D&D General Hey, are we all cool with having to buy the same book twice, or what?

[MarkB]

The last three D&D books I've bought, I only bought the D&D Beyond version.

 

[Fenris-77]

Yeah, I'm not on D&D Beyond and that doesn't bother me. It's a cool service, no doubt, I've just never felt the need. Even the thought of moving online doesn't change that. I own all the books I need for 5E already and I'm not re-buying them to get access to DDB. It's a choice. It's cool that so many people get so much use and enjoyment out of it though.

 

[ArwensDaughter]

It's been three years since D&D Beyond launched and I see many people, here and elsewhere, gladly pay for the physical copy of a release and then again for the virtual copy.

There are companies 1/100th the size of WotC that will gladly provide a virtual copy of the physical book you bought for free, and have been doing it for years (Not to mention they're generally normal PDFs that aren't tied to a service).

My question is this: is the consensus that this is fine and normal and the other publishers are wrong or should we be banging a drum about how this is a anti-consumer practice?

Is it normal that Gale Force Nine charges for their spell/monster/item cards or is it anti-consumer practice?
Do you think Gale Force Nine should give you all their cards...and maybe their DM screens for free if you buy the books they take their info from? How is DDB any different?

I have no problem with people who decide that DDB isn't worth it to them. It's not everyone's cup of tea. Each of potential customer has to do their own assessment of value and their own budget. In my own case, I have found it valuable; budget realities have meant I've been judicious and modest in my purchases. So, while I am a paying DDB customer, I applaud those who investigate it and decide it doesn't fit their budget or it isn't cost effective for them

But I do get frustrated with statements that equate what DDB offers with a pdf. I also get annoyed with the implication that the staff at DDB shouldn't get paid for their work, or that the work involved in insignificant. I'm no programmer or developer, but I have over the course of my life had a couple of opportunities to build relational databases. I know just enough to realize that what DDB has done and is continuing to do with WOTC's content is time consuming and takes a a tremendous amount of thought and work.

 

[Don Durito]

No...and I won’t do it.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

I do not consider it as buying the same book twice because Beyond has many functionalities that your typical pdf doesn't have. Also, there's no free lunch. If you're getting a pdf for free, someone is paying to make it available, and I don't think people that want physical only or pdf only should pay a premium to make both versions available for people who want both.

 

[eyeheartawk]

To be clear, this isn't really about Beyond per se, I mentioned it because the only way to get the virtual copy is through them and select other VTT vendors.

 

[Eltab]

I like books. I have to buy new books when I wear the old ones out. Yes it would be nice to get a PDF too but it is not a pre-condition.

 

[jgsugden]

They're separate products. You can buy one, the other, both or neither. Nobody is forcing you to buy anything. Buy it if it is worth it to you. Don't if it is not.

Let's say that you buy both. And all of both. That might be $2000 if you're not smart about how you do it.

You've been able to play 5E since June 2014. Let's say you play 4 hours a week on average since release of the game. We won't count any of the time you spent happily thinking about the game when you were not playing, because obviously we don't draw any additional pleasure form thinking about the game, visiting free message boards about the game, preparing for games, etc... We'll just focus on that roughly 1000 hours at the table estimated for 5E that people with a regular weekly game might have enjoyed. YOU'RE PAYING $2 per hour.

Oh, wait, you only play half that much? $4 per hour if you bought everything, and were not wise about it.

When it comes to spending money on entertainment, RPGs are some of the best options for maximizing fun and minimizing cost. You can play a really fun PC for $0 with free materials! Heck, you can use a dice app and not even buy dice!

I get that not everybody can afford $2000 for books and virtual content. I get that there can be other costs. I also know that one of the best DMs I have ever met never spent a penny on the game in 30 years of play (RIP, Bud). But, if you want to argue that they're ripping you off.... well, it just doesn't add up.

 

[Ristamar]

I find Beyond to be far more useful than PDFs and the stuff goes on sale frequently, so I don't particularly mind.

 

[Morrus]

There are companies 1/100th the size of WotC that will gladly provide a virtual copy of the physical book you bought for free, and have been doing it for years (Not to mention they're generally normal PDFs that aren't tied to a service).

I mean, I'm not a DDB customer. But not because I don't think they have the right to sell that content, just that I personally have no need for it.

I think the difference is that it's two different companies, one of which is licensing content off the other.

The analogy, I guess, is if you have a paperback compilation of Lord of the Rings, are you therefore entitled to have the audiobook from audible for free? And if so, what is the incentive for anybody to make the audiobook for you?