First of all, sorry about such a presumptuous subject line.
However, in light of all the discussion going on about the specifics of
copyright law, etc I thought it may be valuable to relate a recent encounter of
mine with a couple of employees of TSR.
This happened a couple of months ago at a party in Chicago.
I met two guys who said they worked for TSR. One was definitely a gamer and
knew the industry, the other was not. I have played continuously since 1979.
I asked them about what has happened with TSR recently: the obvious tactic of
TSR to make as much money as possible while treating their customers so poorly.
Their answer: TSR was going bankrupt (around 1989 I think) and was making
almost no money at all from their loyal players. These people had all the
books they needed, and although they played many hours a year they spent little
money.
The TSR solution was to concentrate on the new players. With the movement of
adolescents having more and more spending power these newer players could spend
$100+ on a game (witness Nintendo). Additionally, many of them will buy
everything, because they don't know the game well enough to determine what is
necessary and what is crap.
Example: A player in 1979 needed to invest $12.
A player today needs to invest $400+.
A DM in 1984 could invest up to $76.
A DM today? $800?
So, this is why:
1. TSR now sells the Complete Gnome Fighter-Thief, the Complete
Blond Cleric, The Complete Left-Handed Fighter, etc: books with
less than 10% of their content unique, necessary, and a consistent
fit with the game framework. The mature gamers out there developed
much of this in-house, or found it in places like Dragon Magazine.
2. TSR attacks FTP sites: who cares if it adds enjoyment to the
games of loyal players. TSR DOES NOT CARE about customer
retention! They do not want ANY possible competition, and if it
causes you to leave the game, so what? You already bought all the
stupid books, so they aren't expecting to make any more money off
you anyway.
3. TSR doesn't care about the specifics of copyright law. Nor does
it matter. You do not have the money to fight them in court -
by default you lose.
My suggestion:
1. Never buy anything new from this cynical and abusive company.
2. Play some other game that is owned by a company that cares about
their customers.
3. Play 1st edition. Sure 2nd ed fixed a few problems, but it also
introduced a whole lot more, not the least of which is playing
around a table with 40 books.
PS: Sorry about the angry tone is this letter. However, I have
probably invested more time in this game than the vast majority
of people in TSR who I now feel are out to rip us off.
In an Intro to Business text book that was published in 1985 there is an insert
that describes the problems TSR faced. It described how everything was so
centrally managed that a clerk had to go to a VP for pencils. Bottom line:
they were a text-book example of how not to run a business.