Will you be purchasing PDFs from DriveThruRPG?

[Zappo]

Nope. I will never buy anything with DRM. I don't want the concept to take hold, and to this end I will not support it with my money.

 

[Grazzt]

I'm hearing lots of "the sky is falling" but not seeing any real evidence...

Stick around. It happens around this place every few months (more or less). Last time it happened, I believe it was either when WotC modified the OGL/d20 with the "decency clause" or it was WotC's last round of layoffs.

 

[BryonD]

Stick around. It happens around this place every few months (more or less). Last time it happened, I believe it was either when WotC modified the OGL/d20 with the "decency clause" or it was WotC's last round of layoffs.

And the time when Paizo said that adding Poly to Dungeon would increase sales. A lot of people said they wouldn't spend their money there either.....

Oh, wait a minute....

 

[MonsterMash]

No because of the DRM.
If I buy an electronic version of a document I want greater flexibility and ease of use not less.

 

[3catcircus]

Ok so is this just typical reaction from gamers? Is it a verbal minority trying to act like a majority.

Since my retirement I have only bought one book about gaming and that was from Mongoose there OGL handbook which for some reason get a lot of use on Sundays game.

Nothing wrong with a cut and dried pole but what about later. I might start liking PD's more when I can lay on my couch and read them ( Cmon price reductions on xp tablets) The industry has changed it was due for a change has all industries.

Consumers are going to go with the site that they choose for the product that they choose. People have complained for years about the price of Games Workshop Minis but they still buy them.

Big thing is that the industry just douubled, which is a healthy sign for it. To me it looks that the DRM is just and additional step. It more that the product is now exclusive with a price increase abd that extra step that has everyone drawing lines in the sand.

It seems to me like time is repeating itself peolpe putting thier heart and soul into memographed fanzines have been repalced by the small PDF publishers who are plugging away to put thier heartand soul into good product for thier fellow gamers.
So this exclusivity really won't really hurt them.

The major companies won't be hurt because they view PDF's as a tricle compared to print sales. But what do I know I passed on AOL at .14 cents boy has my wife never let me live that one down.

This isn't a typical reaction from gamers - it is a reaction from people who see DRM as exactly what it is - a method to control the use of a product after purchase. DRM is an ineffective piracy prevention tool. Let's face it - before DRM, pdfs didn't just magically appear on p2p networks - *someone* had to buy the product, or be an insider and smuggle a copy out of the premises. Now, it is only a few more steps to place it on a p2p network - either download a DRM hack, print and OCR, or, if an insider, simply burn a copy *without* DRM enabled in the first place.

As to the costs - that is also, I think, a valid argument because of the end-result of letting the customer foot the bill for paper and ink.

The difference between this and GW mini's is that GW isn't telling you how you have to use their paint to paint the mini's or that you can only use their mini's on a Thursday night, during a full moon. Once you've bought the mini - you can put it together any way you want, paint it any way your want, let your dog chew on it, let your kids smash it while playing army men, whatever.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I intend to take advantage of the free products they offer, but nothing else.

I can, however, confirm that you do not have to be online to read the products; I tested this immediately after downloading Exalted, disabling the LAN connection to my brother's computer which allows me access to the Net, and I had no problem reading the file.

However, I have philosophical objections to supporting DRM.

 

[Bagpuss]

Depends certainly not at Fantasy Flight Games prices...

Lets see shall I pop to my local games shop and buy a print copy of Dungeoncraft for $24.95, or order a print copy on Amazon for $19.95

or order the electronic version from DriveThruRPG for $24.00.

$0.95 is ment to be a saving? Perhaps it they included a free toner cartridge?

I'm interested in Fiery Dragon's counters but I wish they wouldn't advertise them as... "Over 200 distinct counter images by artist Claudio Pozas OVER 475 COUNTERS INCLUDED!" There arn't 475 counters included there are no counters included it's electronic, there are 475 images of which 275 are repeats, which in an electronic format are pointless! So really you are only paying for 200 images, so $18.95 (hard copy) down to $10.00 for the electronic version isn't a worth while saving. Actually that's $0.05 cents an unique image before printing, compared to $0.03 per actual counter in the hardcopy. It's more expensive before you've even printed them and considerably more expensive to produce a poorer quality counter.

Are the these companies insane?

Those companies that are offering their PDF's at half price look a bit more interesting. But I'm use to RPGNow prices where virtually nothing is over $10 dollars. So even then they look expensive, from the free ones I've downloaded they are just scans of books, with no effort put into bookmarking them. Some arn't even OCR'ed as the original book was particularly colourful (Buffy springs to mind), so it would be inpractical. The PDF's produced from small PDF only publishers put this most of these big companies to shame.

It seems to me that most of these companies have no idea what the PDF market wants in a product and are just pushing out overpriced scans of OOP books, considering what they are competing against (free illegal scans of their books, or rival PDF publishers that actually know how to produce a decent PDF [which don't have the requirement to be online to register Acrobat]), you think they might lower their prices or improve their product somewhat.

So until they look more appealing the answer is going to be no.

 

[The Mad Kaiser]

The difference between this and GW mini's is that GW isn't telling you how you have to use their paint to paint the mini's or that you can only use their mini's on a Thursday night, during a full moon. Once you've bought the mini - you can put it together any way you want, paint it any way your want, let your dog chew on it, let your kids smash it while playing army men, whatever.

If they had software for miniatures that could do that, GW would install it.

 

[ruemere]

No. Due to the following reasons:

• No support for alternative PDF viewers. In other words, it's not PDF anymore (PDF == Portable Document Format).
• No privacy policy: no way to delete personal information (tried and failed, replaced with fakes, though I'd imagine that any database admin can retrieve my private info), no privacy policy statement.
• Unfounded claims of professionalism: no sufficient support, bad design, bad code.
• Cheap shots at other PDF publishers.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Psion]

Depends certainly not at Fantasy Flight Games prices...

Lets see shall I pop to my local games shop and buy a print copy of Dungeoncraft for $24.95, or order a print copy on Amazon for $19.95

or order the electronic version from DriveThruRPG for $24.00.

$0.95 is ment to be a saving? Perhaps it they included a free toner cartridge?

Greg Benage said on RPGnet it was their explicit intent not to compete with their print sales.

IOW, it is their explicit intent that it not appeal to you any more than the books, and perhaps much less.