piracy is a problem

[Zimri]

Unless a large number of your table owns a laptop (in which case they can likely afford a copy of at least one of the books) or can afford to print off the PDF (which often times saves minimal amounts of money for an inferior product) torrents shouldn't affect sales. Playing from PDF seems to me like it would be entirely to cumbersome.

 

[malraux]

At the risk of repeating myself from another thread: do you think the act of downloading illegally copied PDF's of 4ed encourages, or discourages future piracy?

I will not be downloading the PDF's, partly because I believe it encourages the act and don't want to do that, and partly because I want to enjoy the books as they were meant to be seen, at the time the creators intended me to see it. Just a week or so to go. No problem.

Well, the issue isn't if piracy encourages more piracy, its if the piracy encourages or discourages sales. If the piracy of the pdfs had no effect on sales, or even a positive effect, then its not an issue worth worrying about. Though the rpg book market is such a niche market that I'm not sure you can generalize from the whole, I'm reasonably sure that illegal downloads don't have a huge effect on sales in other markets.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Unless a large number of your table owns a laptop (in which case they can likely afford a copy of at least one of the books) or can afford to print off the PDF (which often times saves minimal amounts of money for an inferior product) torrents shouldn't affect sales. Playing from PDF seems to me like it would be entirely to cumbersome.

Rock and roll is the devil!
Dungeons and Dragons is the devil!
Harry Potter is the devil!
Piracy is the devil!
etc.
etc.

Supposedly billions of dollors have been lost to "pirates". Yet rock stars are still rich, businesses keep writing paychecks, and the world still turns.

Funny that...

 

[Family]

What do you think their initial print run was? What do you think WotC's average income per book is?

Jayne: "Ten percent of nuthin' is...let me do the math here...nuthin' into nuthin'...carry the nuthin'..."

 

[The_Warlock]

These people would buy the book if an easily pirated version were not there for the taking...

I don't necessarily believe that. Nor have I, in the 26 years that I have run games, REQUIRED my players to buy a copy of the RPG we were playing.

In fact, in all but two groups, I as the GM, or the GM in question, was the sole owner of the RPG book. Before and during this little fad we call the internet. Everyone else passed the single book around, sharing it, occasionally asking to take it home with them if they wanted to read more about it, which I allowed.

Only in two runs, one of them being my 3E run, did everyone at my table have a physical copy of the book. Yes, 3E, the game which had a freely, legally available online version.

 

[Lizard]

I was going to post this.

And I was going to post something else. Calling "pirates" to those who download stuff is an act of propaganda*. Comparing people who sunk(sank?) ships, raped women, killed men and stole their treasures to people who expand culture is insulting.

How is taking what other people produced without their permission "expanding culture"?

What are the pirates *producing*?

And you're correct, though, "pirates" is the wrong term. Real pirates risked their lives for their booty. They at least had some courage. They looked their enemies in the eye and fought them face to face. Modern pirates risk nothing. I think a better term is "parasite". They live off the efforts of creative people and those who support creative people. Everytime a pirate downloads a book, *I* am being robbed. Why? Because I pay for books, and that pays not only for the book I buy, but for FUTURE books -- I am paying to help produce the NEXT thing the parasites steal.

What are they doing for me, in return?

Nothing.

Hence, parasite. A lifeform which drains the resources of another and cannot exist without its host. (No one pays for books==nothing for the parasite to steal.)

 

[Irda Ranger]

piracy is a problem

Businesses only have one kind of problem: not making a profit. Do you have numbers showing that Wizards doesn't turn a profit? Can you actually prove that piracy harms WotC?

Everyone here has an opinion, but it seems to me that so many people in the business of media creation and distribution have differing opinions on this that only one thing is clear: no one really knows.

Of course, the fact of the current situation is that BitTorrent and firesharing exist and aren't going to go away. If "piracy" is a problem it's sort of like "the weather is a problem" or "the price of gasoline is a problem." Maybe it is, but you can't really do anything about it. Your only options are: adapt and profit or don't and die. Complaining about it is a waste of time.

 

[The Little Raven]

How is taking what other people produced without their permission "expanding culture"?

What are the pirates *producing*?

And you're correct, though, "pirates" is the wrong term. Real pirates risked their lives for their booty. They at least had some courage. They looked their enemies in the eye and fought them face to face. Modern pirates risk nothing. I think a better term is "parasite". They live off the efforts of creative people and those who support creative people. Everytime a pirate downloads a book, *I* am being robbed. Why? Because I pay for books, and that pays not only for the book I buy, but for FUTURE books -- I am paying to help produce the NEXT thing the parasites steal.

What are they doing for me, in return?

Nothing.

Hence, parasite. A lifeform which drains the resources of another and cannot exist without its host. (No one pays for books==nothing for the parasite to steal.)

In a rare display, I agree 150% with Lizard.

 

[davidthegnome]

Who's to say WoTC didn't leak this themselves to generate more interest?

And... Stopping piracy has nothing to do with limiting the technology and everything to do with changing the behavior.

 

[Chibbot]

I haven't downloaded the PDFs. I want to, but I sadly haven't been able to find them yet...

That said, even if I do download them before (or after) the release, I still plan on getting my Amazon.com order of the set, the discount PHB a friend of mine is getting from a flgs he worked at, as well as a full price PHB from a different flgs opening up on Sunday about a block from my apartment...

I'd call that contributing.