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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 01:38 
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Joined: 08 Dec 2006, 06:01
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A lot of pirates will pirate a game because it's fifty dollars versus one that is twenty dollars, simply because they don't have the budget to and/or don't want to spend that much for a software that cost less than five dollars to physically manufacture (not produce).

I've heard this claim before. Until I hear about "a lot of pirates" also sending $20 checks to the publishers after helping themselves to their $50 games, I'm not in a hurry to take this claim seriously.
The problem with that logic though, is that if you can get it for free, why pay?

If you would spend twenty dollars on a game but because it's fifty you aren't going to buy it, why should you bother sending the publisher money for something you don't believe you should need to pay that much for?

It's not only monetary, it's also principle.


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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 02:16 
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The problem with that logic though, is that if you can get it for free, why pay?

Thank you for reinforcing my original point. As I said, lowering prices won't do anything to stop piracy - why would the pirates pay a lower price for something they already get for free?

If you would spend twenty dollars on a game but because it's fifty you aren't going to buy it,

Then I would wait until the game actually does cost twenty dollars and then buy it.


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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 02:23 
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If you would spend twenty dollars on a game but because it's fifty you aren't going to buy it,

Then I would wait until the game actually does cost twenty dollars and then buy it.
Which they won't do because they either already pirated it and played it, and thus it serves no point to buy it, or because it's not the "cool" or "hip" game any longer, and therefore they don't want to buy it and instead want to focus their attention on newer games.


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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 04:44 
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Joined: 28 May 2007, 03:10
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This is the sort of discussion that can simply never end.

Every single one of em has his/her reasons to pirate.

A long time ago I did too, plain fact is without an income I couldn't afford 50$ for 10-20 hours of play.

And to top it off, most games I would have bought (ex: bandits, phoenix rising) weren't even on shelves. And not, they were there briefly, not at all. Only ones to find are the mass productions quakes, unreals, etc. Most of which don't appeal to me.

Even these days, I have to resort to ebay, amazon marketplace among others just to get games, even recent ones, that are simply NOT available. I can come in a local store with a fistfull of cash but I cannot buy the games I want.

Yes pirating is wrong, but drm is also the wrong way to go about fighting it.

Make your game available, even if it's ordered from your website and shipped from your own factory with local franchises so I don't get hit with twice the game's value in border fees. Otherwise the -only- way for me to get your game is pirating it.


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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 05:13 
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Joined: 29 May 2006, 02:23
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granted, I agree.

If I were rich, I wouldn't be sitting here stating I can download the latest games. But honestly I have no money.

what attracts me is the multiplayer games. The last good single player game I played was probably bioshock or even mass effect I found to be good.

But still, with no replay value its harder to determine the price per game.

Back at Cranky's ideology.
Lets say you agree to mow the grass. Should he pay me upfront? No. When the job is done. AND you've done a good job, he's not going to pay me for mowing a maze on his yard...no matter how graphically impressive it would be simply retarded. And a waste of time. He'd toss you out. Its the same logic we are doing with companies. Sure we can get it for free. But are you going to appeal to us so that we feel that you've done a good job to be worth being paid? Or should we toss you out on your butt for a half-done job.


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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 08:02 
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Lets say you agree to mow the grass. Should he pay me upfront? No. When the job is done. AND you've done a good job, he's not going to pay me for mowing a maze on his yard...no matter how graphically impressive it would be simply retarded. And a waste of time. He'd toss you out. Its the same logic we are doing with companies. Sure we can get it for free. But are you going to appeal to us so that we feel that you've done a good job to be worth being paid? Or should we toss you out on your butt for a half-done job.

Unless we're talking about MMOs, then the grass mowing analogy is incorrect. Games are products, mowing is a service. I could certainly see refusing to pay someone if they did a bad or incomplete job mowing a lawn, but I don't see how the same recourse system could be applied to games or any other product while maintaining a viable business model. If all I have to do is say I don't like a product and that frees me from having to pay for it, what reason would any company have to make products at all?

Now, if a game does not actually work, or it causes harm to my computer, I believe that is justifiable grounds for me to box it up, go to the store, and get a full refund. If this is the kind of scenario to which you referred as a half-done job, then obviously I agree with you.

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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 15:13 
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Joined: 16 Aug 2006, 14:52
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I'm a fan of .exe cracks for no-disc checks but I am also a big fan of pirating, so I guess I don't have much say in the matter. :/


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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 15:16 
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I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. EULAs are really just legal boiler plate. No matter what you "agree" to in a EULA, it can't take away rights that are granted to you by law. They could literally say "you agree to be Will Wright's towel boy for life," and it would mean nothing at all.

I'm sure some would argue otherwise. But I'll bow to your greater knowledge on this matter.

...

I didn't really want this to turn into a piracy thread... but I guess that was unavoidable. Any discussion of DRM invariably descends into a back and forth about piracy. :(


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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 15:38 
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Joined: 23 May 2008, 22:16
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I was curious about how the game sold in stores with all this discussion about DRM, so I checked the 4 online shops I use. Sold Out, in every single one.
That's kind of impressive, usually only limited editions and such sells this fast.
Sorry, this was a bit off-topic, I'll leave now :oops:


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 Post subject: Spore, EA, DRM, etc.
PostPosted: 16 Sep 2008, 15:43 
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All this thread did was remind me about how long the grass on my lawn is.

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