Gamers and Thieves

[Mathew Lankard]

I used to have 2 guys in a fromer group of mine who would steal books and offer them to me, sort of like a DM tribute. We were teenagers, but I declined the books. I place the blame for this sort of thing on teens making minimum wage, and the over abundance of "splat" books.

 

[francisca]

Well, I think the gaming industry depends on a certain type of obsessive-compulsive "gotta get 'em all" type of personality to sustain itself. Some of those people are bound to be thieves, probably much more so than non-gamers (I'm not a mental health professional, nor do I play one on TV.)

CCGs, clicky minis, Pirates of the Spanish Main, and the D&D mini game could not exist without this sort of personality to support them. Same for RPGs, to a somewhat lesser degree.

 

[Li Shenron]

Well, I think the gaming industry depends on a certain type of obsessive-compulsive "gotta get 'em all" type of personality to sustain itself. Some of those people are bound to be thieves, probably much more so than non-gamers (I'm not a mental health professional, nor do I play one on TV.)

CCGs, clicky minis, Pirates of the Spanish Main, and the D&D mini game could not exist without this sort of personality to support them. Same for RPGs, to a somewhat lesser degree.

Interesting comment. Perhaps that mental attitude can be increased by the rarity-based products such as CCG. I knew a couple of clever guys who played Magic and became very frustrated about getting ultra-rare cards, and I wouldn't be surprised had that almost turned them into thieves... I mean, imagine someone who collects D&D minis and has spent a lot on one set, but never found the rare dragon mini or whatever: then he sees the mini exposed on a shop shelf or someone brings the mini at the FLGS to play... it's not unlikely that someone may not resist :\ It's not just because of the material value (which your brain may remind that it's just 1/8 of the price of a box), but because you know that even if you want to buy it, you may not find it. I'm not confident that young kids and teen-agers would not go into that state of mind.

 

[philreed]

Have I every bought a pdf? Hell no. You get a copy from your friend. It's that simple.

This hurts me personally. And many, many others. Let's remember that the people you're hurting are not making a lot of money and your actions can put a serious impact on their lives.

 

[Stone Angel]

Had a friend that worked at a bookstore and if any damaged books came in he was able to get them at a huge discount. After a while he started to damage them just he could sell them to me for 10 or 15 dollars. So I guess that makes me just as bad, adding to the cycle.

I know tons of other gamers almost usually younger ones that steal from the gaming store, mostly mini's and dice or whatever is small enough.

The true thief is one that steals from a fellow gamer!

The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Lorthanoth]

At school, one of the guys in our ever expanding and contracting extended gaming group came from the wrong side of the tracks (was very bright, but family were quite badly off): he would often bring in his latest acquisition, ecspecially when a new gaming store opened in town. It very quickly went out of business.

It's probably true to say that it has to do with the adolescent pushing of boundaries, as well as the sheer number and the price of RPG books.

 

[Tav_Behemoth]

Back when I was in Junior High, our local city library had a bunch of RPG books (originally) but the more I got into the hobby, the more frustrated I got when I'd go to check out a book only to find that it had been missing for years. They eventually stopped carrying them altogether.

What city was that, Samothdm? I've been thinking about donating Masters and Minions books to my local public library, and trying to organize a donation drive for other companies to do the same. One of the hurdles will be convincing the library to start a RPG collection, so having other examples of cities that have done it might help. And yeah, books going missing will be one of the others.

(One of the interesting things I just noticed the NYPL doing is an e-book collection - although I can't see how this would be a loan; how do you check out a PDF and give it back when it's done?)

Charles Ryan had a thread recently about donating a D&D Basic Set to gift drives for the holidays, which I think is a great idea, but it'd be even cooler if people who learn about the game that way (or through D&D/Dragonlance/FR novels, which are hot items at my local branch library) could move to the hard stuff by checking it out from the library.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Interesting. I never knew anyone who shoplifted a role playing book. I know plenty of people who held on to books that were not theirs (accidentally or not) but the gaming stores I go to report very little theft (then again they have cameras).

I think that if there is any theft going on it is like this: rpgs appeal to teenage boys. Whereas that is not the highest demographic of shoplifters, it is certainly up there. Therefore if a teenage boy is looking for something to shoplift, they go for something they want.

I would like to know how many adult magazines get shoplifted every year.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

Not to mention the cost of the books themselves. Not to justify shoplifting, but if you are a teenager/young person working for minimum wage in the US (or living off the generosity of your parents), paying $32-40 for an RPG book is pretty steep when you consider all the other entertainment someone could buy for that same amount. When I was younger, I often thought of things in terms of the cost of a CD. I might look at shirt that cost $50 and think "Man, that's five CDs!" (I shopped at local used store that sold CDs for $10 or less) Even at full Tower Records price, a $40 book is the same as two CDs. Now consider that a lot of places don't put security tags in their books, making them more tempting to steal than CDs which almost always have security devices in them. It doesn't surprise me at all.

I've never found that argument compelling (nor do I find it compelling for those who justify stealing CDs or DVDs online). A $60 collection of books that I bought together with my brothers and friends led to countless hours of fun when we were in junior high and high school. If the 5 of us had gone to a single movie and bought popocorn and drinks, that's close to $60 in 1991. Over the course of 2E I maybe bought $300 in books and modules over 5 years. That's 60 hours of work at the pizza place. (Our B/E/C/MD&D stuff was mostly presents, as I wasn't yet 14 and so didn't have a job).

In terms of hours of fun per dollar of cost, RPGs definitely beat movies (though I still went to the movies a lot), but admittedly nothing beats a library card.

 

[Hanuman]

There are two camps, Pirates and Ninjas............. now is anybody really surprised ?