Chief Technical Officer
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Reposting from here:
Rumors of the death of print have been greatly exaggerated.
It is true that our digital sales as a percentage of total sales are increasing year over year.
However, some portion of that increase is because the number of products available digitally only ever goes up, and because the number of available print products increases more slowly than the number of available digital products.
That last bit may not be obvious, but think of it this way: Let's say that in a given period, we release 100 new products in both print and PDF, but 15 older products go out of print during that same period. For that period, then, the total number of digital products available went up by 100, but the total number of print products available went up by just 85.
So even if there were no customers actively abandoning print in favor of digital, digital sales as a percentage of total sales would still be likely to increase year over year.
Yet even with that in mind, the increase is much slower than you might think.
Print isn't going anywhere soon, and isn't likely to become anything less than a majority of our business in the foreseeable future.
The reality is that digital presentation tools will become a larger part of the game. While print will fade somewhat, it will likely never go away. It will become more of a prestige format, though, over time. Especially if printing costs continue to grow, and digital storage costs shrink.
And when I say "over time", I mean over a long while. People *like* the feel of print. That won't change soon.
But products like RealmWorks, which is poised to become a new alternative to PDF and Print for publishing (specifically targeted at gaming) will increasingly gain market share -- as long as they deliver on the features and potential they show now.
Increasingly, tablet-based character-tracking applications that handle rolling will become accepted and commonplace. Some people refuse them now, but that will change as the younger gamers who are used to them become the bulk of the community.
As it is now, some people choose Print or PDF based on what works best for them. As RealmWorks and similar products emerge and mature, they will increasingly become a 3rd option in that mix. Some people will continue to choose "all three" just as people now choose "both"; but everyone will settle on the mix that works best for them.
You can see this in the trend of RPG books over the years. Compare the PFRGP core book with the 3.5, 3.0, AD&D 2E, AD&D 1E, D&D, etc. The jump from 3.0 to 3.5, or 3.5 to Pathfinder is less exaggerated, but you can definitely see an upward trend along the whole "series" in regards to color, typography, art, layout, etc.
I don't think this is a primary draw to an RPG, but it is a factor, particularly in justifying price.
Because PDF's have to be used, not just read, I think this is going to carry over to PDF's as well as the format matures. The easier they are to navigate, the better linked they are will be a similar factor.
Until PDF viewers can offer the functionality of a printed book, I can't imagine I'll ever switch completely.
I generally have a bunch of bookmarks in each of my books when I'm running a game, making it easy to jump between pages that I need, and even this obvious function is missing from any eReader app I've tried. Add in the ability to cover the pages with PostIt notes, and even switch back and forth between books easily (an often painfully slow process on my tablet), and print is still the superior format.
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Until PDF viewers can offer the functionality of a printed book, I can't imagine I'll ever switch completely.
I generally have a bunch of bookmarks in each of my books when I'm running a game, making it easy to jump between pages that I need, and even this obvious function is missing from any eReader app I've tried. Add in the ability to cover the pages with PostIt notes, and even switch back and forth between books easily (an often painfully slow process on my tablet), and print is still the superior format.
Several PDF readers allow you both to add bookmarks and notes. I use Foxit and it supports both features.
Several PDF readers allow you both to add bookmarks and notes. I use Foxit and it supports both features.Until PDF viewers can offer the functionality of a printed book, I can't imagine I'll ever switch completely.
I generally have a bunch of bookmarks in each of my books when I'm running a game, making it easy to jump between pages that I need, and even this obvious function is missing from any eReader app I've tried. Add in the ability to cover the pages with PostIt notes, and even switch back and forth between books easily (an often painfully slow process on my tablet), and print is still the superior format.
I figured there'd be something that allowed it, but none of the ones I've tried on my Nexus tablet have.
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My actuary reckons I'm likely to live until 2064, so if you guys can keep the hard copies coming until the 70s, I'd appreciate it.
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I figured there'd be something that allowed it, but none of the ones I've tried on my Nexus tablet have.Several PDF readers allow you both to add bookmarks and notes. I use Foxit and it supports both features.Until PDF viewers can offer the functionality of a printed book, I can't imagine I'll ever switch completely.
I generally have a bunch of bookmarks in each of my books when I'm running a game, making it easy to jump between pages that I need, and even this obvious function is missing from any eReader app I've tried. Add in the ability to cover the pages with PostIt notes, and even switch back and forth between books easily (an often painfully slow process on my tablet), and print is still the superior format.
Goodreader on my ipad has allowed me to make bookmarks since the summer of 2010. I can't remember when they made annotations easy exactly, but it was at least 2 years ago. I also can have multiple books open, with the program retaining the page that each pdf was open too, switching takes about 3 seconds at most (including all the taps to do so).
Flipping through something like the corebook is faster for me in print. One, I know it so well, cause I do own a physical copy and the well known and easy to find stuff is super fast to flip too. Also, books like the bestiary, which are alphabetical and have large fonts to guide you fast are very fast to thumb through and find the desired entry. All the other books though, including adventure paths, I've found my tablet to be faster.
The other thing I love about my tablet, on monsters I can zoom in on the picture, if I don't want to immediately reveal the name of the monster, and not have to hold the book awkwardly while showing the players.
I still see the appeal of print. I really do and often find myself desiring physical copies of books. On the other hand though, it's really nice to essentially bring my entire library of gaming books to every session and have it weigh only a few pounds. If I had to guess, it would probably be 150-200 pounds of books if they were all paper.
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Well, then again, you're dealing with a target group which is notorious for its hostility towards technology.
Rumors of the death of print have been greatly exaggerated.
? What target group is that?
Geeks? Humans? Readers?
Edit: The most I've seen is people banning phones/tablets at the table for distraction reasons. While others run games from them. A lot of complaints about WotC not having digital options available.
People who don't know what a ZIP file is in 2015.
People who check their email once per month.
People who think vidja games killed p'n'p RPGs.
People who wish PFS scens were available in print because wow, you can actually print those PDF things?
People who ban Hero Lab use in their games.
People who wish things were like they started gaming in 1976.
All of the above happen on regular basis in this community.
You know maybe this thread was a bad idea. I never meant to ask
"Will there still be printed media in the future"
I meant to start a dialog about what printed media would be, you know its physical characteristics, in the future. Sure we can plan to make another hard back Core Rule Book (the Pathfinder Core Rule Book is my least favorite type of book, it sits on the book shelf, I loath taking it down) or we can start a dialog about what innovations we can come up with that will make a book something new, something different, and still something we recognize and can fall in love with.
But apparently, most people just want to talk about what is better, a book or a pdf file.
*sigh*
Maybe someone from Paizo will come along and see my question up above about QR codes and answer that one.
For me, as an unashamed hardcopy-phile who meets two of Gorbacz's criteria, part of the attraction is the familiar, oldfashionedness of books. I don't really want innovation (those QR things you mention are the squares of black and white blocks, right? I resent them on the rare times I encounter them - or at least they irritate me).
I think, as ever when new technology muscles up to old, there is a certain tension in how the out of date responds - changing to keep up with the times may prolong the inevitable decline, but it may also accelerate it, by losing those for whom change is bad.
or we can start a dialog about what innovations we can come up with that will make a book something new, something different, and still something we recognize and can fall in love with.
There isn't that much you can do to with a book to 'reinvent' it. I'm really curious what you have in mind.
Maybe someone from Paizo will come along and see my question up above about QR codes and answer that one.
I'm not from Paizo, but QR codes are ugly. And ultimately, all they are is a URL. There is some advantage in it not needing to be a human-readable URL (it's easier to make sure paizo.com/-rx39 always points at the same content than paizo.com/pathfinder/productname/webenhancement), but you're still basically printing a promise in a book that your website will look/act the same in 5, 10, 15 years.
QR codes are great for ephemeral links - when I was looking for a house, it was helpful to be able to scan the QR code on a 'For Sale' sign or the related flyer - but no one expects those links to still be good after the house is sold. And I'm already on the go, which means looking stuff up on my smartphone is my best option. I don't want to scan a QR code when I'm already sitting at my desk, at my desktop computer - I'd much rather see things on my 24 in monitor than 5 inch phone at home.
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thread hits iceberg made of ancillary flamebait topics
move over lady there is totally room on that piece of wreckage for us both, this water is hella cold
Would it be possible to put a chip, similar to the ones used in Skylanders, in the physical body of a book that when brought into close proximity with an e-reader device, automatically downloaded and saved a pdf version of the book. Then you simply put your device on the book, say when you are at the gaming table, and it loads the pdf, ready for you to use?
Just a thought.
It is physically possible, but there are a number of problems.
The most obvious relates to theft - if you can scan the chip while the book is still unsold, you just got a free (e-)book. Or if you scan your buddy's book. If you make it 'one download per chip', that's actually worse, because now the legitimate customer who buys the book after the bookstore-skimmer, they don't get their download. (There have been threads in the past about including a scratch-off code for a digital download in books, many of the same problems apply.)
But there's also the problem of of the ecosystem knowing how it is supposed to work.
I should be able to download a zipped PDF from Paizo on my iPad, but the built-in options can't open the zip to realize there is a single PDF inside that it could send to iBooks. I need a third party app to do that.
QR codes are pretty ubiquitous by now, but I still need a QR code app to read them on my phone (instead of the camera app or built-in browser.)
Skylanders works because you're already running the game on your PC or game console when it cares about reading your figures. So, there could be a 'Pathfinder' app that you'd have to run first, before scanning (assuming your phone/tablet HAS an NFC device.) But that's not exactly
'just working'. Or maybe you don't have data available at your location. Or whatever. It's a far way from being a fully mature technology.
That has the same sets of problems. None of them are impossible to solve, but I don't think that 'embedded pdf' is a problem that needs enough solving to make it worthwhile for someone to do so.
I mean, what's easier
1) Load PDFs on my iPad - Go to game with iPad - open PDF on iPad
or
2) Gather up books - Bring books AND iPad to game - tap iPad on physical book to load PDF - and then ignore physical book
It's the kind of thing that seems like it is adding value, but all its really doing is adding complication.
So, how do we make a living QR code, something attractive, something that interacts with our devices and links to an app or something beyond an app, that ensures that no matter how much time has gone by, the link takes us to something on the internet that is useful and compliments the book.
'Living' is out of the question - a printed book is ink on paper. What is inside isn't going to change.
'Attractive' is hard - turns out things that robot eyes can read easily are harsh and high-contrast. As computer vision improves, this might change, but for now we're limited to things like embedding a logo in the middle of the QR code, or using some mild variant. One thing both humans and computers can read is printed text, but we've had the ability to print 'to read more go to <URL>' in books since there have been URLs. It's still a relatively uncommon practice, since URLs change and printed matter does not.
Even if you have a schema that makes a URL easy to maintain (like using a coded ID number instead of a full path), you still have problems like server attention span or website redesigns (e.g. a lot of 3.0 and 3.5 D&D articles still exist on WotC's website, but they're difficult to navigate to and look like crap because the rest of the page has changed around them, and the links IN the articles are also unlikely to work.)
And at the outside, maybe the hosting company went out of business, or was bought out by a larger entity. Maybe the company rebranded so that their base URL changed.
About three or four months ago, Eric Schmidt came in and he asked me whether the company still believed in doing Annie Leibovitz–type portfolios…
Am I alone here thinking this is so Darth Vader asking Princess Leia if she still believes in this "Rebellion" thing?
I'm not sure the question "what is the future of print media?" is terribly meaningful without specifying a time frame.
Assuming we don't blow ourselves up first, the eventual future of print media is death...or so close to it that the distinction doesn't matter. Once technology erases the remaining advantages of print media -- and it will -- then print media will become a commercially-irrelevant historical curiosity. It may not happen my lifetime, but it will happen. Really, how could it not? The encoding of information using paper and ink is inherently inefficient.
Then again, I firmly believe that screens will disappear over time, to be replaced by holograms, which in turn will be replaced by retinal projections, which will eventually give way to direct brain interfaces. So what do I know? :P
How would we make it something that you would want to do, (bring book, tap device to book to launch application and pdf, or something) rather than be thinking, “why am I lugging around these books anyway?”
Making a book 'smarter' and more interactive means moving away from ink-and-paper. Low-tech versions of this have been around for awhile, but mostly as novelties in children's books (pop-ups, textures patches, scratch & sniff, etc).
High tech versions would mean something like microchips and e-ink. You can sometimes see these in old science-fiction stuff that hadn't fully thought through what a paperless book meant (libraries full of enhanced books, or every time someone gave a mission report to Captain Picard by physically handing him a PADD.)
But data is cheap and matter is expensive. It would be absurd to sell a Kindle-like device with a single book loaded on it.
Physical books won't go away - like handwriting, there is a certain necessity for things that work without a lot of technology, even if young people will use the skill less and less.
But trying to ask 'How will print media change with technology' is like asking how handwriting will change to accommodate typewriters. There will certainly be changes (like how cursive is nearly extinct), but I don't think there will be a 'fusion' of the two.
Physical books won't go away - like handwriting, there is a certain necessity for things that work without a lot of technology, even if young people will use the skill less and less.
You're not thinking ambitiously enough. Any means of distribution which involves a discrete device of any kinda is a stopgap. The data is all that matters.
When (not if) we have a device -- probably embedded in our head and directly interfacing with our brain -- which stores information in any format with perfect accuracy, and subsequently allows us to instantly retrieve and share that information with whomever we like...why will we need books?
Books are technology which completely replaced carving on stone tablets. Why would books themselves somehow be irreplaceable?
The comic book industry has been twisting 'collectable' for awhile.
Likewise, you can't really have an eBook autographed.
For physical books, I think they hold value better for books that can be opened to an arbitrary point and perused. Stuff where the order doesn't matter as much, like game books or reference books. Likewise, these are the ones where you can sort of open them 2/3 of the way through and get close to the section you were looking for (I recall in the 3.5 era how one of my players could open to the Wondrous Items section, within a couple pages of his alphabetized item, by touch.)
But for a book that is meant to be read start-to-finish (like a novel, or non-reference non-fiction), I have a hard time recommending the print version.
Physical books won't go away - like handwriting, there is a certain necessity for things that work without a lot of technology, even if young people will use the skill less and less.You're not thinking ambitiously enough. Any means of distribution which involves a discrete device of any kinda is a stopgap. The data is all that matters.
When (not if) we have a device -- probably embedded in our head and directly interfacing with our brain -- which stores information in any format with perfect accuracy, and subsequently allows us to instantly retrieve and share that information with whomever we like...why will we need books?
Books are technology which completely replaced carving on stone tablets. Why would books themselves somehow be irreplaceable?
Books (and handwriting) will not outlast written language. But I think the time horizon on that is somewhat greater.
In the nearer term (like, in my children's lifetimes), I expect we'll have passive, full color displays that rival the best print quality, built into devices which render with no human-discernible delay and offer user-friendly, natural language interfaces. Expect these devices to be durable, cheap, always networked, and run for weeks on a charge. (Again, assuming we don't blow ourselves up first!)
At that point, books will be 99% obsolete.
Books (and handwriting) will not outlast written language. But I think the time horizon on that is somewhat greater.
Well and succinctly put.
One thing that I personally like about printed books is writing in them. So far the PDF tagging features I've seen aren't convenient enough to replace a hand-scrawled note in the margin.
Yes, I fully expect to be executed for my blasphemy. ;-)
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Okay, so if a fusion of technology and print is not a path to explore, what other ways can a book be improved to have a more "got to have it" quality"?
By focusing on the things that people already like about hard books, and pushing those things.
For instance, one I hear a lot (and find to be the case myself, often) is ease of reference. In an RPG rulebook, for instance, using a PDF means you have to either flip one page at a time or already know the page number (or a page number close to where you're aiming, and then return to single-page browsing). With a physical book, you can instead flip huge chunks of pages at once to find the right chapter/section, then do a rapid thumb-flip through a dozen pages per second to narrow it down. Since that's one of the advantages of a physical book, it can be capitalized on: have you ever seen a reference book whose chapters or sections included an inch of colored margin such that when the closed book is viewed from the side, you can see these different colored "blocks" indicating different parts of the book? Using that feature takes one of the main (reference-related) advantages of paper books and improves it.
Someone else mentioned the ability to add notes and such. What if certain types of books included white space specifically for that purpose? For instance, suppose a Bestiary was released in which every statblock had the monster's HP situated next to a blank white space where you could then track damage during play? Or had spaces next to limited-use abilities to track expenditures? Or other spaces for status/conditions? Pencil and eraser could wear down the page if you're not careful, but maybe a dry-erase solution would be doable? This one might need further development, but you get the idea.
Take what people already like about paper books, and make it better/easier.
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One thing that I personally like about printed books is writing in them. So far the PDF tagging features I've seen aren't convenient enough to replace a hand-scrawled note in the margin.
Yes, I fully expect to be executed for my blasphemy. ;-)
You monster.
future books - now with 100% more book smell
Overall, I agree that the attempt to fuse paper and digital together is kind of pointless. Any attempt to make a paper book reference a digital document is going to be cumbersome and time wasting compared to a PDF, which can have a 1-touch link.
I like the idea of monster stat blocks designed to be written in them, especially in adventures or adventure paths. More space for notes and GM modification, with paper selected for it's ability to take some abuse (pencil and eraser).
The corebook is something you tend to use for several years in multiple situations, notes in this tend to be more permanent and less ephemeral. An adventure though is probably only run a couple times. With the exception of my copy of Against the Giants module, I don't think I've ever run anything more than twice. And not just a "Note" section in the back either, but ample margins and blank space throughout the book.
