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Steam vs GOG

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Yes, but there is a lot of hassle with getting illegal torrentz. Quite often they donot work, lack the proper activation keys or downright cause damage to your computer.

If the publisher gives out DRM free versions, than in a matter of minutes it will be available all over the world and their sales would be severely affected.

     
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Big, small… pirating happens to everyone.  It’s basically just something you have to accept is going to happen. Pirates/Crackers will always find a way to break the DRM, and sometimes putting it on there is an open challenge to them to do so!  Everyone has to deal with this - but I will say, QFI has been pirated almost 4:1 with copies sold.  And, heh, the torrent out there is clearly labeled as the GoG version.


Bt

     

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Blackthorne - 23 October 2014 02:20 PM

but I will say, QFI has been pirated almost 4:1 with copies sold.

Wael from Frogwares reported that 84% of gamers playing Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments were pirates (link), so I think he may have you beat. And his game was Steam-only. Obviously it makes no difference to the pirates whether a game uses Steam or not. He certainly lost some potential customers by making the game Steam-only, though there’s no way to tell how many.

     
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I would like to know how people deduce the pirated numbers. I know that there’s huge amounts of data moving on the internet for sure, but in truth the people that actually play the pirated game are a lot fewer than the numbers of torrents downloaded. People download for ratios and habit etc. And some people download for demoing purpose, which - in my opinion - is fine. (I know some people disagree with this.) And even after these, there’s still people that play but would never pay (either won’t or can’t).

It’s been shown again and again how decent digital distribution and cheap prices/sales are the best way to prevent piratism. That’s why I’ve stopped doing it, even though I’m still pretty poor (lots of pirates are students etc. who couldn’t afford the products anyway, and later on when they get jobs etc. they like to be able to support games).

Pirating is still of course illegal and not something to be proud of, it’s just that DRM hardly is the solution for it. I like Steam with all its massiveness despite the DRMs but I prefer to support GOG when the price is the same. And I think it’s super shameful that in some cases the paying customers are indeed suffering from the DRMs and unskippable piracy warnings and other crap while the pirates get a better version of the game.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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millenia - 24 October 2014 05:38 PM

And I think it’s super shameful that in some cases the paying customers are indeed suffering from the DRMs and unskippable piracy warnings and other crap while the pirates get a better version of the game.

It’s possible to get both. Why not buy it and download a cracked version?

You could also send the company $30 and a note saying “here’s some money for your game. I’d buy it outright but I don’t like installing invasive clients and wading through DRM, so don’t bother sending me a copy - I’ll acquire one through other means. Many thanks.”

     
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Yes it is and I can admit that I have even done that (buying a product and using a pirated version), though only in a couple of cases. Also I have used nocd cracks, fan patches and such in my legally bought games, I’m pretty sure many of those are frowned upon too. It’s just the principle that it shouldn’t be like that. I should be getting the best service from the developers and the stores, not from some crackers.

     

Currently Playing: Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Recently Played: Red Embrace: Hollywood, Dorfromantik, Heirs & Graces, AI: The Somnium Files, PRICE, Frostpunk, The Shapeshifting Detective (CPT), Disco Elysium, Dream Daddy, Four Last Things, Jenny LeClue - Detectivu, The Signifier

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millenia - 24 October 2014 05:38 PM

And some people download for demoing purpose, which - in my opinion - is fine.

If you’re downloading the pirated full version of a game like QFI that has a free demo already available, and claiming that you’re doing it to try out the game, I think it’s safe to say you’re full of it.  Smile

     
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Yes, same here. I’ve had to download a pirated version or used a nocd patch after buying the game because the DRM just didn’t provide a good experience.

I also wonder where the numbers come from? I know for a fact that a lot of people download without actually playing the game, some like me download (well used to anyway) after paying for the game to get a better experience and some download to try out the game before buying it (I’ve been guilty of doing that back during my student days and early professional life when I couldn’t afford to just risk the money I had on a game I might not like).

     
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giom - 24 October 2014 07:57 PM

I also wonder where the numbers come from?

Well, in the case of QFI, I’m pretty sure it’s just a case of looking at the number of downloads for the torrent, and then looking at the numbers of sales, and then doing a little math.  Smile  We have access to both sets of info, and the math is simple arithmetic.  We couldn’t speak for other companies though, but I’m sure that if you really wanted to gather that data, it would be possible to do so.

     
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Ok, then I do think that the number of downloads of the torrent vastly overestimates the actual number of pirates that actually play the game. It’s hard to know exactly without somehow phoning home (which is likely to be disabled in pirated versions anyway).

     
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Even if we’re being generous and saying only 50% of the people pirating the game actually ends up playing for more than an hour and as such exceeding what you’d call demo-time, that’s still a lot of people.

     
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Kasper F. Nielsen - 24 October 2014 08:51 PM

Even if we’re being generous and saying only 50% of the people pirating the game actually ends up playing for more than an hour and as such exceeding what you’d call demo-time, that’s still a lot of people.

Yeah, and no matter what, they’re still getting the game without paying for it.  It doesn’t matter if they play it or not.  If you steal something and never use it, it’s still stealing.  And if they do choose to play it, they’re not going to just decide to purchase it if they’ve already got it for free.  People aren’t that generous.  Smile

     
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Lambonius - 24 October 2014 08:57 PM

And if they do choose to play it, they’re not going to just decide to purchase it if they’ve already got it for free.  People aren’t that generous.  Smile

I’ve actually done just that, downloaded a game, played it and then paid for the game in full. Maybe I’m out of the norm but if I was downloading a game like that as a demo, I actually would definitely follow through and buy it if I actually enjoy it. It’s a bit of a grey area I admit though and I don’t do this now anymore but I can understand students who are cash poor doing it. I can understand though that it hurts seeing people download your game after having spent many hours working on it. I think the best is to focus on the positive, on the people who actually pay for the game.

Now, if I were designing a game, I think I would upload a special copy of the game that would fail about 3/4s in telling the user that it’s a pirated game and that they should pay for the full version if they want to finish the story. It’s extra work, but I wonder if it would help in term of sales.

     
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Oh come now giom, that’s a bit ridiculous. Imagine borrowing a book from the library and finding the last quarter is blank, telling you to go buy it. Game makers are really quite childish. When they grow up (in about 50-100 years) their attitude will shift to the same attitude authors have about libraries, and see the good side of spreading their work about.

     
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Zifnab - 24 October 2014 10:38 PM

When they grow up (in about 50-100 years) their attitude will shift to the same attitude authors have about libraries, and see the good side of spreading their work about.

At least where I live, authors gets compensation for having they books in libraries.

     

You have to play the game, to find out why you are playing the game! - eXistenZ

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