Introversion

We've taken some steps to ban a small number of Defcon keys that were in wide usage illegally. After looking at our logs we noticed that just five keys we're in use by around 10,000 gamers, so we've put a stop to that now. If your key stopped working today then we're sorry, and we'd like to request that you now pay for the game you've been enjoying all this time.

If you are one of the five who actually owns the keys that are in widespread use, well we don't really want to hear from you. The two of you who were Steam users have had their steam userID and email reported to valve for abuse.

Defcon key abuse is actually pretty rare - those five keys account for something like 90% of the pirate copies of Defcon. This means the vast majority of our players are fair paying customers, and we thank you all for that.

Wow, I'm surprised at that. I don't know why, because piracy is everywhere and it's hard to prevent or, more importantly, discourage.

On a slightly related note, I wonder if some of the less respectable players that have been appearing lately will now disappear...

(and for the record, my key still works, obviously)

Chris wrote:
If you are one of the five who actually owns the keys that are in widespread use, well we don't really want to hear from you. The two of you who were Steam users have had their steam userID and email reported to valve for abuse.

what if you're key was genererated and it had nothing to do with you??

I don't actually know if I've been banned but just wondering

EDIT:: Just to make it clear I didn't leak a key

I never needed to get a key like that, or leak it, got 5 keys, 4 free from the launch party, and the one I bought.

Thing is the one I use...well it keeps coming up unknown, meh go figure.

Chris, for the cost of this little gem, I'm surpirised that you have a pirate problem. I can't understand why people can't, or sadly won't, support an indie company like yourselves. Glad you have a way of stopping the little blighters

Well, maybe the people who pirated the game will consider the time they have used it for as an extended demo time. And hopefully, they will have liked the game enough to buy it. We shall see!

10,000 gamers. . . I didn't know Defcon was so popular. Any count of the total number of players?

Since only five keys were the issue I imagine Chris is right that it was people letting their key out. If it were a key generation thing you'd expect to see a lot more keys involved.

its good to know you've blocked them. I once had this response from a player ''wait...you actuall paid for this game''. (they weren't a demo btw). 10000 players...thats a nice catch

It's good to see the issue was so (apparently) easy to deal with. Do pirate accounts simply turn up as unauthorised at the client end or do they get that hilarious piracy warning?

KingAl wrote:It's good to see the issue was so (apparently) easy to deal with. Do pirate accounts simply turn up as unauthorised at the client end or do they get that hilarious piracy warning?

It should come up as "KEY REVOKED". Infact, if I've still got my old beta key lying about, I'll give it a quick go and tell you what a revoked key will say...

Edit:




NeoThermic

Aaaw, 'Key Revoked' is no fun.
Hey, Wait! Isn't that exactly where 'Gamevertising' should go? (as in Mark's blog)
Like maybe, a redirect to the encore.com product page? I don't know where pirates go to shop (if they do).
AAaaaarrrrgh!

KingAl wrote:It's good to see the issue was so (apparently) easy to deal with. Do pirate accounts simply turn up as unauthorised at the client end or do they get that hilarious piracy warning?

Those are awesome. The smileys in the IP address were perfect

But it makes me very sad to see that people would steal from a small developer. They need to rot in jail.

Oh no, all my 5 keys no longer work!!


jks

Say what?

This is so dumb it's almost funny... for the cost of this game, I would even have been able to buy it back in high school. Heck, when I saw the price I just dropped game+boxed copy in the cart instantly; just downloading demo to see if it runs as an afterthought. And when it runs, I'll be checking out.

What kind of... I mean... who would even do such a thing? It's... somewhat understandable, if nothing else, that people won't pay $70 to some bigtime corporation for some shoddy expansion to an already shoddy game (not mentioning any names, but let's say it's got something to do with life simulation) - but to pay, what, 1/5 of that for a full-fledged game to the people behind my long time companion Uplink (and even get a boxed copy for the collection almost free of charge!)... good grief. [/rant]

TVPR wrote:...
What kind of... I mean... who would even do such a thing? It's... somewhat understandable, if nothing else, that people won't pay $70 to some bigtime corporation for some shoddy expansion to an already shoddy game (not mentioning any names, but let's say it's got something to do with life simulation)...

desktopsimmer wrote:Chris, for the cost of this little gem, I'm surpirised that you have a pirate problem. I can't understand why people can't, or sadly won't, support an indie company like yourselves. Glad you have a way of stopping the little blighters

Sorry for the "push", but i think it's useful.

It was sent to these two already, but i think, it's better if this text is public:

Culex wrote:I don't want to push the thread, but, you have said, you can't understand why people do this.

Here are three possiblities why:
1. The parents are against (such) games and don't permit buy.
2. In germany nobody wants to pay for something. It's in their heads.
3. The person needs every cent for something more important, like a car.

Only to say.
I don't pirate IV games, only play the demo. REST REMOVED

Additionally, i forgot to add, that i hate pirating, it's very lame. Because nobody will run into a store and take a GameBoy, goes out and don't pay for it, or?