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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DPG Darrin" data-source="post: 189963" data-attributes="member: 1002">Re: 2 cents...OK, I said that I was done commenting on this, but I maybe I do have something constructive to add to the conversation. First I'm going to clarify what I feel are the main issues at stake here from our point of view, and then I'll propose a hypothetical solution. This is the same solution I would have proposed had there been some communication on this subject in the first place.First of all, my main qualms with this policy are that:(1) we have a great deal of free game related material on both of our sites. This material is incorporated with our sites and amounts to one of several parts of our own marketting efforts. If customers can't access the sites, they can't get a full picture of what we are about, and are therefore less likely to mak a buying decision in our favor. Yes, I do fully appreciate the fact that they can do a search and get there on their own, but if the link isn't provided, how do they know that its worth their time?(2) I think that an issue of equality between clients exists here. If the publisher with an E-com site of their own is not as prominently featured on the site (and not having a link equates to prominence), then they are working at a disadvantage, and is unlikely to make as many sales from this outlet (refer to point 1).(3) and this is the part that really got under our skin... the policy seems to reward publishers that use RPGNow exclusively as a distributor. Sure, I can understand that using them exclusively secures their position in the market place, but it also makes too large of a chunk of the market dependant upon them. This also (based on the wording of the email we received) looks very much like a strongarm tactic used by an up and coming e-tailer to get a monopoly (or something approaching one) in this market. So, these 3 considerations added together left us with the definite feeling that this was a marketplace that was not friendly to us.I feel that these are valid concerns, and the fact that we weren't included in any discussions is why this had to turn into a public issue. On the other hand, I do understand the concern that their site starts acting like a very heavily funded referral service. I also fully agree that if a publisher is doing nothing to call attention to themselves and then that same publisher cuts their main advertiser out of the loop, there is an issue that needs to be addressed.My solution involves leaving the link to the publisher, but then tracing the source of each sale generated on the publisher's e-com site. If the customer linked in from RPGNow, or any other E-tailer that carries our products, then we would work out an agreement where they are paid a pretty hefty cut of the sale to make up for the customer not purchasing from them. It might require honesty on the part of the publisher, or at the very least, turning over a portion of the server logs. Arrangements of this nature are made all the time between e-tailers and their affiliates. This would be a solution where the two companies act as partners as opposed to jealous lovers, and everybody would win in the end.Now, I am finished commenting on this issue.</blockquote>

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