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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ProfessorPain" data-source="post: 4747331" data-attributes="member: 82012">I agee, edition wars are probably contributing. HOwever, this seems like a different kind of anger. Edition war anger eventually goes away, once people settle on their respective editions. This is the kind of anger TSR generated in the 90s with its suits. It isn't that TSR had no right to protect its copy righted material; but again gamers are a community. And a small one at that. It only takes a little aggressive action on the part of a company to get people upset.    Fair enough, but the damage is already done. For whatever reason, people took the announcement personally.   Honestly I am going to guess that gamers are about 50/50 on this issue. Whether it is right or wrong, there is a strong independant spirit among many gamers, like niche music fans. Some of us are opposed to piracy, some of us believe it helps the hobby. Everyone agrees it is illegal. But not everyone agrees on whether it is right or wrong. Just like with boot leg movies. I like martial arts flicks, and lots of wushu fans are into boot leg copies of films purchased in china town. Just to be clear, I don't believe in purchasing boot leg copies, but either way, there is an entire culture around it and it is a good chunk of martial arts fans out there. If a company specializing in distributing these kinds of films in the US made an example out of a few purchasers or sellers, it is easy to imagine the negative reaction that might generate. And I think that is kind of playing out here. I am not saying either side is right or wrong. But maybe long term, it would have been better for wizards to err on the side of goodwill. My guess is this freaked a lot of people out, because they remember the TSR thing a decade ago.    It might deter people, like me, who are terrified of lawsuits. They just need to be careful. It really can generat ill will. I remember the music companies started going after students in colleges a couple of years ago, basically the only people who really buy records anyways, and they ended up making their primary customers angry. Not saying protecting their intellectual property can't be done. Its just a very delicate walk. Especially when all it takes is three people starting threads like these to breed more anger.</blockquote>

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