RPG Piracy

[Tyrant]

Of course, WotC putting pdfs of their OOP material out on the web for free download isnt at ALL like the outright piracy going on in the internet's back alleys. One is a marketing gimic (or an act of coolness/benevolence/whatever), the other is done without the consent of the owner of the work.

Eric Price

 

[MEG Hal]

Ah this is the same argument that the Record Companies tried, when in fact record sales were up until the crack down started.

We are not the record business, and I do not think you can compare the two businesses on any level. Hey prove me wrong I would love to hear how many people own a RPG's companies stuff illegally and then bought it vs. the ones who "have no money so stole it" and did not and are not buying it.

 

[KnowTheToe]

We are not the record business, and I do not think you can compare the two businesses on any level. Hey prove me wrong I would love to hear how many people own a RPG's companies stuff illegally and then bought it vs. the ones who "have no money so stole it" and did not and are not buying it.

Yep, I would think it is a small percentage, as I think most people downloading this stuff are short on cash. All those I know say they do it because they are broke. But most people steal because someone has something they want and not having the money is an excuse.

Anyway, maybe we should start a list of all of the people in the RPG industry that became hugely wealthy solely off of ther RPG work. I bet it is a really short list.

 

[Drawmack]

But how does the downloader know beforehand that what he's DLing is, in fact, illegal? It might be a free DL, as some d20 products are. The copyright texts inside the book can't be read until after you've got the book.

It is implicit knowledge. If the downloader were truly seeking a free product why not go to a source where the product is offered for download without the possiblity of getting illegal stuff as well. This argument holds no weight.

 

[HellHound]

I don't for one believe that piracy signifigantly hurts RPG sales.

How about for those of us who sell ELECTRONIC products instead of print products? The piracy of electronic RPG products almost certainly impacts our sales.

 

[Regdar]

We are not the record business, and I do not think you can compare the two businesses on any level. Hey prove me wrong I would love to hear how many people own a RPG's companies stuff illegally and then bought it vs. the ones who "have no money so stole it" and did not and are not buying it.

Not once did Regdar say that the downloading of books that you don't own is correct or just, but the argument is based on the notion that each stolen copy is in fact a sale, which in fact it is not, which is the record companies current argument, that each downloaded song is lost revenue.

Hence why Regdar said it was the same argument.

There is no guarantee that the downloaded PDF would have been a purchase, so to figure it as lost revenue is incorrect, estimated lost revenue is a correct view but not an absolute.

The Laptop mentioned earlier is a very common interest, in Regdar's case Regdar owns the books as well, having an electronic version of the book is a convenience. There is no lost revenue, because the book was already purchased. That is the same for many, but there are many that are bootleg, for the shear reason of having the lack of desire to pay for the product.

 

[Regdar]

How about for those of us who sell ELECTRONIC products instead of print products? The piracy of electronic RPG products almost certainly impacts our sales.

Unfortunately that is the problem with electronic only distribution. On the other hand, you have scholastic foundations charging the same cost for a book that you could buy hardbound, when there is no print or distribution costs involved.

 

[DDK]

There are some who are just compulsive about this hobby (and other things, I'm sure), who will just collect this stuff, burn it to CD and never look at it. I dunno if that is better or worse than using it.

I knew a guy, a gamer, once who downloaded and burnt and got the CD covers for EVERY PC game that ever came out. I mean, this guy had HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of dollars worth of software.

At the time it was all no big deal to me since, a) they were PeeCee games and I have a Mac, and b) eh, what'd I care if the PeeCee game industry suffered?

I haven't gamed with him for ages (he played ONE type of character in every game we played. He is Fighter through and through. If I'd known about Nuklear Power back then, I would've stuck a sticky on his head with "I LIKE SWORDS!" written on it, which is why I stopped gaming with him), but recently I saw him and he was still doing it. What I noticed, however, was that the place was also spotless and everything had it's place and he got upset if anything got moved or knocked or put out of order.

I know realize that he's obsessive compulsive and when I knew him then it was just something he focused on as a part of his illness. I would say that a lot of pirates are, in part, obsessive since it must take a great deal of effort to put this stuff out there.

 

[HellHound]

Unfortunately that is the problem with electronic only distribution. On the other hand, you have scholastic foundations charging the same cost for a book that you could buy hardbound, when there is no print or distribution costs involved.

But you agree, then, that this piracy DOES indeed impact the sales of those of us (such as Natural 20 Press, S.T. Cooley Publishing and of course Ambient Inc) who publish electronically?

 

[Americancyco]

My opinions agree with most other peoples.

The vast majority of the people that use these web sites feel they shouldn't have to spend another dollar on new RPG product, or they themselves bought one book and downloaded it and fell that gives them the right to other such products.

It took years but the music industry is starting to cut down on Napster type sites. For the past 2 years music sales have been down. 5% in2001 and 10% in 2002. The onlt two music groups that didn't drop and went up wher Country and Jazz. This could have something to do with the type of people that listen to those styles of music. I think it will take a few years before smaller companies can get the power needed to shut down these sites. A lot of them are hoping larger companies (ie Hasbro) does it for them since Hasbro has the lawyers and money for this fight.

All of this cuts into the product people are stealing. It really hurts the poeple that don't steal these products. When their favorite artist doesn't make the money they used to because all the cds are being downloaded. Then the artist can't tour and might even retire because sales aren't there. The same will happen when smaller publishing companies go out of buisness. People don't see it now and they don't really care because if they did they wouldn't be stealing in the first place but in a few years they will realize the harm they did.

People that say costs are too high or too young to get out or don't have enough money are just using the same excuses most petty thieves use when caught breaking into a house.

Now before I sound all high and mighty I will admit freely that I buy tons of DVDs from China. Now most of these are illegal copies of movies that have never been released in the US or original copies of Japanese movies uncut unlike their American's version. However I did buy a bootleg copy of Episode 2 a few weeks after it hit theaters, but I still bought the real version when it came out in stores.