract with pretty much EVERYONE? Wow...

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

This does not equal a monopoly by any definition to me.

Chuck

The number of companies isn't relevant. Consider the amount of market share held by each of those companies and reconsider your evaluation because ...

... fits the definition of monopoly, for good or bad. No moral value conotation, but purely as a definative meaning: yes, an effective monopoly.

 

[Morrus]

So in essence, RPGNow and thereby OBS is in breach of contract with pretty much EVERYONE? Wow...

I wouldn't be so quick to jump to that conclusion. I'm not a lawyer, but this is the same company. I'm not aware of the legalities involved with changing a company name, a merger, change of ownership or a number of other possible situations, including this one, and their effects on contracts held by the pervious company.

I do know that Steve and James paid a bunch of legal fees, which means lawyers were certainly involved.

But crying out "breach of contract" without really knowing the legalities of the situation is not fair to anyone, much as we all like a bit of internet messageboard drama.

 

[2WS-Steve]

The number of companies isn't relevant. Consider the amount of market share held by each of those companies and reconsider your evaluation because ...

... fits the definition of monopoly, for good or bad.

I must be missing that dictionary then.

Seems that the vast majority of companies can easily sell elsewhere. The companies that most customers recognize can even forego selling via PDF altogether and take only a minor hit.

OBS's only leverage is that it brings more customers to the table than anyone else -- so they're supposed to be criticized for doing a good job?

 

[madelf]

So in essence, RPGNow and thereby OBS is in breach of contract with pretty much EVERYONE? Wow...

That's jumping to a conclusion I wouldn't be inclined to embrace without a bit of looking into things. They might be, they might not be. I'm no lawyer, I don't know. It might be perfectly legal for them to do what they've done. My only point is that I don't approve of thier doing it without providing me time to decide how I feel about it (and leaving me time to bow out in advance of the move if that were my choice). I just feel like they rushed the whole thing by me, and I'm left spinning around going, "Huh? Bu...what now?" It's annoying, but possibly 100% legal.

 

[Vigilance]

The number of companies isn't relevant. Consider the amount of market share held by each of those companies and reconsider your evaluation because ...

... fits the definition of monopoly, for good or bad. No moral value conotation, but purely as a definative meaning: yes, an effective monopoly.

Except that ANY RPG website with a lot of traffic could do what ENWorld did tomorrow.

If GR or Mongoose started selling their PDFs on their own site and then said "oh yeah and anyone else who wants to sell their PDFs here is welcome", *boom* we've gone from 1, to 5 to 3 and back to 4.

And since being exclusive at OBS allows us ALL to sell on our own sites, I think what you'll likely see is DOZONS of sites selling PDFs that NEVER have before.

Eventually, I predict several of those sites will reach a critical mass where they combine stores, or a high traffic site simply opens the doors for others to sell there (like Green Ronin or Mongoose).

What you seem to not understand about monopolies is that it has nothing to do with the level of competition.

It's how easy competition can spring up, in other words, how fertile is the soil.

We are by NO means in a non-competitive enviornment in the PDF distribution arena.

Chuck