Alternative to Piracy

[Koganesaga]

Maybe actually sell in pieces, so you buy it one at a time, and if at any point you don't like it you just stop so you could spend 15 dollars on a 60 dollar game. Or if say you don't want multiplayer or single player you could opt out that feature to reduce the price to make you happier with your purchase. Of course if you decided you wanted anything later you could also download that at the same price it would have been at, at the time of the original purchase.

 

[clipse15]

Alternative to piracy? Makes brand new games not cost fifty bloody pounds

...How?

Shelling out a few hundred pounds for a console then paying quite a sizeable fraction of what you paid for the console for every game you buy after that. If people want to buy a game but they cant afford 50 pounds which is alot of money so dont even say its not they can either

A) Wait a few weeks and divert money from other places to buy the game
B) Go on a torrent website that very night and download the game for free

You can say what you want about piracy being wrong but people are quick to throw away moral choices when it means an empty wallet.

If you made the games say 25 or 30 pounds then it would be far easier for a person to buy and people would be less likely to pirate something as they cant justify doing so(to themselves) which at the minute they can because of the high price

So you want the shiny graphics that come with owning a brand new current gen console but don't want to pay for the games? You realize that this doesn't make the slightest bit of sense right?

 

[SimuLord]

I've got an easy alternative to piracy. Two of them, in fact. They're called "buying the game" and "not buying the game". The former if it's something I want, the latter if either it's something I don't want or something that is published by Ubisoft.

 

[DividedUnity]

Alternative to piracy? Makes brand new games not cost fifty bloody pounds

...How?

Shelling out a few hundred pounds for a console then paying quite a sizeable fraction of what you paid for the console for every game you buy after that. If people want to buy a game but they cant afford 50 pounds which is alot of money so dont even say its not they can either

A) Wait a few weeks and divert money from other places to buy the game
B) Go on a torrent website that very night and download the game for free

You can say what you want about piracy being wrong but people are quick to throw away moral choices when it means an empty wallet.

If you made the games say 25 or 30 pounds then it would be far easier for a person to buy and people would be less likely to pirate something as they cant justify doing so(to themselves) which at the minute they can because of the high price

So you want the shiny graphics that come with owning a brand new current gen console but don't want to pay for the games? You realize that this doesn't make the slightest bit of sense right?

This is what I hate about this forum. When did I ever say I dont want to pay for games but I wanted shiny graphics? Thats right I didnt

If you read it again you will see that I was saying I would pirate a lot less if the games were reduced in cost from the high price of 50 pounds to 25-30 pounds. Not for free. Ill just say that again. Reduced cost for games, not no cost entirely

 

[Pingieking]

Humans respond to incentives, and piracy has some of the best incentives available to a consumer. Therefore, no it's not going to go away. Companies will just have to figure out how they're going to survive with it, and try to limit the damage as much as possible.
DRM is not the way, since it does nothing to help and plenty to hurt the companies. It's much more likely that the real productive changes will occur through changes in business plans rather than technology.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

Do what Rocksteady did with Batman Arkham Asylum and put glitches within the code that alter gameplay if you pirate it.

Yea, that forum post made news, but that measure was also bypassed before you knew about it. Such methods are also not unique to B:AA and are in reality, very common.

The constant regurgitation of B:AA's DRM is almost as bad as the constant regurgitation of "99% PIRACY! 2D BOY PROVES IT."

OT: If someone can make a better alternative to "downloading the full game to try before I decide if its worth money, then buying it if is," I'd sign up. But chances are in the current state of industry stagnation, no publishing body will have the confidence in any commissioned work to enact a system thats better than piracy.

Of course, they could just start putting cool, tangible shit in the boxes... again.

Meta: That last thread looked like a "piracy flamewar," thus drawing people from both sides out in droves. This thread just makes people think, "derp, u buy gaem dumass"

 

[adledog]

The alternative is glyde.com. you can get games for significantly cheaper and sell old crappy ones you dont want anymore

 

[Cynical skeptic]

The alternative is glyde.com. you can get games for significantly cheaper and sell old crappy ones you dont want anymore

The aftermarket is more damaging to the industry than piracy. As those are actual tangible quantifiable lost sales.

 

[Uncompetative]

Alternative to Piracy?

How about the developer creates their state of the art game engine (or licences Unreal, etc) and builds the first 'Chapter' of their adventure's story. This is then uploaded to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace as a free Game Demo. People download it, try it and if they like it download the next three chapters for £15. If they find the game still holds their interest they buy the next three chapters. If the developers have kept the game interesting they will buy the final three chapters - thus giving them their full £45.

This also allows them to make:

- cheaper DLC, but with more than three episodes (also totalling £45)

- never ending episodic "soap operas" (like EastEnders), which introduce a new narrative arc in an episode at the same time as ending another.

Ideally, there needs to be some way to migrate your avatar to any new engine that gets introduced. It would be part of your Gamer Profile.

As the Marketplace knows what content you downloaded, you can always get it again if your machine is stolen/breaks/house-burns-down - it should also be possible to use your Profile at a friend's house, there just needs to be room on their hard-drive to temporarily cache your DLC.

£45 is a lot of money to stump up for something you don't know you'll like and demos can be deceptive. After all, WET looked cool...

 

[Hashime]

The ability to rent PC games would be a big help, I might not want a game for more than a week but have to purchase the full game.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

The only real and viable alternative to piracy and DRM is making a physical product that the consumer WANTS to purchase. Maybe something packaged with the product or maybe just making a better product. DRM is a lazy solution that causes more problems than it fixes, but that's a whole different topic.

What physical object? A book that a pirate will scan and add as a pdf to his torrent?

If people won't pay for creative works, adding more creative works to "sweeten the deal" won't entice a pirate into buying it. He'll just pirate the whole goddamn treasure trove. People aren't going to pay $60 for a cheap figurine and an art booklet when they want to play a game.

Demanding more stuff isn't an answer.

 

[Kagim]

If we are talking piracy on the whole...

Well alternatives that could work would be programs that allow for both full purchase and single purchase songs for cheap and DRM free. As well as allow buyers to view entire movies for a small fee, make it on demand to. We could also incorporate these two ideas into one smooth program that accepts both credit card and pre-paid cards you can buy pretty much everywhere.

A suggestion for a name, we should call it... I dunno... Itunes?

As for video games? Developers should follow other peoples paths and go with how Blizzard appears to be handling there Products. They give a good incentive for people to register there products now that battle-net hands you the game data and reserves your CD-key to your account for all time. They can still pirate there single player copy but try and get online with MY cd-key and your busted.

As far as i know you only have to be online for single player if you want achievements. If you have a link to otherwise please post it.

I don;t see why steam doesn't create a game renting service and allow players to rent games through them so both Console and Computer games have representation in that sense. Unless steam already allows players to rent games. In which case... I really have no idea why people still pirate.

As long as people can get things for free there's always some snake willing to take it. The best we can do is remind people there are other choices and hope they do whats right really.

 

[rabidmidget]

Make there be some sort of bonus if you actually buy it, physical or digital

It won't stop most pirates but it might lure some of them

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Well alternatives that could work would be programs that allow for both full purchase and single purchase songs for cheap and DRM free. As well as allow buyers to view entire movies for a small fee, make it on demand to. We could also incorporate these two ideas into one smooth program that accepts both credit card and pre-paid cards you can buy pretty much everywhere.

Itunes doesn't just give you the song for free, no DRM attached. They watermark the files with your email and creditcard information.

 

[clipse15]

Alternative to piracy? Makes brand new games not cost fifty bloody pounds

...How?

Shelling out a few hundred pounds for a console then paying quite a sizeable fraction of what you paid for the console for every game you buy after that. If people want to buy a game but they cant afford 50 pounds which is alot of money so dont even say its not they can either

A) Wait a few weeks and divert money from other places to buy the game
B) Go on a torrent website that very night and download the game for free

You can say what you want about piracy being wrong but people are quick to throw away moral choices when it means an empty wallet.

If you made the games say 25 or 30 pounds then it would be far easier for a person to buy and people would be less likely to pirate something as they cant justify doing so(to themselves) which at the minute they can because of the high price

So you want the shiny graphics that come with owning a brand new current gen console but don't want to pay for the games? You realize that this doesn't make the slightest bit of sense right?

This is what I hate about this forum. When did I ever say I dont want to pay for games but I wanted shiny graphics? Thats right I didnt

If you read it again you will see that I was saying I would pirate a lot less if the games were reduced in cost from the high price of 50 pounds to 25-30 pounds. Not for free. Ill just say that again. Reduced cost for games, not no cost entirely

Ya but you realize that game development isn't free right? and that by lowering games to 25-30 would basically mean that game developers are paying to have gamers play their games right?

 

[ProfessorLayton]

No. You could make brand new games ten dollars each and people will still pirate them. The only alternative is to give them away for free.

 

[DividedUnity]

Alternative to piracy? Makes brand new games not cost fifty bloody pounds

...How?

Shelling out a few hundred pounds for a console then paying quite a sizeable fraction of what you paid for the console for every game you buy after that. If people want to buy a game but they cant afford 50 pounds which is alot of money so dont even say its not they can either

A) Wait a few weeks and divert money from other places to buy the game
B) Go on a torrent website that very night and download the game for free

You can say what you want about piracy being wrong but people are quick to throw away moral choices when it means an empty wallet.

If you made the games say 25 or 30 pounds then it would be far easier for a person to buy and people would be less likely to pirate something as they cant justify doing so(to themselves) which at the minute they can because of the high price

So you want the shiny graphics that come with owning a brand new current gen console but don't want to pay for the games? You realize that this doesn't make the slightest bit of sense right?

This is what I hate about this forum. When did I ever say I dont want to pay for games but I wanted shiny graphics? Thats right I didnt

If you read it again you will see that I was saying I would pirate a lot less if the games were reduced in cost from the high price of 50 pounds to 25-30 pounds. Not for free. Ill just say that again. Reduced cost for games, not no cost entirely

Ya but you realize that game development isn't free right? and that by lowering games to 25-30 would basically mean that game developers are paying to have gamers play their games right?

Actually no. If you look at the percentage of the money that actually goes to the developers youd see that the publisher gets alot more than they do. So if the publisher got a much smaller percentage or the dev published the games themselves then they could make quite a profit off of games selling at 25-30.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

*snip*

If games are too expensive for you to buy, wait a little, (it's not going to kill you), and buy the games when they come on sale on Steam or what have you. That way the developers and publishers (who distribute and market the game) get their money and you get the game.

Besides, most new releases on Steam are in the $30-50 range. I don't think they always give you the best deal on the currency exchange, but if my math's right, many new releases there should be in the range of 30 pounds.

 

[manaman]

........

Do you know what piracy is? Or why people pirate?

I gentleman o' fortune fer dubloon, t' fund me evil ways. Ways full o' wenches, an' rum, an' jolly good times. Avast ye! Scrvy dog!

OT how about the prices reflect what people are willing to pay for the product they are receiving which is technically to the companies a license to use their software only. I don't know about you but shelling out $60 for something that the company can decided to stop at any time for any whim isn't my idea of a good idea.

Of course I do pay that because I know realistically the company is going to treat it much more like you bought a copy then paid for a license, and that just cutting off services to people for no reason whatsoever is just bad buisness on their part.

 

[clipse15]

Alternative to piracy? Makes brand new games not cost fifty bloody pounds

...How?

Shelling out a few hundred pounds for a console then paying quite a sizeable fraction of what you paid for the console for every game you buy after that. If people want to buy a game but they cant afford 50 pounds which is alot of money so dont even say its not they can either

A) Wait a few weeks and divert money from other places to buy the game
B) Go on a torrent website that very night and download the game for free

You can say what you want about piracy being wrong but people are quick to throw away moral choices when it means an empty wallet.

If you made the games say 25 or 30 pounds then it would be far easier for a person to buy and people would be less likely to pirate something as they cant justify doing so(to themselves) which at the minute they can because of the high price

So you want the shiny graphics that come with owning a brand new current gen console but don't want to pay for the games? You realize that this doesn't make the slightest bit of sense right?

This is what I hate about this forum. When did I ever say I dont want to pay for games but I wanted shiny graphics? Thats right I didnt

If you read it again you will see that I was saying I would pirate a lot less if the games were reduced in cost from the high price of 50 pounds to 25-30 pounds. Not for free. Ill just say that again. Reduced cost for games, not no cost entirely

Ya but you realize that game development isn't free right? and that by lowering games to 25-30 would basically mean that game developers are paying to have gamers play their games right?

Actually no. If you look at the percentage of the money that actually goes to the developers youd see that the publisher gets alot more than they do. So if the publisher got a much smaller percentage or the dev published the games themselves then they could make quite a profit off of games selling at 25-30.

You do know what a publisher does right? They fund a game's development so ya they get a larger percentage because they have to get back the money they put back into a game. Dev's usually can't afford to publish a game by themselves. So no they wouldn't be able to make a profit selling games at 25-30. If they could be making MORE money by doing that why do you think they aren't doing that right now?