File-Sharing: Has it affected the RPG industry?
- Thread starter dreaded_beast
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MerakSpielman
First Post
I also prefer physical books for actual use because they're much easier to read. I've worked in the scanning/archiving business and I can tell you that most scanned RPG books aren't done very well. It takes a lot of time and dedication to do a quality scanning job. They're a pain to read on a screen, and printouts, while legible, are often barely so. You can't zoom in to see detail in the art (a major issue with scanned maps) because the resolution is usually so low it gets pixelated.
I really don't think I could use pdfs instead of books even if I wanted to. If I did want a pdf archive of books, I'd do it myself from books I've already purchased so I can be sure it's being done right.
I really don't think I could use pdfs instead of books even if I wanted to. If I did want a pdf archive of books, I'd do it myself from books I've already purchased so I can be sure it's being done right.
Thanee
First Post
I absolutely prefer real books over e-books. It's just so much better to read and browse.
So I always buy the books I want to have, anyways.
That's also the reason, why I havn't purchased a single downloadable e-book so far.
I just prefer books that you can actually hold in your hands and flip through.
Bye
Thanee
So I always buy the books I want to have, anyways.
That's also the reason, why I havn't purchased a single downloadable e-book so far.
I just prefer books that you can actually hold in your hands and flip through.
Bye
Thanee
Turanil
First Post
The only persons I share files with are my players (I am the DM). In fact, where all of us buy books (although I am the one who buy the greatest amount of rpg books), they never buy any PDF and are not interested in doing so. When I give them a PDF it is mostly for practical reasons, so they know about the new rules that will be used, etc. However, even like that they are not really interested by the PDFs.
On the other hand I do not practice file sharing over the Internet. What I think anyway, is that it would hurt more d20 authors (who do a very meager living from their creations), than it would hurt stars like Michael Jackson who's flooded under millions of dollars.
Hemlock Stones
First Post
GREETINGS!
What a fascinating topic. I agree with several points about the whole nature of legal PDF vs. pirated ones. First, its so damned difficult to determine if something is valuable to what you are doing, ie. character development, templates to modify creatures, etc. If all of the gaming content creators would take the time to post the table of contents so we can at least get a feel for what is in the book to determine its value to the gamer. I'm on a budget, I can't buy every damned book.
If something is valuable to when I game, I buy it. A good example is the people outside of WOTC that posted the details about the Expanded Psionics Book. I learned far more about the book than what WOTC released. I am more than willing to buy the product provided I have a means to arrive at an educated decision.
One of the most useful things is having the core book information printable from some form of electronic format. That allows me to print the important pages I use all the time and leave the books at home. In the past I have been known to drag around at least ten books with me. Heck the D&D campaign I am in right now the DM brings easily 15-20 different books with him.
Paper and pencil gaming is one thing. Dragging a set of encyclopedias with you to the game gets to be damned tedious!
So Sayeth The Bone Daddy!
What a fascinating topic. I agree with several points about the whole nature of legal PDF vs. pirated ones. First, its so damned difficult to determine if something is valuable to what you are doing, ie. character development, templates to modify creatures, etc. If all of the gaming content creators would take the time to post the table of contents so we can at least get a feel for what is in the book to determine its value to the gamer. I'm on a budget, I can't buy every damned book.
If something is valuable to when I game, I buy it. A good example is the people outside of WOTC that posted the details about the Expanded Psionics Book. I learned far more about the book than what WOTC released. I am more than willing to buy the product provided I have a means to arrive at an educated decision.
One of the most useful things is having the core book information printable from some form of electronic format. That allows me to print the important pages I use all the time and leave the books at home. In the past I have been known to drag around at least ten books with me. Heck the D&D campaign I am in right now the DM brings easily 15-20 different books with him.
Paper and pencil gaming is one thing. Dragging a set of encyclopedias with you to the game gets to be damned tedious!
So Sayeth The Bone Daddy!
Tav_Behemoth
First Post
Henry said:
I eats more chicken/Than any man's seen - Howlin' Wolf, "Back Door Man"
Behemoth3 is a small publisher, and we're betting our entire yearly Top Ramen budget on the proposition that file sharing is the best thing that can possibly happen to us.
From our website:
The SwoRD Project is intended to encourage publishers to freely share the content that, under the Open Gaming License, is already community property. Its innovation is to maintain a link from the open content back to the source it comes from, so that if you like what you see you're only a click away from buying the book and getting more good stuff like it. For publishers releasing SwoRD hypertexts, file sharing is an ally instead of an enemy because everyone who's introduced to your work becomes a potential customer.
Behemoth3's business model is like the neighborhood drug pusher's: the first taste is free, because we're betting that you'll quickly get hooked. The open content in our SwoRD hypertext is linked to product identity that helps it come to life in your imagination as well as at your gaming table--illustrations, fiction, character histories and motivations, all the rich details that make roleplaying more than a game. Becoming a registered owner of a Masters and Minions product also gives you access to our Vorpal suite of online gaming tools that are custom designed to work with our new material. You don't need either the product identity or the Vorpal enhancements to use the free open content in our SwoRD releases, but we're betting that access to these extras will make it worth your while to buy the Horde Book (in either its print or PDF incarnations) to take the content you're already enjoying to the next level.
The greatest strength of d20 is that it is an enterprise open to the entire community, and the same is true of the SwoRD Project. We think that SwoRD hypertext releases are a good idea, so we want to give that idea away for free and get as many people using it as possible! If you're a publisher with open content you'd like to release as a SwoRD hypertext, or if you're a gamer who wants to help our industry embrace the full possibilities of the Open Gaming movement instead of trying to put the genie back in the bottle, our forum is intended to serve as a meeting point for discussion and collaboration.
trancejeremy
Adventurer
I think RPG piracy is perhaps closer to DVD piracy than music piracy.
I mean, it's relatively easy and cheap to download a song and burn it to a cd. The end result is exactly like a store bought cd in functionality, and many cd players nowdays support mp3s directly, you can just burn the mp3s to a cd. There is some quality loss, but almost no one can tell the difference. Conversely, music cds are fairly cheap, usually $10-15, or $1 a song for a legal download
RPG piracy, on the other hand, it's hard to use a PDF. They're not easy to read from a screen. And if you print them out, it could conceivably cost you more than buying it used on ebay (if it costs 5 cents a page, a 200 page book would cost $10 to print out, which is more than a used copy in some cases), and you'd have a lousier looking product.
OTOH, new prices are fairly high, $40-50 in some cases, so there is probably a large temptation. And some people have strange eyes, and have no problems reading a PDF. That's for pen & paper books, anyway
I do think file sharing hurts PDF sellers. I mean, if you get the exactly same PDF for free that it would cost you $5-10 to buy, then most people will take the free one, and punch their conscience in the gut.
And I think Michael Jackson actually needs money, being in debt. Apparently his only real source of income is from Beatles songs he owns the rights to. That's a lot of income a year, but apparently it costs a lot to run Neverland...
I mean, it's relatively easy and cheap to download a song and burn it to a cd. The end result is exactly like a store bought cd in functionality, and many cd players nowdays support mp3s directly, you can just burn the mp3s to a cd. There is some quality loss, but almost no one can tell the difference. Conversely, music cds are fairly cheap, usually $10-15, or $1 a song for a legal download
RPG piracy, on the other hand, it's hard to use a PDF. They're not easy to read from a screen. And if you print them out, it could conceivably cost you more than buying it used on ebay (if it costs 5 cents a page, a 200 page book would cost $10 to print out, which is more than a used copy in some cases), and you'd have a lousier looking product.
OTOH, new prices are fairly high, $40-50 in some cases, so there is probably a large temptation. And some people have strange eyes, and have no problems reading a PDF. That's for pen & paper books, anyway
I do think file sharing hurts PDF sellers. I mean, if you get the exactly same PDF for free that it would cost you $5-10 to buy, then most people will take the free one, and punch their conscience in the gut.
And I think Michael Jackson actually needs money, being in debt. Apparently his only real source of income is from Beatles songs he owns the rights to. That's a lot of income a year, but apparently it costs a lot to run Neverland...
MerakSpielman
First Post
I'd just like to mention that I've purchased several RPGnow pdfs from different publishers and they are much better quality than scanned books. Don't share them.
I once had an idea for a PDF publishing company that offered all products for free, but they would be laced with advertising like magazines. The idea was to make profit solely on advertising, and to actively encourage sharing of the files becuase the advertising would reach a larger market and the advertisers would be willing to pay more for spots in the product.
I once had an idea for a PDF publishing company that offered all products for free, but they would be laced with advertising like magazines. The idea was to make profit solely on advertising, and to actively encourage sharing of the files becuase the advertising would reach a larger market and the advertisers would be willing to pay more for spots in the product.
Liquidsabre
Explorer
I think the vast majority of gamers want to have Book-in-Hand, making PDFs for the most part an accessory/reference-at-home material at best. From the responses there are quite a few (myslef included) who use the DLs as on-screen previews and then buy the products they wish to have. Plus the added benefit of having on-screen easy access to your home library virtually wherever you go is pure gravy.
For gamers it's a matter of BiH being of the most value, sure a PDF also has some worth to a gamer but it will never quite compare to the easy-to-leaf-through-and-bring-to-the-game-table book version. I'm not worried about DLs being a problem, I don't think publishers need to either.
For gamers it's a matter of BiH being of the most value, sure a PDF also has some worth to a gamer but it will never quite compare to the easy-to-leaf-through-and-bring-to-the-game-table book version. I'm not worried about DLs being a problem, I don't think publishers need to either.
In theory, whats to stop a publisher from flooding a pirate site/p2p system with crappy scans of their product...
That's just a crazy enough, it just might work.
Think about it. WotC makes the PH. They then make a crappy PDF out of it (missing pages, poor legibility). They then hit every pirate site they can and upload it anonymously. Now, pirates will have to work hard to tell the difference between the good one, and the bad one. And as on person mentioned, the bad ones seem to proliferate such that people are too lazy to find a good version.
Janx
That's just a crazy enough, it just might work.
Think about it. WotC makes the PH. They then make a crappy PDF out of it (missing pages, poor legibility). They then hit every pirate site they can and upload it anonymously. Now, pirates will have to work hard to tell the difference between the good one, and the bad one. And as on person mentioned, the bad ones seem to proliferate such that people are too lazy to find a good version.
Janx
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