AAA DRM and secuROM!

[Bob]

So if I spend a few hours messing about with a pirate copy and then confirming I don't like it and deleteing it is that piracy? Yes. Does it hurt the developer? No. I'm sure most piracy is nothing more than extended demoing.

I don't know how it works in other countries, but in Norway for instance, many grocery stores have a "100% satisfied guarantee". If there is something you don't like with what you've bought, you bring it back (doesn't matter if it's half eaten) and you get all your money back. If you for instance see a pile of nice shiny red apples - they might look delicious, but they could very well be totally rotten inside. It should be kind of the same with computer games (and music and films for that matter).

The way to fight piracy is to offer something extra as an insentive and not punish us for not actually using pirated software. A game that can easily be cracked and stolen isn't much of a temptation if the player looses the ability to have 'achievements', mods, free content and other extras. BioWare co-CEO Ray Muzyka, who was originally a supporter of the DRM mess that was Bioshock now says....

As long as the quality of the pirated products are better than what you can legally buy, piracy will win. When downloading a movie from the Internet, you don't have to sit and watch a 30sec "commercial" where the movie company tell you that you are a pirate - that is not an option with a DVD you've bought in a store. When you download a pirated album from the Internet, you can choose loss-less flac formats that you can play on your computer, on your mp3-player, put on a memory stick and bring with you in your car, and you can share it with a friend (yes, that is actually legal - in Norway at least) - that would seldom be an option if you bought and downloaded it from one of the legal web shops.

The industries - at least some of them - seems to be moving in the right way. With music for instance, more and more web shops are starting to remove any form of DRM from the files you buy, and the quality are getting better. You also see services such as Spotify which I have very much faith in. And as Smilo mentioned, several games come with nice extra bonuses which only are available if you have a legally bought copy.

My basic thoughts are thus: it must be reasonable priced, it must have high quality, it must be easily accessible and it must come without limitations.

[T-Bag]

I don't know how it works in other countries, but in Norway for instance, many grocery stores have a "100% satisfied guarantee". If there is something you don't like with what you've bought, you bring it back (doesn't matter if it's half eaten) and you get all your money back. If you for instance see a pile of nice shiny red apples - they might look delicious, but they could very well be totally rotten inside. It should be kind of the same with computer games (and music and films for that matter).

It's not that way here. You'll find it VERY hard to return a PC game for a refund in the UK.

Anyway a perfect example of piracy leading to a sale. I played a pirated copy of Assasin's Creed a while back, loved it. But it wasn't on steam (I make it a point to get all my games through steam...saves installing them each format I just reinstall Steam into the same directory and I'm away, getting more use out of my games etc), anyway, 50% off offer today reminded me I should get it, and they have a sale.
Now I can't remember the last game I pirated that I've not since bought. Probably Oblivion (still not on steam...I'd buy that if they added it - I've got Fallout 3 but it is a poor substitute), which I borrowed my brothers copy rather than buying myself, if it had DRM I guess it would have been well within the activation limit...I still want to buy it though)

[ChimpBoy]

Anyway a perfect example of piracy leading to a sale. I played a pirated copy of Assasin's Creed a while back, loved it. But it wasn't on steam (I make it a point to get all my games through steam...saves installing them each format I just reinstall Steam into the same directory and I'm away, getting more use out of my games etc), anyway, 50% off offer today reminded me I should get it, and they have a sale.

Just playing Devil's advocate here, and I personally don't really have a problem with what you've done, but a games publisher would say that you've had all the benefits of the game, and then only bought it several months / over a year later when the price is slashed to half of the RRP.  If you're a small developer with a need for quick cash-flow after you release the title you've slaved over for years, then if people adopted the approach above then we're going to see less interesting little software houses turning out quality / niche product, and more gargantuan software houses like EA who can ride roughshod over consumer opinions and slap DRM onto anything they want (always wanted to play Dead Space but never did because of EA DRM).
 
Personally I can't stand DRM where a simple CD key should suffice as a deterrent without being obtrusive, and I can't see me buying a non-Valve game over Steam again after my copy of Bioshock simply refuses to work.  Never been a fan of pirated games though on principle, so I rely on a site like Metacritic to give me a wide range of opinions before investing my cash.

[Penfold]

.......I played a pirated copy of Assasin's Creed a while back, loved it. But it wasn't on steam (I make it a point to get all my games through steam...saves installing them each format I just reinstall Steam into the same directory and I'm away, getting more use out of my games etc), anyway, 50% off offer today reminded me I should get it, and they have a sale.

Sounds like you're retrospectively trying to justify yourself pirating the software if you ask me.

You were only 'reminded' by a 50% discount off eh....  does that mean you wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't 50% off??

Also, saying you'll only buy games through steam is a pretty weak excuse tbh.

Nothing personal mate, just sounds slightly nonsensical

[Bob]

Sounds like you're retrospectively trying to justify yourself pirating the software if you ask me.

Perhaps a bit badly worded by T-Bag (not meaning to explain what he meant - casue I don't know - it's just how I read it), but I think it points more in the direction that the industry (be it gaming, music or movies) has to make new and better ways to legally buy their products. And if they manage so, people will actually do this.

Basically, I think it is all about availability and quality. And Steam is one example going in that direction.

[T-Bag]

I would have bought it full price. I found out about it being on steam through the sale and bought it the same day. I can't promise I'd have bought it the second I'd seen it however.
As for only buying games through steam I own many many games which I haven't played in years. Some are old games which are fiddly to setup, others are multi-disk games that are effort to install, most have got several patches to apply and a no-cd patch/crack to put on so I can play without the disk in my drive.
I format my computer atleast twice a year. I get fed up of it gradually slowing down or crashing, etc etc and it generally only takes a couple of hours to format and put the programs I use on there.
Games on the other hand take far longer. Say 10mins a game. I have 8 games in my favorites list. That's 1 hour 20mins. Or I can reinstall my steam into the same folder before (on a different hard drive to the one I've just formatted) and it takes a fraction of the time. The games are already up to date, all my settings saved etc etc.

To buy games on any other system for me is wasting my money. I know in 6 months I'll format and unless the game is REALLY good I won't put it on again. It'll sit on my shelf.

As for publishers who need a quick cash flow at release etc, I'm sure I must be one of their biggest fans. Recently on Steam I pre-ordered the following:

• Left 4 Dead
• Farcry 2
• GTA 4
• Fallout 3
• Crysis Warhead

(I know I'm stretching "Recently" a little - but these are all games I bought when they first came out, often paying far more - upto £38 - than they cost in the shops -£25 - to have them on Steam)