First and foremost, our best wishes to Dave Arneson and his family in this difficult time.
I’m on vacation at the Gathering of Friends, enjoying over a week of boardgaming goodness (including sneak previewing new Dominion expansions that I can’t wait to have print copies of to mix with my existing game). I even got in a fifth level delve the other night, since there’s a few tables of 4e here, with one Pathfinder adventure path converted to 4e running the entire week.
Last night, while playing Escape from the Death Star, I received a tip that WotC would be suspending PDF sales. By this morning, every blog (from old school to new school) has covered the story in their own way. After skimming as many as I could and going through a 19 page thread on ENWorld, one thing is clear: the response has been resoundingly negative. Almost no one thinks this is a good idea… including myself.
While I’m a big proponent of open source and creative commons, I’ve understood past efforts to protect intellectual property. Shutting down the power card sites was unfortunate to those of us who found them to be a big aid at the table, but there were many good reasons not to open the door to all sorts of legal challenges later. But shutting down PDF sales with almost no notice and taking them inhouse? It just doesn’t seem to add up. Especially since there’s no alternative in place to buy them.
I love having PDFs of game books for many reasons:
- At the moment, I literally live in my mom’s basement. Thus, I have no more room for more bookshelves to hold as many RPG books as I can afford. Buying them in PDF means I don’t have to store them.
- My game group tends to adopt the newest edition of a game (we’re happy converts each time from 2e, to 3e, to 3.5e, to 4e). Thus, I tend to build up a library of old books. Having copies in PDF means that I can sell off the old books, and keep the PDFs for reference and nostalgia factor. (Though my first D&D book, The Complete Psionics Handbook, is going to stay with me as long as possible).
- There are tons of classic TSR and WotC modules that I have never played or run, but tracking them down on the secondary market is annoying, and doesn’t get any money to the designers who worked on it.
- Oftentimes, I only need one single thing from a book at my game. Instead of lugging that book around with me to my game (since I don’t run my game in my mom’s basement), a PDF means I don’t have to: I can just load it onto my laptop.
- Along those same lines, sometimes my players surprise me with something they want to look up or find out. I can keep my whole library on me at all times. While the Compendium serves this function to an extent, it won’t help me find a trap from Dungeon Delve or the capsule description of the Feywild from Manual of the Planes.
- I’m an environmentalist who gets bugged about things being produced when they don’t have to be. PDFs helps that immensely.
The decision by WotC puts a serious crimp in everything. At the moment, you can’t buy D&D PDFs from anywhere! They’ve been pulled without warning with no backup in place. Of course, during this period of no information, speculation is running rampant, and none of it is good. My main guess would be that they’re pulling everything back so as to:
- Place DRM on the PDFs to try and control piracy
- Make more money directly
#1 is a terrible idea. As has been pointed out ad naseum, DRM means that you’re only punishing your legitimate customers, and encouraging them to pirate it. The simple fact is that there’s no such thing as a perfect DRM scheme. D&D players especially are a smart, geeky bunch and as soon as you challenge them, they’ll step up and crack it. In the meantime, people like me who have 4 computers running on various operating systems (sometimes within the same computer) are punished.
#2 is a bit more reasonable, though still ultimately bad for the consumer. Being able to buy Pathfinder alongside Martial Power is good for consumers and good for both games. Forcing customers to go to two different stores, put in information in two separate places, and deal with two different setups is bad for them, and bad for both games.
What really gets under my skin is decisions like this not only are bad public relations moves, but gives more fuel to the vocal anti-4e crowd to make the leap that 4e is a bad game and not selling and everyone should abandon it. This is the first real step that actively attacks fans of older editions (since all those pre-4e PDFs were pulled too, and if anyone who has bought them already needs to redownload them, they’re SOL). It changes the conversation about 4e once again away from how we can do fun stuff with the game to all of us bloggers talking about this latest gaffe and what it means. It draws away the brand team from getting the fansite policy done and putting on fun events like D&D Game Day and instead makes them look like full-time pirate hunters. In short, it sucks for a game I really enjoy playing.
Again, there’s just no information out there about what’s coming. In all of the previews and communications, there was no warning this was coming, and no indication of what this could mean. The only way this could be repaired is if they were to announce that all PDFs were free (or at the very least, that you can download as much as you like with a DDI subscription). Failing that, this just seems like a bad move that has finally suceeded in annoying 4e’s biggest fans, as well as pushing away fans of older editions who’d be willing to give it a shot.
I’m not one to use .pdf’s at all (Tried, but they’re just not my thing). I utilize the DDI for any non-book stuff I’m looking up, but I can see where those who use them would be angry.
I wonder, though, if this move is less adding DRM and more removing all avenues of .pdf so they can effectively state in court “nothing currently accessable can be purchased legally”.
I suspect they’ll lift this ban after they’re done with the lawsuit they’ve begun.
Still, if you’re trying to get new fans and customers, bad PR moves are not the best way to go.
Company bad.
Game good.
Rev sad.
Reverend Mike´s last post: on perversion
I didn’t even know D&D PDFs were avaiable legally. I’m kinda surprised that WotC didn’t move with a bit more finesse on the subject, but its their prerogative to sell their products however they want (however wise or unwise those tactics may be)
Oh come on. It’s just cruel to mention Dominion: Intrigue with out actually sharing any information. Surely there is something you can share…?
“download as much as you like with a DDI subscription”
This is my guess as to where this is going, and I’m surprised I haven’t seen it in more places.
Dave, I usually agree with you. This time, I only slightly disagree. Just a tad. I don’t believe it will start up the anti-4e crowd again, and if it does, I’ve learned to ignore them. Thanks to previews of Arcane Power, Hybrid (Dual)Classing, and PHB2, even 2 of my anti-4e friends are now talking about “well, I should try it again”.
I like the way Paizo.com “watermarks” any PDF you buy from them, and I hope WotC will do the same. I’ve been DMing 4e since it came out, and I run a weekly RPGA game plus 2 other homebrews. Of about 15 – 20 regular gamers I see, nearly 2/3 of those have PDF versions of every single thing, the day it comes out as hardback or before. Kinda sucks when the DM goes to buy a copy of “Nightwyrm Fortress” and finds out more than half his players have already read the free PDF. Same thing with every book, same thing now with RPGA adventures.
Yes, I know there should be some honor and loyalty between and among gamers, but that applies to some of us. It only takes a few bad apples…
If I was Hasbro, answerable to stockholders, who probably don’t completely understand their gamer/WotC target market, I would probably make efforts of some kind to plug “leaks” and protect my property, intellectual or not. WotC may not have warned us, because it may not have come from WotC…?
I think Rev said it well. Goodwill and hope aside, we’re on the sidelines when it comes to business decisions. Let’s enjoy the game and support the hobby and the segments of the industry which do give us good stuff, so that flow at least, keeps coming at us..
GrecoG´s last post: Controversial Trek
@GrecoG – I have to disagree with your view. The anti-4E crowd now have an audience to sell their agenda and products to. And customers are never on the sidelines when it comes to business decisions. They just find a way to re-route around obstructions.
@swordgleam – Oh yeah. A subscription-based model would be so easy to maintain; this would allow you to push out content according to your own schedule and ties in customer commitment.
@Rev. Me too. You and Jeff Rients have summed this all up – there is definitely motivational poster material.
satyre´s last post: dungeon construction: legendry
For the most part I agree . . . dumping PDFs is a unfortunate move. At the same time, I cannot fault WotC/Hasbro for taking steps to protect their IP. Admittedly, they can be a bit heavy-handed at times, but I have no ill will towards them.
I feel more inclined to shake my head at piracy as a case of a few rotten eggs spoiling it for the rest of us, than I do as pointing at WotC and hating them for making a move they think is in their best interest.
All that being said, I hope they realize that PDFs are a valuable market and that they find a way to re-emerge from this with a viable electronic publication initiative.
The Last Rogue´s last post: A Racial Limitation
At a time when companies are finally starting to move away from DRM I can’t imagine what possessed WotC to jump onto that sinking ship.
I understand the desire to control piracy but frankly I think that is an impossible dream. The more you try to regulate your product, the more people reject your controls. The best thing to do is to foster an environment where your customers want to support you, but even that won’t stop everyone.
Nicholas´s last post: Filling the time
I’m pretty unhappy with the decision.
I buy every hardback book in both physical format and pdf format (from RPGnow- those pdfs have always been watermarked). I buy the pdfs at midnight the day they’re released. I am a first day DDi subscriber. I’ve played 4E almost every week since it’s come out.
I wasn’t thrilled with the move from the OGL to the GSL. I wasn’t thrilled with their lack of a fan policy. I wasn’t thrilled with some of the layoffs they made.
I grumbled, but continued to buy the products and play the game with various groups of friends. I certainly considered Pathfinder and Savage Worlds and other alternatives, but I decided to stick it out.
But seriously? Getting rid of pdfs altogether? And their new Internet Sales Policy? What are they thinking?
I do think there is blame to go around- the infringers, for infringing. The pdf stores, for agreeing to licenses that allow products to be pulled in this manner. WotC, for choosing a really terrible way to combat piracy- by punishing the honest consumer.
But yeah, you talk about the anti-4e crowd- I’m *not* anti-4E, and even I’m considering alternatives at this point.
@Xellos –
The Internet Sales Policy has nothing to do with this, actually. All it does is ensure that online resellers of physical WotC products are either physical stores or otherwise approved. A guy in his basement can’t sell physical WotC merchandise.
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In any case, this isn’t the first time a company has been heavy-handed towards piracy by attacking from the wrong direction. I’m more interested in what comes out over the next few days.
I liked the PDF’s for one MAJOR reason.
Most of gamers, at my age, are not in the same geographical location, thus, most of my gaming is through a VTT (my personal choice is Maptools but there are many others).
This said, the PDF’s contain battle maps, location maps, et al. that allow something I have paid for, easier to migrate over.
DDI was supposed to solve that by creating a table of their own. So far, they have failed in all attempts to create one. Meanwhile many free and pay ones, on the market, have surpassed what was originally promised.
As my first module, like most people, I bought KotS at the store and tried scanning in the battle maps. Result? Horrid. So I paid for the PDF version and the maps were crystal clear (even though they include the encounter tokens and numbers – it would be awesome if they provided a player version and GM version but whatever).
Digital is the inevitable outcome of this predominantly print industry. I see no reason not to believe that the pulling is somehow DRM/Piracy related. Ask how controlling the medium is working out for the recording and movie industry. Now ask how charging per song is working out for Apple or Rhapsody or the convenience of ordering from Amazon or Steam.
The fact is that the world has moved on. If the same product is offered digitally, at a significant cost savings, and convenient, the competition is doomed. If I was in competition with WotC, they have just been handed a serious opportunity for market advantage.
And they should take it.
Funny: Now Paizo is offering all of their own PDFs for 35% off! Genius!
@Graham – I wasn’t saying that the Internet Sales Policy was directly related to this action. My inclusion in the post is that in my opinion it’s another bad move for consumers that happened to come out at the same time as this action. It’s off-topic, so I’ll leave it for now- except for the record, I’ve had decent customer service from a person selling WotC goods out of his house. 😛
Anyway, I was really looking forward to downloading the Arcane Power pdf when it came out, and I hope WotC makes some sort of coherent statement about what they’re doing soon.
NEXT BIT OF NEWS:
The immediate removal of everything was actually a misunderstanding between the RPGNow/DTRPG folks and WotC. Link to full statement from Steve Wreck.
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@Stitched –
Hmm… they usually have map galleries for adventures. Odd that KotS doesn’t seem to have one.
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@Xellos –
Misunderstanding. Gotcha.
Graham´s last post: 32 hours of D&D gaming party!
I’m sure you all know by now, but Dave Arneson has passed away.
what’s amazing is a LOT of companies are having pdf sales in light of this situation. White wolf is giving away free copies of exalted 2nd edition. There are other’s but can’t remember them.