Re: [DL] E-books

[Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com>]

 > Why the negativity?

While I'm not adamantly opposed to them, I don't like them for several reasons.
1) As mentioned by others - they are only available online - and ultimately 
only to folks with credit cards.  It is an (admittedly) mild restriction on 
the customer base in current times, but it is also a. . . missed 
opportunity.  It is not a product that is going to be placed on "this just 
in" racks of game stores.  Lost exposure.

2) The books that have never seen print are far less convenient for 
me.  Instead of just buying a book and then reading it, I have to register 
my credit card and download the file and then dodge whatever technical 
issues crop up.  Then there are the steps I have to take in order to make 
the information in the book digestable - printing a hardcopy.  Which, for 
me, involves printing every single odd page on the color printer and then 
adjusting the paper to double side print properly.  Then, of course, then I 
have to take the book to Kinko's or such to get it bound.
And for all that - a book that is still no where near as aesthetically 
pleasing as a real book.  Me and books are like Warhammer gamers and 
painted minis.  There may be cheap ways around it - but it's not as good.

3) With the extra costs for binding, downloadables are not much cheaper 
(and in one case more expensive) then the printed book would be for 
me.  The company is essentially passing their printing costs along to me - 
much like email spammers pass the costs of their advertising on to the 
email recipient.

4)  I have a strong objection to paying for online content.  That is not 
what the internet was built on.  The /free/ exchange of information.  If 
I'm taking the time to go to your website, I want content - not a sales 
pitch.


The free download of the High Noon was perfect.  When it's free you can't 
really complain about anything else.   Hm. . .

Does anyone know what advertising rates in the industry are?
How many paid downloads of Independence Day will Cybergames get?  75 - 100 
- 150?.  At $2 a download, CG makes an additional $300 dollars.
Depending on advertising rates, it may have been better to have placed it 
up for free on the website.
I guess that something cool for free on the PEG website would generate more 
exposure and good will then a quarterpage ad in some magazine or trade 
publication.

Of course - since the Hero Games website offers nothing worthwhile for 
free, it would be surprising to see the PEG site be allowed to exceed it.

It might not be a bad idea to download your favorite articles before the 
PEG website revision.


-------------------
Allan Seyberth
darious@darious.com
Deadlands fan site - http://www.darious.com/

Every generation finds the drug it needs.
                 -P.J. O'Rourke