Talk Like a Pirate Day

[beetiger]

"Music swapping shouldn't be illegal. It's not like I'm selling it."

"Microsoft has too damned much money anyway. It's pretty much a moral good to be sending that software around. Here, need a serial number generator?"

"If they don't want that stuff to be scanned and on the Web, they should pursue those sites and have them take it down. I'm just taking what's available to me."

"I just photocopied my GMs copy. I'm only playing in this one campaign, so it doesn't really pay to buy the book."

"I don't need to buy prints from that artist. I can just get his stuff from Elfwood and print it on my own printer. Art should be free! I hear he's full of himself anyway."

"I'll buy this stuff instead of downloading when I have more money. I really will."

Arrr!

Comments

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

This was a silly post, and I don't really want to debate fair use here, but I feel compelled to say something.

As a gamer and game developer, I kind of feel this way about it:

If you want to see if you'd like a game, or if you only want to do char creation once and not really refer to the book regularly at all, sure, borrow a copy, and copy out the relevant sections. I lend out books all of the time. If all you really want is the three pages of the elf stats and the writeups for the ten spells your character can cast, go ahead and copy those out. And if it's easier for you to use a marked-up, photocopied, version of a book you own to play the game, keeping your original pristine on the shelf, by all means, go for it.

But in good faith, if what you are doing is copying cover to cover, opening up your copy, taking it home, and using it regularly the same exact way you'd use a purchased gamebook, except that you don't want to pay for it, please reconsider, especially if it's a small-press book.

[rowyn]

Well, as I think I mentioned, I, personally, would buy the book in preference to photocopying any of it. ;) And I find I can still think of more to say, but I'll keep it to myself since you're not looking to discuss this just now anyway. :)

[orb2069.livejournal.com]

I guess I've never run across ANY gaming book that you could copy at even the cheapest $.08/pg copying place and come out ahead of the cover price - Have you?

(Last gaming book I ever copied out of was the AD&D monster manual, mainly because they don't print that version no more.)

[beetiger.livejournal.com]

People copy things at their offices (and don't pay for that either.)

I have zero problem with copying out-of-print stuff. Entirely different topic.