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Message: <blockquote data-quote="microtactix" data-source="post: 1584955" data-attributes="member: 10744">As an early and vocal proponent of electronic format distribution in our industry, I'm always pleased to see new entrants into the field, especially as distinguished a list as is represented at DriveThruRPG.com. To all, I offer a hearty welcome, and I wish the new venture well.Having said that, I do not expect MicroTactix to be leaving RPGNow. I can't say enough good things about the way RPGNow does business. As both a consumer and a publisher, I find their site to be everything I need. James and his RPGNow crew are to be praised for their dedication to the concept of e-publishing and for continuing to respond quickly to the needs and edesires of consumers and publishers alike.I understand why some of the publishers on DriveThruRPG are concerned about piracy enough to experiment with Digital Rights Management. Even so I do believe, in the long run, DRM schemes like the one used here will prove to be of only marginal help in preventing casual piracy. In the meantime, I think they provide a major psychological barricade to broad acceptance of e-publication.When Sandy Antunes (co-founder of RPGNet) and myself first began discussing the need for an e-publishing site for the adventure game industry, we researched the various DRM schemes out there. The Adobe process in use at DriveThruRPG is far superipr to what was available at that time in regards to fairness to the consumer and technical smoothness -- but in the long run I believe we were right then to avoid such a scheme for our early efforts.The systems Sandy created for ZAPdeliver (which we later sold to become the core for RPGNet Mall's systems) were based on the principle that SALES security was important to protect consumer and publisher alike, but that DRM probably created more problems for legitimate paying users than it was worth as an anti-piracy tool. Despite vast improvements in DRM technology since our pioneering efforts, I've seen nothing to change my mind.If hardcopy products were sold under the same set of assumptions as DRM-protected e-publishing works, you would be paying for hardcover books printed in almost-unreadable non-repro blue to avoid photocopying, with the book itself chained to your desk so you could not loan it to a friend. Yes, that would slow up a few pirates -- but it wouldn't stop any significant percentage of them nor would it create any significant number of sales one would otherwise lose to those pirates. Meanwhile, it would unnecessarily inconvenience legitimate customers -- and that's something we can't afford to do this early in the e-publishing revolution.I have no idea what terms and conditions DriveThruRPG extends to publishers, but I suspect that the additional cost of DRM protection and the additional support costs incurred because of DRM problems reported by users contributes the the somewhat inflated cost of the e-published versions of the products being offered. (If not, I think some of the publishers will learn that lesson pretty quickly and start reducing those prices.)On the other hand, I think the voices loudly denegrating the site just because they hate the very CONCEPT of DRM are speaking too loudly, too soon -- and are missing the point. I cringe when I hear someone say he would consider pirating products appearing on the site, apparently just to teach the publishers a lesson for using a DRM scheme. That kind of rhetoric isn't representative of the typical consumer at all (thank God), but it does a great deal to encourage the sort of fears that create a perceived need for DRM in the first place. Talk like that hurts the whole e-publishing industry a lot more than a DRM-enabled site does.If DRM is necessary to provide some publishers with enough of a comfort zone to get them to try e-publishing, I'll (reluctantly) put up with it as a consumer (for a time). I don't think a reasonable DRM scheme would keep me from buying something I really want (though it could affect a marginal purchase, or one where the use I want to put the product to is significantly handicapped by the DRM).But I believe DRM WILL slow down sales overall and, in the final analysis, do virtually nothing to stop piracy. Keep the prices of products reasonable and play fair with consumers and I think you'll find piracy (and, inevitably, there WILL be people who steal) won't hurt your bottom line in any significant manner. And, eventually, I believe DRM will fall by the wayside because consumers really just don't want it. And the consumer will, inevitably, have the final word.</blockquote>

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