[ QUOTE ]
Even today allot of pc games don't have demos. If you don't let people try it before you ask them to fork over $60 of course they will find ways around you.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oddly enough, Sins of a Solar Empire doesn't have a demo and it's apparently selling pretty well.
It's strange, though, because a demo is a feature that is only beneficial to people who are prepared to pay - pirates don't download demos, but instead the whole game. And while they're ever so into targeting customers rather than everyone, Stardock hasn't released a thing (yet).
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If the game isn't worth the price they place on it, if the game is the same 8-10 hours of the same since doom/quake with few innovations....then don't buy it...also don't pirate it then lament about how it isn't worth what they're charging for it.
[ QUOTE ]
I think probably the best and most effective way to combat piracy is to create games that use the "micro-transaction" business model, where the core game is free and you purchase points or credits to unlock certain features.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think your right this is an effective business method as is the advertising based games. I dont think this is the "best" method though. Personally I think that micro-payments ruin the gamplay experience, the player is constantly reminded of the real world and what other players have paid for, this shatters the illusion the game delivers. Moreover I think its just downright false advertising to say a game is "free" but to still have any kind of component in that game that a player has to pay for. Its either completely free or its not, for me there is no in-between.
Its like going to see a film and its advertised as completely free and then when you get in the theatre and start watching people are talking during the film saying: "did you pay extra to see it in colour?" ..."its so much better if you pay for the surround sound" ..."it looks so much nicer in High Definition"..."the extended version is much more interesting" etc etc.
Personally this annoys me more than copy protection because copy protection doesnt actively advertise itself to me during the game or change the gameplay.
Probably another reason piracy is high is that its teenages that pirate in my experience. They dont have the money and games are easily available and games are marketed directly at them most of the time.
One thing that could still push me to download pirated copies is bad accessibility (sp?) (besides having to pay 2-5k for a software i just want to try out).
Downloading anything like mp3s, movies and games is just part of our culture and only a click away. I think game Publishers are going through the same problems the music and film industry is going through, and just like some of those are starting to sell their music in online stores in an easy to access way (that makes you actually spend more money since it's so comfortable), Publishers need to start doing that more.
If anything, i'd blame the publishers for any harm done through piracy, if more games were available to buy and download online i'd probably buy even more than i actually do having to visit a store or having to wait a week for a physical mail delivery.
I suppose Publishers have an interest in not becoming redundant if online download stores would flourish, but they'd be better served saving some marketing money invested in stores to buy up or start their own studios.
Best way to beat pirates, release you game on a console.
(yeah yeah I know, mod chips)
PC gaming has always had pirating and as long as the internet remains as it is (and I don't see or want to to change) pirating is always going to be a problem on the PC market.
So release your game on the formats that can be controlled.
I've stolen a load of games over the years (note I said stolen not pirated) I've also bought a shit load of games.
Im not going to try and prove what I do is right, its not.
I will buy what I can, but if I can't afford it and its one click away then Im gonna steal it, its just to easy not to.
(I don't so much these days because I tend to have the money to buy what I want, I'll rather buy because I do feel guilt)
You release you game on the console then your not gonna have the problem of me and people like me stealing your games.
Piracy is a crime of convenience, and not because its easier to steal than to deal with copy protection, but because its easier to not spend your money on copyable stuff than it is to give up your money for it.
[ QUOTE ]
You release you game on the console then your not gonna have the problem of me and people like me stealing your games.
[/ QUOTE ] Not a bad idea, and that is where the industry has shifted. It's like a mass exodus from the PC market. MS seeing it hurt PC gaming has launched the "Games For Windows" campaign. I find it kind of ironic that they ran around and snatched up a bunch of devs trying to make the xbox a success and now its kind of biting them in the ass. The Games for Windows thing is kind of "oh shit sorry for taking all of your devs, please buy Vista... please... we don't care if you pirate the games just buy Vista"
I think they shouldn't leave the PC market out of it like they have done in the past, and are threating to do in the future. But I think they are right in releasing games later for the PC after they've made their money back through the consoles. I like buying PC games so I can tinker with them, consoles are so locked down I only buy console games I know I won't ever tinker with.
Building off of what east said, I have downloaded large amounts of things at once, only to delete them to make room for games I actually own, or had owned but misplaced
(Shogo, Dungeon keeper 2, american mcgee's alice)
The only "New" games i've ever even tried to play on my rig was oblivion, which I already owned for 360, and crysis just for a laugh.
I often just download it for the sake of having it, getting rid of it after space starts to run out on my harddrive, and buy stuff when I have money.
Also, I will download the PC version of a game I own for 360 just to see how it runs on my computer, etc.
Also mods.
Replies
Even today allot of pc games don't have demos. If you don't let people try it before you ask them to fork over $60 of course they will find ways around you.
[/ QUOTE ]
Oddly enough, Sins of a Solar Empire doesn't have a demo and it's apparently selling pretty well.
It's strange, though, because a demo is a feature that is only beneficial to people who are prepared to pay - pirates don't download demos, but instead the whole game. And while they're ever so into targeting customers rather than everyone, Stardock hasn't released a thing (yet).
If the game isn't worth the price they place on it, if the game is the same 8-10 hours of the same since doom/quake with few innovations....then don't buy it...also don't pirate it then lament about how it isn't worth what they're charging for it.
[/ QUOTE ]
i dont buy them, and i dont pirate them.
I think probably the best and most effective way to combat piracy is to create games that use the "micro-transaction" business model, where the core game is free and you purchase points or credits to unlock certain features.
[/ QUOTE ]
I think your right this is an effective business method as is the advertising based games. I dont think this is the "best" method though. Personally I think that micro-payments ruin the gamplay experience, the player is constantly reminded of the real world and what other players have paid for, this shatters the illusion the game delivers. Moreover I think its just downright false advertising to say a game is "free" but to still have any kind of component in that game that a player has to pay for. Its either completely free or its not, for me there is no in-between.
Its like going to see a film and its advertised as completely free and then when you get in the theatre and start watching people are talking during the film saying: "did you pay extra to see it in colour?" ..."its so much better if you pay for the surround sound" ..."it looks so much nicer in High Definition"..."the extended version is much more interesting" etc etc.
Personally this annoys me more than copy protection because copy protection doesnt actively advertise itself to me during the game or change the gameplay.
Probably another reason piracy is high is that its teenages that pirate in my experience. They dont have the money and games are easily available and games are marketed directly at them most of the time.
Downloading anything like mp3s, movies and games is just part of our culture and only a click away. I think game Publishers are going through the same problems the music and film industry is going through, and just like some of those are starting to sell their music in online stores in an easy to access way (that makes you actually spend more money since it's so comfortable), Publishers need to start doing that more.
If anything, i'd blame the publishers for any harm done through piracy, if more games were available to buy and download online i'd probably buy even more than i actually do having to visit a store or having to wait a week for a physical mail delivery.
I suppose Publishers have an interest in not becoming redundant if online download stores would flourish, but they'd be better served saving some marketing money invested in stores to buy up or start their own studios.
(yeah yeah I know, mod chips)
PC gaming has always had pirating and as long as the internet remains as it is (and I don't see or want to to change) pirating is always going to be a problem on the PC market.
So release your game on the formats that can be controlled.
I've stolen a load of games over the years (note I said stolen not pirated) I've also bought a shit load of games.
Im not going to try and prove what I do is right, its not.
I will buy what I can, but if I can't afford it and its one click away then Im gonna steal it, its just to easy not to.
(I don't so much these days because I tend to have the money to buy what I want, I'll rather buy because I do feel guilt)
You release you game on the console then your not gonna have the problem of me and people like me stealing your games.
Piracy is a crime of convenience, and not because its easier to steal than to deal with copy protection, but because its easier to not spend your money on copyable stuff than it is to give up your money for it.
You release you game on the console then your not gonna have the problem of me and people like me stealing your games.
[/ QUOTE ] Not a bad idea, and that is where the industry has shifted. It's like a mass exodus from the PC market. MS seeing it hurt PC gaming has launched the "Games For Windows" campaign. I find it kind of ironic that they ran around and snatched up a bunch of devs trying to make the xbox a success and now its kind of biting them in the ass. The Games for Windows thing is kind of "oh shit sorry for taking all of your devs, please buy Vista... please... we don't care if you pirate the games just buy Vista"
I think they shouldn't leave the PC market out of it like they have done in the past, and are threating to do in the future. But I think they are right in releasing games later for the PC after they've made their money back through the consoles. I like buying PC games so I can tinker with them, consoles are so locked down I only buy console games I know I won't ever tinker with.
(Shogo, Dungeon keeper 2, american mcgee's alice)
The only "New" games i've ever even tried to play on my rig was oblivion, which I already owned for 360, and crysis just for a laugh.
I often just download it for the sake of having it, getting rid of it after space starts to run out on my harddrive, and buy stuff when I have money.
Also, I will download the PC version of a game I own for 360 just to see how it runs on my computer, etc.
Also mods.