Here it is.

RPGPundit

It seems to me that the best protest is to simply not buy their .PDFs.  Of course, this ends up hurting publishers who depend upon this channel for distribution, but if it's a channel that lends itself to monopolisation like this, fuck it.    If the demand for .PDFs survives the test, some plucky entrepreneur will come along to steal some of the market share at a cut rate.

!i!

I "signed" it.

I just think the small publishers are going to get the short end of this deal. I would hate to see guys like Flying Mice, PIG, Hinterwelt, and others take a hit in profits and not have any better service provided to them. Not to mention the customer.

I make a point to buy my PDFs directly from the publisher.  Often times, I'll search using RPGNow or DTRPG and then locate the publisher's home site and buy directly (if they have that option).

The idea of an online middleman is even more ridiculous than the three-tiered model that GAMA purports to support.

I signed the durn thing too.  But honestly I don't plan on supporting the new site no matter what pricing policy the adopt.  I just don't want anything to do with those guys from DriveThru.

Quote from: VellorianThe idea of an online middleman is even more ridiculous than the three-tiered model that GAMA purports to support.

I enjoyed the virtual window shopping aspect.

I'm curious, what you would you say are the number of publishers don't have an alternative PDF purchase venue. If only directly through their own sites?

Because I've gone out of my way to NOT purchase at DriveThru.  Even with the rare case of windowing shop and finding something that interests me I'll still try to find it somewhere else, minimum of checking with the actual owner/producer. If it is somewhere else, especially if it is the owner and/or not a locked PDF, I'm very likely to spend my cash somewhere else.

Ok... Im going to say this again.

I've been saying it everywhere and EVERYONE seems to just want to roll with their knee-jerk "EWWWWW merger monopoly bad phtaghan!!!!!!"

Working full time at a PDF publisher is my full time job. I am not a disinterested observer in this.

First, there is no monopoly on PDF distribution.

When I started in this industry, 5 years ago, RPGNow was the only website selling PDFs. They controlled 100% of the market. That was a monopoly.

In the five years since we went from that one site, to 5 sites (RPGNow, DTRPG, e23, Paizo and ENGS) back down to 3 (RPGNow/DTRPG, e23 and Paizo).

Would someone please explain to me how this is a monopoly?

For extra credit:

DTRPG got going and moved to significant market share at a time when one site was TOTALLY dominant (RPGNow).

What institutionally has changed to stop a new site from moving up today in significant market share?

Please answer the extra credit question only with specific examples involving RPGs. If you talk about Microsoft, you might as well be comparine satellite dishes to oranges. We're talking about an industry (PDFs) that controls a 11% margin of the RPG market share for crying out loud.

Chuck

Quote from: blakkieI'm curious, what you would you say are the number of publishers don't have an alternative PDF purchase venue. If only directly through their own sites?

Because I've gone out of my way to NOT purchase at DriveThru.  Even with the rare case of windowing shop and finding something that interests me I'll still try to find it somewhere else, minimum of checking with the actual owner/producer. If it is somewhere else, especially if it is the owner and/or not a locked PDF, I'm very likely to spend my cash somewhere else.

PDFs at the new RPGNow/DTRPG site will not be locked unless the publisher wants them to be.

Our options are: DRM (I know WOTC still uses DRM, not sure who else), Watermarking, or nothing.

Chuck

Quote from: McrowI "signed" it.

I just think the small publishers are going to get the short end of this deal. I would hate to see guys like Flying Mice, PIG, Hinterwelt, and others take a hit in profits and not have any better service provided to them. Not to mention the customer.

The smaller the publisher, the more they are likely to be helped by this.

Larger publishers typically are able to negotiate better rates for themselves.

For many smaller publishers, the % taken by the new RPGNow/DTRPG site is LESS than it was under RPGNow.

Chuck

I'm still debating whether or not I'm going to buy from OBS. Since most of my games I buy are print anyway, I'm sure how much I'd be missing.

Lucky for me PIG sells their own PDFs. Another company that I know has that ability is Evil Hat. Forge has the indie bookshelf thing and I belive key 20 and indie press have pdf sales as well.

Quote from: RPGObjects_chuckPDFs at the new RPGNow/DTRPG site will not be locked unless the publisher wants them to be.

Our options are: DRM (I know WOTC still uses DRM, not sure who else), Watermarking, or nothing.

When did this change? As of the merger?

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaIt seems to me that the best protest is to simply not buy their .PDFs.  Of course, this ends up hurting publishers who depend upon this channel for distribution, but if it's a channel that lends itself to monopolisation like this, fuck it.    If the demand for .PDFs survives the test, some plucky entrepreneur will come along to steal some of the market share at a cut rate.

!i!

If a "plucky entrpeneur" can come along and steal market share, how is that a monopoly?

A monopoly is a situation where the monopoly can leverage their market share to make it institutionally impossible (or very very difficult) for competition to spring up.

Chuck

Quote from: blakkieWhen did this change? With the merger?

DTRPG dropped the DRM requirement long ago and gave their publishers the option of DRM or watermarked PDFs.

I believe the option for NO security is new to the merged site but Im not 100% sure.

I know we began selling at DTRPG when the option for watermarked PDFs was introduced.

Chuck

Quote from: RPGObjects_chuckThe smaller the publisher, the more they are likely to be helped by this.

Larger publishers typically are able to negotiate better rates for themselves.

For many smaller publishers, the % taken by the new RPGNow/DTRPG site is LESS than it was under RPGNow.

Chuck

I'm not so hung up on the %, though it will be pretty shitty if they pay the extra and get no benifit from it. My main concern is that the little guys will driven so far back and under the rocks that they will sell less and get less traffic. I don't know that anyone would argue that the big publishers get a lot more space on the front page as things stand now.

Quote from: RPGObjects_chuckDTRPG dropped the DRM requirement long ago and gave their publishers the option of DRM or watermarked PDFs.

Ya, at least they did that. Still sucks monkeyballs to have the PDF locked up though, and given that a $25 piece of commercial software can strip the Owner password it isn't really much of a protection against largescale pirating.

QuoteI believe the option for NO security is new to the merged site but Im not 100% sure.

That's the one that is new to me. I'm glad too see it. Perhaps they will get some of my business. But the bumping of the take for an artifical "increase" in traffic still really rubs me the wrong way because eventually that comes out of my pocket.

EDIT: Although I'll take your word for it on the actual lowering from some past RPGNow rates. That's an interesting aspect I'd like to hear about. So in the past how much swing were the bigger players able to pull off?