I often trawl the peer to peer waters to see if I can find a soundclip or piece of art, or check out a gamebook before I can afford it. One thing I've always noticed is that Paizo products are fairly difficult to find (in comparison to say, 4e DnD), which I attribute to a loyal consumer base.
However, let's say I turn heel. I throw out my purchased watermarked pdfs to the greedy masses. Let's say a concerned Paizonian finds it, my name stamped on every page.
What happens? How would I even be reported, let alone disciplined for such a thing?
IIRC if Paizo tracks down somebody's PDFs floating around the net, he or she faces consequences of having his downloads disabled.
Seems fair, even lighthanded, given that the damage would already be done. But how would that even happen?
I often trawl the peer to peer waters to see if I can find a soundclip or piece of art, or check out a gamebook before I can afford it. One thing I've always noticed is that Paizo products are fairly difficult to find (in comparison to say, 4e DnD), which I attribute to a loyal consumer base.
However, let's say I turn heel. I throw out my purchased watermarked pdfs to the greedy masses. Let's say a concerned Paizonian finds it, my name stamped on every page.
What happens? How would I even be reported, let alone disciplined for such a thing?
The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
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The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.
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IIRC if Paizo tracks down somebody's PDFs floating around the net, he or she faces consequences of having his downloads disabled.Seems fair, even lighthanded, given that the damage would already be done. But how would that even happen?
people have emailed Vic or posted info on these boards in the past on illegal downloads. It has been said that there are also invisible watermarks ontop of the visible ones.. I think they disable the account of the offender
And we haven't even gotten to the fanboi ninjas! They got like real katanas that they can cut through tanks with and English longbows that would like if they were in pathfinder do 3d6 damage with a critical range of 17~20 and deal x4 on a crit!
And that's if you even know they are there! They can't even be detected, they just wig out and your dead! NO WARNING!!11!!!!1
And people won't even see them -- they just know, Dude was pirating paizo stuffs and now hes deads.
Besides -- their power level is over 9000!
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The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.
Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)
The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.
You know, the whole thing wasn't really appropriate and fitting - the concept of a copyright ninja makes no sense really, and ninja does not have a plural s, and ninja and seppuku don't belong together, either, since ninja didn't really do the samurai thing - but that's okay, because I didn't really mean it. The whole sentence was meant to be a joke, and the misuse of seppuku was deliberate.
people have emailed Vic or posted info on these boards in the past on illegal downloads. It has been said that there are also invisible watermarks ontop of the visible ones.. I think they disable the account of the offender
I think they won't really discuss all they're doing or not doing here.
Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.
And, according to a friend of mine who I think knows more about the whole Japanese culture than just the stuff everyone can read up on wikipedia and L5R rulebooks, they took it easy later. They didn't wait for you to do the three traditional (but very painful) cuts but lopped off your head (or nearly so, what with that skin-flab to keep it from rolling around) as soon as you pushed your blade into your stomach.
But all that isn't going to help that software pirate, who is surrounded by copyright ninjas right now. Those ninjas want to settle that ninja/pirate thing right there. So they seppuku him. Which means they tell him that he has dishonoured himself by becoming a software pirate, and he knows what to do. And then they toss him that short sword (I am fully aware that it has a totally Japanese-sounding name actually, but it's a sword, and it's short, and I'm not Japanese, so there). And, if they're miffed at him, they toss him a wooden sword.
Arrr, the copyright laws be a harsh mistress, shiver me thumbdrives!
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Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.And, according to a friend of mine who I think knows more about the whole Japanese culture than just the stuff everyone can read up on wikipedia and L5R rulebooks, they took it easy later. They didn't wait for you to do the three traditional (but very painful) cuts but lopped off your head (or nearly so, what with that skin-flab to keep it from rolling around) as soon as you pushed your blade into your stomach.
But all that isn't going to help that software pirate, who is surrounded by copyright ninjas right now. Those ninjas want to settle that ninja/pirate thing right there. So they seppuku him. Which means they tell him that he has dishonoured himself by becoming a software pirate, and he knows what to do. And then they toss him that short sword (I am fully aware that it has a totally Japanese-sounding name actually, but it's a sword, and it's short, and I'm not Japanese, so there). And, if they're miffed at him, they toss him a wooden sword.
Arrr, the copyright laws be a harsh mistress, shiver me thumbdrives!
wakizashi?
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wakizashi?Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.And, according to a friend of mine who I think knows more about the whole Japanese culture than just the stuff everyone can read up on wikipedia and L5R rulebooks, they took it easy later. They didn't wait for you to do the three traditional (but very painful) cuts but lopped off your head (or nearly so, what with that skin-flab to keep it from rolling around) as soon as you pushed your blade into your stomach.
But all that isn't going to help that software pirate, who is surrounded by copyright ninjas right now. Those ninjas want to settle that ninja/pirate thing right there. So they seppuku him. Which means they tell him that he has dishonoured himself by becoming a software pirate, and he knows what to do. And then they toss him that short sword (I am fully aware that it has a totally Japanese-sounding name actually, but it's a sword, and it's short, and I'm not Japanese, so there). And, if they're miffed at him, they toss him a wooden sword.
Arrr, the copyright laws be a harsh mistress, shiver me thumbdrives!
Mmm, wassabi...
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Mmm, wassabi...wakizashi?Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.And, according to a friend of mine who I think knows more about the whole Japanese culture than just the stuff everyone can read up on wikipedia and L5R rulebooks, they took it easy later. They didn't wait for you to do the three traditional (but very painful) cuts but lopped off your head (or nearly so, what with that skin-flab to keep it from rolling around) as soon as you pushed your blade into your stomach.
But all that isn't going to help that software pirate, who is surrounded by copyright ninjas right now. Those ninjas want to settle that ninja/pirate thing right there. So they seppuku him. Which means they tell him that he has dishonoured himself by becoming a software pirate, and he knows what to do. And then they toss him that short sword (I am fully aware that it has a totally Japanese-sounding name actually, but it's a sword, and it's short, and I'm not Japanese, so there). And, if they're miffed at him, they toss him a wooden sword.
Arrr, the copyright laws be a harsh mistress, shiver me thumbdrives!
Wait! That's not guacamole!
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Wait! That's not guacamole!Mmm, wassabi...wakizashi?Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.And, according to a friend of mine who I think knows more about the whole Japanese culture than just the stuff everyone can read up on wikipedia and L5R rulebooks, they took it easy later. They didn't wait for you to do the three traditional (but very painful) cuts but lopped off your head (or nearly so, what with that skin-flab to keep it from rolling around) as soon as you pushed your blade into your stomach.
But all that isn't going to help that software pirate, who is surrounded by copyright ninjas right now. Those ninjas want to settle that ninja/pirate thing right there. So they seppuku him. Which means they tell him that he has dishonoured himself by becoming a software pirate, and he knows what to do. And then they toss him that short sword (I am fully aware that it has a totally Japanese-sounding name actually, but it's a sword, and it's short, and I'm not Japanese, so there). And, if they're miffed at him, they toss him a wooden sword.
Arrr, the copyright laws be a harsh mistress, shiver me thumbdrives!
Dooohh...
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You know, the whole thing wasn't really appropriate and fitting - the concept of a copyright ninja makes no sense really, and ninja does not have a plural s, and ninja and seppuku don't belong together, either, since ninja didn't really do the samurai thing - but that's okay, because I didn't really mean it. The whole sentence was meant to be a joke, and the misuse of seppuku was deliberate.
That's why I linked to a page that said "Totally Missing the Point" as I totally missed your point.
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Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.
I did nit pick correctly, nit picker.
Ritual seppuku must be initiated by the person who dies. It's therefore incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else.While ritual seppuku is suicide and it is assisted, the presence of quotes in 'assisted suicide' alters the meaning. Assisted suicide is when your friend helps you die, but 'assisted suicide' is what a hit man calls his job.
So there.
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Ritual seppuku must be initiated by the person who dies. It's therefore incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else.
But, if a possessing-thing of some sort possessed someone, and from within their body, committed seppuku, and then drifted off to point and laugh at the dying former possessee from the safety of the astral plane, couldn't the possessing-thing be accurately said to have 'seppuku'd' him?
One thing I've always noticed is that Paizo products are fairly difficult to find (in comparison to say, 4e DnD), which I attribute to a loyal consumer base.
Hm, on internet, everyhing is easy to find if you know where to look. Quick search revealed to me that every single PF book is avaiable for download, aside from few newer ones, such as Halflings of Golarion or Inner Sea Primer.
Also, the name of the topic reminded me of a funny picture:
http://www.megaleecher.net/uploads/piracy-is-theft.jpg
:D
And cmon guys, could you talk about seppuku elsewhere?
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Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.I did nit pick correctly, nit picker.
Ritual seppuku must be initiated by the person who dies. It's therefore incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else.
While ritual seppuku is suicide and it is assisted, the presence of quotes in 'assisted suicide' alters the meaning. Assisted suicide is when your friend helps you die, but 'assisted suicide' is what a hit man calls his job.
So there.
[ooc]You used three sets of quotation marks, twice to emphasize the words actual meaning, after which one is to catch a 'different' use? Nope. My nit pick stands.
But, if a possessing-thing of some sort possessed someone, and from within their body, committed seppuku, (snip)
Er...back on topic (sorry Set for launching at you; this post is aimed at the current spirit of the 'fread):
Account downloads are removed upon discovery of offending material being traced to an account.
IMO I think that it is a good thing that customer loyalty is what it is, in regards to Paizo and protecting their (and ultimately our) products.
Chief Technical Officer
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IIRC if Paizo tracks down somebody's PDFs floating around the net, he or she faces consequences of having his downloads disabled.
For a starting point, anyway. Redistribution of copyrighted material without permission is illegal, and could provoke legal consequences. Also, using internet services as a part of that illegal redistribution is probably a violation of Terms of Service agreements with those service providers, and they may be prompted to take action as well.
I think you'd be fighting a losing battle there. Aside from shutting down the entire torrent websites (which I'm sure isn't easy, since it takes years long trials, and even then they just relocate to another server), pursuit of internet piracy hasn't been successful.
That applies to torrents. The point is, the torrent files don't actually contain any illegal material aside from cache information about the location of the said material on the uploader's hard disk from where the other people get it. That's why it's hard to legally pursue torrent users/websites.
It's a different story if someone uploads copyrighted material via Rapidshare. In that case, legal action can be taken, but only if that person is from USA.
I'm just saying that suing torrent sites or people who upload torrents doesn't work that well in practice.
Copyright holders can (and will) contact the ISPs of offending individuals. The ISPs can (and will) suspend service on first offense most times. Repeat offenses can (and will) result in termination of services. Why? because allowing the illegal distribution of copyright material on their network opens them up to law suits from the copyright holders.
I often trawl the peer to peer waters to see if I can find a soundclip or piece of art, or check out a gamebook before I can afford it. One thing I've always noticed is that Paizo products are fairly difficult to find (in comparison to say, 4e DnD), which I attribute to a loyal consumer base.
However, let's say I turn heel. I throw out my purchased watermarked pdfs to the greedy masses. Let's say a concerned Paizonian finds it, my name stamped on every page.
What happens? How would I even be reported, let alone disciplined for such a thing?
Yup, it's loyal customers like me. I'd never put my copies of the APs I've bought on any P2P site. I have far too much respect for the work that the crew here at Paizo does!
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How is banning someone from downloading something even a punishment. The person putting the PDF's out is most likely knows this so they make an account download a bunch of PDF's then save them to their computer and put them out there for the masses to download for free. Then the get banned they say O-Well and sign into their real account and move on..
Then the torrents dont get taking down so now they are out there forever!!
Saying piracy can be stopped is like saying crime can be stopped. It isn't going to happen. We can only do our best to minimize how often it occurs, or is gotten away with.
So those of us with enough personal integrity to not engage in piracy or other criminal activities is the best we can do until we have the opportunity to do more, and then do so.
How is banning someone from downloading something even a punishment. The person putting the PDF's out is most likely knows this so they make an account download a bunch of PDF's then save them to their computer and put them out there for the masses to download for free. Then the get banned they say O-Well and sign into their real account and move on..
Then the torrents dont get taking down so now they are out there forever!!
Provided they don't try and do both from the same ISP, or haven't had their specific bank accounts locked out of the Paizo system or a million other such ideas that would be fairly easy to handle on Paizo's end as well.
There is always a trail, the trail can be followed and at the end of the day you might perform the crime -- but they can get to you to make you do the time.
It's kind of like being surrounded right before a fight -- You know you aren't going to win -- but you got to make them afraid to be the first one in, because you are going to tear them up as hard as you can.
I often trawl the peer to peer waters to see if I can find a soundclip or piece of art, or check out a gamebook before I can afford it. One thing I've always noticed is that Paizo products are fairly difficult to find (in comparison to say, 4e DnD), which I attribute to a loyal consumer base.
Just a note on 4E D&D, WotC does not make pdf's of their books any more, so any pdf's you see out there are automatically illegal copies. They are so numerous because they were never watermarked and were made by people simply scanning the physical books they bought. But I am sure that being a loyal customer has something to do with it also.
Just a note on 4E D&D, WotC does not make pdf's of their books any more, so any pdf's you see out there are automatically illegal copies.
And this, IMHO, is one of the ways in which Paizo is being smart and WotC is not.
If a customer wants to give you money for something, the smart businessman lets them -- only a shortsighted one says "No, you can't have it, unless you steal it."
And this, IMHO, is one of the ways in which Paizo is being smart and WotC is not.
+1.
I'm sure that Paizo pdf's crawl to corners of the internet in illicit ways that we don't see because there is no need to scan a book and create a torrent for it. I would venture a guess that the amount of piracy of Hasbro products into pdf format is more or less equal to what Paizo deals with (in percentage not quantity).
The difference is that Paizo makes money on pdf's and Hasbro doesn't. Derp-a-derp. Heck I even purchased a bunch of old AD&D stuff for no reason beyond nostalgia when WotC began offering them up, and when Hasbro put an end to it I thought "Wow there's a dumb idea. No large investment of resources other than server traffic or paying a 3rd party hosting service. Even if only 1 in 5 people actually purchased the pdf you're still money ahead." On a tangential line of thinking, the fact that Fantasy Flight Games has started offering up digital downloads of some of its more recent materials is a sign (to me anyway) of proper adaptation to the times.
I am a sucker that purchases my hard copies from my game store, and pdf's from Paizo. I am glad to do it, as gaming is my main hobby in life and I want to support good ideas and products like what I've seen thus far from Paizo. I download my pdf's to thumb drives because I like having a library in my pocket wherever I go. I backup my pdf's to a couple of locations in case anything goes wrong in my world (neurotic gaming nerd? that'd be weird). If I ever saw my pdf's show up in a location that I had not planned on seeing them, I would personally contact Paizo. I don't think I'm alone in my respect of product identity around here, and I hope that all of our efforts help keep Paizo in the green and keep douchey pirates out trolling for D&D 4e materials they can download from virus infected Chinese torrent sites.
How is banning someone from downloading something even a punishment.
Well, it's a start. Doesn't have to be the end, really.
The person putting the PDF's out is most likely knows this so they make an account download a bunch of PDF's then save them to their computer and put them out there for the masses to download for free. Then the get banned they say O-Well and sign into their real account and move on..
They're all real accounts. You paid for the PDFs, probably not in cash, but with a credit card or something. That stuff is totally traceable.
One thing I've always noticed is that Paizo products are fairly difficult to find (in comparison to say, 4e DnD), which I attribute to a loyal consumer base.Hm, on internet, everyhing is easy to find if you know where to look. Quick search revealed to me that every single PF book is avaiable for download, aside from few newer ones, such as Halflings of Golarion or Inner Sea Primer.
Also, the name of the topic reminded me of a funny picture:
http://www.megaleecher.net/uploads/piracy-is-theft.jpg
:D
And cmon guys, could you talk about seppuku elsewhere?
You should pass on those links to unliscenced PF material to Vic and the guys at Paizo so that they can get it removed. Every time someone DL one of these things for free, it takes money out of Paizo's pocket and does a disservice to the games we love and the designers who take the time to make them.
Everytime someone pirates something, it takes resources away from the people who I count on to create the awesome products that I get so much enjoyment out of. I really enjoy the material Paizo puts out, looking forward to seeing more of it over the coming years.
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Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.
Except that it ONLY ended in decapitation if the person commiting Seppuku cried out in pain. The person chosen to do the decap was selected by the individual who was commiting seppuku strictly for that purpose.
Commiting seppuku was a last ditch effort to restore your honor, or that of your family/Daimyo.
The "Second" as the chosen decapitator was called, only did so if the person cried out in pain. The act of taking the head ensured that the persons honor would be restored.
I like you Wolfthulhu. But to use your own words, "If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;) " LOL!
I think paizo has done many correct things in handling piracy of their products.
1. They are affordable
2. They offer free PDF's when you subscribe
3. They have a good community going, with the paizonians themselves participating activly.
4. They have a good product.
There is one more thing they could do, offer free pdfs for those of us who subscribe for the older products as well. I think read a post on why they don't do that though.. somewhere..
(how about giving us one free pdf for a product we've bought outside of the subscribtion for every subscription copy we get?)
Unfortunatly, it only takes one person sharing, and its out there, for ever.
-
Hopefully, addicts like me will help paizo making money for years to come though :P
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Except that ritual seppuku ended in decapitation by the samurai's second, so was totally an 'assisted suicide'. If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;)The Paizo copyright ninjas show up and seppuku you. They see everything, know everything.
Either that, or someone finds the PDFs with your name all over them, tells Paizo, and I guess they might press charges.
(WARNING: link goes to TVtropes. You have been warned.)
Seppuku is strictly 'suicide', not 'homicide'. It's totally incorrect to say you seppuku somebody else. Even 'assisted suicide' can't be seppuku, really.Except that it ONLY ended in decapitation if the person commiting Seppuku cried out in pain. The person chosen to do the decap was selected by the individual who was commiting seppuku strictly for that purpose.
Commiting seppuku was a last ditch effort to restore your honor, or that of your family/Daimyo.
The "Second" as the chosen decapitator was called, only did so if the person cried out in pain. The act of taking the head ensured that the persons honor would be restored.
I like you Wolfthulhu. But to use your own words, "If you're going to nit pick, do so correctly. ;) " LOL!
I could nit pick your nit pick of my nit pick regarding the original nit pick, but to what purpose? And besides, if I had, I wouldn't have been able to type that last sentence, and that was fun. :D
Can you get your seppuku talk elsewhere already? You're all wrong, anyway. Real seppuku was committed with panda bears. You smear honey on your stomach and into your belly button and let loose the panda.
If you don't stop the seppuku talk now, I will destroy your sanity.
I think paizo has done many correct things in handling piracy of their products.
1. They are affordable
2. They offer free PDF's when you subscribe
3. They have a good community going, with the paizonians themselves participating activly.
4. They have a good product.
Quite some good points, there. The fact that the people at paizo and their authors are readily available here and listen to what their fans have to say fosters a loyality to the company that is unusual - perhaps not singular, the fans of Wolf Baurs Open Publishing are probably as committed as well - but still unusual. WotC always seemed more distanced to me. But with item #4 on your list, it would seem that it is an incentive for more, not less piracy if the product is good. D&D has a higher brand recognition, which is important to piracy as well - I guess you will find more pirated stuff from, say, Britney Spears than Bif Naked.
Stefan
Hardcover PDFs for 10 bucks was the best anti-piracy move in the history of digital RPG publishing, really.+1
I think that most people, if given the choice between obtaining something legally for a reasonable (or great) price and obtaining something ILLEGALLY will go for the legal route.
I'm not going to lie. There's been many times in the past two years that I wish I could just download the pdfs for free. (Referring to pdfs for the $500 I spent on hardcovers at GenCon 2009 when I first jumped onto the Pathfinder bandwagon)
That said, not having the pdfs in my download section can be described more as an inconvenience and not worth the trouble of piracy.
Hardcover PDFs for 10 bucks was the best anti-piracy move in the history of digital RPG publishing, really.+1
I think that most people, if given the choice between obtaining something legally for a reasonable (or great) price and obtaining something ILLEGALLY will go for the legal route.
In Land of Happy Ponnies and Rainbows, yes. Otherwise, no. If MOST people didn't use piracy, then it wouldn't be such a major problem in every industry where products can be downloaded.
I'd wish it was so, but it's not. Illegal or no, illegal downloads are far too numerous that they can be tracked individually and every offender legally pursued (not to mention jurisdiction). So it's not even a risk to download something illegally (unless you're on a monitored network, such as in Universities).
In the end it comes down to whether someone has a moral issue with it or not. But with the fact that piracy is that common nowadays, most people don't.
In Land of Happy Ponnies and Rainbows, yes. Otherwise, no. If MOST people didn't use piracy, then it wouldn't be such a major problem in every industry where products can be downloaded.I'd wish it was so, but it's not. Illegal or no, illegal downloads are far too numerous that they can be tracked individually and every offender legally pursued (not to mention jurisdiction). So it's not even a risk to download something illegally (unless you're on a monitored network, such as in Universities).
In the end it comes down to whether someone has a moral issue with it or not. But with the fact that piracy is that common nowadays, most people don't.
Wait so most (being >50% mathematically) people pirate things? That sounds more like a desire for personal affirmation than reality. 1 out of 2 people stealing content of all kinds (music, books, movies, and whatever else) in a pool of millions would flat out sink most internet providers' bandwidth on a daily basis. But nevermind that. I don't think Gorbacz was saying that no one pirates Paizo products. I think he was saying that making them cheap has turned a good number of people towards just forking over the 10 bones for the books rather than searching all of southeast asia for a mirror download site.
In Land of Happy Ponnies and Rainbows, yes. Otherwise, no. If MOST people didn't use piracy, then it wouldn't be such a major problem in every industry where products can be downloaded.
Unfortunately, there's no verifiable statistics to show that it's actually a problem.
We know that people pirated 4E books. Yet WotC claims record sales.
We know that people pirate Paizo books. Pathfinder is outselling 4E by many industry claims.
By no means am I condoning copyright violation (I'm not going to use weasel words like "theft" and "piracy"). It's illegal. It's wrong. These days it's even criminal.
One can't attribute every single illicit download of copyright material to a direct loss of sale. Based on anecdotal claims/evidence, I don't believe one can even attribute the majority of illicit downloads to direct losses of sale.
Kthulhu has a point about reasonable pricing on product. Don't price things unreasonably, and most people will pay for them.
Obviously, there's always going to be illicit trade, but if the vast majority of them weren't going to buy in the first place? I'm not saying ignore it, and I'm not saying not to take steps to curtail or limit that from happening (as long as it doesn't interfere with my use of legally purchased product).
Take the case of previous edition D&D product: I can't judge someone's morality lacking for them acquiring that old product illicitly. There's no way for them to legally purchase it, and as evidenced from claims on this board and a number of others, people WANT to pay for it, but they can't. What are their options? The "legal" or "moral" answer is "suck it up and do without", but that's not an optimal solution for the end user (and really, it's not an optimal solution for the copyright holder).