Quote from: zombenI think you guys are being a bit too harsh on Bruce.  He does not say that someone who doesn't buy a book for a game he's playing is a 'thief' at all.

To be fair to everyone else, I was the one who introduced the word "theft" to the discussion, and I had attributed it to someone else (and quite possibly a mis-attribution).

That said, Bruce's comments back in May of 2003 were awfully specious.  Ridiculous, really.  In fact, let's just call it horseshit.  If he wants to be sure that everyone who uses his product pays for it, he's in the wrong line of business.  I trust that his opinion on the matter has become more reasonable and realistic since then.

As for the difference between a "freeloader" and a "thief", I think you're talking about a difference of degree, not of intent.  At least I think Bruce was.

!i!

Quote from: AlnagExactly the same here... If you want your game the very same month you have to order from Amazon. I am not mentioning the price, which is 150% and that despite the fact the incomes here are about half or less of the US.

... ever thought about buying in Germany? Thanks to the high Euro, RPGs are cheap as hell right now. If you need a good contact for online order, give me a note.

Deepfire: Do we know each other?
Do you know/are Synapscape?

Quote from: J ArcaneThe rightists just legalized fucking price fixing, and he's goddamn praising it.

Is it just me or can business and "the rightists" simply not win no matter what they do?  If they sqeeze all of the excess profit and waste out of the system like Wal-Mart, they are cursed for destroying small local businesses, driving manufacturing overseas, and not leaving enough profit in the system to pay the little guy decent wages and give them benefits.  If they allow limitations on discouting to preserve profits to protect small local businesses and brick-and-morter retailers (who employ more people than mail order companies) and leave enough of a profit margin in the system to make some money... why exactly is that one evil again?  I'm sorry but I have a lot of trouble figuring out exactly what it is that the left wants other than to be in control.

Quote from: J ArcaneI thought you were a historian.  You telling me you don't at all recall why the fuck price fixing was made illegal in the first place?  

Here's a hint:  It had more to do with big business than small . . .

I would argue that the bigger problem here is the idea that courts have so much power to make things legal and illegal instead of the legislatures, and nobody is even acting as if that's a problem at all, they've become so used to it.

Yes, there are plenty of problems with price fixing and other similar government controls.  There are also plenty of problems with the fact that our sales and distribution system has become so efficient that almost everything has become a commodity.

Quote from: BalbinusUltimately, any hobby which can be played for twenty years on a single initial...people actually gaming buy too but not as much I suspect.

I agree.  In fact, I'm not sure that the number of players has shrunk at all in the last 5 years.  I think game stores had a brief rpg golden age with the OGL products.  After a few years of rabid buying, a very large number of players notice "Hey, I have a whole shelf of books that I don't use much, I'll slow down on buying."  But they're playing just as much as before.  On CircvsMaximvs, there are quite a few people who have sold off over half their collection due to lack of use bu they are getting heavy use out of the rest of their books.  

On top of that, the internet has been fantastic for gaming for the last decade.  The variety available is phenomenal.  There are far more cool niche products selling a combo of pdf and direct sale that never really worked through mail in the old days.  There is also free stuff everywhere, some of which is quite good.  

Small store owners of any industry are always going to have their share of whiners and losers - many of them have little business sense and small stores are a tough life.  Don't a few cries of doom color your opinion of the hobby.

Quote from: NicephorusI agree.  In fact, I'm not sure that the number of players has shrunk at all in the last 5 years.  I think game stores had a brief rpg golden age with the OGL products.  After a few years of rabid buying, a very large number of players notice "Hey, I have a whole shelf of books that I don't use much, I'll slow down on buying."  But they're playing just as much as before.  On CircvsMaximvs, there are quite a few people who have sold off over half their collection due to lack of use bu they are getting heavy use out of the rest of their books.  


...

Me for example, I've sold more than half my books now and still have loads up for sale, and my buying has slowed right the hell down.

But I'm still playing every Monday night just the same, the fact is I still have way more stuff than I need.

I think you could be right that I wasn't alone in looking up one day and noticing that.

In that article, Ryan Dancey said:

QuoteIn a truly free market, goods would be priced for sale to end-users at whatever the creator of those goods wanted them sold for.

I can't remember my college econ classes very well, but isn't that just wrong?  I thought they try to put their stuff at the highest price at which they can while consumers buy them at the lowest.  The point where they meet is the optimal price.  Isn't that the classic supply and demand graph that is the foundation of the free market?

You're talking about the result of a free market. Dancey's description though is twisted: he's mixing up the following.

In a truly free market, anyone can ask whatever they want for goods in their possession. (Correct.)

In a truly free market, producers can dictate prices throughout the distribution chain. (Wrong.)

I can only say that so far nothing seems to be different.