Quote:
Originally posted by Steve Wieck
Hello, Steve Wieck at White Wolf here.
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Hello Steve. I am glad you came here to shed light on your decisions. I am also quite sure that you and your associates bear no ill will towards your customers or the online gaming community.
I would like, however, to discuss the following:
Quote:
For those who have posted about piracy, I submit this poll RPGNow ran for consideration:
Have you received or do you share pay PDFs with others?
No, that is piracy
63%
No, but my friends do
3%
Yes, but only with my game group
26%
Yes if the price is just too high
2%
Yes if I can find/get it
1%
Yes, I never pay for my PDFs
1%
No Comment
4%
So, 30%+ of people publically responded that they commit piracy with RPG pdf files.
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I would like to state that I answered in the 26% who have shared files with my game group. Specifically, I gave a PDF file to a friend to see if he would want to get in a game if I tried running it. The game in question was Lightspeed. Sorry if this bothers you Christian, but please read on.
Now, at the time I was planning to print a copy of the book but had not yet had the chance (I have done so now). But I wanted to lay the groundwork for a possible game right away, and find out if I needed to get started on creating materials. I brought the file into work copied it to the network, and told my friend (who works with me) to check it out on his lunch break, to see if he might be interested.
Unfortunately, he is a fantasy and/or D20 player only and no matter what I do it doesn't help.
But anyway...
So I deleted the file, and went on with my life. He had no interest, and I told him I was deleting it. I asked him if he copied it and he said no, he said he didn't care and wasn't interested, and I know him well enough to tell he wasn't scheming against me or some other paranoid fantasy. The guy really couldn't care less, and buys even more PDFs than I do anyway (he is still single without kids).
If it was a printed game, I would have just loaned him the book. The effect would be identical: I would see if he was interested, but in the end only one of us would have the game.
Now, by that poll, and by your statement, I am a pirate.
Next, this Christmas.
My friend Steve Darlington (a regular poster here) and I exchange gifts. I had purchased Jared Sorensen's octaNe previously, but Steve had mentioned he wanted a copy but was strapped. I printed and bound a copy from my file, burned the file to a CD, deleted my own copy of the file, and shipped the book and CD to Steve for Christmas.
I no longer have the game (although I will probably re-buy it at some point for myself). I gave the game as a gift to a friend.
Next, the aftermarket.
I was getting into BTRC's EABA system. In the end I found my own was more suited to me. however, I had printed out and bound beautiful laser copies of a few of the manuals, with color covers even.
But since I was no longer interested in the game (which is an excellent game by the way, for anyone reading, just not for me right now) those books were so much wasted effort and material.
With any other game I could pop over to the forum right here at RPGnet and trade it for something I did want. But with a PDF game I was stuck, not wanting to be a "pirate".
I contacted Greg porter and informed him of my decision to trade my copies of the game, and traded them for some OOP WFRP books I couldn't find. I informed him I was deleting my own digital copies, and I did. He was cool with that, and even thanked me.
As you can see, I am a "pirate". This is how much of a pirate I am...
I take care to support and not harm the publishers I purchase from.
This is a list of my purchases from RPGnow:
_
01._
_Sunday, 06th June, 2004_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.00_
_02._
_Saturday, 22nd May, 2004_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$9.95_
_03._
_Sunday, 04th April, 2004_
_Shipped_
_2_
_$15.95_
_04._
_Wednesday, 24th March, 2004_
_Shipped_
_3_
_$22.40_
_05._
_Tuesday, 16th March, 2004_
_Shipped_
_3_
_$15.00_
_06._
_Sunday, 29th February, 2004_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_07._
_Saturday, 07th February, 2004_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$8.95_
_08._
_Saturday, 03rd January, 2004_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$10.00_
_09._
_Friday, 26th December, 2003_
_Shipped_
_2_
_$5.01_
_10._
_Sunday, 21st December, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.00_
_11._
_Tuesday, 09th December, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$4.95_
_12._
_Sunday, 30th November, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_13._
_Thursday, 27th November, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_14._
_Friday, 07th November, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$6.50_
_15._
_Thursday, 30th October, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_16._
_Friday, 03rd October, 2003_
_Shipped_
_3_
_$6.23_
_17._
_Thursday, 02nd October, 2003_
_Shipped_
_2_
_FREE_
_18._
_Thursday, 18th September, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_19._
_Monday, 01st September, 2003_
_Shipped_
_6_
_FREE_
_20._
_Friday, 22nd August, 2003_
_Shipped_
_2_
_$8.95_
_21._
_Wednesday, 06th August, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_22._
_Friday, 01st August, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.27_
_23._
_Tuesday, 22nd July, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.00_
_24._
_Sunday, 20th July, 2003_
_Shipped_
_2_
_$8.00_
_25._
_Friday, 18th July, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_26._
_Friday, 11th July, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_27._
_Monday, 02nd June, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$19.95_
_28._
_Monday, 12th May, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$14.98_
_29._
_Saturday, 10th May, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$10.00_
_30._
_Friday, 02nd May, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$7.50_
_31._
_Thursday, 01st May, 2003_
_Shipped_
_2_
_$18.00_
_32._
_Tuesday, 29th April, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$9.98_
_33._
_Wednesday, 26th March, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_34._
_Monday, 17th March, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_35._
_Monday, 03rd March, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$8.00_
_36._
_Saturday, 01st March, 2003_
_Shipped_
_1_
_FREE_
_37._
_Sunday, 15th December, 2002_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$8.00_
_38._
_Saturday, 07th December, 2002_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.00_
_39._
_Saturday, 09th November, 2002_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$10.00_
_40._
_Sunday, 29th September, 2002_
_Shipped_
_2_
_$12.00_
_41._
_Saturday, 14th September, 2002_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$6.00_
_42._
_Saturday, 31st August, 2002_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$12.00_
_43._
_Friday, 19th July, 2002_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.00_
_44._
_Friday, 24th May, 2002_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.50_
_45._
_Sunday, 13th January, 2002_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.00_
_46._
_Wednesday, 24th October, 2001_
_Shipped_
_1_
_$5.00
Hell
I am a publisher on RPGnow. And while I am a hobby publisher, as you mentioned, I like money as much as the next guy and work to me is still work.
The poll you reference isn't really that indicative as you might think... especially when the big answer was "with my game group"– GMs have been loaning out RPG books to players for as long as the hobby has existed.
Now, did my "pirate" ways hurt the publishers? Am I not a faithful customer? Will this DCMA stuff really make a positive difference, or just label me (a regular customer) a pirate and make some things which are normal and traditional (like giving gifts or aftermarket trading) more of pain?
Anyway, I just wanted to put forward another take on the poll, and posit that "pirates" aren't all "pirates".
Sorry for the rambling, but it's a quarter of 2 in the morning here.
EDIT: Whoa. Seeing it listed out made me curious, so I totaled it up. $304.07. Holy moly.