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Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

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Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#171

Post by Ntrails »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #141
StavrosK wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a data point, I haven't pirated a game since Steam came out.

Out of interest, why do you think that is? Is it due to convenience , availability of cheap games in sales , extra features in steam or did a rise in your disposable income just happen to coincide with the launch of steam? For me it was mainly 2 and 4.

I'm trying to imagine a world in which there isn't a guilt inducing shortcut folder on my desktop:

"Games I haven't played since I bought them in a steam sale"

Maybe if I was a student again...

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#172

Post by PeterisP »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #64
UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"What a terrible game! I actually have to use my imagination and make my own fun, what is this?" Minecraft is a sandbox game. The zombies are just props. Just like any other good sandbox game it leaves a lot of the direction up to the player.

"sandbox game" really stretches the meaning of the term game. I'm not saying that minecraft is bad, I'm saying that what it has is not "gameplay".

Using physical associations, think less of a "game w. rules/goals" and more of a "toy" - many great videogames actually function more like toys.

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#173

Post by johnward »

lazyjones wrote: post #102
CJefferson wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The important figure (for developers) is not what proportion of pirates would buy the game, but what proportion of possible buyers will pirate instead. My experience with my social group is that this second group is quite high. I know (for example) people who have bought many xbox 360 games (as these are hard to pirate) and have never bought a PC game, despite playing similar number of games on each.

> The important figure (for developers) is not what proportion of pirates would buy the game, but what proportion of possible buyers will pirate instead. There is also another important figure that is routinely ignored: the number of honest customers who get screwed by or annoyed with DRM and other forms of copyright protection (20 years ago we had to enter words from the game manual, page X line Y word Z, in the mid…

Many of the people you mentioned will just get grouped into the "pirate" category when sales slow.

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#174

Post by claudius »

aaronjb wrote: post #105
shadowmint wrote: post #101

I suppose I'm in the minority here, but I read most of the article, and was like, hm, I should buy this and support these guys. Then I read: We know this because our game contains some code to send anonymous-usage data to our server. Nothing unusual or harmful. Heaps of games/apps do this and we use it to better understand how the game is played. It’s absolutely anonymous and you are covered by our privacy policy. Mm…

This is how analytics applications work. Almost every website you visit has Google Analytics installed, which sends your data to their servers so that the developer gets a better understanding of their users. Apps aren't an exception, you'll find it in almost all of them. When you install the app it should notify you what is does or doesn't have access to, so things like your phone book and call history are not acces…

There’s Ghostery for Google Analytics and similar shenanigans (not to mention that I expect data to be send to a website when I am online) and I don’t know of a single application on my computer that phones home – apart from Skype checking for updates, because they somehow fucked up their repositories after version 4.2.

Similarly, I am rather positive that none of the applications on my phone phone home, since that would trigger a ‘Do you want to allow this while roaming?’ question each and every time.

Edit: Correction: Steam probably does that. I use it once in a blue moon or so. :)

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#175

Post by tinco »

lazyjones wrote: post #102
CJefferson wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The important figure (for developers) is not what proportion of pirates would buy the game, but what proportion of possible buyers will pirate instead. My experience with my social group is that this second group is quite high. I know (for example) people who have bought many xbox 360 games (as these are hard to pirate) and have never bought a PC game, despite playing similar number of games on each.

> The important figure (for developers) is not what proportion of pirates would buy the game, but what proportion of possible buyers will pirate instead. There is also another important figure that is routinely ignored: the number of honest customers who get screwed by or annoyed with DRM and other forms of copyright protection (20 years ago we had to enter words from the game manual, page X line Y word Z, in the mid…

There is also another important figure that is routinely ignored: The number of honest customers who get screwed because game companies can not profitably release a big game anymore, so they won't.

The CEO of Square Enix was fired because he produced the latest iteration of Tomb Raider, and it arguably is the best iteration of Tomb Raider ever, and plainly didn't make any money.

Also your argument about 20 years ago is plain incorrect. 20 years ago DRM was way more strict and customer screwing than it is today. 20 years ago if you wanted to play a top of the line game, you would have to buy a Nintendo Entertainment system. Arguably the most restrictive walled garden system that has ever been in the market.

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#176

Post by vy8vWJlco »

cykod wrote: post #165
vy8vWJlco wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are people who go outside and drink from a stream (through a filter/firewall, of course), stealing? What about people who take in the scenery, or people who breath? Is nature a starving artist? I'm not for dumping toxic waste in the river, or stealing property, but the Internet is my environment, and copying data is not only cheap, that's what I pay my ISP to be able to do. IMHO, that makes copying as moral as breath…

The fallacy with this argument is that if everyone behaved if you did there would be no games. If this stuff is "free" it's the tragedy of the commons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons - except in this case it's developer resources that are "common" and will be depleted as there wouldn't be money to pay for them. I think at this point everyone understands that there's piracy out there and it's not g…

"The fallacy with this argument is that if everyone behaved if you did there would be no games."

> In the past artists (and scientists) had patrons but today we have kickstarter. It is possible to fund the creation of large projects (movies, TV shows, games, hardware, research, etc) without as much risk to the people carrying it out.

There would most certainly be games, IMHO. I am also not trolling. I have been trying to rationalize copyright for over a decade. I just can't justify it anymore (and don't think that should mean I should have to ignore what my peers are talking about, and what tools are current, either).

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#177

Post by johnward »

vy8vWJlco wrote: post #95
jiggy2011 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem is , for everyone who will happily compensate the artist if they feel they got value there are probably ~100 people who will just keep it for free even if they feel they had value.

That's only a problem if you consider a copy as damage. (I haven't seen a convincing argument.) There are also lots of factors in a financial proposition. Some people give away free samples, others invest in an education. It's interesting that iTunes is doing so well, without mandatory DRM, while copying has only gotten easier...

Music is the absolute easiest thing to pirate, yet iTunes is huge. People are willing to pay for the simplicity of iTunes. It's still slightly easier than searching for a decent torrent.

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#178

Post by michael_dorfman »

troels wrote: post #161
fetbaffe wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But Norway is the last communist state, so it should not surprise anyone of that comparison.

That's a ridiculous claim, but even if it were true, it would still not detract from the point. Quite the opposite, in fact.

It's a reference to a famous quote by Sweden's trade minister in 1999, who said "Norway is the last Soviet State"

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#179

Post by johnward »

onli wrote: post #14

The irony is great. But I fear it is possible that wasn't such a good idea. Given the graphs, there were 4k people interested in the game. Over 90% of them now have the impression that the game is unplayable long-term because of the message-box. Maybe many of them get the hint, but those who don't might generate bad pr and prevent others from buying it. But well, maybe that article combined with answers to the compla…

I agree. Many of these first day players will be tweeting, blogging, facebooking, or whatever other cool social thing do to is. A majority of the people who played on the first day had a bad experience. That won't look good for the game.

Re: Pirates playing a game dev simulator complain about piracy

#180

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

willvarfar wrote: post #151
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When I was younger, I always pirated stuff because I didn't have the money nor the means. But today... That's a familiar story, and a win all-round. It is said to be a main reason why Microsoft was very relaxed about pirated copies of Windows - young people who run a pirated copy of windows grow up to be workers who know windows and the business buys a seat (as they say).

That's a very long-term game; most games are made by short-term studios who don't survive long enough to reap what they sowed?

> > But today, my Steam collection is worth over a 1000 dollars

> That's a very long-term game;

Maybe, but it is working for some. The players who are copying today will be (largely) the ones who are buying in a few years time. The ones who are buying today are like the grandparent poster.

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