13 Reasons Why Wizards Want You to Buy a D&D Book Instead of a PDF

This one is for the RPG Blog Carnival on Humor and Gaming, hosted by A Butterfly Dreaming.

I think what Wizards did recently is a good thing. It's a sure way to boost sales of their print books and support your gaming community. Think about it, we most likely won't be having access to a PDF copy of Arcane Power by next week unless you went to get yourself a hardcopy from your FLGS, which makes it a win-win situation for Wizards, your FLGS and you.

How does it benefit you? Well, Wizards is probably convinced that buying PDFs is bad for you and here's a list of possible reasons why, so that you'll be convinced too.

1. It's harder to read a PDF on a screen for long hours than a book.


2. It's faster to just pull a book off a shelf than opening a PDF file on your desk/laptop.


3. A PDF is as bulky and weights as much as your desk/laptop which might weight more or is bulkier than a book.


4. It takes longer to purchase and download a PDF than just buying a book and take it out from the store


5. A PDF doesn't smell or feels good holding in your hands than a book.


6. It's easier to flip a book back and forth than click or press to the previous or next page (or key in a page number) on a PDF.


7. You can clearly read 2 pages at once for a book while you can only clearly read one page on a PDF.


8. You can pull out maps from a book while a map is split into four pages in a PDF.


9. A beaten book shows that it is put to good use, a beaten PDF means it's broken.


10. A PDF is more vulnerable to destruction (harddrive crash, corruption, virus etc.) than a book (fire, water, pets etc.).


11. A PDF collection is less impressive to show off to your buddies/girlfriend/wife/guests than a bookshelf of books.


12. Unlike a book, you can't put a bookmark on a PDF or read where you last stopped without remembering the page.


13. A PDF comes with more wires and/or heatwaves than a book.

And here's a bonus reason why Wizards want you to buy a D&D book than a PDF.

A PDF GETS YANKED OFF THE SHELF OF ONLINE RETAILERS AND ALL YOUR MONEY WITH IT IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS!

For more reasons on why a book is better than PDF, I point you to the wisdom of Penny Arcade.

Anymore other reasons to share?