Last PDF of 2007, and it's GURPS doozy!

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Xplo

Has there been any talk at SJG about bundle discounts for PDFs?

Yes, but consultation with veterans of the PDF industry have indicated that discounted bundles sell poorly. In many cases, they sell so poorly they do not generate sufficient income to compensate for the meager labor involved in creating them.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by Xplo

Count me among the people who think that (a) PDFs are too expensive, and (b) the advantages of PDFs are simply the reward of technology's march, barely compensate for their various disadvantages, and no more justify a price premium than a switch from metal to plastic in a manufactured product.

Remember those super thin splat books from White Wolf? Those were about ten bucks, and less useful. We're entering an era of choice: big, glorious, hard-back, full-color books for 30-50 bucks a shot, or slim, sleek, widely available PDFs for 5-10 bucks a shot.

Like all aspects of the free market, they cannot make you pay for what you do not find valuable, but evidently, plenty of people disagree with you on the value of this one. Most certainly, the value of a gaming product cannot be found in its page count, for despite the hew and cry for such a product, GURPS Cabaret Girls On Ice would not have sold as well as Dungeon Fantasy, and I expect that Dungeon Fantasy would have done as well for $10 a book. SJGames just didn't feel the need to gouge, and that's nice of them.

[Der Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Der Wanderer

@pdf price:
Well one should also consider that lending pdfs to friends equals copying pdfs. Unlike when you lend a book (if he likes it he might buy his own copy).

Just for clarity, I don't want to encurage anyone to copy protected material. What I wanted to say here is, that copying is a fact, though GURPS might be to small/unimportant to be on P2P, it will get copied on a local level. Copying results in lower number of sale which in turn means lower sales, this results in higher production cost per piece which translates to higher price.

[ravenfish]

Originally Posted by Paul

Yes, but consultation with veterans of the PDF industry have indicated that discounted bundles sell poorly. In many cases, they sell so poorly they do not generate sufficient income to compensate for the meager labor involved in creating them.

Even worse than POD copies of a single PDF?

[Qoltar]

Originally Posted by Der Wanderer

@pdf price:
Well one should also consider that lending pdfs to friends equals copying pdfs. Unlike when you lend a book (if he likes it he might buy his own copy). Besides the price of 8$ equals 2 beers in a pub here in switzerland and for sure is the better investment...

How are YOU defining lending?

In my point of view: lending means I have printed up a copy of a pdf that I purchased legally. Then, I lend a printed copy of it to a friend because he or she wants to make a character for a campaign that is soon to start and wants to refer to things mentioned in the pdf. This friend would then return my printed copy to me within 2 weeks or less.

Computer to computer - I would not define as "lending" - that seems more like distributing and maybe crossing some ethical line.

Keep in mind, I have not yet purchased a pdf yet over the past 2 years because I prefer hard copy.... Iam now borderline on purchasing my first pdf. (The GURPS:Spaceships/starships thing has me interested)

Those of you more in-the-know , do I have the gist of it right?


- Ed Charlton

[Paul]

Let's not derail the discussion with "lending PDFs are bad." Everyone knows pirating is Bad, so we can focus on what other PDFs we'd like to see, and Dungeon Fantasy.

[Der Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Paul

Let's not derail the discussion with "lending PDFs are bad." Everyone knows pirating is Bad, so we can focus on what other PDFs we'd like to see, and Dungeon Fantasy.

Dungeon Fantasy: Gear
Dungeon Fantasy: More Gear...
Dungeon Fantasy: Scout Guide

[Mailanka]

...Dungeon Fantasy: Scout Guide...

Because WotC's "Everything You Wanted To Know About * But Were Afraid To Ask" books were so popular ^_^

But, you know, a generic, dungeon-centric setting might be fun, half tongue-in-cheek, half a grand playground for munchkins, with little dribblings of awesome to keep it spicy.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Der Wanderer

Dungeon Fantasy: Gear
Dungeon Fantasy: More Gear...
Dungeon Fantasy: Scout Guide

1. Cool
2. Also cool...
3. Where do they need to go?

heh

[KlausPrinceOfTheUndeads]

Originally Posted by Paul

Yes, but consultation with veterans of the PDF industry have indicated that discounted bundles sell poorly. In many cases, they sell so poorly they do not generate sufficient income to compensate for the meager labor involved in creating them.

So, no discounted POD for those who bought the PDFs?