You know, I've found recently that Demo's just don't give you enough room to try a game out. Demo's usually tend to have massive limiters on actual gameplay, thus distorting the possibilities. Sure you wonder what the stuff which is being held back does, but do you really want to waste your money on a game which could be potentially crap in the long run? Demo's can be quite misleading. What is wrong with downloading a game to test out its full capabilities, then decide whether you want to buy it? The trouble with contemporary gaming is that quality isn't always there. Companies these days seem to be pumping out games, many of which I personally find to suck beyond belief compared to past standards. For example, the current Graphics vs Story and Gameplay debate. Many companies seem to pride themselves on their games high graphics, but when you really get down to it, a game is all about the gameplay and in most cases, the games story.

Take Sins as an example of a game with no story, which prides itself on gameplay rather than graphics, though the graphics are pretty good for what it is. (Then add in Bailknights Graphics Mod for combat and all is well in the visual department)

So why can't we download a game in order to try it out, then decide after that trial run that we like it enough for the game to be deserved of purchase? At the moment, demo's hardly ever seem to be sufficient enough to make arrive at a conclusion as to the worth of purchasing a game. This is something I have been wondering for a while actually, as I've seen these debates constantly. I myself see nothing wrong with downloading to try before buy. I do however see something wrong with downloading to sell, or downloading to play alot but never buy. Of course companies need us to buy their games in order to keep producing new stuff, but why the heck should we fuel companies which don't seem too provide the quality of gameplay and story which a game so desperately needs (Not always story of course, as Sins is a good example of a game which runs almost solely on gameplay)

Indeed pirates are possibly an issue for most companies, such as the ones which actually count pirates as being a part of the market, but why should those who download merely to try before they buy be looked down upon, just because they wanted to test for quality before investing their hard earned money?

You can't always trust game reviews. I myself believe that reviewers get paid under the table to make good reviews on some games, because in those cases I myself can't agree with a 9 out of 10, when the game only puts out a 6 out of 10 in quality. I can't bring myself to believe that games get high scores just because of graphics, and in some cases, it almost seems like the well known reviewers are as blind as bats.

So really. Rather than being about piracy, this thread is about the debate of demo's to try a game before buying versus downloading to try a game before buying.