Is copy protection fair?

[zeace]

One reason companies can't reduce the shipping price of their games is that they can actually lose customers who assume the game must be "cheap" because it's inexpensive. I know a lot of people who have never played the 2K sports games who will swear that the EA games must be better because they cost $50 (or $60) and the 2K games are $20.

I usually wait until the first price drop on a game before I buy it. The Walmart near my house used to carry a lot of games and they would re-price them every Tuesday. It usually took a month before the price came down $10 or so, and then $5 a week after that. Bad games drop much faster, and good games might hold their price longer.

They must have gotten a new manager though because now they don't carry the same selection and the prices aren't managed as well. I'm still trying to find somewhere else that actively discounts games as aggressively.

[Strudo]

Originally posted by Keygen
You seemed like it...

I had a look at my original post, your replies, and I can see how you could take what I wrote in a way I had not intended. I should have said "pirates faces" instead of "peoples faces". I see that may have given the wrong impression and I deleted a whole response I wrote in case this entire debate between us is based on that error.

However I still stand by my belief that a reduction in the release price of software will not encourage many pirates to stop copying and start buying. As LordShiva points out Revenue = Price x Volume. If the release price is reduced by 50% then sales have to double to make the same money. Sure cheaper sells better, but when pirates can still get the stuff for free, it won't increase that much, not enough to double sales at any rate. Plus the people who wait for the game to be reduced to get a bargin may still wait and get the game at a further reduction.

[Kataphraktoi]

Some people steal music via internet because the price is so outragous. I purchase music, but only less than 5$ per cd-otherwise i help myself. There is no justification for higher considering production costs. Of course pc games can go for much higher... The biggest reason i would download a game is when i do not believe it will provide enough satisfaction(longevity) to justify the price. Yes, they may need to charge 50$ per copy to make any money but if im going to be tossing it in a few days\weeks\after the install why should i pay so much? I would rather download it, play it, delete it. When i get good(=rare) stuff i buy it, for example call of duty UO.

Also cd protection gives zero protection from non-gamer types. My uncle-in-law is a computer dolt and he has easily aquired games.

Originally posted by CyberShy much earlier in the thread

If copy protection wouldn't work, companies wouldn't use it.

[Solver]

To be fair, you can buy music for really cheap online these days. If you prefer listening to only a few artists as opposed to having a collection of several thousand tracks, you can build yourself a legal MP3 collection at a fairly low cost.

[Spiffor]

The announcement of BtS made me want to reinstall the copy of Civ4 I bought back in the day. However, my DVD-drive is dead (probably killed by the especially evil CD-protection used by X3-reunion), and I really want to play the game.

And I'll manage, so much is sure.

[Spiffor]

I really prefer Stardock's model. No CD protection. Copies that can be legally downloaded from the site. OTOH, you can only get the patches by registering your copy (there's no separate file: patching is done entirely via the game's interface). Since there are always early patches to fix the glitches in the 1.0, the pirates basically have a big demo, but won't have the really full product.

[Spiffor]

About the casual players who can't install the game on a friend's or family's comp: well, if they (or their loàved ones) won't bother looking for a no-CD to play the game, I strongly doubt they'll bother shelling out 50$ either.

[Kataphraktoi]

Originally posted by Solver
To be fair, you can buy music for really cheap online these days. If you prefer listening to only a few artists as opposed to having a collection of several thousand tracks, you can build yourself a legal MP3 collection at a fairly low cost.

And with iTunes finnaly offering DRM free music, i may start buying online.

[meriadoc]

Originally posted by Spiffor
I really prefer Stardock's model. No CD protection. Copies that can be legally downloaded from the site. OTOH, you can only get the patches by registering your copy (there's no separate file: patching is done entirely via the game's interface). Since there are always early patches to fix the glitches in the 1.0, the pirates basically have a big demo, but won't have the really full product.

The problem with this model is that, because the patches aren't in separate files, one can't save the patches for when one wants to play the game again in ten years, after the company stops providing the patch for downloading. I know that I play several games (Quest for Glory V springs to mind) that both need a patch and are too old for them to be supported any more.

[Kloreep]

That is potentially a problem, but I believe Stardock is committed to keeping their games on-line. As long as they're in business you shouldn't need to worry.

Should they go out of business, then there's a problem. I believe you can archive games if you wish, that may solve the problem - though it might not, I don't know the details on the archiving option.

[Jaybe]

A primary reason I don't mind copy protection is that the latest Civ game is virtually all that is in my disk drive. Civ3 -> (whatever it was) -> Civ3 Conquests -> Civ4 -> Civ4 Warlords ....

I have a couple other games (Rome: Total War, Rise of Nations) but I very rarely play them.

[Strudo]

Originally posted by Jaybe
A primary reason I don't mind copy protection is that the latest Civ game is virtually all that is in my disk drive. Civ3 -> (whatever it was) -> Civ3 Conquests -> Civ4 -> Civ4 Warlords ....

I have a couple other games (Rome: Total War, Rise of Nations) but I very rarely play them.

That's all good, but I have a PBEM game going that was started in vanilla, now I have warlords it spends almost all the time in the CDROM, but everytime the vanilla save comes in I have to swap to play one turn. Makes me almost lothe getting that game... only almost though