Mar 3, 2015, 10:27 PM
I mass downloaded every single nwod book. >.> I haven't PAID for a WoD book of any kind since owod.
Poll: Did you pay for most of your nWoD books?
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Hey all,
I am curious to see if users here who have played nWoD have paid for the majority of their book collection (this would also include purchased digital copies) or if they downloaded most of them online for free from torrents or whatever.
Since this forum doesn't have a poll feature I went ahead and started one on polljunkie. It's completely anonymous (and obviously voluntary).
If you care to answer this is the link. You don't need to make an account, just click away.
I'm not trying to prove something, it really is just curiosity on my end, but maybe it'll be interesting to see the results.
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I would say no, because I have managed to acquire books for games I don't really care about in my staffing and STing days.
I do own most of the WtF books and the entirety of core and 2nd Ed vampire legit.
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The main reason most of my collection is downloaded is that it was easier to get all than some.
But I've mainly read the ones I actually own. Part of it is because they were the ones I was actually interested in (so I bought them) while I use the rest just as references for specific powers, full Bloodline/Legacy texts, etc.
Another part of it though is that physical books are more convenient for some things and less so for others. I can go through a hardcover book faster, since reading PDFs even on a large screen tablet is a bit awkward (and I dislike doing so on a computer screen). But I can do things like search and copy/paste far easier on a digital copy, for obvious reasons.
Either way I wouldn't want to own most of these books. There are some I haven't even opened once in all this time to do more than look at something very specific.
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I can probably give you some idea of the kind of results you might get.
I was making digital content for about 7 years. Friend of mine was in the copyright/tracking down illegal downloads department, and so I heard some of our stats on that sort of thing. It was for a smaller hobby, I would think, than RPGs, by a considerable margin.
We had about 100-250 illegal downloads for every sale, depending on the product, in a market of about 100k total customers.
So, pretty much... make of that what you will, really.
Oh fucking well.
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It's really difficult to attain actual hard data on this sort of thing.
For example I've downloaded books I own physical copies of, just so I could paste from them (and because it was more convenient to grab "all nWoD books" than just some). I've also gotten them several times over the years due to a number of reasons. There's also the fact I've gotten books I'd never consider buying as I'd literally consider them taking up more room on my shelves than they're worth, and so it wasn't like they lost a sale from that.
But we might be able to see what the habits of MSB users in particular are, and their reasoning if they choose to post here about it.
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I own every book I have. Some have PDFs for them.
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No. I have a whole library of PDFs that aren't paid for. These are books I wouldn't want to buy, either. I have them mostly so I can glance at rules if I feel the need. The ones I really liked and used I've bought, though, quite often after the fact (I'd DL a pirate copy, think this is good stuff, and my concience would demand I shell out on it.) A lot of the Vampire books, and now the 2nd ed WoD and Vampire.
I only have the main nWoD in hardback. I like nWoD for its improved system, but I never loved the setting. In comparason I have a physical copy of the majority of the oWoD ones. I never had the same compulsive need to collect all the nwod books.
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I have a bunch on PDF that I didn't pay for, but I have everything Changeling and the core NWOD + GMC in hardback. I hate reading PDF's but they are great for looking shit up.
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I bought copies of core books. All the splats I just downloaded.
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I don't care about the numbers, but I am curious about the stance. How many folks download these books and say to themselves: "I am stealing a book, period, full-stop."? Is there open acknowledgement of theft, or is it handwaved and mentally shrugged off as Not That Big A Deal? I steal books too, so I'm not here to be judgey. I'm just curious if... not whether there's a sense of right/wrong, but rather if it's a question that even comes up anymore.
ES
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@EmmahSue said:
I don't care about the numbers, but I am curious about the stance. How many folks download these books and say to themselves: "I am stealing a book, period, full-stop."? Is there open acknowledgement of theft, or is it handwaved and mentally shrugged off as Not That Big A Deal? I steal books too, so I'm not here to be judgey. I'm just curious if... not whether there's a sense of right/wrong, but rather if it's a question that even comes up anymore.
ES
My benchmark is whether an RPG book would be a reference for something specific or not, and that comes out of how much use I am or expect to make of it.
So for instance let's say I'm thinking I might want a Bloodline for a new vampire PC. I'd first go to a web page giving generic descriptions of all Bloodlines in order to see if one of them catches my eye. Now if one did, is it in one of the extra splat books? And is the book itself interesting enough to keep? Or would I be buying it for the 2-3 pages of that one thing I want for this one use?
But say, tomorrow the Werewolf GMC book is (heh, probably...) coming out. I bet I can find that sucker on a torrent within ten minutes, but I won't. Because I'll be making use of the material, reading through time after time, so it's actually something I want to own.
Obviously YMMV.
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I mass downloaded every single nwod book. >.> I haven't PAID for a WoD book of any kind since owod.
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I bought my favorite splats in hardcover (2) and I bought a few PDFs but the vast majority of my collection are PDFs I did not purchase. Mainly because I'm only a few years into this hobby. When I began, it would have been hard to talk me into a monetary investment on something I just fussed around with online from time to time.
A few years later, I should be paying for these books. But I'm just gonna hit up the torrents when the new Werewolf drops. Just like I did for the new Vampire. On and on. Forever. Amen.
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When I had the money and the means, I bought the books that interested me. When I have the money and the means again, I will buy the books that interest me. That's basically it.
I still have all my old hardcover and softcover oWoD books. All of them. And Exalted, too. So many books I never even got to use...
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Every werewolf book, every vampire book sans The Testament of Longinus and that joke Dracula book, Asylum, Mage core, Tome of the Watchtowers, Adamantine Arrow, WoD Core, Skinchangers, Antagonists, Geist 1e (biggest waste of fucking money), Book of Spirits, and Armory. Beyond that I do have every nWoD book on PDF. I only plan on buying PoD versions of Demon, and I want all of the books for the splat.
Y'all finished or y'all done? I ain't go no more talkin'.
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@Huzuruth Rites of the Dragon was amazing. Remember, that book was also meant to be a LARP prop, the same way the Book of Nod/Canticle of Lilith was.
“Real magic can never be made by offering someone else's liver. You must tear out your own, and not expect to get it back.”
― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn -
I loved reading Revelations of the Dark Mother. I don't actually know where my copy is.
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I tend to download, and then if I use it at all regularly, I buy it. It's a pain in the rear end to read stuff in-depth (for me) in pdf form.
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I once had all of the vampire books, a large collection of werewolf books, several changeling, all of the promethean books, and a bunch of mage. All hard copies. All that I purchased.
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I gave all of my NWoD 1st edition books to a friend, except for Changeling and Nosferatu, because Jess Hartley had autographed both for me.