Darwinia

[Chris]

It's very likely that warez copies of Darwinia will begin to surface soon...the game is now in the hands of many customers, some of whom will chose to pirate it. It is inevitable, and not something we should cry about.

If you happen to come across a pirate version of Darwinia, on any site or file sharing network, please do not post about it on these forums. Send an email to the Introversion staff instead.

Thanks

Last edited by Chris on Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:05 am; edited 1 time in total

[AgentX 24]

Aw, my topic got deleted . Anyway, yeah it is a shame, but I agree that it was inevitable, and there's really no way of stopping it. I'm just glad IV didn't go down the Valve route and try and beat the inevitable by annoying the end customers.

[Totallyout2lunch]

You have email....

Im sorry to say, and its not even officially released yet...

[Trust]

Ouch. Warezed already?

[Luigi300]

Yes. 8 people had it on eMule last night.

[Pegas[CZ]]

Trust wrote:

Ouch. Warezed already?

Warezed on torrent network since 2005-03-02 23:55:15

[ruhoward]

one of the "beauties" of the internet

[Pegas[CZ]]

mail to chris sent...

[Major-Geek]

i found it on a dutch usenet forum, i replied with the text that they should not pirate this game the game because the creaters really need the money, and everybody laught @ me

but it is a shame it was a day before it got it by mail. realy nice the green cover, easy to spot if you forgot where you put it

[Stimulantium]

Not a single copy MORE is sold if you prevent piracy. People who like a game and can afford it, buy that game. People who do not like a game enough to buy it, or cannot afford to buy it, download a pirated copy of that game.
So by preventing piracy, you only prevent piracy, but you do not increase sales.

For example, I downloaded Uplink, the other game from Introversion. I did it, because I thought: "Hm ... seems interesting and innovative gameplay-wise, but has a very boring user interface". So I downloaded it. I would not have bought that game if I hadn't had the option to download it. Fact is, I did not like it enough to pay money for it. I played it for a few hours, and then deleted it.

But I realized by checking out that game, that these Introversion guys are creative people with potential. So I kept visiting their website, until now, when Darwinia came out. I looked at the screenshots and thought: "Innovative plus maximum effect graphics possible without artwork". I instantly knew that I like that game. I tried out the demo and although it had bugs (pathfinding, lost explanation script for teleporters), I ordered the full version.

So what's the point in preventing piracy?

P.S.: What are anti-piracy claqueurs like the posters above doing on evil networks like emule, bittorrent and warez forums? Spreading the light? Or looking for some half-interesting games (to them) they would never buy, but don't mind to play if they are "free"?

[Darksun]

Demos exist for a reason. The fact is most warezers will download a game and play it, because they feel if they can get away without paying money for it, then there is no reason to pay money for it.

There is really no justification for software piracy.

[Stimulantium]

Darksun, you think someone who downloads a game would buy the game if it wasn't available for download. That's not true. If it wasn't available for download, he just would not download it. Someone who wants to buy a game, buys it, regardless if he could download it or not.

Each gamer has a certain buget. Some buy one game every month, some buy one per year. Because budget is limited, people buy only those games which they are most interested in. Other games are downloaded (if available). Bottom line is, if a game can not be downloaded, it will not become more interesting, which is the main motiviator to buy a game.

If you are on a holy crusade against software piracy ... well, charge ahead and waste your time (and money) righteous warrior. In the end your sales will be the same.

[xander]

Stimulantium wrote:

In the end your sales will be the same.

Just out of curiosity, can you back that up with numbers? Can you provide me with something other than anecdotal evidence? I know that I myself do not have any data to back up either side of the argument. However, the fact that large corporations are spending time and money to prevent piracy implies that they are losing sales to piracy. If they were not losing money, they would not bother trying to prevent piracy, as profits are the bottom line. If it does not affect profits, why would they bother trying to stop piracy?

I suppose that the other argument is that copyrights are involved, but this argument also leads back to profits. The point of protecting a copyright is to ensure that your ideas remain yours so that you can continue to make money off of them.

I am sorry, Stimulantium, but without some kind of evidence, I am inclined to believe that you are wrong.

xander

[Stimulantium]

Actually it is not possible to prove my statement. And this is also true for the opposite. You can prove neither. This is because: Every game, regardless of copy protection, is pirated. To prove my statement, you would need A) a copy protection that can't be broken and B) two identical games but with different names released on the same day with the same marketing budget.
One game needs to be released with that unbeatable protection and one without. Afterwards compare the sales.

But this will not happen, because requirements A) and B) are impossible (A more than B).

So no, I cannot back up my statement with anything else than anecdotal evidence. And this is also true for the opposite. There is only anecdotal evidence that games with anti-piracy mechanisms (invented against "casual" copying) sell better.

My point is a logical one. It is based on the psychological principle of reciprocity. People give back for something they receive. If a game is good, someone will feel that he received something, thus he wants to give something back - in this case money.

Also think back when you were younger. Chances are that bought less games and made more copies from friends. This is because you had a smaller budget. You only bought the games you really really liked. Would you have bought more games if you hadn't been able to copy them from friends?

Ask yourself today, with your increased budget: Would you buy MORE games (per year) if you could not download pirated copies? Or would you just not download, and keep buying the same number of games you really like?

[Deepsmeg]

Console game: Harder to pirate, more expensive since you have no choice.
PC Games: Easy to copy, cheaper than console equivalents to try and entice you to do the right thing.