Poll: Neil Gaiman on Piracy.
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The game Mount and Blade do a similar form of advertising where you can play the full game for a period of 10 in game days and then its stops and says you must pay for the full version however you can play those 10 days however much you want and since i enjoyed it so much i bought the game for the full price of £15 (or something like that) which one is significantly cheaper then most full games these days with similar amount of content and other then that demo has no DRM otherwise.
Give people a chance to play a game to its fullest for a short period of time and if the game is good they will buy it if the game is bad or mediocre then they won't. This only enhances quality within games and will also drop the prices for said games if they don't have DRM since thats one other things they don't have to commision out that will cracked within a few days anyway. Another example of this is sins of a solar empire which was also a brilliant game that i found out through its excellent demo.
Give people a chance to play a game to its fullest for a short period of time and if the game is good they will buy it if the game is bad or mediocre then they won't. This only enhances quality within games and will also drop the prices for said games if they don't have DRM since thats one other things they don't have to commision out that will cracked within a few days anyway. Another example of this is sins of a solar empire which was also a brilliant game that i found out through its excellent demo.
It's the same thing Cory Doctorow says, and very similar to what Baen books does, for the same reasons. I believe he is correct.
I wish I had known American Gods was online for free like that. I own the dead tree edition, but I would love an ebook edition to read on my phone. I don't want to have to buy it again just for that.
I wish I had known American Gods was online for free like that. I own the dead tree edition, but I would love an ebook edition to read on my phone. I don't want to have to buy it again just for that.
I agree with him. Without Limewire, iTunes would be missing $130 of my money. Without torrents, Bethesda would not have my $30 for Oblivion. Without the damn library, Dark Horse would not be getting $3.50 a month from me when I buy the latest Hellboy issue.
Anecdotes aside, piracy is just as likely to provide free publicity as it is to cause financial problems for the creator/developer/musician. There are certainly some that pirate things instead of buying them, but the vast majority of pirates--hell, everyone I've talked to about the subject--either never planned to buy it anyway, or liked what they got and then went and bought it, or at least a bunch of other media from the same source.
I'm not saying piracy is a brilliant sales strategy, but it often ends up inadvertently helping more than it harms.
Anecdotes aside, piracy is just as likely to provide free publicity as it is to cause financial problems for the creator/developer/musician. There are certainly some that pirate things instead of buying them, but the vast majority of pirates--hell, everyone I've talked to about the subject--either never planned to buy it anyway, or liked what they got and then went and bought it, or at least a bunch of other media from the same source.
I'm not saying piracy is a brilliant sales strategy, but it often ends up inadvertently helping more than it harms.
I agree, If i find a good book/author online, i download what i can to see how good it is. Then if i like it i will try to find it in bookstores, but i rarely do. Audio books are more easily available, and an easy way to find out if you like it or not.
When i bought American Gods, i was already halfway through the audio book. That only encouraged me to buy it, knowing how awesome it is.
Without piracy i would (probably) never have found: The Dark Tower, Mistborn, American Gods, Hyperion, H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon, or Azincourt. But they are all sitting comfortably in my bookshelf.
Make of it what you will, but piracy has never kept me from buying a book.
When i bought American Gods, i was already halfway through the audio book. That only encouraged me to buy it, knowing how awesome it is.
Without piracy i would (probably) never have found: The Dark Tower, Mistborn, American Gods, Hyperion, H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon, or Azincourt. But they are all sitting comfortably in my bookshelf.
Make of it what you will, but piracy has never kept me from buying a book.
The argument from 'people are inherently good, and once they've realised they like it will buy the product' is fine until it runs up against one crucial barrier.
People are not good, and the vast majority who get something for free will have two things happen to them.
1. They will not then spend money on something they already own, illegally or not, for free.
2. They will develop the entitlement complex so noticeable, especially amongst gamers, that they somehow have a right to the luxury items. Since they own a 360, but don't now have the money to buy more games for it, of course they should pirate those games! Otherwise what would they use the 360 for?
Pretty much anything besides food and shelter is a luxury. If you are a good person fine, bully for you, I hope you have much fun with people who honestly believe that people won't take something for nothing.
Humans are selfish, greedy, entitled bastards in every way though, and the occasional nice guy doesn't balance them out.
Remember that Indie bundle that sold for any price, as long as it was some money? Yeah, also remember when a rather large number of people still pirated it? There shouldn't even be a fucking argument here.
People are not good, and the vast majority who get something for free will have two things happen to them.
1. They will not then spend money on something they already own, illegally or not, for free.
2. They will develop the entitlement complex so noticeable, especially amongst gamers, that they somehow have a right to the luxury items. Since they own a 360, but don't now have the money to buy more games for it, of course they should pirate those games! Otherwise what would they use the 360 for?
Pretty much anything besides food and shelter is a luxury. If you are a good person fine, bully for you, I hope you have much fun with people who honestly believe that people won't take something for nothing.
Humans are selfish, greedy, entitled bastards in every way though, and the occasional nice guy doesn't balance them out.
Remember that Indie bundle that sold for any price, as long as it was some money? Yeah, also remember when a rather large number of people still pirated it? There shouldn't even be a fucking argument here.
I'd hever heard Neil Gaiman speak before, although I personally own a couple of his books, and that man just convinced me to buy all of his books, just by being calm and rational.
And he's quite an excellent speaking, besides.
And he's quite an excellent speaking, besides.
so wait, having a friend come up to and say "I just read this book, i love it, you should really check this out" and going to the pirate bay and searching "Neil Gaiman" are the same thing now?
Yeah, but the thought i was trying to express is that if you're searching for a torrent for something, you likely have some prior exposure to it, you know enough about it to want it. A friend can be lending you a book that you've never heard of, have no exposure to and probably wouldn't think to download a torrent full of the authors work.HG131 said:
He was travelling and doing promo-readings from American Gods before it went to print, and he happened to do one at one of my favorite pubs in Oslo. He read two (or three, long ago ^_^) full chapters and hell yea, a very excellent speaker indeed.Aerodyamic said: