(moved from E23 announcements)

What the people who are on the BBS do, and what the rest of the customers do, are not always the same thing. ADB has many customers other than the ones here, it's highly likely the piracy comes from the non-BBS-users.

That difference probably also accounts for the "everybody demanded X but then it didn't sell" that happens from time to time. (In the sense that the people on the BBS might want it, and buy it, but that is still actually only a few people - nothing to do with piracy in this case)

The relationship between piracy and sales is complex. "10x more piracy" doesn't necessarily mean a reduction in sales. In the music industry, the biggest pirates are also the biggest buyers of music; piracy seems to increase, rather than decrease, sales (you will never hear anyone in the music industry admit that, but the independent studies all show it). In the porn industry on the other hand, increased piracy seems to translate more predictably (although not directly) into lost sales. In software, the truth is somewhere in the middle, and you can't really even say that what's true for software A is true for software B. In one recent, noteworthy case, the game "Minecraft" was little-known until a wave of piracy gave it wide exposure, and since then it's sold a million copies.

I can't predict which of those categories SFB is most like, but it's hardly surprising that E23 causes piracy. Whether that in turn causes lost sales or not, I can't say.

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Saturday, October 15, 2011 - 12:14 am: Edit

In the matter of who buys what, I'd be happy if half of our active members of the BBS bought things on e23 -- our sales would skyrocket! I think some of what happens is that people would like to buy it, but then push-come-to-shove, practicality takes over and it is very hard to justify an e-purchase of something you have in paper, especially in hard economic times. I just hope those people have added their wants to their Christmas list as prices range from $4 up.

I think that we've read some of the same studies about the relationship between piracy and sales. I think some of the "piracy" is actually sharing files with "just a good friend," and they don't think that if they shared a book, there's still only one copy of it and if they want to use it, they have to get it back from the friend. Cloning a file doesn't have quite the same feel -- maybe because we do that so often at work with things we write.

Over on the SJG forums, there was a huge outcry from fans when some venders started watermarking files and limiting the total number of downloads. They rightly pointed out that watermarking only really inhibits the casual user and that it can be hacked by anyone with a decent knowledge of computers.

As it is, I think that if we want to attract a "younger" generation, we have to move to the e-market. More and more, I'm seeing our students at the university preferring an e-book over a print version. I have to admit that I like having my four GURPS PD books on the Xoom, along with the Cap Guide. I anticipate downloading the timeline and the ship registry soon so I can reference those wherever I am.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to educating people that "sharing" is taking food out of the mouths of real people named Steve Cole, Steven Petrick, Leanna Cole, Joel Shutts, and Mike Sparks. Most people are decent folks who'd not hurt someone like that. And just because we find it on a torrent doesn't mean there are hordes downloading it either. It just means there's someone out there uploading it.