Forum > General Discussion
Aurigas Aldebaron’s Address (Comments)
markc:
DRM= Digital Rights Management
MDC
smug:
And however it works, it tends to be restrictive of users, either to using particular software to play/read/explore the purchase, or in having to validate, etc.
In practice, I don't think that trying to stop people from printing and sharing pdfs is going to work, although sharing at least can be restricted with invisible watermarks that allow sourcing of the original purchaser of copies that end up being mass-shared (best you can probably do is refuse to sell them more stuff, of course, which is what Paizo do; not every rpg company has the resources to sue). You just have to generate enough sales, through goodwill and so on, to keep things afloat.
GrumpyOldFart:
I fully understand, and sympathize with, the need to protect IP.
But at the same time, any resources for any RPG that can't be easily "passed around" between players and GM is rather an oxymoron. "Crippled", at best.
I won't claim to know any really good solutions for that. But I think I can safely assume that any solution that doesn't address both ends of that problem is doomed to fail.
Andraax:
The way that Steve Jackson Games has handled their PDFs is simple: no DRM, no watermarking, just telling people that they should not copy illegally and please refer people that want copies to their website. I occasionally do searches for PDFs of theirs available online (just to kind of keep tabs on it) and there is very little of it floating around. The website for electronic purchases keeps a "library" of the PDFs that you have purchased, and you can always download a new copy of anything you purchased at any time. This way, I don't need to keep my PDFs around all the time, I just download what I'm going to need for upcoming games, and wipe what I'm not currently using. Also, when updates are made to your purchased titles (errata, whatever) the copies in your online library are automatically updated and you're sent an email notifying you that there were updates.
Cory Magel:
--- Quote from: pastaav on July 28, 2011, 03:50:20 PM ---I think selling DRM-free PDF files is the right way to go. If the DRM madness barely works for the major labels and has alienated lots of possible customers so that they stop buying anything, then how could it possibly work for a small gaming company?
--- End quote ---
I haven't really seen anything about the DRM method alienating D&D customers to the point that they won't buy anything. The reason WotC stopped selling PDF's (from their own PR person) is because they found they were being widely pirated even with protection... which is no real surprise - they are, by far, the largest system out there and you're going to see the piracy quite clearly as a result. My main concern with the whole PDF issue is that leaving them completely unmarked, unprotected, etc, etc makes it so that even a good percentage of the honest people end up distributing them illegally (mainly cause it just doesn't cross their mind that they are doing something 'illegal'). When something becomes so easy to do there's a disconnect people have with it being illegal.
Really, I see little hope that electronic copies of things can safely be sold without losing sales to piracy. Obviously electronic format is where we are headed and maybe they'll eventually have a method to reasonably control illegal distribution, but until that happens I suspect a lot of companies will lose a lot of sales resulting in the small guys potentially going under when they shouldn't have. In the end there's just no way to stop it without a serious invasion of privacy on customers - even if you have the greatest protection in the world I could screen print and paste together an unprotected copy, print out and re-scan a copy, etc.
So Steve Jackson is right in a way... it comes down to honesty and, more to my point, respect for the people who's efforts you are enjoying.
I'm not quite sure how I'd handle PDF's myself if I were in a position to be making that kind of choice. I suspect the first thing I'd do is provide a free PDF copy with every hard-copy just to encourage hard-copy sales. Also, if feasible, include a unique 'watermark' type protection on each copy sold that can be traced back to the purchaser if needed and a legal warning regarding that (which would then imply you need to be able to verify ID somehow upon purchase - might be a hassle). While the reality of the ability to hold someone legally accountable might be more trouble that it's worth much of the time the potential for being held accountable for your copy being distributed may curb a lot of the 'innocent' piracy. I'd definitely make them searchable - to me they are largely pointless without that ability. My standalone PDF pricing would likely be about 33%-40% of the hard-copy cost... I find it hard to swallow anything over a 50% price-point, after all once you have your online setup going you've eliminated printing, storage and shipping costs. All that's left is some overhead for maintaining an online system (the only real ongoing long term cost), some employee hours and author payment - get greedy on your profits and you're probably asking to be pirated. Increased sales will hopefully adjust for the lower cost and also drive visibility of the product and thereby hopefully create a customer for all your products.
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