Alternative to Piracy

[DividedUnity]

*snip*

If games are too expensive for you to buy, wait a little, (it's not going to kill you), and buy the games when they come on sale on Steam or what have you. That way the developers and publishers (who distribute and market the game) get their money and you get the game.

See the simple fact is if im going to have to wait a little while. Ill just buy the game preowned and alot cheaper. It may seem a bit childish but if a game is priced too highly on release then its no skin off my nose to buy it preowned so the devs dont get a single penny of my money. I know what youre saying but if things stay the way they are then piracy will stay as it is or more likely get worse. If you have to wait to get a game then by the time youve got the money people will have sold it to the shop and you pick the exact same game you get for full price for a good bit off the price tag. The developers lose out just as they would with piracy

I think it's more likely that you'll pirate the game no matter what publishers do.

I get Steam's North American page and, as I've said in an edit that you've missed, most new releases on Steam are in the $30-50 range. If they're giving you conversion prices, that should be within the range of thirty pounds. Somehow, I don't think you're going to rush over to steam and buy those reasonably priced games, though.

Oh so youre accusing me of simply being a cheap thief who is making excuses for his pirating. Someones seems a bit butthurt.

Ill just quote a post i made you might have missed

"A price cut was simply an example of an incentive but perhaps there would be more effective ones such as perhaps extra goodies included with the retail version that people who pirate it could never get. Ever something as silly as poster included with the game or a nice thick manual/guide book included in every game would give me an incentive to actually pay for a new game. That way I can tell myself ive made a good choice. Sure I might be out of pocket but ive got the game and something else I can enjoy that I wouldnt have got if i had pirated it."

Also, using steam is not an option for me. You know because not everyone can access internet with sufficient bandwidth to download games. I would if I could but excuse me if im not rushing over to steam to watch as my connection explodes.

 

[lonercs]

Do what Rocksteady did with Batman Arkham Asylum and put glitches within the code that alter gameplay if you pirate it.

Yes, that will work...in till someone good at modding and a "fuck you" attitude make a patch for it. If there is a "glitch", there will be a "patch".

 

[mikecoulter]

Making the digital distribution version of games 2/3's of the price would be good. I mean, they don't even need to package, ship, shelve and employ people to sell them to you. They save bucket loads, why not pass the savings on a tad...

 

[DividedUnity]

*snip*

If games are too expensive for you to buy, wait a little, (it's not going to kill you), and buy the games when they come on sale on Steam or what have you. That way the developers and publishers (who distribute and market the game) get their money and you get the game.

See the simple fact is if im going to have to wait a little while. Ill just buy the game preowned and alot cheaper. It may seem a bit childish but if a game is priced too highly on release then its no skin off my nose to buy it preowned so the devs dont get a single penny of my money. I know what youre saying but if things stay the way they are then piracy will stay as it is or more likely get worse. If you have to wait to get a game then by the time youve got the money people will have sold it to the shop and you pick the exact same game you get for full price for a good bit off the price tag. The developers lose out just as they would with piracy

That's why I like EA's new strategy to include big incentives to purchase game's new. The gamer gets rewarded for buying the game new and the publisher/developers take money away from used game sales and pirates.

Yes. Project ten dollar is a great idea. It is an example of the way forward unlike ubi and everyone elses DRM

 

[Xanadu84]

Project $10 is a good basis, as it also confronts used game sales, which is FAR more damaging to the industry. Also, Steam is excellent, but it is more of a 200% consumer-friendly DRM then a piracy alternative. Actually, the idea of a piracy alternative is somewhat nonsensical: If it costs money, its not an alternative to piracy, and if its free, it is just plain old piracy. What you're likely looking for is an alternative to DRM. In this case, developers must see that positive reinforcement is far more effective then punishment. Make it so legitimate purchasers have access to something that pirates don't. Could be robust online service, could be regular content updates which are easy for legit purchasers, but require a separate hack for every example of updated content (Like Mass Effect 2), other useful online support, multiplayer, even the ease of use of something like Steam is a pretty good deterrent.

 

[THAC0]

Actually buy the game?

this should really end the thread.

 

[Darknacht]

The solution is gog.com .
Lots of really good games all for under $10(USD).

 

[Kagim]

Well alternatives that could work would be programs that allow for both full purchase and single purchase songs for cheap and DRM free. As well as allow buyers to view entire movies for a small fee, make it on demand to. We could also incorporate these two ideas into one smooth program that accepts both credit card and pre-paid cards you can buy pretty much everywhere.

Itunes doesn't just give you the song for free, no DRM attached. They watermark the files with your email and creditcard information.

That would be a problem if it wasn't for the fact you don't need a credit card to buy from itunes.

As well the fact even if it did i don't give everyone and my dog files i download.

That's not destructive DRM. If you don't mind people knowing your personal info you can give it to anyone.

It doesn't matter what you pay with. You need a credit card to get an iTunes account in the first place. Now, you can sign up for iTunes with a prepaid gift credit card, but I'd be pretty sure you didn't.

Still though. It's not a destructive DRM and i don't see a major issue with it. It discourages you from giving out the song without having to limit your ability to use it. While someone can steal my credit information by hacking my account or stealing my ipod they could just as easily pull the info from my computer or just take my wallet.

As well its by far probably one of the least offensive DRM's out there. Its a step. Rather then pinpoint a problem work to make it better.

 

[GamerPhate]

If there is a cheaper way to get things, people will always do it.

If someone pirates, that is up to them. They should however, keep it to themselves.

True you can't control people no matter what you do. But we have to admit, many a good game company died along the way either failing to recoup the game costs, or being eaten up by the big few that are left.

If we don't figure something out, like EA will own everything.. if Microsoft doesn't buy them first lol.

 

[Lisolet]

I like the demo ideas. Put out 1 or 2 levels or episodes of a game with all the features those would have in the purchased version. Or maybe a lower level and a higher one, so we can see what it's like when we start out and have no weapons or powers and what it will be like later on in the game. Game prices are high and we aren't going to get that changed anytime soon, so a realistic way to test out a game and see if we like it seems fair for all.

Even better if these demos were in cereal boxes like Enigmers suggested

Thanks to Darkenwrath for starting this thread.

 

[Darkenwrath]

Actually buy the game?

this should really end the thread.

Yes it should, however the simple fact is that piracy is out there because of a whole host of problems, you can't magically make people do your way of thinking, therefore I was trying to create a thread that addresses the problems of piracy not the morality of it.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Still though. It's not a destructive DRM and i don't see a major issue with it. It discourages you from giving out the song without having to limit your ability to use it. While someone can steal my credit information by hacking my account or stealing my ipod they could just as easily pull the info from my computer or just take my wallet.

As well its by far probably one of the least offensive DRM's out there. Its a step. Rather then pinpoint a problem work to make it better.

Never said it wasn't.

 

[Darkenwrath]

No. You could make brand new games ten dollars each and people will still pirate them. The only alternative is to give them away for free.

That's great, but do you an idea or system that would actually allow designers to do this? Would you take a game for free if you didn't mind having adverts popping up throughout it?

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Oh so youre accusing me of simply being a cheap thief who is making excuses for his pirating. Someones seems a bit butthurt.

Ill just quote a post i made you might have missed

"A price cut was simply an example of an incentive but perhaps there would be more effective ones such as perhaps extra goodies included with the retail version that people who pirate it could never get. Ever something as silly as poster included with the game or a nice thick manual/guide book included in every game would give me an incentive to actually pay for a new game. That way I can tell myself ive made a good choice. Sure I might be out of pocket but ive got the game and something else I can enjoy that I wouldnt have got if i had pirated it."

Also, using steam is not an option for me. You know because not everyone can access internet with sufficient bandwidth to download games. I would if I could but excuse me if im not rushing over to steam to watch as my connection explodes.

So you wouldn't just, say, grab the ripped PDF file of the poster or book? If there's creative content, I'm sure you'll find a way to pirate it.

Also, how do you pirate your games if your connection's so shitty? You'd be downloading the same amount of data through torrents.

 

[DividedUnity]

Oh so youre accusing me of simply being a cheap thief who is making excuses for his pirating. Someones seems a bit butthurt.

Ill just quote a post i made you might have missed

"A price cut was simply an example of an incentive but perhaps there would be more effective ones such as perhaps extra goodies included with the retail version that people who pirate it could never get. Ever something as silly as poster included with the game or a nice thick manual/guide book included in every game would give me an incentive to actually pay for a new game. That way I can tell myself ive made a good choice. Sure I might be out of pocket but ive got the game and something else I can enjoy that I wouldnt have got if i had pirated it."

Also, using steam is not an option for me. You know because not everyone can access internet with sufficient bandwidth to download games. I would if I could but excuse me if im not rushing over to steam to watch as my connection explodes.

So you wouldn't just, say, grab the ripped PDF file of the poster or book?

Also, how do you pirate your games if your connection's so shitty? You'd be downloading the same amount of data through torrents.

I dont pirate them myself. I use the PC of a family member who lives in the city then burn them to a disk. I cannot use this system with steam as i would need to directly download to the machine i want to play on.

Why the hell would i want the pdf of it? Even if i did go through all the bother of getting it printed it would never be of the same quality and reading it on a computer monitor is hardly the same as having a good quality booklet that you can read and always have their if you need it

 

[Darkenwrath]

Include video games in cereal boxes. That's all I can think of.

BRILLIANT!

Or we could just make them cheaper.....?

Once again, do you have a way to implement this? I'm not trying to be annoying or point out flaws in your logic, but the point was to try and come up with a system that would somehow reduce piracy but also be feasible to put into place, simply saying "make it cheaper" sure does the former, but the latter would require some explanation.

 

[Gardenia]

I'm not going to talk about the pirating of games, because I don't know enough about the industry. I will however say this:

Avatar (2009):
Budget: 237 Million USD
Gross Revenue: 2,718 Million USD

Weep for the movie industry, I do not.

I saw a couple of episodes of that Cribs show (where they visit rappers etc in their homes) a few years ago.

Weep for the music industry, I do not.

 

[Jfswift]

Meh I proposed an alternative in the last thread. I guess it got overlooked.

A few measures need to be taken to slow piracy or get rid of it.

- Sell sealed consoles.
- Eliminate cd drives (dvd, blu-ray, hd-dvd) The consumer will see an immediate benefit from a reduced price from the removal of packaging, shipping and lowered advertising costs.
- games available for download only (at discounted prices like what steam does)
- if you go to a friends house you can log into your account and download anything you bought so you're not lugging around a console

 

[beefpelican]

-An Ad Sponsored version of the game that's basically the full game for free, but you have to sit through ads inbetween levels, and little watermarks on your screen, ect ect. Advertisers pay the company for their losses.

-A fucking demo. Is it really that hard to release a fucking demo?

I agree with you about demos. As far as adds go though, don't lots of games these days put them in to the version they sell? I am under the impression that just adds won't pay the development costs of a modern big budget game.