Piracy...

[Earthling7]

Re: Re: Re: Piracy...

Originally posted by Evil Robot
Read->Comprehend->Post.

Your point being? If Civ3 had the same "turn-on" feature, it would be cracked by the time it got released worldwide. Sure, some Americans would pay for it, but three weeks later, (Europe - rest of world waits even longer) it would be cracked and downloadable.

[Wrong_shui]

A warez board i knew once had 11k+ members, a site a saw had 111k a year.

These ppl dont go there to have a look, they go to download.

So im betting they do cost a bit of money to the companies.

[Earthling7]

Want to stop piracy? Try this:

Cut prices. People don't mind paying, but when you can buy 100 cans of Coke for one game...

Make buying worthwhile. Put a nice manual and extra stuff in the box. Make the game into an item you are proud to own. Don't include a PDF manual, as that can be easily copied.

Make sure patches only work on legal versions.

Make sure multiplayer, when played over the Internet, goes through a server which verifies that your copy is legal.

Release the thing worldwide, or if you need a token advantage so that some markets can feel superior, make it no more than a week.

[Rasbelin]

Interesting views, Earthling7, but I don't know if people would still like those measures. Sending information to a server tends to be a matter that causes unrest with some PC users. I suppose it has to do with all the M$' policies since Win 98 and the Windows Update service. Looks like M$ should really have to be sued once em' for all.

At least some methods recently used also by game industry are serial numbers and copy protection, but as known, they're easy to override. I assume that there's not so many viable solutions available, that would work.

My suggestion would be freebies (bonus scenarios, small extra programs, etc) and free product updates for registered users. I really don't know what could be the best way to realise this, but a product registration website could perhaps be a solution that would satisfy even the scared users. The verification should be something working, but I don't have so many ideas. At least electronical verifications would be a quite bad solution (security risk).

[Animal Mother]

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[Eli]

I made a sincere attempt to stop pirating games and decided to buy CTP2. You know what happened next...

[Eli]

Originally posted by Zanzin
Entire games online? How? Broadband is quick, but it's not that quick. And how many people have broadband. Downloading entire games off the net wil have to wait until everyone has a T3 connection in their house I think!

Errrr.... The web is filled with ISOs and ripped games.
That's how I got Civ3(it will be out here in a few good months).
If you have broadband connection you can easily find almost every game you want. One night will do to download it.

The solution, as many people said, lower prices.

[RobRoy]

Originally posted by Eli
I made a sincere attempt to stop pirating games and decided to buy CTP2. You know what happened next...

I used to have a "no piracy" rule.

Civ3, it's high price and incomplete nature, have convinced me that the pirates of the world are performing a necessary and valuable service. I should have downloaded the game first, before deciding whether to buy. Perhaps I would have bought it anyway (it's a decent game after all), but I would not feel so cheated.

[Garth Vader]

A certain amount of piracy can be good for the industry. I didn't buy Civ or MOO because I was a poor student at the time.

Since I got a job I haven't pirated a game. I bought Civ2, Civ3, Moo2, and many others. Had I not played so many games as a youth I suspect I would have no interest in them now and there would be a lot of missed sales for the industry.

That's why the dealers give the first few hits free

[Gaius Marius]

I've had this debate countless times since I first started using PCs. (I say that not to trivialize it but to explain why I'm not giving a dissertation in response)...

Anyway, I work for a software company. We don't make games, but we'd be out of business if people pirated our product and never paid for it. Software sales pay a good part of my paycheck.

However, I would not have this job if I hadn't pirated software throughout my youth.

I never had the money to buy even an operating system, much less games. I learned how to use all of the software I know how to use now, for work, from pirated versions. Visual C, Photoshop, Pagemaker, Office, everything. These packages cost hundreds of dollars - there is no way a nonprofessional individual with average income can afford them.

I would venture to guess that a large percentage of global software expertise is based on pirated software.

None of this makes it right or legal, it just means that I have a hard time criticizing others (individuals, at least) for piracy of any kind, even if I am lucky enough to be able to afford a game every once in a while now.

[WhiteElephants]

Originally posted by Zanzin
Well, there's no easy answers people.

Entire games online? How? Broadband is quick, but it's not that quick. And how many people have broadband. Downloading entire games off the net wil have to wait until everyone has a T3 connection in their house I think!

And just how far in the future do you honestly think that is? If I understand correctly the X-box comes ethernet equiped, isn't that broadband? Besides, I think I'm the only person I know who doesn't have a cable modem with expection of my parents who aren't exactly avid gamers.

In two years from now they'll be putting out 4Gig CPUs and 200 GB hard drives at the same cost you paid for your computer today. There is a fortune to be made and internet connections speeds will have to keep up. Someone is going to do it.