quote:
Original post by Davaris
Its pointless discussing why people steal. If they can steal something and get away with it they will. I guess we have to figure out a way of protecting our games.
I don''t agree. Call me an optimist but I like to trust that just because someone can doesn''t necessarily mean that they will.
I do agree that we have to figure out how to protect our games. If you don''t want to make the effort, that is your issue, but Blizzard and id have done very well with games that have trivial copy prevention mechanism. Blizzard uses Battle.net not only to enhance the games it produces but also as a way to curb piracy. If you have a copied CD, you will have a copied CD key. The servers will not let you in if that CD key is already in use.
Now interestingly enough, Blizzard doesn''t allow Internet play in Starcraft unless it is through Battle.net. id does allow Internet play with Quake III Arena so CD key verification is not as stringent, yet they still sell well.
I believe both games are quality games, so maybe that is what matters more in the equation. If you make a really good game that gives people an incentive to buy your game, then you won''t have to worry about the money you lost from piracy.
Obviously it is more complicated than that, but it is an idea to start with.
quote:
Original post by antistuff
It is perfectly legal to make a copy of a tape for your friends, its called fair use. I have no idea why but it is.
Sorry, I didn''t make myself clear. I was saying that yes, it is legal to make a copy of the tape because of free use. And it is legal to make a copy of music CDs (unless they have copy prevention mechanisms on them).
I was saying that for most people used to this type of freedom, copying CD-ROMs just follows the same logic as copying media these other ways.
Imagine telling someone who is used to using his VCR to make tapes of all of his favorite movies, his tape recorder to make copies of songs from the radio, his CD-R to burn mixes of his favorite songs that it is now illegal for him to do any of those things.
Does anyone remember when they had console games like NES paks and such, and letting people borrow them? I remember when I got my first PC, making copies of games wasn''t much more of an extension of that. I was just borrowing the game, only I had a copy installed on my computer that I could use anytime rather than a temporary hold on the software.
This probably boils down to a few issues:
1) Awareness - if the people don''t know they are doing wrong, then they won''t know that they should stop
2) Incentive - how many people who already are aware always say, "Well why not steal? They already jack up the prices to compensate for piracy?"
Perhaps making something available to those who have a legal copy, something somewhat enforceable like how Blizzard and id have their systems setup, might give people more incentive NOT to steal.
3) Enforcement - The main problem with piracy isn''t that major manufacturers are producing bootleg copies of the game in mass quantities (although that does happen). It is that people make copies of the games from friends and friends of friends. How does one enforce the law on regular citizens, some of which don''t know that they are doing something wrong, if stopping one doesn''t stop anything but that one person?
Legal fees alone are prohibitive to prosecuting entities that make up about a $50 loss in sales.
Perhaps the extra money that publishers charge for piracy can go towards a group which can prosecute individuals for each and every offense. Obviously you yourself won''t press charges for one game, but if they have a copy of one game, then they have copies of any number of games, and so this one organization can prosecute for hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars, giving the respective companies their cut.
Of course, the PR alone is a nightmare. Imagine headlines such as "GAME COMPANY X, OTHERS SUE 13 YEAR OLD BOY" and think about what kind of a backlash Metallica got for the same thing.
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(Gorgeous graphics)+(beautiful sound effects)+(symphonic music)+(no gameplay) != Good game
