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'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

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Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#41

Post by dlytle »

wccrawford wrote: post #2

Sadly, pirates don't actually convince their friends to buy it. They help them pirate it. He's right about doing what he can to provide features that pirates can't take advantage of, though. That's the only way to actually combat piracy.

I helped my friends pirate the first 10 audiobooks of a series I love, by handing them a flash drive with the MP3s on it, and the condition that if they liked the series they should buy the new ones as they come out.

Now 6 of my friends (who never would have been hooked on the series otherwise) own legal versions of the two most recent novels starring our favorite wizard-detective.

Those sales would not have been made if they hadn't gotten a taste of the series beforehand. Sure, this situation isn't the rule, and they pirated 5x the books they've purchased... but 2 sales each is better than 0, and with 8-10 more books coming in the series, the author/publisher have come out far ahead.

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#42

Post by tow21 »

billybob wrote: post #25
rsbrown wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for the tiny percentage of superstars, musical artists have always made more money through live performances than recording contracts. Ticket sales, merchandise and other such revenues are much less susceptible to pirating.

Be that as it may, can you see that it's legitimate for a musician to want to make, record, and sell music - not an associated industry of products? And there are fans who don't go to concerts or buy t-shirts, but really like listening to music? If you're a fan like that, and you don't give back to the artist at some point, you're making it less likely that the recordings you want will be made in the future. Notice t…

"Be that as it may, can you see that it's legitimate for a musician to want to make, record, and sell music - not an associated industry of products?"

It's legitimate to want any sort of business model to work. But if it doesn't work, complaining that you wanted it to doesn't help.

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#43

Post by Prisen »

bkmartin wrote: post #10
rsbrown wrote: post #3

"why fight the biggest revolution in information flow since the printing press when you could easily work with it by adding services that actually add some value beyond the free act of making a digital copy?" This is very intelligent insight on the author's part. It's also the same argument that has been staring the RIAA in the face for over a decade: you can't fight the future, so you'd better figure out a better wa…

Sort of like putting measures in place so that pirates are using more of a trial version of your software. I think this is the way most new programs are going these days. But that still doesn't solve the music aspect of pirating. What bonus stuff can you give over the music that can convert a considerable number of the pirates to paying customers?

I'm someone who used to download music (even for albums I own, it's more convenient than ripping myself). I've now transitioned completely to Spotify. There is an argument to be made about how much money the artists actually get, but as a consumer the benefits over piracy are well worth the price.

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#44

Post by nuclear_eclipse »

KoZeN wrote: post #9
Das_Bruce wrote: post #7

Am I the only person who has bought a game after pirating and playing it through? Also I'd be more inclined to buy more games first if there was some way of getting my money back if I really don't like it. I'm looking at you, GTA4, you blurry, poo sandwich.

I personally haven't done this but you bring up a good point. What is so crazy about releasing a fully playable free demo that lasts 10 days that enables you to save your progress and pick up where you left off after purchasing the full version? No doubt a system like this would have multiple weaknesses but if this system existed I can guarantee you that I would own more games.

Sony is starting to implement this sort of feature with the PS3. You can download the entire, full version of the game to your console, and then you have 24 hours from the first game start to play the game, including saving your position, as much as you want. Once the 24 hour period is up, you can keep your game saves, and either delete or purchase the game, at which point you can continue from your game saves.

It's just too bad so far that you can only do this with an extremely limited selection of games that have already been on the market long enough that I would have bought them if I was actually interested in them.

But the concept is great.

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#45

Post by gregpilling »

maushu wrote: post #6
YooLi wrote: post #4

All he did was describe the freemium model. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemium

Not exactly. More like the freemium model but with the free part "hidden" for most users.

It is not hidden. They can see that if they pay, they get the extra features. If they don't pay, then play the restricted version without the online stuff.

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#46

Post by Vivtek »

wccrawford wrote: post #2

Sadly, pirates don't actually convince their friends to buy it. They help them pirate it. He's right about doing what he can to provide features that pirates can't take advantage of, though. That's the only way to actually combat piracy.

That's the only way to actually combat piracy.

No. That's the only way to make money in an economic reality that copying is free. It's redefining what you sell so that it cannot be pirated because it's a different product/service to start with.

You're not combating piracy when you offer a non-copyable service - you're just redefining your terms to work with reality.

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#47

Post by Vivtek »

gregpilling wrote: post #45
maushu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not exactly. More like the freemium model but with the free part "hidden" for most users.

It is not hidden. They can see that if they pay, they get the extra features. If they don't pay, then play the restricted version without the online stuff.

Except the "restricted version" is the product that is actually being sold to most users.

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#48

Post by v21 »

Prisen wrote: post #43
bkmartin wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sort of like putting measures in place so that pirates are using more of a trial version of your software. I think this is the way most new programs are going these days. But that still doesn't solve the music aspect of pirating. What bonus stuff can you give over the music that can convert a considerable number of the pirates to paying customers?

I'm someone who used to download music (even for albums I own, it's more convenient than ripping myself). I've now transitioned completely to Spotify. There is an argument to be made about how much money the artists actually get, but as a consumer the benefits over piracy are well worth the price.

Of course, Spotify has famously low pay-outs to artists...

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#49

Post by nlawalker »

"I can offer online-only services that actually add to the game experience."

It doesn't matter what they are, what they do, or whether or not the network aspect of these services/features is integral to them - pirates and consumers who insist that any features not on the disc at install-time are an inconvenience will still cry DRM.

Are these "online services" integral to the game? If they are, then what happens when they go down? It's really not much different than what happened when the Assassin's Creed 2 validation servers fell over. Are they not integral to the game? Then pirates will do without them or find ways to replace them, and some people will still bitch that they shouldn't be so inconvenient.

There's no getting around the fact that creating copies of a digital work is free, and so there's no solution that's going to make everyone happy. It's unfortunate, because every developer now feels the need to create online services as a part of their game, even if their idea doesn't really call for it.

Re: 'How piracy works' according to Minecraft creator

#50

Post by nlawalker »

mquander wrote: post #33
eru wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why the Minecraft creator's solution is sane. He does not block any features without network access. But some features only make sense with network access.

I understand the perceptual difference (it's annoying when features that are already there are "taken away," and less annoying when new features just don't appear.) But is there an actual difference? The time he's spent on network-dependent features may have been spent on other, more interesting features for everyone if the networked features didn't also serve as piracy prophylaxis.

Bingo. I worry about the state of gaming when the primary question on a developer's mind during design is "how can I make online servics a part of this game so I can actually make some money off of it?"
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