Apparently WOTC is going after people who posted the players handbook 2 online:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Dungeons-Dragons-handbooks-apf-2855619856.html?x=0

Thoughts and comments are welcome

Kind of old news, but interesting to hear that a couple fellows and WotC are going to mediation, whatever that means.  Not sure why the Phillipino kid would agree to that though.  I doubt WotC can get to him or the Polish fellow by any legal means.

The Polish defendant actually started a thread on ENworld some months ago.  He claimed some kids in his local RPG group borrowed the books and uploaded them, if I recall correctly.

I don't like this, but at least WotC is going after people who uploaded rather than downloaded the books.  It's probably a slippery slope from one to the other, but still, it's better to punish and active than a passive crime.

Well Hasbro has obviously not been taking notes on the actions of the RIAA or MPAA, that much is clear.  

Actions like this are like poking the bear because there are many people out there with the time and talent to put ALL of Hasbro's WoTC books up all over the web in places where Hasbro is S.O.L. when it comes to prosecution.  These people can and will do this over and over and over again if for no other reason than spite.

Honestly, the arguments against piracy have been done to death and are not that convincing in the first place even when dealing with music and movies, two things that work great on a computer.  Books on a computer are average at best because while they allow for searching and reduced carry weight not very many people LIKE to read books on the computer.  Printing out copies is always an option but not a very cost efficient one.

Plus I thought Hasbro had decided that WoTC was going to be the next Games Workshop and derive its money from miniature sales, making the books nearly advertising material anyway.  They must think they are Disney or something.

God this is all just so slimy and pathetic all-around.
WoTC going after unemployed college students. Said assholes trying to pretend they didn't do it. That "Nolan" guy defending himself (yeah, that proves he's a genius :rolleyes: ) and claiming it was his wallet that got stolen!
Fuck, its like a cavalcade of suck.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;309186WoTC going after unemployed college students.

So if you're unemployed or in college, you can commit crimes without fear of reprisal?

Seanchai

Quote from: Seanchai;309189So if you're unemployed or in college, you can commit crimes without fear of reprisal?

Yes.  I am absolutelty certain that's exactly the point Pundit was trying to make and any other interpretation is clearly incorrect.

Also, I'm totally in love with your implicit acceptance of the existence of a crime here.  I just read a report of a lawsuit being filed, not arrests for criminal activities.

Even prior to this news update I was thinking about the PDF fiasco earlier today. What heady days those were. With that WotC CEO interview on EnWorld to top it off. Remember how that CEO promised to come back with a statement as to where he saw the "future of D&D" heading? He never came back, of course.

But just mulling this whole thing over in my head again, something clicked in my head. You see, WotC pulling their PDFs off the market never made sense as a response to piracy. The whole thing of course, down to sueing teenagers, doesn't make sense, but that element made the least sense. Until you get down to a basic question. Why would any company EVER pull a product off a market? Answer: when that product, in particular, isn't making enough money for you.

And that's it. WotC pulled the PDFs because they made no money on them any more. Or, no money worth mentioning. And WotC has a long history of pulling such product off the market - not just every single edition of Magic:tG once in a while, but also complete games (such as Dreamblade). They are pretty much accustomed with the customer reaction this behaviour gets them; they don't care. Usually, they can afford to not care about their customers, as these things usually happen at times when a product has run its natural life cycle for WotC. But to pull PDFs of a product which has seen only 8 months of existence, that's a different thing.

I'm sure this point has been made before, and I'm sorry if I wasted your time dredging up an observation you've seen (not necessarily agreed to) before. You may shake your head in disbelief, if you think WotC would never have decided to cover up their sales fiasco by recourse to an action that STILL got them plenty of online rage. I'm myself not wholly convinced either; it's trying to balance things which is complicated: causing nerd rage over PDFs being lost is less harmful than declaring craptastic sales so soon in a product's life cycle. But once you start pulling core product off the market (cf. the sorry fate of the D&D Miniatures Game, again pulled after minimal life span [post its 2.0 reincarnation]), you got to explain why you did it.

It's just that all this surrounding context, that of suing customers, is just peripheral. It sure ain't "peripheral" for those unlucky people involved, but as far as discussion boards go, I think it is, and should be treated as such.

Why would anyone find this surprising? Giant company aggressively defends copyright, dumbass digital pirates/innocent grandmother go to jail or get sued into oblivion. This is a direct result of the RIAA/MPAA douchbaggery (thanks Metallica), if WOTC pulls off a victory expect the existing online RPG hobby to come to a flaming lawsuit filled end.

Quote from: Strangelove;309160Well Hasbro has obviously not been taking notes on the actions of the RIAA or MPAA, that much is clear.  

They should be, they just won 1.92 Million in fines in a retrial of a women accused of downloading music.   She was found guilty and fined 222,000 but the judge decided to give her a retrail because of a mistake.

She didnt fair well the second time:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20090618/US.TEC.Music.Downloading/

Quote from: RockViper;309261(thanks Metallica)

Lars was right.

This is a bit like trying to stop a forest fire with water sprinklers, but hey. Their stuff, their right to sue over it.

Quote from: JimLotFP;309283Lars was right.

For fuck's sake. The best musical act that Lars Ulrich could commit would be shooting himself in the face and impersonating Cobain.

I agree with jrients: a crime was not comitted. They, of course, can file suits until they die of exhaustion. They will only get more filesharing as an answer.

Quote from: Imperator;309290For fuck's sake. The best musical act that Lars Ulrich could commit would be shooting himself in the face and impersonating Cobain.

errr... the fact that Metallica has sucked for 20 years is rather irrelevant to the point. Not that I'm going to argue the point (my side on the matter lost... doesn't mean I change sides), I just stated my position.

Quote from: The Game Guy;309264They should be, they just won 1.92 Million in fines in a retrial of a women accused of downloading music.   She was found guilty and fined 222,000 but the judge decided to give her a retrail because of a mistake.

She didnt fair well the second time:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20090618/US.TEC.Music.Downloading/

Money they will never, ever see and that won't stop piracy one bit.  Do you really think people who don't have $100 to their name care about super high fines they could never pay in a million years?  The fine may as well have been 1.92 trillion.

Gotta love our legal system, though.  Hurray for our plutocrat overlords and their blood sucking lawyer minions!

Wizards just don't get piracy and they don't get PDF or the internet. Fortunately, much of the rest of the hobby does.

It's a sad state of affairs when Palladium has a more enlightened policy than you do.