Update: Malhavoc PDFs no longer available at RPGnow (merged)

[DaveMage]

My gut instinct is that possibly Monte was forced into this deal because of the affiliation with White Wolf, and the fact that RPGNOW refused to sell their business to them (or the parent companies of RPGNOW and WW).

When it comes to publishing his works, I doubt that Monte Cook can be "forced" into doing anything he doesn't want to.

 

[3catcircus]

When it comes to publishing his works, I doubt that Monte Cook can be "forced" into doing anything he doesn't want to.

Well - let me caveat by saying that I don't know the details of Malhavoc Press's business relationship with White Wolf Publishing. That having been said, if Malhavoc has a contract with them that doesn't specify that they can choose any electronic publisher, then White Wolf could have easily said "You are gonna use these guys." A small developer may not have the time or money to bring in lawyers or mediators to deal with a contract dispute and may be forced to capitulate or see their products not get published.

 

[Zappo]

Oh, publishers certainly have the right to attempt to protect their products from piracy at the expense of fair use. And I have the right not to purchase their DRMed products, and to encourage others to do the same, and to hope that DRM dies painfully. That's what free market is about, isn't it?

 

[johnsemlak]

Oh, publishers certainly have the right to attempt to protect their products from piracy at the expense of fair use. And I have the right not to purchase their DRMed products, and to encourage others to do the same, and to hope that DRM dies painfully. That's what free market is about, isn't it?

Agreed.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I wrote:

Listen up, all you smug software pirates: you have driven Malhavoc into using Digital Rights Management to protect their assets. Next time you are blithely stealing someone's intellectual property, reasoning that 'no one gets hurt', think about everyone on this thread who will be inconvenienced by the shift to DRM.

But you Internet thieves never bother to think about anything other than yourselves, do you?

Elephant replied:

Please tell me you're being sarcastic. Please?

I am not being sarcastic. I am being vitriolic.

From Monte's Line of Sight column -- emphasis added:

The point not to overlook is that the DriveThruRPG site is full of PDF products from publishers who, up until now, were not publishing in electronic format. This is because of DRM. See, DRM makes it much harder for pirates to distribute copies illegally (not impossible, of course -- nothing's perfect, particularly when it comes to computer security). Whether you realize it or not, this has been the main reason the vast majority of roleplaying publishers haven't been creating downloadable electronic products. Rightly or wrongly (I seriously have no desire to debate the truths of it), they have believed that piracy would hurt them.

There is a direct link between publishers' fears of piracy and their use of DRM to protect their assets. There is also a fair amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth going on (in this thread, and elsewhere) about the inconveniences of DRM. Thus, software piracy has directly contributed to creating problems for legitimate purchasers.

Now, here is some more vitriol. If you are a software pirate, you are a thief. You are no better than the robber who breaks into my house and steals my TV set. You can try to justify it to yourself in any way you choose, but deep down, you know that what you are doing is WRONG. And if you don't recognize that stealing is wrong, then you are a sociopath who should be locked up for a long, long time.

As for Malhavoc and others using DRM: I applaud your efforts. You have every right to use all legal means at your disposal to protect your intellectual property. It's a real shame that in our permissive age of destructive entitlement, the software thieves are roaming around engaged in mass piracy. But don't give in. Keep fighting the good fight. Ignore the flamewars by the petulant posters on Internet message boards. Run your businesses and make sound business decisions. And never forget that your product, whether it is a role-playing game or a widget, is a valuable commodity that deserves legal protection.

 

[Tsyr]

I guess I'll have to agree to disagree with anyone who has that view. The fact that its easy to crack for the technically inept doesn't make it less effective. A ot of gamers won't bother. Don't most poeple just print PDFs straight away, which is perfectly possible with the protected files?

Hell no. I sure don't. I'd be spending thousands and thousands of dollars on ink. Besides, where would I keep the immense reams of paper? I've printed *MAYBE* a dozen PDF products, and they take up a vast amount of space as it is.

It's financialy viable for people who print it at work, or some such, but most of us don't have that option.

I completely disagree with that. The registration you have to do via Adobe is voluntary, in order to obtain a product to buy. TO compare that to being stopped and demanded to show your papers is quite an exaggeration.

The problem is, to REALLY make an analogy to the real world, we have to get a bit absurd.

Here would be about what the equivilant in the real world is.

To buy an RPG book, you first have to sign up for an account with the publisher (adobe) and the people who made the house you live in while reading the books (Microsoft). Then, you have to present this information to buy any book. This gives both of these outside parties complete access to information that is really not their buisness, every time you buy a product.

Each book is equiped with a GPS scanner. If you take it outside of a certain pre-defined range, a lock activates and the book wont open (Computer-specific registration).

Furthermore, the book has a timer in it. You can only read what it thinks is a 'fair' amount of it a day. You might be trying to memorize it and re-type it, after all (The copy/paste limitations).

This seems fairly draconion, doesn't it? Nobody would stand for this in the real world. And that's effectivly what you are saying "Isn't that big of a deal". Sure, you can say my example is redicious... After all, these aren't 'real'. But I spend 'real' money on them, and I don't feel like being treated like this.

That's real diplomatic.

Screw diplomacy. Am I supposed to wish them well when I disagree with every single thing they stand for?

 

[3catcircus]

Well, I believe that I suppose, but why do companies want to limit PDF trading if that's the case?

I guess I'll have to agree to disagree with anyone who has that view. The fact that its easy to crack for the technically inept doesn't make it less effective. A ot of gamers won't bother. Don't most poeple just print PDFs straight away, which is perfectly possible with the protected files?

You say that now, until you try to use a pdf in a way they don't want you to and get frustrated enough to take a few minutes to download a DRM crack. And, no, most people *don't* just print PDFs. Speaking for myself, I have every one of my hardcover books in pdf as well - It allows me to, for example, cut-n-paste a feat description to a character sheet for ease of reference during play - I don't want to have to disrupt a combat to thumb through (over a dozen) books until I find where the feat description is. Actually, the *only* thing I print directly from PDFs are maps (typically from the old TSR 1st/2nd PDFs from SVGames or RPGNow.) Heck - some people are even completely paperless when they game - running everything on a laptop.

Anyway, most security of any type that exists in this world can be easily cracked by a determined crook. Door locks, car alarms for automobiles for example. Any professional car thief can crack them in minutes. Does that mean such things are ineffective? No, they help prevent the casual thug.

So - are you equating someone who legally purchases a product to a "...casual thug?" Because that is what DRM does.

It hasn't increased at all for me so far. I completely disagree with that. The registration you have to do via Adobe is voluntary, in order to obtain a product to buy. TO compare that to being stopped and demanded to show your papers is quite an exaggeration.

All sorts of sites on the internet demand you register to use the site, such as many newspaper sites. I find it irritating too, but it's becoming a reality.

There are two differences - the first is that newspaper sites make you register to view *their own* content. What DRM pdfs do is force you to register with a third party, and one of dubious reputation. The second is that newspaper sites only make you register to gain access to their content - once you are viewing that webpage, you can cut-n-paste into a text file innumerable times, save on your hard drive, send the text to someone else, whatever - no with restrictions.

 

[Tsyr]

As for Malhavoc and others using DRM: I applaud your efforts. You have every right to use all legal means at your disposal to protect your intellectual property. It's a real shame that in our permissive age of destructive entitlement, the software thieves are roaming around engaged in mass piracy. But don't give in. Keep fighting the good fight. Ignore the flamewars by the petulant posters on Internet message boards. Run your businesses and make sound business decisions. And never forget that your product, whether it is a role-playing game or a widget, is a valuable commodity that deserves legal protection.

I agree 100%

Keep screwing your customers in an attempt that is doomed from the getgo to not make one fricking dent in the amount of piracy, alienating long-time paying customers in the process, and go ahead and drive yourself into the ground.

There are plenty of other companies that need my money alot more than you seem to.

Hows that for vitriol?

 

[saturnin55]

Update : Press Release (parody)

(This is a cynical parody for your amusement only)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

8 June 2004

With the recent release of the highly successfull DRM technology, publishers of the RPG industry have agreed to extend this model to print products. For now, every print product purchased will be secured with a system called PRM (Print Rights Managment).

Each softcovers and hardcovers sold will have a lock device to inhibit illegal piracy of our IP. When a customer will want to read one of his legally purchased book, he'll have to call a toll-free number and ask for a security officer. A security officer will be at your location within 30 minutes. First, you'll have to sign when the security officer will arrive. Then, he'll unlock your book and you'll then be free to read your book but the security officer will stay at your home to ensure you are not illegally copying more than 10 pages/10 days or scanning the book. Also, to protect your freedom and your rights to read a book quietly, he'll make sure there is nobody else than YOU reading the book over your shoulders. Once your done, he'll relock the book and leave. Because we do not want to discriminate people who don't have the phone at home, you'll have the option to install flying video camera at your home. The camera will recored and follow the book it has been ordered to check. The flying video camera comes with a 3' power cord.

To inhibit piracy, please note that you can't read your book if you are not at one of your registered address. You can register only one residential address and one secondary address or less than six addresses but no more than five. Not that we do not support houses build with red bricks or that have windows older than 1998 . We do not sent any security officier on sailing boats since pirates like sailing boats. If you leave in an area where penguins are roaming around, no security officer will be sent since we fear penguins and because it is well known that pirates like penguins.

The security device uses a masterwork lock, unlockable without a key (key model #K34T89) and tightly attached around the book with a beautiful christmas ribbon made of pure nylon. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO CUT THE RIBBON WITH SCISSORS. If you do this, your warranty is VOID, you'll go to jail, your mom will be mad and everybody will laugh at you.

Stevie Warez from Grey Howl Publishing said : «We are trilled about this new model [...] Our customers will highly benefit from the PRM technology and we'll reach our goals : Inhibit priracy, better services and quality products to our customers and protection of our IP. We think the new model is convenient for our lovely customers and that most of the people who are yelling are probably pirates. We think the limitations imposed by the model are minors and are in no way restricting the freedom of our customers. We highly respect the freedom of our customers.»

Big Brother Corporation will be in charge of sending the security officers at your home.

 

[PatrickLawinger]

Okay, this thread has so many statements in it that are just wrong that it is, well, rather amazing. Last time I checked the sky wasn't falling (although it is raining pretty hard here).
I am not going to start debating people's entrenched opinions but I do want to say one thing. NONE of the people publishing under the SSS/WW "umbrella" are obligated to release pdfs through "DTRPG." It is an option that these publishers were given. I sincerely doubt that Monte was a special case with WW "thugs" showed up at his house and twisting his arm. Hey, I could be wrong, but I rather doubt it.

WW does not own "DTRPG" although some of the same people do own and manage it. The fact that it is a separate corporate entity has a lot of business meaning that appears to be completely lost here, especially based on comments like the one below.

The vitriol in many of the posts here is rather impressive. I can't forsee publishers wanting to wade through 12 pages of "the sky is falling" and "the evil empire is coming" posts. Some people have wondered why publishers haven't come to this thread to answer "questions." I see few questions, just vitriol and personal attacks aimed at the "evil" publishers, or the "evil" DTRPG, or the "evil" adobe/DRM, etc.

I'm not going to punish Monte by not purchacing print products for his Line of Sight article. It seems that WW has put a contractual obligations on all their print lines to use their (if the same people own something it is basicly the same company) new pdf distribuion company and standards, made even more certain in my mind by all of the parties refusing to answer this question in any way. Now since Monte is probably required to use this new company he realy only has one choice and that is to put the best face forward and embrace what he has to work with. Just imagine the reaction that would come about if he even slighly hinted he wasn't happy with the araingement. He would be quoted left and right to show how bad the new system is. Many people respect his opinion and many of them would be even more inclined to boycot DTRPG costing him even more sales. Any hint by Monte that that he was forced into this against his will could also cost him his print distributer as WW might be inclined to drop him for breaking contracts and costing them sales. No company in their right mind will publicly critize even a bad descion of theirs until such time as the writing is on the wall and the decision to change course has already been made since to do otherwise only insures that failure will follow. No, Monte is a good guy and is only doing what is best for Malhavoc so I don't want to punish him. This doesn't mean I support DRM and DTRPG or will ever buy something from them, just that the real culprit in my mind is WW and not the independant companies they distribute. If I am wrong and DTRPG is succesful Monte looks good in his choice, if DTRPG fails, as I suspect it will, we will likely hear the real story then.