Slog
News & ArtsTuesday, April 7, 2009
Books / Nerd Dungeons and Dragons and Pirates
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 1:14 PM
Bad news in role-playing game land: Local Dungeons and Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast is cracking down on people who are distributing PDFs of their games. They announced yesterday that they're suing 8 people from around the world for piracy. They're also pulling all PDFs of their games and cracking down on any people who are distributing older versions of D&D—versions which they don't currently sell themselves—on the internet, too.
This is not a wise decision to most in the gaming world. One big problem is that there are a bunch of smaller businesses that made PDF games (like Paizo) that were in effect supplemental material to D&D, and Wizards of the Coast has effectively put them all out of business because PDFs can be easily pirated. This seems like a ham-handed way to go about things.
(Thanks to Slog tipper Rich.)
2
I must of failed mine. I was just getting into DnD with some friends. Yes, I pirated some of the books to help me out, but having them with you in a game is so valuable that most people who actually play the game wind up buying the books they want.
4
Fortunately for Paizo, they do other things than sell legacy PDFs. Not so fortunate for companies like DriveThruRPG where that's their whole business model.
Oh, and by 'announced yesterday', they mean 5pm pacific time yesterday, thus ensuring minimal time for people to download PDFs they legitimately purchased in the past before they disappeared forever.
Oh, and by 'announced yesterday', they mean 5pm pacific time yesterday, thus ensuring minimal time for people to download PDFs they legitimately purchased in the past before they disappeared forever.
5
"The evil Wizards of the Coast have begun a foul campaign to wipe out small businesses, accusing them of being pirates. The Wizards are attempting to destroy older versions of themselves as well as attacking the humble and meek race of pee-dee-effs.
Only you and your fellow adventurers can stop them!"
Roll initiative.
Only you and your fellow adventurers can stop them!"
Roll initiative.
6
Paizo and other small publishers are annoucing sales on their own PDFs to capitalize on WotC's publicity.
Paizo - http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/pai…
Paizo - http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/pai…
9
And yet all of the leaked pdf's on the torrent sites are to print copies. Wonder how something only accessible in house might make its way onto the internet.
Blame the little guy.
Blame the little guy.
10
Just encrypt the PDFs in gzip files and host them elsewhere like China, which doesn't care about our IP laws.
Problem solved.
News flash - kids don't pay for music either - deal with it.
Problem solved.
News flash - kids don't pay for music either - deal with it.
11
That game is dying faster than a troll on fire. $300 for a set of books? Who the hell is going to buy that? And if they think that pulling their PDFs is going to help, they might want to check out BitTorrent in a few hours and take a look at all the "new" PDFs of their materials that are out there.
I swear, they literally bought the goose that lays golden eggs and Hasbro and WotC have done everything they can to strangle it.
I swear, they literally bought the goose that lays golden eggs and Hasbro and WotC have done everything they can to strangle it.
12
To be clear, Paizo is doing great. They have unveiled their Pathfinder RPG, which is basically 3.5 updated, and are further distancing themselves from WotC by the day.
If you want to see an alternate universe where the RPG company actually uses the internet positively and progressively, and relates to the fan base instead of dictating to them, then check them out.
If you want to see an alternate universe where the RPG company actually uses the internet positively and progressively, and relates to the fan base instead of dictating to them, then check them out.
13
I'd love to see a fight over this, because here's the unfortunate fact for companies like WotC that make their money by selling game rules:
Rules to a game aren't copyrightable subject matter.
You can copyright (and trademark) the name Dungeons and Dragons. You can copyright the "flavor", but you can't copyright the +2 Int and Cha bonus that a gnome gets in your rule system. Sure, it would take forever to transcribe everything into new text (since the text describing the rules is copyrightable subject matter), but a dedicated group of people (sounds like a task for gamers) could easily break it into component parts and put together an SRD that would be perfectly legal while still serving as useful reference at the table.
Rules to a game aren't copyrightable subject matter.
You can copyright (and trademark) the name Dungeons and Dragons. You can copyright the "flavor", but you can't copyright the +2 Int and Cha bonus that a gnome gets in your rule system. Sure, it would take forever to transcribe everything into new text (since the text describing the rules is copyrightable subject matter), but a dedicated group of people (sounds like a task for gamers) could easily break it into component parts and put together an SRD that would be perfectly legal while still serving as useful reference at the table.
14
Also, WOTC is owned by Matel, which I suspect had a larger hand in this.
It is completly retarted move. It is close to impossible to play D&D 4E with a PDF. In fact nothing has made me want to buy a book more than playing with a PDF. It is a prime example of how something free creates a sale.
On the other hands, the latest edition of rules move away from a paper and dice game and feel
more like version of a computer game. It feels like an example of blaming pirates when the problem is a crappy product.
It is completly retarted move. It is close to impossible to play D&D 4E with a PDF. In fact nothing has made me want to buy a book more than playing with a PDF. It is a prime example of how something free creates a sale.
On the other hands, the latest edition of rules move away from a paper and dice game and feel
more like version of a computer game. It feels like an example of blaming pirates when the problem is a crappy product.
15
Exactly, GDC @ 14. They tanked their own game and now they're blaming others for their shitty sales. 8 people around the globe? Seriously? This is a problem?
Figure out how much your little game is costing and ask yourself how many of us nerds have that kind scratch to throw around. Fucking duh.
Figure out how much your little game is costing and ask yourself how many of us nerds have that kind scratch to throw around. Fucking duh.
17
@13 You can't copyright the rules, but you can copyright the book and the exact text. In short, you can't copyright a recipe, but you can copyright a cookbook.
@14 WotC is owned by Hasbro, not Mattel.
@14 WotC is owned by Hasbro, not Mattel.
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