Piracy and the Four Currencies
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Piracy and the Four Currencies
1–10 of 45 posts
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#2I thought this was a good analysis, though the author seemed to think the 'Integrity Dollars' were constant. In reality, they seem to be different per person.
Also he did not mention Value-Added bucks, which would be a benefit you get for playing the real version that you can't get with the pirated version.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#3Don't forget silly things like fleecing European customers or region-locking.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#4I thought this was a good analysis, though the author seemed to think the 'Integrity Dollars' were constant. In reality, they seem to be different per person. Also he did not mention Value-Added bucks, which would be a benefit you get for playing the real version that you can't get with the pirated version.
The time is different per person too, depending on tech-savvy-ness. Pain-in-the-butt-ness also is dependent from person to person. Even price is not a constant if you consider coupons, discounts and price drops.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#5Don't forget silly things like fleecing European customers or region-locking.
I believe 'fleecing' would add to the $M cost, making piracy look that much more attractive, and region-locking would most assuredly fall under (and add heavily to) the $P costs as described in the article, as would pretty much all DRM.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#6I thought this was a good analysis, though the author seemed to think the 'Integrity Dollars' were constant. In reality, they seem to be different per person. Also he did not mention Value-Added bucks, which would be a benefit you get for playing the real version that you can't get with the pirated version.
The time is different per person too, depending on tech-savvy-ness. Pain-in-the-butt-ness also is dependent from person to person. Even price is not a constant if you consider coupons, discounts and price drops.
True enough. After all, I like the features provided for me by Steam (cataloging, cloud, achievements, friends, etc.), so what some would consider a cost (in terms of DRM) I would consider a benefit.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#7I think this is just a different way of expressing the idea that piracy exists only because the pirate user experience is better than the non-pirate user experience. So if the non-pirate experience, for example, does not require that you have the disk in your dvd drive in order to play (since all the assets are copied to your hard drive at install time), then the pirate experience is better. And so on.
so the trick is to make the non-pirate experience better and the piracy problem goes away. The only people pirating are the ones who would not buy your software/game anyway, so free advertisement/word of mouth should be welcome anyway.
The industry's problem is that it's hard to make a better experience, existing cash cows being existing cash cows and all. It's easier to protect them than to innovate.
But the point is well-taken.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#8Don't forget silly things like fleecing European customers or region-locking.
Sometimes (but not always) the fleecing is being done by European governments. The Value Added Tax in Italy is currently at 21%, with the possibility that it'll rise to 23%! Not to mention various "fees" when importing stuff.
They tried to get me to pay import fees on a birth certificate my dad sent me from the US. It cost him $50 to get it from the state of Oregon, so he declared that as the value (it would have cost him that to replace it, right?), and they tried to make me pay duties on that $50. I asked them what they thought the retail value of a birth certificate with my name on it was, and they backed down, but...sheesh.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#9I thought this was a good analysis, though the author seemed to think the 'Integrity Dollars' were constant. In reality, they seem to be different per person. Also he did not mention Value-Added bucks, which would be a benefit you get for playing the real version that you can't get with the pirated version.
The author does address the subjectivity of the integrity dollar value:
""The $I cost is the most subjective of the four and depends on how much stock a player puts in "doing the right thing," (so to speak) or whether they even see any moral integrity in the choice at all.""
I agree on the value-added point though, there are often services game makers can provide which make the official copy more attractive to players.
Re: Piracy and the Four Currencies
#10This is why Steam is so good - it's less of a pain, and takes less time, than piracy.