Machinarium Developer Offers Pirates Amnesty

The Random One

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Eh, jerks. Being nice to them won't work, but being evil to them won't either. Despite some pirates' high act, truth is most of the people who pirate just want a free thing.

Also, I can't help noticing that there aren't any posters clamoring the right to pirate on this thread, while they pile up on any thread about Ubisoft and Activision. How curious.

I could buy it just to support them, but I have a huge backlog of unplayed indie/classic games, and I played through the demo and they managed to combine the beautiful, unique style I've come to expect from them with gameplay that takes the worse things out of adventure games and somehow makes them worse (like only being able to interact with things with your range, which is like pixel hunting only more annoying). I'll sit here and wait for Samorost 3 to come out. That one is just fucking brilliant.
 

The_Puppy_Prince

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Dont pick on indie games pirate's >.>
If youre pick on someone
Pick on Nintendo,or EA
You know the EVIL companies
 

praetor_alpha

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Mar 4, 2010
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Just picked it up. I played the online demo, the music was awesome, so I went all for it. I still have to play through the humble indie bundle. I got World of Goo on Steam a year or two back, also good.
 

Phishfood

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19:1 piracy ratio is damn shocking. Saying that, I used to know a guy who pirated everything going and never ever played/watched any of it. Wonder how many other people do that.

Of course, once again its a number without a source. Is the number correct? More likely its the highest possible number of downloads from available statistics + % for unseen statistics. Here's a question, how many people pirated the game then got bored partway in, the way I just did with the demo? (looks like its not my thing)
 

ThaBenMan

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Mar 6, 2008
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The Random One said:
Also, I can't help noticing that there aren't any posters clamoring the right to pirate on this thread, while they pile up on any thread about Ubisoft and Activision. How curious.
Welcome to the Escapist, my friend - it is a bastion of all that is good and right with gaming. Aminata Games made an excellent game with Machinarium, and so the people of the Escapist will recognize that, and treat it accordingly.
 

Asehujiko

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JaymesFogarty said:
So, up to 95% of the game was pirated? Even though it was obvious that they were indie developers? Whatever happened to the, "noble cause against huge corporation," bullshit I heard about earlier?
"try before you buy"? Like, you know, a non-functional demo isn't a good representative of the game? Well, it turns out that the full game didn't work either, hence I didn't bought it then and have no intention of buying this either, regardless of their "amnesty" for me protecting myself from getting ripped off with a useless blob of used disk space.
 

Cody211282

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JaymesFogarty said:
So, up to 95% of the game was pirated? Even though it was obvious that they were indie developers? Whatever happened to the, "noble cause against huge corporation," bullshit I heard about earlier?
I never believed that, all pirates are cheap bastereds trying to find an excuse for stealing.
 

Ashendarei

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I applaud their approach to no-DRM madness, and I'm glad to see that they've been contacted by many people who said they downloaded it and wanted to purchase it :D
 

Kurokami

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MisterShine said:
I've been meaning to pick this up for a while now..

/sniff

It's so sad to see that the pirates will abuse even these tiny indy developers. I'm sure many of the pirates have mitigating circumstances, but you know a lot of them are just cheap assholes.

Screw sale price, I'm buying it full when it goes off-sale!
Hot-damn, I salute you!

Can't say I'm quite as decent, a good game goes on sale and I'm either waiting for it to go lower or have already gotten it.
 

paragon1

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Greed should surprise no one.

Still, it's nice to see people keep a friendly spirit like this.
 

ionveau

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i played 2 levels of this game and i thought it was bad, that said

Why this game was pirated so much? well i buy the game i give it to my friend my friend gives it to his friend his friend gives it to his friend etc, this game has NO DRM

trust me big company's like EA have DRM on their games not so that online pirates "steal" the game but to stop You from giving the game to your friend witch is also piracy
Assassin creed tried to stop Friend sharing piracy and online piracy at the same time, even though it worked for the first 3 months it got cracked.


So Overall DRM is a useful thing even though it dosent stop online piracy it stops you from sharing your legit game with your buddys and thats why company's keep it, So in a way yes you are all thieves but thanks to DRM you cannot share your legit copys with friends, same cannot be said for online sharing
 

LawlessSquirrel

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Poor guys, I have a soft spot for the indie developers. The game's worth the money, it stands out as what's become an increasingly rare enjoyable modern point-and-click adventure game.

Only games I've ever pirated were ones I'd also paid full price for (countering disk damage, compatibility problems and such), doesn't seem fair otherwise, considering the time and money it takes to make them.
 

theultimateend

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Ewyx said:
Just out of curiosity, how are these piracy statistics measured?
Quite easy actually. You just do the calculations like this.

Piracy == 95% of downloads.

Doesn't matter what you are talking about. It's the same number everyone uses. Yet when a game or a console (like the PS3) basically curb stomp Piracy for a period of time, their sales don't jump 95%.

They don't jump more than a percent or two and that's usually a very dramatic case.

The failure in understanding is assuming A) that piracy = lost sale and that B) every download of a game is a case of piracy.

I know it boggles the mind, I don't personally pirate, but I imagine that the process I acquire PSP games for my modded PSP certainly assist those that do. I buy the game, then I grab a torrent of it, then I drop it on my PSP. Why? Because it's modded so that I can have all my games on a 32 gig memory stick. Also I can play PSX games that way as well.

I recently learned how to just rip the games once I have them so now I don't even need to do that. Of course, if the PSP didn't force me to update (unnecessarily) with every new game I'd probably just play most of the games without doing either (since I rarely like one so much I want to take it with me on long trips).

Regardless, this is just one example of how "Oh shit someone downloaded my game! Lost Sale!" is patently false, as I purchased their game before I did. For anyone feeling like quoting this and saying "Bullshit." I really don't care if you believe me, if I did I'd have pm'd you and asked for your trust in me.

But yeah. Piracy tends to be the excuse. But in the end, in the case of this game for instance, I had never even heard of it. I'm pretty sure that hurt it more than Piracy.

Cody211282 said:
I never believed that, all pirates are cheap bastereds trying to find an excuse for stealing.
Mmmm Fundamentalism! Your deliciousness comes in all flavors I see.

I'm not arguing with you, but generally speaking when you say "All X" when discussing any living thing (and many nonliving things) you are wrong. In some cases so wrong that if wrongness was an illness you'd have a terminal case of it.

I can name a few folks who pirate and are certainly greedy assholes who should be tazed in the scrotum daily. But I know from a past life (my teen years) and far more friends that this is hardly the case. There is at least a thousand dollars in video games within this house alone that prove your statement false.

Plus it ignores the fact that if all material in existence could be replicated in the same fashion as digital goods our views of theft would be greatly different. "That asshole stole my hamburger...well I guess I'll instantly replicate a new one."

What is being stolen is not a product, it is time, the time the developers put into the product (Money is just a reimbursement for time lost to productivity for instance). If we criminalize the theft of time then we best begin filing suits against everyone who hold us up in unnecessary traffic or slows the line at the DMV.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do the above, nor am I saying Piracy is "awesome and should be supported". Just feel that blanket statements don't keep anyone warm and tend to make the blanket maker look foolish. Like I imagine some of my overstretched statements have made me look foolish.

Think of all things in the context that they would be judged if their unique qualities were not unique. That way you get an honest view of the topic at hand.

Not that you asked. So meh.

PS. Since we are discussing Indie developers, check out Minecraft. Best 9.99 euros you'll spend for a long time I'm sure :). (Or Dwarf Fortress which is free, but donations are soooo worth it.)
 

shiajun

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ionveau said:
i played 2 levels of this game and i thought it was bad, that said

Why this game was pirated so much? well i buy the game i give it to my friend my friend gives it to his friend his friend gives it to his friend etc, this game has NO DRM

trust me big company's like EA have DRM on their games not so that online pirates "steal" the game but to stop You from giving the game to your friend witch is also piracy
Assassin creed tried to stop Friend sharing piracy and online piracy at the same time, even though it worked for the first 3 months it got cracked.


So Overall DRM is a useful thing even though it dosent stop online piracy it stops you from sharing your legit game with your buddys and thats why company's keep it, So in a way yes you are all thieves but thanks to DRM you cannot share your legit copys with friends, same cannot be said for online sharing
By sharing amongst friends do you mean lending or making a copy and then giving it out? First option is completely legit, as there is no transaction ocurring, the same copy that was bought is just moving around, hopefully going back to the original owner. If it's the second, well yes, it's piracy. Problem is current DRM schemes kill both options at the same time, thus removing yet another right I should have after I've bought something. I'm not advocating piracy, just saying that DRM as it is right now proves to be more incovenient and unjust than useful. A game with no DRM would have to be deleted from computers and then lent to assure that only one instance of said purchase is currently in existance. I'd probably do that if I like the game and wanted to promote it.
 

BlueCrossBlueShield

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Seventh Actuality said:
What you have to remember is that a good number of those 'illegal' downloads will have been by people who bought the game legally then found they couldn't play the bloody thing. Still, good of Amanita to roll with it like this. :)
Excuse me, what?

This game is playable. It has no super-DRM or annoying side programs. Also, look at the percentage. 95%. If every person in the legitimate 5% decided to pirate also, then that would only make up 5% of the pirating 95%, and I seriously doubt that even that would happen.

Perhaps a couple main reasons why people pirate is because:
(1.)It's easy, and only a few clicks away.
(2.)It's free for them.
 

daftalchemist

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I didn't know the game came with the soundtrack! The first thing I thought after beating the game (I bought it on a Steam sale, btw) was how much I wanted the street band's song, and I've had it all along!
 

UnSub

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DarkHuntress said:
Correct me if I am wrong but I don't think pirates give a horse's foot about amnesty.
They don't, but this is an attempt to get people to pay at least something to the developer.
 

Lukeje

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Feb 6, 2008
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Huh; I just finished this yesterday (I got hold of it in the Steam sale a while back). I highly recommend it, especially at this low price! Even if it doesn't convince the `pirates' to buy a legal copy, this campaign should at least give them some much needed publicity.