Piracy and Demos

[Rastien]

A thought has come to mind recently with all the controversy around piracy and the various arguments around it.

Well recently i just realised there are very few demos of games, you find there are some betas here and there but tend to be very few and far between but once they are released the you can no longer play the beta.

So i guess the point im getting to is are people more inclined to pirate as to buy a new game out the gates is a big risk as last i checked most game stores you are unable to get a cash refund usually due to DRM of some sort.

I would assume demos place more of a strain and cost on developers is the reason why they disappeared but im not sure?

To summerise i miss demos £5 for a PS1 magazine and 6 demos was great! pc gamer also. So would producing demos again reduce piracy?

 

[Rastien]

"will put off a lot of people if your game is a complete pile of horse shit."

Yeah i had not considered that stand point, by not allowing demos and only showing you high ress pre rendered shots of the upcoming title it can create a very jaded view.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

It wouldn't be hard to make a demo with a timer on it. Or give it's own little demo level separate from the game to show the gameplay and graphics off. But if more games had demos the "I pirate to try a game out" wouldn't float anymore. Which personally I think is a fair reason, IF THE PERSON DELETES AFTER TRYING AND DOESN'T WANT.

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

Demos are

1) hard to make

and

2) will put off a lot of people if your game is a complete pile of horse shit.

Unfortunately, these days, games to tend to be complete piles of horse shit more often than not, so theres that.

And yes, bringing back demos would reduce piracy.

the demo to doom was a good example of how do do a demo properly, i had never heard of doom saw it on the counter of a local game shop and picked it up for $5 and for that you got a complete chapter of the game a full 1/3rd of the finished product.. yeah it was a risk and my uncle and i played it like crazy but the got the sale for doom, doom 2 at the time and i recently picked them up again cheap.

daggerfall was another great example. its own little world space you could explore seperate from the main game. love it and ive been a fan of their games ever since. haha irronically the first city in the demo was better laid out than the ones in the game

I remember the doom demo cause I remember owning doom before playing it and lost my diskette to install the game. But that is how someone should do a demo if you ask me.

 

[Rastien]

A few really good PC demos that spring to my mind are Starcraft demo i had never heard of blizzard until i played that demo all those years ago. After i played the demo to death uncovered every corner of the map i was really keen to buy the full game and i believe it was the first brand new game full price my parents got me.

Another good demo was grand theft auto 2 for the pc which you had a timer, when the timer expired you exploded lol in a massive ball of fire and death hehe.

"IF THE PERSON DELETES AFTER TRYING AND DOESN'T WANT."

I do feel this is abit of a pitfall alot of people who use that excuse fall into, also i recently re bought bioshock 2 as i lost the cd key for my original game :/ which kinda feels is abit meh :/.

 

[Rastien]

Also not a bad idea having a low cost demo for say £1-£2 being a brit here as thats nothing, its like a sandwhich for the day. If the demo is good enough more than likely you will buy the full game (and if you can carry on from where you left off from the demo awesome!)

I would be more than happy to risk £1-£2 to try out a game before fully buying its a good idea and the publishers dont loose all there possible sales etc

 

[BoredRolePlayer]

A few really good PC demos that spring to my mind are Starcraft demo i had never heard of blizzard until i played that demo all those years ago. After i played the demo to death uncovered every corner of the map i was really keen to buy the full game and i believe it was the first brand new game full price my parents got me.

Another good demo was grand theft auto 2 for the pc which you had a timer, when the timer expired you exploded lol in a massive ball of fire and death hehe.

"IF THE PERSON DELETES AFTER TRYING AND DOESN'T WANT."

I do feel this is abit of a pitfall alot of people who use that excuse fall into, also i recently re bought bioshock 2 as i lost the cd key for my original game :/ which kinda feels is abit meh :/.

Yeah I know people who downloaded a game to "try" claim it was crap yet I see them beating it 2 days later still saying how crap it is. To be honest I bought more games "trying them" then I did reading reviews (Monsters Tale I do not regret paying 40 bucks for at all), because reviews while can be helpful are not good enough for someone with...off the wall tastes and taste that can change at any moment. One day I hated any and all things dragon quest, the next I played nothing buy dragon quest and every bought all the games in the series (Even the original NES copy), so I think demos would help more for someone like me whose taste can change like alight switch.

But game devs and publishers are scared of people play a crap demo they won't buy it, I think they should take a cue from animation shows. Notice how in cartoons the intro is the most animated thing (Most of the time) and the regular show isn't as lively?

 

[Rastien]

Name dropping Monster Tale a game i had not heard of have just now ordered myself a copy looks great ^^

I just find it odd how playable demos have all but disappeared, i can see the cons point of view but would have thought the benefits out weigh them. Would be intresting if someone ran stats on how succesful games with playable demos are to those without.

 

[Wintermoot]

I don,t understand why it,s hard to make a demo just include a random mission
OT
on FO3 and TESIV I pirated it and bought it later (twice both of them!) on then again making a demo for a Bethesda game is hard dev,s should look at HL Day 1 a demo for HL1 that,s longer then the campaign of the newer COD,s and it,s not even 1/3 of the entire game.

 

[zuro64]

I can honestly say that i have downloaded many pirated games only to try them out! If i liked it i bought it if not, then i deleted the files and continue as usual.
But even if the developers cant make a demo in time before the release then do what Blizzard did with Starcraft 2 and simple make a demo after the release in wich you can play the first few missions of the game(enough to make you want more) and some vs AI matches.
I know Blizzard maybe isent the best example since they are a BIG game developer with loads of money behind every prodject but its a very simple idé that shouldent take to long since its basically parts of the original game.

 

[Rastien]

I don,t understand why it,s hard to make a demo just include a random mission
OT
on FO3 and TESIV I pirated it and bought it later (twice both of them!) on then again making a demo for a Bethesda game is hard dev,s should look at HL Day 1 a demo for HL1 that,s longer then the campaign of the newer COD,s and it,s not even 1/3 of the entire game.

Man that half life demo was the nuts and very true words about the new cod campain admitly i have never played cod but my work collegues are really griping about it and felt there should be more single player for the money they paid.