Copy Protection Importance

Is it too important to use any kind of copy/crack protection for independent games?
Would it harm the sales so much if I don't include any kind of protection?
Would someone bother to crack a 50-60mb game until it's widely popular?
Any experiences?

Time and time again, yes.

Depends on the type of game. If you're planning on distributing the game via any of the portals, I wouldn't bother using any kind of copy protection, because the portal version will be cracked anyway. Usually the same day it hits the portal(s). So in that case, the harm is the same whether you use CP or not.

If it's not the type of game that the portals will want, then it's probably worth using something. I'd go with whatever you consider is the least expense and fuss you can find. Sooner or later if it's even moderately popular, chances are it will be cracked, even with the most expensive copy protection. So essentially what I would be aiming for is to put a stop to as much casual piracy as possible without causing yourself or legitimate customers too much fuss. Hardcore pirates are never going to buy it, whether there's a crack or not. Casual pirates, on the other hand, who might google to see if they can find anything before buying, you want to try to make things difficult for them.

Of course, making a completely separate trial and full version could well achieve the same thing with no additional expense.

No.

Maybe.

Yes.

Copy protection is a BIG waste of time.

Do a limited trial demo and sell the full version. Every copy protection scheme can be cracked (most "ready to use solutions" already are) - so there's no point using them.

Aquaria was cracked in the first day as I heard, but i still ordered my copy.

It really depends on what you want to do protect or not,

Some copy-protect schemes has f*cked up my system and I'm forced to find a "unwrapped" one, that sucks especially when I paid for it.

it also depends on the method of distribution, protection and user account management. my software protectors not only offers anti-crack protection but the management of user accounts. time trial... lets face it all software protection will at some stage fail and cracks will be released.

i would say that any protection is better than none, as long as the protection does not break any other parts of the os.

i think its up to individual should he/she decide that the work put into there software be protected or not.

Hmm, What I'm planning to do is to provide the demo version
in my own website and sell the full version only by e-commerce
but, anyone can buy it then host it somewhere for people to
download it so it's not a way of protection at all. Am I missing
something?

My systems works on the basis that lets say a 30 day limited demo can be released or a limited version of your full software. then a customer could buy a licence key and unlock the demo version using the licence key he/she just purchased.

its even possable to manually limit the users licence to a limited period of days, athough this can only done using online validation. on top it also offers support for anti-cracking protection.

Personally, I have made the decision to NOT buy several games based on the copy protection they use. I'm not going to pirate them either, but in those cases it was a lost sale due to what I consider invasive piracy protection. It really sucks that legit users get screwed by these things, and the pirates don't have to deal with it.

Anyways,... one method that I don't mind at all is when the game gets embedded with a bit of personal info. For example a startup screen that says "This program registered to (Name here)" I think that people might be a bit less likely to post it up if their name is being spread as the original source.

Pongo:

I bought some training stuff from 3DBuzz.com a couple of years ago, was about $150 for a a full series of VTMs and some bonus stuff.

The method they use is to watermark your name / address onto the video so that if it does get uploaded - they know where it came from and who to prosecute.

Simple, easy and effective - though works better on videos than on a title screen - you could remove / edit the image and nobody would be any the wiser.

Like people have said, if its any good - it gets cracked, even the high end protections are done.
Maybe embed a hashed ID (of who bought it) into the exe in various places, and if it gets cracked, have a look and see....its all about making it hard for the casual pirates, not the people who leech warez etc.

A musician friend of mine recently did a search on P2P and found songs off one of his albums on there - he is unsigned (www.ortopilot.com) ....he downloaded them and left them in his shared folder to spread the word!