Actually it's more like you buying a car, only there's a device hidden in the driver's seat that propels an iron spike through the body of whomever is in the seat if the car thinks you're NOT the original owner.

I buy a car, I'm going to do whatever I damn-well want with it. This still applies to every piece of software; "end-user licenses" can go straight to hell. I'm going to do what I want, when I want, however I want with something I bought. I'm not "leasing" software, because I never signed a lease agreement. It's mine.

I'm going to have to agree and echo 1Spartan's opinions. I'd get more involved in this thread and elsewhere on the forums, but I've been under the weather for the past couple of days.

However, I want to bring to the discussion one major aspect that no one in the industry is talking about. This is something that everyone needs to be talking about though because it's getting out of control. That happens to be the cost of living. Yes, the cost of living. These are all the income, property, sales, and other taxes plus gas prices, grocery prices, housing costs, college tuition (if applicable), vehicle costs, and so on. All of these things you must pay to keep yourself afloat and out of bankruptcy and/or jail I'm blanketing under the cost of living. These have all been going up. Just recently my brother's college tuition and housing went up 7.13% just this year. The college I went to went up 4.25% this year too. Property taxes around here are also going up around 6% again. The price of gas is up over a dollar compared to this time last year. All of these things keep increasing and some developers/publishers (such as ID) have tried bold things like trying to push the price of their PC games up over $50. Some people run out of money after paying for all those bills, taxes, and gas and turn to piracy because that's the only way they can get to enjoy a product. Is this right? No, it's not. But today's world is a complex place where different markets, political organizations, and needs are all in conflict with each other. Everyone wants more and more of your time and money be it the government, oil companies, grocery stores, or even all these games that constantly get released.

Also, I don't see why THQ and Michael Fitch of ILE weren't going after the people who obviously pirated. Those people delivered themselves on a silver platter and it looks like NOTHING was done. Why not just make it obvious from the beginning that if people were pirating that crash was built into the software? It seems to me like they included that security check because they don't want people pirating the game, but then failed to bring it to light when it was negatively affecting their game. Obviously piracy could not be prevented so you need to shore up what you've got left and try to prevent discouraging potential future customers. The other companies running away to consoles are going to hit this same problem at the same strength in a few years as console piracy matures to the state PC piracy has evolved to.

You've just contradicted yourself, saying that it doesn't have a single player mode, but it has Skirmish vs AI?

You'd be right if it said it didn't have a Campaign Mode... but I never play Campaigns anyways.

I find it laughable that they speak about pirates like they're the biggest problem the industry faces. How about publishers? I was in close contact with a Hungarian developer a few years back, and the "lead guy" of this company told me they get paid 5-7% of the game's PROFIT. Not even the game's sales, but the game's profit.

It's the same unconscionable story for music artists. The ONLY way they can make enough money to live off of is by touring! This is why you're starting to hear from major artists (who aren't afraid of repercussions from their publisher) that they don't care about piracy because it makes no difference to their bottom line.

Publishers are the cancer of today's media. Every form of today's media. Ever wonder why Stardock is not just staying alive but is actually thriving in a genre the rest of the industry has forgotten? It's because they actually keep most of the proceeds from their sales. They can price games at $20 and they would STILL make more money than a typical developer!

I don't know how Stardock or Valve deal with their digital distribution partners, but I really hope they aren't screwing them the way others do.

On the subject of DRM, I would like to join the crowd of people pointing out that there is absolutely no copyright protection that hasn't been broken in a matter of days. Not even weeks, but days. DRM is an inconvenience ONLY to "honest" customers and you will never find a pirate who says, "yeah they never broke the DRM on *x* so I had to buy it". Never, not in a million years, I'd bet a year's wages.

To add to my previous post, if Stardock sold one copy of Galciv 2 at $40 through digital distribution, they would make the same amount of profit as another company selling 20 copies through a publisher at the same price.

In other words, if Stardock gets just 5,000 digital sales, they will have the same income as a developer who sells 100,000 copies through a publisher. Can you see why Stardock is triving in a tiny market segment (4X Strategy) while Crytek is in bad shape in a major market segment (FPS)?

Ironically, not only is Stardock making a killing despite having a fraction of the user base, they are also spending a fraction of the amount because they're making games that are designed for everyday computers! So, instead of 80% of their production costs being art design, they can spend a substantial amount on actually making the GAME.

This is also the reason you don't see very many significantly "different" games anymore. We live in a flood of FPSs, MMOs, and RPGs. To invest anything significant in making anything out of the ordinary and having it "look pretty" is just too big of a risk.

It is as I posted in the other thread (which should be merged with this one):

The bottom line is this... If you respect the consumers and deliver a solid product, that is wanted at a reasonible price then they will respect you and purchase it.

It does not get any simpler then that despite all the hyperbole, pontificating and monologues as well as perceived rights, ownership and laws.

Well, if you read correctly the EULA for Stardock's game (like the on in GC2), you will see that

You haven't bought a software but a license to use it

 

Also more of a excuse not to buy them after they got them (of course, there is no gray area for shoplifting like there is for digital piracy). Personally, I view torrent and torrent-like piracy top be more of a form of free advertising ad awareness spreading.

Not only that, but theft carries far less legal and financial penalties in the US even if you do it with a weapon. As it stands now infringement is a far worse crime anymore. Things that make you go hmmmmmm.....

Actually, when a game would come out with a new version of Starforce, it would usually take quite a while to crack in a way that was both easy and reliable. Most early cracks usually didn't work, were unstable, or caused MORE problems. Starforce was really pretty much the best copy protection out there, but that was mainly because of the way it operated.

The best copy-protection ever would be if it installed irremovable backdoor software that allowed developers complete access to your computer at any given time. And it'd be totally legal.

Given how many idiots think wiretapping American citizens is okay because "they have nothing to hide", I'm surprised we don't have that yet.

Ah, pet peeve here - downloading a game of of Pirate Bay isn't theft. It's also barely even copyright infringement.

Theft / Larceny means that someone lost for your gain. You STEAL money from a bank, the bank doesn't have that many (yes, it's insured, but whatever), and you have it. You STEAL a car, you're taking someone else's property and making it your own. Someone was directly affected negatively by your action.

When you walk into Best Buy an grab a game out of a box, Best Buy just took a loss for that game (I think they call it "shrink"). They paid Stardock for that game, so they in turn could sell it. When you take it, they can't sell it, and just LOST money.

There is no money lost over a torrent. If you claim that there is, you might as well point out that you can go onto Youtube, type in "Twilight Zone", and say that the 315,879 views it has right now are 315,879 lost sales.

Furthermore, 'copyright infringement' is a crock of shit, as most copyright infringement laws focus on reselling unauthorized reproductions or other means of making a profit. Copyright claims are made on damages, but how can there be any damages when no claim to monetary loss can be made, and no money ever changed hands? The NET act of the 70's is without a doubt one of the most absurd laws ever created. 5 years in prison and $250,000 fine, when there is absolutely no damages to be claimed by the plantiff? The AVERAGE sentence for rape is 5.4 years.RAPE. Civil suits for damages for rape offenses sometimes don't even reach $250,000.

Are you going to tell me that you'd rather someone get raped than have your game downloaded?

In an age of fascism, where laws are made by corporations, why should I obey?

Sins is also provided something most games are not, communication and support. BF2142 could have been a supreme game, but so many people had so many problems. I still can't get it to run on Vista, and their response to me was, "It was not designed for Vista..." blah blah.

Prices are going up, but when the service is there...no one notices.

Clearly you didn't even read my post. I simply can't compete with someone who doesn't read my posts, so I'm just going to bow out and leave this thread.