D&D 4E Should WotC Release 4E Now?

[DaveMage]

Actually, they should give everything away for free electronically...maybe call the rules a 'system reference document' or something crazy like that. That's sure to bankrupt them, eh?

 

[Pbartender]

My theory? NinjaCat! Now just hear me out, I know it sounds "silly" but what better way to hide a Ninja but as a Pirate It all fits I tell ya...all of it. Now if you'll excuse me I have a tinfoil hat to make.

http://www.enworld.org/member.php?u=24418

 

[Terramotus]

Yeah, I think they should. Release dates are there to make sure that those further down on the distribution line don't have their sales unfairly hurt by others who happen to be closer. My understanding is that the problem is that issues like this are normally handled by the selling company penalizing the companies that break the street date by not giving them future product until after everyone else.

The thing is, some companies don't have many big releases, so that's not much of a threat. It's quite possible that Buy.com made a decision that they'll make far more off of breaking the street date than they'll lose in delayed future releases.

As it is, Amazon and any other places that are sitting on the books, including the troubled FLGS's are getting shafted.

No, you're still breaking the law, it's just that your reasons for doing so are because you're an obsessed geek. As opposed to a freedom of information radical or something.

Cheers,
Cam

Just to be clear, people pirating the books may or may not be. Distribution is illegal, but depending on the method of piracy, there may not have been any distribution by the individuals who pirated the books. They'd be open to a civil lawsuit by Hasbro, but that's it.

That's not to defend them at all - they have no leg to stand on, morally. Widespread piracy makes it difficult to make a living at selling creative works, something I hope to do one day. But calling it "criminal" or "against the law" plays right into the hands of the people out there who want to demonize piracy as being a much bigger problem than it is so they can gain powers of surveillance that are probably unconstitutional and certainly undreamed of by previous generations, and by the media companies who want to do away with your existing fair use rights to further their own profits. Don't let them do it. A world where piracy is impossible would be worse than any past totalitarian state.

 

[samursus]

That's not to defend them at all - they have no leg to stand on, morally. Widespread piracy makes it difficult to make a living at selling creative works, something I hope to do one day. But calling it "criminal" or "against the law" plays right into the hands of the people out there who want to demonize piracy as being a much bigger problem than it is so they can gain powers of surveillance that are probably unconstitutional and certainly undreamed of by previous generations, and by the media companies who want to do away with your existing fair use rights to further their own profits. Don't let them do it. A world where piracy is impossible would be worse than any past totalitarian state.

This

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

I don't think the .pdf will hurt sales.

First, the cost of printing out the books would be around $58.00, not including the cost for binding (the cheapest being a 3-ring binder of some kind) or tax. This assumes around 7 cents a page, which is the cheapest rate any of my local copy shops offer.

The cost of the 3-book set on Amazon.com? Right now it's $57.72. And that's for hardcovers printed in full color.

Anyone internet savvy enough to find bootleg .pdfs is internet savvy enough to find Amazon.com.

People with access to free printing, or people who much prefer .pdfs to hardcopy, were unlikely to buy first day releases of the books anyway.

If anything, it's a teaser. It's exciting to people who don't have the books in their hands yet, and it gives them the opportunity to talk about 4e and prep their first games before release.

I think that brick-and-mortar or online stores breaking the street date will be much more damaging to the FLGS than the .pdfs.

 

[The Little Raven]

As opposed to a freedom of information radical or something.

What amuses me is that some of loudest "freedom of information" proponents are anonymous internet users who would never share their personal information, but are more than willing to share other people's information.

 

[Enoch]

My fiancee works for Blockbuster and I asked her what happens if another company breaks the release date on DVDs. I realize we're talking about two very different mediums, but it was interested to glimpse into the world of release dates and the like.

All the movies Blockbuster gets they get early a week or two. The employees are allowed to rent them during this time (but not until six weeks after it has been released) and preview them.

If say, they caught Walmart with DVDs out on the floor already before the street-date, they call the distributer and report them. Walmart gets fined, and then everyone is allowed to release the DVD early.

So there is precedent with releasing breached street-date products early, and it would not 'kill' WotC.

The biggest problem for WotC is that they probably don't have the infrastructure to carry out a general early release. This involves contacting everyone who carries the item, and there are probably multiple distributers (not counting companies that distribute for the distributers) to contact, who in turn have to contact their customers.

I seriously doubt that WotC has the capability to release the game early even if they had the urge to do so.

-Joshua

 

[dagger]

I trust you've done the decent thing and contacted WotC with the details of these sites?

This will not do anything, the servers are located in countries that don't have the same laws as the US/EU.

Besides, the servers don't host any files.....