What can Developers & Publishers do to combat Piracy?

[DanielDeFig]

Lower the prices and make them comfortably accessible to buy & download online (And by "comfortably accessible", that includes not forcing you to use a specific service in order to play the game, like Steam does).

The other day I read/heard something that made me stop and think. Games apparently take less money to complete than movies, so why do we have to pay $50-60 for a new game, but only $10 for a new DVD? Add that to the fact that I'm hearing more and more about how the actual developers who do the work tend to be underpaid and even overworked, and some numbers don't seem to add up. If games make millions of dollars in profits, then where the hell is the money going?

Can't we just pay much less, keep the salaries the same, and make sure the money actually goes to the people who deserve it?
Or pay a little less, increase the salaries to something normal/ethical, and make sure the profits actually reach the developers pockets?


Also, something I think that would help a lot, Demo's.
Do you realize how many hours I would spend on free demo's I got with my PS1 and PS2? Do you realize how many games I wanted to buy and finally finish, and did actually buy?
After playing through the demo of Dark Cloud at least 20 times each, me and my siblings were unanimously in agreement to make sure our first ever PS2 title was Dark Cloud, and no other game.
Demo's let me try out genres I would never dare spend money on trying for the first time, since it's not worth the price tag if I simply don't like it. Demo's let me actually play a game and get a feel for it.

Why not release all those demo's shown at press events to the public? Paying money to go to an event like the Eurogamer Expo was worth it, because the whole thing was an experience. But I shouldn't have to pay money to go to one of these events, as the only means to access the demo's there. If I hadn't tried Skyrim with my brother back then, I probably still wouldn't have any interest in the game.

Finally, maybe the future of cloud gaming is the answer?
If the games are installed on a server somewhere else, while players simply stream videos of the games they're playing, I don't think players would have any access to the game files. This would make piracy MUCH hared to pull off, and probably impossible for most ppl. Of course, if that happens, then the developers/publishers have a solution that doesn't involve fixing any of the issues raised here at all (Scary thought :s).

 

[KhaoticOne]

To sum what a lot of people had been saying; make piracy a less viable choice.

Incorporate continuously patches/support, give more incentive to legally purchase the game, release demos, packages/consumer loyalty deals, etc.

By making pirating harder (to maintain) and by showing genuine support for the product, people should buy the game and keep it. Many said Price is a big problem with timely DLC and a flat $60 tag, but its not the only thing.

Basically make pirating more annoying (rather than stop it) and purchasing the product more rewarding.

 

[Secret world leader (shhh)]

1: Announce to the everyone that there will be a demo coming out before the game's PC release and that the game will be a half price digital download for the first few days of release.

2: On release day, create a "leaked" version and upload it to all the biggest sites where pirated software is avaliable.

3: "Leaked" version is just a buggy, unplayable mess of the demo.

4: People who pirated the game for reasons other than "just trying it out" or "I'm too poor to buy it" will Uninstall this piece of shit they've downloaded.

5: Uninstall "bug", wipes entire hard drive. Problem?

EDIT: And no fucking DRM!

 

[Soviet Steve]

Include a bunch of shit in the box. Spiffy manuals, posters, info cards, hints, a piece of cheap jewellery or something. Make the game feel like you're getting something more out of it than a bland retread of action film clichés. Love my tactile shit.

 

[Dragonsoulq]

Ban oranges! They'll all die of scurvy!

 

[ksn0va]

Two Words: Steam Sale!

 

[esahcb]

I think Notch has it figured out, mMinecraft has (almost) no drm, its a fairly cheap game, it updates somewhat frequently, and you need an account to play online, also he doesnt go crazy on annihilating all pirates because he knows that if one person pirates then they will tell their friends about the game and they might buy it.

source: http://notch.tumblr.com/post/1121596044/how-piracy-works

 

[DanielDeFig]

No. Just...fucking no. This is even worse than the current methods, as it assumes that every single gamer in the world has a flawless 10MB/s internet connection that never lags out, glitches or gets hogged by their family with an itch to watch stupid cat videos on Youtube in HD. Not only that but it fucks over anyone who wants to mod their game, puts insane input lag into everything, and the games look like absolute fucking ass. Like, Crysis on the Playstation 1 ass.

Lastly, it will still end up on TPB. Anyone with access to that server's hard drive can copy the files, package them into a torrent and seed that to one of the big crack groups. They, in turn, rig it to run locally and release it to the public at large, and bam. There you go. Still pirated despite the cloud.

If the cloud really is the future of PC gaming then I won't be a PC gamer for very long, it's that simple.

I fully understand what you mean. I spent my teen years stuck in Zambia (Africa), where the internet not only sucked but for a long time we had to pay extra if we sued up more than our given amount of data traffic. This made getting into MMO's or multiplayer impossible. I'm in Khartoum (Sudan), now and my internet isn't good enough to stream videos.

So yes, I fully agree that we should never let cloud gaming take over the industry while most people don't have an internet connection to support it (even if "most" of the gaming audience might, judging by how many of them play MMO's or multiplayer). However, I'm getting really tired of having to shell out money to keep my PC updated to keep up with the latest games, and I see cloud gaming as a great solution.
It will have to wait until the "standard" bandwidth, which is constantly increasing, is good enough to keep up, at which point I'd be more than happy to get onboard. Since I'm personally not really into the modding thing, all I can come up with is that developers should include modding programs/tools with their games in such a future.

Yeah, like I said in my post, this would only make it "harder", and "almost" impossible for "most" people. All it would really prevent would be ppl getting the the source for cracked copies from a purchased copy of a game. I can't think of anything that will stop people "from the inside" (either development/publishing, or the new servers), from sending a game's files to crack groups and furthering piracy.

Hopefully things like Demo's, reduced prices, and other suggestions both I and ppl on this thread have suggested, will at least prevent people from downloading this inevitable pirated copies, instead of paying for their games.

 

[meowchef]

Make better games and release them for cheaper prices.

 

[targren]

Bad analogy.

'If you can steal a Ferrari with only a very slight chance of getting caught, would you not do it because you can live without it?' is more accurate.

Even worse analogy.

'If you can get a Ferrari exactly like your neighbor's, and without even taking it out of his garage, would you?' is a bit closer.

Of course, it still falls flat because you're comparing a sequence of bits with a physical item.

 

[SpAc3man]

Make the game worth my money. Valve and Dice are good at it. Do what they do.

 

[DanielDeFig]

However, I'm getting really tired of having to shell out money to keep my PC updated to keep up with the latest games, and I see cloud gaming as a great solution.

I have two problems with this.


Problem, the first: I haven't updated my PC in three years, yet I can still play every game on the market. Even that last update wasn't really much of an update, I've got an 8800GS and a socket 939 dualcore under the hood, stuff was out of date when I bought it.

Which is why I bought it, it was dirt cheap.

You don't need to upgrade every couple of years to play games on the PC. Simple as that. Buy a decent video card in the ~200 dollar range, pick up a quad core, six to eight gigs of ram, and you're set until the PS4 and xBox 720 hit.


Problem, the second: Cloud gaming just isn't an option. If developers would stop with the shitty ports and give the PC audience a decent fucking engine we wouldn't have to worry about whether or not it'd run. Look at what Valve is doing, they've made the Source engine relavent even now, yet it still runs like butter on my five years out of date rig. Max it out and it looks fucking gorgeous, gives the enthusiasts with a computer worth more than their car something to jerk off to, yet if you turn the AA and AF down a bit it will run on a damn toaster. THAT is a good PC game engine. It runs on anything with playable framerates yet still gives the graphics whores something to oogle. It's also, for the most part, bug free, well polished, has a good netcode built in, is easy to mod and it has proper PC game settings for both single and multi player.

Hmmm....I admit that I've heard of how some engines required the latest and greatest to run, but whose graphics are still outdone by a different engine that can be run on mid-range PCs. To be honest, I'm not technically knowledgeable enough to know the details of how it works, or how easy/hard/expensive/cheap it is to develop an efficient engine.

My main interest in Cloud Gaming, is that it would allow me to use a conveniently lightweight laptop without having to use up space or processing power to play the latest games on the best graphics available. It's also a very long-term solution, as I would really only need to buy one more such laptop for the foreseeable future.

Your points are valid, but developers making efficient engines wouldn't make cloud gaming unnecessary. It would simply be good for everyone, the industry and its audience both (Irrelevant if you play through a Cloud Service or not).

I doubt Cloud Gaming will be "the only solution" anytime soon, and I don't think it should be. But I think having it as an option for those with the bandwidth to use it, should be wideley accessible as soon as possible.

 

[DanielDeFig]

Blast! Double post.

Like I said, the Internet connection in this country isn't exactly reliable.

 

[inFAMOUSCowZ]

You can never stop piracy or used game sales(but this topic is for piracy). SO really you can just make the best game possible, and listen to fans. If you show support to the fans, people are more likely to buy the game.

 

[Denamic]

They can sell them for cheap, make the purchase and install as hassle free as possible, and be generally likeable.
Customers you treat well are way more likely to throw money at you than the ones you threat like criminals.