This War of Mine Dev Responds to Pirates with Free Copies of Game

[Signa]

So you're prefer to be wrong in an echo chamber than figure out how to be right?

You're assuming that he's wrong and you're right. Not necessarily the case.

He's wrong for acting like this is a bad thing. That's wrong enough. He's taking a win-win situation and saying that one side isn't winning enough because reasons. You seem to be pretty close to his camp, given that you seem to think those steps are as easy said as done. Hell, why spend any of your free time gaming? You could be looking for more jobs and making more money so that you'll never have to think about piracy again!

Look, you're all glossing over the important points here: Whether you are able to afford the game is irrelevant. The pirates decided that either they are too poor to purchase this game at all, or they didn't budget wisely, and piracy gets them what they were wanting, even if they are short of funds. This measure by 11-bit makes sure that those people who do have the funds now know where to allocate their next batch. 11-bit wins, the pirates won, and anyone else left isn't worth the time considering. The ONLY thing I'm left wondering is if those keys went to people that actually should have had them. I think it would be shitty if either you or I ended up with them because we would have bought it.

I'm really not seeing the "win-win" scenario here. The pirates get 10 free copies of a game, the developers lose ten sales. I mean hell, this even goes against the "Pirating is good because if they like the game, they'll buy it" mentality, because why would anyone buy a game they now legally own anyways?

It's a win-win, because just in the comments alone from this news article on this single site, they've already made back those lost copies on the good will they showed. Who knows how many lurkers and other sites also gained more sales by running this. How many people in this mentioned Pirate Bay thread also bought it when they saw the good will? It's a win-win dude. All the rest of the losses are from pirates that weren't going to buy anyway.

I consider pirates and piracy something of a force of nature. They are going to be there whether you're yelling at them, beating them senseless or giving your shit out for free. I can't be bothered to get mad about them, and I feel like few others here are either. Keeping with the force of nature analogy, this measure is like knocking out windows before a hurricane. It sucks, but it's the best way to weather the storm.

I'm sorry but this attitude is terrible. The internet is a writhing faceless mob, yes, but each human has emotions and some semblance of morality, the same can't be said for a hurricane. I'll agree that there's no way to really stop pirating outside of some big bad SOPA thing getting passed, but try replacing "Pirates and piracy" with word like Cyber-harassment or Death threat tweets. Just because the internet is a playground with no rules doesn't mean we should just shrug our shoulders and go "meh. Can't stop them, whatevs"

That is true, but as Steam as proven, piracy is a service issue. It's a reaction (force of nature) that has been created as an effect (and thus, a part of) from the current copyright/capitalist system. You won't ever be able to get rid of it without getting rid of the copyright and capitalist systems.

Death threats are another matter entirely, but I sure hope you're not trying to propose that we actually do something about them. I don't want to be on the internet where free speech is punishable, because, after they go for death threats, they then will go for something else less caustic. Just take them for what they are: a way to vent and express anger. That dev that lost his game on Steam because of his anger is a great example. That doesn't mean it's appropriate, but we need to keep a level head about this if they won't.

 

[laggyteabag]

Sure, piracy is a bad practice, but at least these guys understand why some people do it as opposed to lumping them all into the same group. I like the look of this game, and it is nice to see a good development team behind it too, or at least one with a capable PR department.

Maybe they can lend him to Ubisoft for a while.

 

[maneyan]

Christ has the attitude in this comment section turned sour. Dunno what crawled up people's butts and died on this topic but let's look at the facts.

* Piracy exists, period. For whatever reasons people pirate games and that's it. Whining about how it's "not fair" that they do this doesn't change the fact that it exists.

* What can one do to challenge piracy? 2 options exist
- Slam DRM after DRM on the games that infect the computers with spyware, brick SSD drives and so forth. This will NOT affect the pirates who just crack it and loyal buying customers will be the ones to suffer (and yes, having your SSD bricked by some bullshit DRM is a legitimate issue.
- Grin and bear it as these people do. While one can take the "I am so moral I shit virtue" stance and condemn that they take this stance, most people will not. Instead they'll say "thank you for not bricking my SSD or putting spyware on my computer".

* Numbers are what matters. How many numbers do they sell? They sell X amount, with Y amount lost due to piracy.

* Due to this stance that they will not let paying customers suffer the menace that DRM can be, people are thankful. It's a lost batte to slap DRM on, we know this fact well. This goodwill, this show of trust, if you will, makes people feel thankful.
- Some people who would have pirated it ("fuck you, you're not putting spyware that doesn't even help on my computer!") will decide "you know what, I can respect that. here's some money actually".
- Some people will be thankful to not be treated as potential criminals and decide "hmmm, the game looks interesting AND the developer doesn't show contempt for the customer, SOLD".
- The sheer positive buzz around the game is free publicity of the best kind, making people who otherwise never heard of the game hear of it in a positive way, which might get them sold on it as well.

* This adds up to Z sales in the end. Z < Y is probably true, maybe this doesn't make up for all the stuff lost to piracy. HOWEVER X < Z + X is also true, that is very hard to argue against.

* Complaining about that they shouldn't have to take this stance is at best unhelpful and at worst displaying a lack of understanding how the world works. Every major store suffers from theft and not all of it can be handled by better security; at times it's better to not cultivate a culture of contempt for employees and customers alike (see walmart) and instead take the high ground.

* Also on a final note; isn't it kinda dismissive of the developers to criticize the positive feedback they has given them? I've no doubt that the developers knew of what effects this would have and calculated it was best to behave like the bigger person rather than to spew bile. Applaud their savvy decision instead of whining about people reacting the way the developers wanted to.

 

[RicoADF]

Whether you see what they did as good or bad will basically boil down to personal opinion. I'm saying it's bad because:
a) This is a response to pirates, not a sudden burst of impromptu customer service. Personally I think this is not good for the industry (specifically the indies), even if the PR might secure a few extra sales. Although the jury is out on that one, I think.

So to check that I understand correctly, it sounds like your saying that it depends on why their doing their actions and since we can't know for certain we have to guess weather it's because they truely believe in what their saying/want to do it or if it's them trying to attack piracy the only way they realistically can, using guilt. I can see where your coming from even if I don't agree with which side your on

b) EA & Ubisoft can, and do, ignore/ challenge pirates more effectively, PR be damned, because the sheep will always balance the sales out, no matter how crap a game is. Point in case, Unity has 'outsold' Blackflag despite the litany of bugs. It's not fair to bully the little guy when the major groups get away with bloody murder and will 'never', and I mean 'never', give any freebies without checking with the shareholders. Indies don't have stocks, or Swiss bank accounts and I don't like that they had to make this concession. It sucks. My 'opinion', yes, but a valid one.

That's true, however as I stated in my last post I don't buy games from them because of what their doing, so atleast for me personally the fact that EA and Ubisoft are large companies doesn't give them some sort of immunity from backlash. Your right though that just because I hold to my guns is irrelivant to them due to their size and fan base but at the end of the day all I can do is follow my belief and hope enough share it to be noticed. Recent actions by EA from SimCity, the Sims and Battlefield 4 seem to indicate there may be enough fed up with their bullcrap and their noticing the effect.

c) If 11-bit had said/ done nothing in the face of the piracy I, personally, don't think it would have hurt or benefited them massively either way. The pirates won't stop pirating, and if they had made a crap game anyway, you, I and everyone else wouldn't bat an eyelid. However, they 'did' make a good game. That should be enough, for all concerned. If the PR draws attention to anything, it's that piracy against small developers is rampant and pitiless, and they have no option but to pretend it's not happening, or spread their butt cheeks with a smile on their face while blowing smoke up our ass about "gamers being unhappy with the current state of the industry". I see, and was that 11-bit's fault? Why do they have to give hand-outs while Ubisoft says "we're looking closer at the way in which we release our games for review"? See the difference?

As I stated in my previous post and above, I agree that it sucks that Ubisoft gets away with it but I personally do punish Ubisoft and EA by not buying their games when they pull that crap and I do buy games from any dev/publisher that acts how 11bit has. Granted I alone don't have the ability to make a big difference but if enough of us do this they will notice no matter how large of a company they are. It does suck that indies feel it far more though.

So, a lot of this is subjective. If you disagree, ok, but I still don't have to like it and wanted to express as much. That's all I can say, otherwise I'm just repeating myself.

It is subjective and to personal opinion and I don't believe you have to agree, just responding with how I see the situation and how I personally respond to devs that act like such. Also saying that I believe theirs enough of us doing it to make a difference. Feel free to disagree with my views

 

[Something Amyss]

- Grin and bear it as these people do. While one can take the "I am so moral I shit virtue" stance and condemn that they take this stance, most people will not. Instead they'll say "thank you for not bricking my SSD or putting spyware on my computer".

Honestly, while this game doesn't look that appealing to me, I appreciate it when companies take this approach. I don't approve of piracy, but I do sort of resent the idea that I, as a paying customer, get an inferior product to the people who are pirating. Especially when the DRM affects the performance of my system or the game.

There's also the point that piracy has gone down as service has increased. Netflix, Steam, iTunes, etc have all cut into piracy by providing legitimate means with which to acquire the content.

 

[Recusant]

I consider pirates and piracy something of a force of nature. They are going to be there whether you're yelling at them, beating them senseless or giving your shit out for free. I can't be bothered to get mad about them, and I feel like few others here are either. Keeping with the force of nature analogy, this measure is like knocking out windows before a hurricane. It sucks, but it's the best way to weather the storm.

I'm sorry but this attitude is terrible. The internet is a writhing faceless mob, yes, but each human has emotions and some semblance of morality, the same can't be said for a hurricane. I'll agree that there's no way to really stop pirating outside of some big bad SOPA thing getting passed, but try replacing "Pirates and piracy" with word like Cyber-harassment or Death threat tweets. Just because the internet is a playground with no rules doesn't mean we should just shrug our shoulders and go "meh. Can't stop them, whatevs"

It's because of what you said that Signa's attitude isn't terrible. Software pirates are human beings. Humans can be negotiated with; hurricanes and bombs and runaway bulldozers can't. The shelter-taking and hatch-battening that is conventional DRM schemes may (and I stress MAY) protect you from the worst of the hurricane, but it's still a lot of work for which you pay a hefty prices- in this case, dissatisfied legitimate customers; and you still get hit by some degree of piracy. The only real defeatism in this situation is assuming that the Sisyphean ordeal of directly combating piracy in an inevitability. 11Bit's members can reason. Software pirates can reason. Why not give reasoning a try?

11Bit studios is trying to negotiate. Try thinking of this move on their part not as an isolated action, but as part of a broader campaign to find an alternative way of doing things. Even the most well-intended DRM schemes can and do cause problems; is it really so bad that a company takes a risk to try to start something new?