piracy is a problem

[Aus_Snow]

In the end I'm not trying to identify what is right and wrong. Merely pointing out that there is no absolute right/wrong on an issue of this nature, and claiming that there is one without considering other perspectives does a disservice to creators, users, and the information in question.

Well, fie on you for being reasonable!

Again, I agree. It would be handy if harmful and harmless 'sharing' could be neatly identified and dealt with accordingly. Again, I do say this as someone somewhat invested in industries that, arguably, might be affected by the harmful kind. Heh, and/or affected positively by the other.

I was mainly just going off on a bit of a tangent, around the term 'information' when applied to a distinct *thing* made by a person or persons (i.e., the whole of that thing being greater than the sum of its parts/words/bits, etc.)

 

[Cirex]

I think about .01% of people who engage in this activity spend even the tiniest bit of time thinking about that stuff. The rest just want the free PDFs now. You are overintellectualizing laziness and impatience.

Cheers,
Cam

And you are implying that people who download stuff are like mindless drones.

I understand your position, being a writer and so on, so, may I recommend you to check out Creative Commons license?

Just another random thought on this subject (as I said before I'm no expert, nor am I a good guy):

If having a pdf means you delay in purchasing a copy, even if you do eventually buy it, then you still cost the producer money in lost interest. Doesn't this mean that the production company is less profitable and in turn this means they can't give their employees/shareholders/customers as good a deal as they could've otherwise?

So are the free showing of books a bad idea too? What about people who visit Enworld and see that 4e is not what they want to play? Peeking at gaming conventions? Any of those may cause a lost of interest.

 

[Tervin]

"Piracy" is not theft.

When you steal you take something from another person/company/whatever and as a result you have it and they don't. Spreading those copies is a copyright violation, nothing else.

Copyright is in many ways a good thing, and I don't condone violating it. Still the way to fight those violations is not by various copy protection systems that mostly just annoy customers. It is not by chasing evil downloading teens. It is not by scare tactics or whining in public.

How to do it then? Well if I had the answer to that, I would be too busy to sit here and write drivel on a forum. For WotC I still have a few suggestions:
Make products worth buying. Avoid books where many potential customers only are interested in 5-10 pages. The more of the book that is useful to somebody, the more likely they are to want the physical book rather than a scanned pdf.
Whenever it fits the product, add something that won't be that good as a scan. Minis, big folded battlemaps or geographical maps, bonus dungeon tiles...
Be generous with free previews and add ons. If I can read a chapter or two of a new book online, I don't really need to download a scan in order to preview it.
Make DDI worth paying for. (Which seems less and less likely right now.)

 

[DaveMage]

I've already pre-ordered it and I'm going to buy it on the street date. Whats the big deal?

The "big deal" is that it's unlawful (in the USA and some other countries) for you to have a .pdf copy right now.

Any discussion beyond that is philisophical.

 

[Family]

If "we" don't purchase product, then those that do will have product cater made for them, to ensure sales.

"we" will be stuck downloading whatever the baby boomers purchase (in terms of entertainment product).

Society has identified this as a problem and has copyright laws in place.

Yes, enforcement is an issue, but it is still a risk, and immoral.

If you copy a file that you otherwise would not have bought, you are using your time and finding release in it instead of another activity, possibly one you might have paid for.

People’s jobs are on the line.

Unfortunately "we" ends up meaning millions of people, you think that "you" are not substantial. That is sad.

"you" are a sad parasite who is twisting your conscience to think your selfish immoral impact on society doesn't matter. It does.

Please contribute.

 

[Korgoth]

I follow laws, since it's one of my duties as Spanish citizen. However, Spanish copyright rules allow me to download anything I want if I follow four conditions, being the main one the lack of profit one.

Excellent. It is admirable that you follow the laws of your polity.

Sometimes things are unethical or immoral but not prohibited by law. So, once you have established that something is legal to do, you are free to consider whether, as well as being legal, it is morally proper. On this topic, that's a much more complicated debate (and I'm personally not feeling up to it at this time).

 

[Blackbrrd]

I have pre ordered the books and I am not going to cancel that order just because the books are available online.

4e is cheap as well. The US dollar has dropped from 9 NOK to 5 NOK the last few years, while the prices of books like the PHB hasn't changed its USD price. The result is that I can buy all the three core books shipped from USA to Norway for the same price as the 3.5 PHB costs in Norway.

 

[Nifft]

I've already pre-ordered it and I'm going to buy it on the street date. Whats the big deal?

You are stealing convenience.

Every time you find the rule you need using text search instead of flipping pages, you are stealing food from orphans.

Every book mark you make in your unauthorized PDF is cut from the flesh of nuns.

Every minute of back pain you don't get from not toting three heavy books in your backpack is inflicted instead on Hasbro shareholders.


Babies, nuns, and stockholders vs. your convenience. It's an easy decision if you ask me.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I think about .01% of people who engage in this activity spend even the tiniest bit of time thinking about that stuff. The rest just want the free PDFs now. You are overintellectualizing laziness and impatience.

No, what he was saying is that each person who downloads the books may be doing it because of laziness and impatience, but they are doing a service to society on the WHOLE whether they know it or not.

They are reading, promoting the act of learning new things, playing a game that uses their mind and their imagination, learning to relate to people in a fun setting, using their free time sitting in a basement killing elves rather than doing something that might be a bigger strain on our society. They are indirectly promoting the roleplaying hobby in general by using those books, by talking to their friends about those books, and by simply upping the number of seeds on the torrent sites making the books look like something cool to download for other people.

The ONLY loss here is the money for the books themselves(and it isn't even a guaranteed loss as a lot of people will buy the books anyways). And I might add that there is no ACTUAL loss since there is no cost for a virtual book. It is only theoretical loss. Potential money that wasn't realized.

 

[Piratecat]

My tolerance for people defending piracy? Zero.

Klunk.