>From: "Martin L. Shoemaker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Why do I fear this? Because
>I fear that, until things settle down a bit, the major commercial producers
>are on the same verge that I as a wannabe commercial producer am on: ready
>to chuck it all and go back to my home brew system, where the risk that I
>will invest vast sums only to watch it all get downloaded away are less.
The OGL is designed to prevent that; make sure that *EVERY* product that you
want to sell has at least something in it that makes buying the physical
copy worthwhile. PI is one way to do this, and perhaps the most secure, but
layout, art, and simply having a paper copy cheaper than a home user could
print it out are also good incentives.
Like someone else said, not *EVERY* instance of online trading equals
elimination of commercial sales... so long as there is a benefit (reading in
the tub, or having a full copy on CD, or not having to lug your PC around,
or more stuff!) paper products will still sell.
DM
Now
>the potential benefits are less, of course: Percentile Curves is just not
>as
>well known of a system as D20, and would make me happy to sell 100 copies.
>But the major players have had to carefully balance risks vs. benefits
>before sticking their toes into the water. Now your eager efforts to
>produce
>an exhaustive database are changing that balance. I GUARANTEE that this
>discussion is giving commercial producers doubts about the viability of
>this
>endeavor. What none of us know is just exactly how much doubt will cause
>the
>commercial producers to start the exodus. And just as you fear a
>consequence
>you cannot quantify, and Clark fears a consequence he cannot quantify... I
>fear that you may tip the balance past some unquanitifiable instability
>point beyond which there is no return.
>
>So while I would never try to tell you not to do what you can legally do, I
>would ask you to consider carefully the concerns that others have raised.
>Like your fears, theirs are not unfounded just because they cannot
>definitively prove them well-founded.
>
>Martin L. Shoemaker
>Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
>www.UMLBootCamp.com
>
>-------------
>For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
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