Feature requests for upcoming Fifth edition:

[EightBitz]

Originally Posted by TheScrivener

I definitely understand the frustration - I think the nickel and diming is a bit excessive as well, but there is a difference between having access to the text and the extra convenience of the data files. If people are willing to pay for it, they'll sell it.

Also, remember this is intellectual property we're talking about. You don't "own" the content, you have a license to download the PDF. You own your physical book, but that doesn't mean you can legally copy and send it around to everyone everywhere.

Catalyst wisely knows that loading DRM on their books means they wouldn't sell as well. HL, though, doesn't operate on the same margins or economies of scale, and their products would be much more vulnerable for piracy. Hence, to pay for the content deals and ensure they can keep coming out with updates, this is what we pay. If you don't like it, vote with your dollars and maybe we'll see a change.

Here's how I see it. LWD is a commercial organization using the intellectual property of other commercial organizations to craft their products. Naturally, in order to do this in any manner that is above-board, LWD has to pay for rights. If they then took the content that they paid to license, and gave it to us for free, they would go out of business. The alternative would be to not offer the content. I don't like either of those options. I like having Hero Lab, I like having a variety of game systems available for it, and I like having expanded content available for it. That means I have to pay my part to cover their licensing costs, to cover their labor costs, and to cover their profit.

No, I don't resent them making a profit, because "loving your craft" aside, there are real-world concerns at hand.

For any data package or expansion package they release, I could do the work myself, if I really wanted to invest in learning the ins and outs of the authoring kit. But with the time it would take me to learn the craft, then craft each individual package, spending twenty bucks here and five bucks there is, by comparison, a pittance.

That being said, I can only speak for myself. Each person has to decide for themselves what's worth how much.