Sorry it's a bit old, but for those of you who haven't read it yet: http://draginol.joeuser.com/article/303512/Piracy_PC_Gaming
Piracy & PC gaming
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/Piracy & PC gaming I don't pirate games. Its not a moral thing (well it is, but...) - its just that I can't think of a single PC game I even want to look at, let alone bother downloading.
The GRID demo was the first PC game I've played (or tried to) in years, and the bloody thing didn't even work. So, stuff that.
As for piracy, I've given up trying to fathom the cause and effect.
The GRID demo was the first PC game I've played (or tried to) in years, and the bloody thing didn't even work. So, stuff that.
As for piracy, I've given up trying to fathom the cause and effect.
Nice blog.
Piracy is fast becoming a mute point with better security and online distrobution systems like steam which has an almost 100% success rate of blocking piracy, not only that but they now have released their sdk FREE so anyone can make their games steam compatible and take advantage of the amazing security that comes along with it.
At the moment the main method of getting access to pirated steam games is actually thro stolen steam accounts, and thats no where near prollific enough to even dent steam sales.
Steam is the way forward, the sooner other developers realise this the better.
Piracy numbers are not accurate either, I can name at least 4 main UK based developers that have people watching mininova downlaod counts to see how many lost sales per hour they have, thats the most dumb thing iv ever heared of and I told them as much.
A lot of people will pirate a game to trial it, for the simple reason that Demos are normally lacking features, which should be there to allow a proper test, even worse some games come with much smaller custom demo levels which gives even less of an idea how the full product will run and play. people that do this will buy the game if it plays well and they like it. or uninstall the game if they dont. dont get me wrong there are A LOT of people that simply dont want to pay for games, lets face it, they wont buy the game even if they like it. so thats not a lost sale either.
A Report published in an industry magazine that we get at work a month or so ago showed that while Highstreet PC title sales were down on Xbox or console sales, when the report took Steam and a few other DD's into account , PC Sales dwarfed console sales for the year..
PC Sales are not falling, they are increaseing, the thing is that their becoming more digital, than highstreet. and a lot of people dont get that. HELL, the Reginal Manager for West of Scotland for one of the UK's BIGGEST highstreet gamesd shops HAD NO FKN IDEA who steam was. people like this need to wake up, and start paying attention to the always moving trends of the digital world. simply looking at highstreet sales and then claiming piracy this or piracy that isnt good enough any more.
Piracy is fast becoming a mute point with better security and online distrobution systems like steam which has an almost 100% success rate of blocking piracy, not only that but they now have released their sdk FREE so anyone can make their games steam compatible and take advantage of the amazing security that comes along with it.
At the moment the main method of getting access to pirated steam games is actually thro stolen steam accounts, and thats no where near prollific enough to even dent steam sales.
Steam is the way forward, the sooner other developers realise this the better.
Piracy numbers are not accurate either, I can name at least 4 main UK based developers that have people watching mininova downlaod counts to see how many lost sales per hour they have, thats the most dumb thing iv ever heared of and I told them as much.
A lot of people will pirate a game to trial it, for the simple reason that Demos are normally lacking features, which should be there to allow a proper test, even worse some games come with much smaller custom demo levels which gives even less of an idea how the full product will run and play. people that do this will buy the game if it plays well and they like it. or uninstall the game if they dont. dont get me wrong there are A LOT of people that simply dont want to pay for games, lets face it, they wont buy the game even if they like it. so thats not a lost sale either.
A Report published in an industry magazine that we get at work a month or so ago showed that while Highstreet PC title sales were down on Xbox or console sales, when the report took Steam and a few other DD's into account , PC Sales dwarfed console sales for the year..
PC Sales are not falling, they are increaseing, the thing is that their becoming more digital, than highstreet. and a lot of people dont get that. HELL, the Reginal Manager for West of Scotland for one of the UK's BIGGEST highstreet gamesd shops HAD NO FKN IDEA who steam was. people like this need to wake up, and start paying attention to the always moving trends of the digital world. simply looking at highstreet sales and then claiming piracy this or piracy that isnt good enough any more.
The reason why we don't put CD copy protection on our games isn't because we're nice guys. We do it because the people who actually buy games don't like to mess with it. Our customers make the rules, not the pirates. Pirates don't count. We know our customers could pirate our games if they want but choose to support our efforts. So we return the favor - we make the games they want and deliver them how they want it.
This is the only thing I really wish other game developers/publishers would get through their damn heads.
here here
Isn't the PC version of the orange box steam only? Or halflife 2? I thought they were, but they can be downloaded from bittorrent sites and I would imagine that they don't need steam to run.
If that's true, I don't think steam is so good at stopping piracy.
If that's true, I don't think steam is so good at stopping piracy.
Actually things like steam MUST be doing harm to their business too.
I recently played half life 2.
I hated the complicated install process and hate even more the fact that it decides to put Yet-Another-Service in the tray.
If steam were just an optional sales platform/launcher/community that loaded when needed, then i would seriously consider buying more games from it. However i object to being forced to use it, being spied on and having something i neither asked for, want or need slowing it down. Its basically little better than adware/spyware.
I would really like to buy & play the second parts to HL2 but to be honest, going through that whole steam hassle again leaves me thinking "cant be arsed!"
I recently played half life 2.
I hated the complicated install process and hate even more the fact that it decides to put Yet-Another-Service in the tray.
If steam were just an optional sales platform/launcher/community that loaded when needed, then i would seriously consider buying more games from it. However i object to being forced to use it, being spied on and having something i neither asked for, want or need slowing it down. Its basically little better than adware/spyware.
I would really like to buy & play the second parts to HL2 but to be honest, going through that whole steam hassle again leaves me thinking "cant be arsed!"
I think they have a steam proxy service or something that lets you run pirated games. I havent actually tried steam since HL2 was released. I didn't like it back then. I heard it changed quite a bit since then though. Sounded like it has more in common with Xbox live.
I just installed new Nvidia drivers on my PC and it stuck a portal demo shortcut on my desktop. I might actually give it a try, I avoided it because it was steam and I don't like stuff staying resident in my taskbar either.
I just installed new Nvidia drivers on my PC and it stuck a portal demo shortcut on my desktop. I might actually give it a try, I avoided it because it was steam and I don't like stuff staying resident in my taskbar either.
Steam doesn't seem so bad. It only loads up when you launch the game, then you can exit once you're done. (Got the Orange Box when it was released, which was my first experience with the Steam System).
I've been pleasantly surprised so far.
I've been pleasantly surprised so far.
Not on the version that came with my copy of HL2 it didnt. On my pc it was always there in the tray, moaning at me if not connected and asking for updates, with all the rest of the obligatory windows 'annoyware'. (I did find an option if i remember to unload it until needed, but it would have been nice to be asked in the first place)
On my pc it was always there in the tray, moaning at me if not connected and asking for updates
Yeah, that would have been annoying. It must have changed since them, as I downloaded the steam client when I bought the Organge box. This must account for the widely different views on the Steam Client from 'Perfect' to 'Terrible'.
Steam takes control away from your PC, reports to the megacorporation what I'm playing, when I'm playing and how long. I don't want that kind of software slowing down my system (even though I am using steam because I'm forced to.) It is a really worrying trend.
What annoys me about Steam, is that when I've finished playing a Steam game, a pop-up Steam game ad appears. I've paid for the game, and I have to put up with pop-up ads as well!! Looking at it realistically, though, I guess that's one of the reasons Valve can provide Steam games at a discount price.
One of my friends was a total ANTI-STEAM person, until I gave him this example of how useful STEAM is:
Say for example you bought San Andreas, Half Life 2, Doom 3, Hitman, Bioshock from EB Games (or some other gamer store). You have the disks at home, time flies, two or 3 years later you realize that Bioshock and San Andreas's disks don't work anymore. What will you do? Complain to 2K games, or Rockstar games? Too bad, you lost your originals.
Ah but, then, if you bought game licenses through STEAM, you download the games. And STEAM enables you to make backups of the games that you rightfully own. So that means you can have 10 copies, AND the unlimited STEAM installs you can make (there is no counter) and you're set for life! You can also restore previous backups. The STEAM let's you do a selected backup of your games, and it will logically fill your DVDs or whatever medium in slices of the size you wqant (per 1GIG, or 4K if you want). So, essentially, you have a lifetime protection of your ownership of a functionning game with lifetime support from STEAM with your user account and game registration codes.
I think STEAM is absolutely unbeatable to protect your games asset.
Not only that, but buying a game from STEAM is essentially a billed download 1 game as much as you want + registration key.
Say for example you bought San Andreas, Half Life 2, Doom 3, Hitman, Bioshock from EB Games (or some other gamer store). You have the disks at home, time flies, two or 3 years later you realize that Bioshock and San Andreas's disks don't work anymore. What will you do? Complain to 2K games, or Rockstar games? Too bad, you lost your originals.
Ah but, then, if you bought game licenses through STEAM, you download the games. And STEAM enables you to make backups of the games that you rightfully own. So that means you can have 10 copies, AND the unlimited STEAM installs you can make (there is no counter) and you're set for life! You can also restore previous backups. The STEAM let's you do a selected backup of your games, and it will logically fill your DVDs or whatever medium in slices of the size you wqant (per 1GIG, or 4K if you want). So, essentially, you have a lifetime protection of your ownership of a functionning game with lifetime support from STEAM with your user account and game registration codes.
I think STEAM is absolutely unbeatable to protect your games asset.
Not only that, but buying a game from STEAM is essentially a billed download 1 game as much as you want + registration key.
I liked this bit.
Not because
1) It needs a CRAY XT5 to run it.
2) Is the same old sh*t re-hashed
3) Is basically... well... crap.
Think I will give STEAM a try as I'm a Half-Life fan and I want to see what happens next.
And if you listen to game developers, it apparently is a foregone conclusion - if a high quality PC game doesn't sell as many copies as it should, it must be because of piracy.
Not because
1) It needs a CRAY XT5 to run it.
2) Is the same old sh*t re-hashed
3) Is basically... well... crap.
Think I will give STEAM a try as I'm a Half-Life fan and I want to see what happens next.
steams life time bla bla bla
reads ok but who or whats lifetime?
valve go bust and turn off the servers life time expired
im not on regular broadband but mobile broadband ... slower more expencive and data capped (£15 for 3gb)
i dont dl anything stupidly large as once i go past the 3gb i either dont use the net till the next bill month or get charged 10p per megabyte (yes per megabyte)
if its an online enabled game then acting like xbox live as a game server is a good thing
if its not an online game it begging or even demanding to be online to let you play just isnt cricket
edit:
and i too wanted to post that quote that genix beat me to hell even print it out billboard sized and post it to every game developer in the world
its good thinking to not bother with copy protection as the only people it bennefits are those selling the copy protection tools
un cracked paid users have to go through hoops
paid users sick of said hoops look for cracks
and those that wernt going to buy it still wont even if its .99p
reads ok but who or whats lifetime?
valve go bust and turn off the servers life time expired
im not on regular broadband but mobile broadband ... slower more expencive and data capped (£15 for 3gb)
i dont dl anything stupidly large as once i go past the 3gb i either dont use the net till the next bill month or get charged 10p per megabyte (yes per megabyte)
if its an online enabled game then acting like xbox live as a game server is a good thing
if its not an online game it begging or even demanding to be online to let you play just isnt cricket
edit:
and i too wanted to post that quote that genix beat me to hell even print it out billboard sized and post it to every game developer in the world
its good thinking to not bother with copy protection as the only people it bennefits are those selling the copy protection tools
un cracked paid users have to go through hoops
paid users sick of said hoops look for cracks
and those that wernt going to buy it still wont even if its .99p
Ah but, then, if you bought game licenses through STEAM, you download the games. And STEAM enables you to make backups of the games that you rightfully own. So that means you can have 10 copies, AND the unlimited STEAM installs you can make (there is no counter) and you're set for life!
Provided STEAM/Valve don't go out of business. At least with the physical media, you're not screwed because 2K Games files for chapter 11. I think STEAM is absolutely unbeatable to protect your games asset.
The whole point of the article is that protecting your "games asset" is pointless and ultimately futile, as it only inconveniences legitimate customers, regardless of which draconian protection scheme you're using. Do you wonder why console games outsell PC games by huge margins? Because console gamers don't have to put up with stupid pointless software like STEAM. Steam staying resident after closing your game was my experience with HL2 too. That was when HL2 first came out though. I recal having installed something within the last 8 months that used steam and was not intrusive.
I don't really like online downloads or steam, mostly because I like boxes, media, manuals and what have you. Want to feel like I actually got something physical for my money.
Besides which, if I don't get all the physical goodies I would want at least $10 off of the boxed version of the game. I think thats the only thing that would make me consider purchasing 4gb+ downloadable games. I don't see why publishers should get extra money when they didn't produce anything, and I doubt that the developer gets much if any extra income from downloaded games. I guess Valve probably did since they published themselves and own steam.
I don't really like online downloads or steam, mostly because I like boxes, media, manuals and what have you. Want to feel like I actually got something physical for my money.
Besides which, if I don't get all the physical goodies I would want at least $10 off of the boxed version of the game. I think thats the only thing that would make me consider purchasing 4gb+ downloadable games. I don't see why publishers should get extra money when they didn't produce anything, and I doubt that the developer gets much if any extra income from downloaded games. I guess Valve probably did since they published themselves and own steam.