D&D 4E Piracy and 4e

[Emirikol]

Let's hear some thoughts on the piracy issue for 4e. Will it be as big of a problem as it was/is for 3.5?

Jh

 

[mach1.9pants]

shows how much attention I pay, I didn't even realise it was a prob for 3E!
Especially when you could legally get hold of a lot using the SRD.

 

[AZRogue]

Was piracy a big issue with 3E? I'm sincerely curious since 3E was so unappealing that it drove me away from DnD mainstream and I was completely out of touch. In what way was piracy a factor? Are we talking about pdfs?

 

[Dark Mistress]

I would say it will be worse, but not sure that is possible. As long as you have a big company that makes even a few people angry that can scan and post pirated copies of books it will be a problem. The bigger the sales and company the more likely it is to happen. Since they have larger player bases and are far more likely to anger one of their fans. With the whole 4e and 3e rants going on and posts. i think it will be very common, likely worse than 3e is... if thats possible.

 

[Voss]

Piracy was a big problem in 3e. The quest for gold=items=power meant that players were reluctant to spend money on a ship and go on high seas adventures.

This meant that large numbers of pirate NPCs were free to roam the seas, plundering at will.
It also meant few PCs turned pirate, which meant less fun for everyone.

A sad state of affairs indeed.

 

[Xethreau]

Piracy was a big problem in 3e. The quest for gold=items=power meant that players were reluctant to spend money on a ship and go on high seas adventures.

This meant that large numbers of pirate NPCs were free to roam the seas, plundering at will.
It also meant few PCs turned pirate, which meant less fun for everyone.

A sad state of affairs indeed.

Ever since complete adventurer and the release of the ninja base class. *shakes head*

 

[Rechan]

I think the biggest issue of piracy for 3e was Freeport. Arr!

... What?

Ahem. From Less Scrupulous Friends I know, the most recent 3.5 books are hard to find pirated copies for. City of Stormreach, Elder Evils, etc etc. This is also true of Paizo; a Pathfinder issue may be pirated months after it's released. But that's what I'm told.

 

[Dark Mistress]

Was piracy a big issue with 3E? I'm sincerely curious since 3E was so unappealing that it drove me away from DnD mainstream and I was completely out of touch. In what way was piracy a factor? Are we talking about pdfs?

People scanning copies of the books and posting them up on shareware programs to be downloaded. I don't think there was a single WotC book that wasn't scanned and many of the popular 3pp was as well. Not counting people buying PDF's and cracking them and then posting them. Gamers are smarter than your average bear, so more of them know how to do stuff like that.

 

[thalmin]

Piracy was a big problem in 3e. The quest for gold=items=power meant that players were reluctant to spend money on a ship and go on high seas adventures.

I am SOOOOO glad I had to reach for that Coke bottle, otherwise I would have been in mid swallow for that one.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Piracy is so ubiquitous and widespread they might as well just shrug and accept it, it's not really doing the sort of damage they're worried about and attempts to stamp it out just piss people off who will perpetuate it out of spitefullness.

There are parts of the internet that are black, don't show up on search engines or spiders, have no Domain Name or footprint of DNS servers. They can only be accessed with a direct IP connection and an invite, I've already seen a few low-quality pirated scans of 4e on some of these places. Remember the books are being printed in China a place where digital piracy is rampant.