Game Developer Asks To Hear From Pirates

[wraggster]

Indie game developer Cliff Harris has long waged war against games piracy, but has issued a call to pirates to tell him why he is wrong. Assuming that developers are missing out on potential sales from disgruntled pirates, Cliff wants to hear specifically from people who have pirated his games. Not to criticize or lecture them, but to answer a simple question. Why? The reasons people give for copyright infringement/piracy are many and varied, but much of the debate has centred around music and movies, with big 'Triple-A' games an occasional consideration. With specific application to the world of small budget 'indie' games like those Cliff makes, he wants to know the thought processes behind people pirating the games. What puts people off buying? Is it quality, cost, DRM, ease of access? Is there anything that can be done to convert those people to buyers? While many pirates often make good general points about the reasons for the widespread pirating of PC games, it's unusual to get a chance to address specific developers with specific reasons. If you knew 100% that the developer would read your email explaining why you pirated their game, what would you say?

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/10/1553224

[that1guywiththeface]

I am under 17, and quite often cannot get my parents to allow me to legally purchase a UMD/Disc copy of the game (when it is M-rated). Or because the games are simply near impossible to obtain new without paying the collector's price (retro/ps1 games). Or because I simply cannot find the games in stores. I think that covers it.

[masterchief929]

i wouldn't email them becuz they would just get my name using my email address.

[Sketchy]

I still believe that most ppl will use the 'price' reason. I mean buying 2 360 game brand new will cost ya like £80 here in the UK.

Unfortunatley not everyone can just wait until they can afford it, I used to feel like that as a kid, new games were like as often as winning the lottery!

For me though i dont spend as much time online anymore, I purchased UT3 3 days ago and still haven't played it, thats probably why i dont pirate games. meh

EDIT:

ease of access?

Hmmpphhhh, pirating the 360??? ease of access?? More hassle than its worth.

[JushinLiger]

Well there are several reasons I pirate games.

1. The console is no longer available - Most people have a Mega Drive or SNES emulator on their laptop of chosen console to play all the awesome classics. If they say they don't, then they're a liar!

2. The game is impossible to get hold of - In my case Final Fire Pro Wrestling. The original game cartridge on GBA is like golden monkey balls, so I downloaded and stuck an English patch on it. I've even e-mailed the developers (SPIKE) asking for a digital copy of the manual, when I explained that I had a pirate copy they seemed really impressed with my commitment to attempt to learn enough Japanese to play it (I'm a pretty big fan of SPIKE, Shinobido is awesome!)

3. Games are Poo - On most consoles, smaller companies release games that are complete $#@!. We've all gone out and bought that game we liked the review of only to find it was a piece of poo. I download games like this to make sure I'm not wasting my money. If I like it, I delete it and buy it. Sometimes I pretend it never exisited.

[myuusmeow]

My parents do not buy me games often (not that I need them to, I have $300 in cash I can't spend because they don't think I should envy others? wtf kind of reason is that), and as I am under 16, I can't drive myself to the store, so I have no other choice.

Downloading older games: Buying them used doesn't give the developers a cent.

[firedragon_jing]

Well there are several reasons I pirate games.

1. The console is no longer available - Most people have a Mega Drive or SNES emulator on their laptop of chosen console to play all the awesome classics. If they say they don't, then they're a liar!

2. The game is impossible to get hold of - In my case Final Fire Pro Wrestling. The original game cartridge on GBA is like golden monkey balls, so I downloaded and stuck an English patch on it. I've even e-mailed the developers (SPIKE) asking for a digital copy of the manual, when I explained that I had a pirate copy they seemed really impressed with my commitment to attempt to learn enough Japanese to play it (I'm a pretty big fan of SPIKE, Shinobido is awesome!)

3. Games are Poo - On most consoles, smaller companies release games that are complete $#@!. We've all gone out and bought that game we liked the review of only to find it was a piece of poo. I download games like this to make sure I'm not wasting my money. If I like it, I delete it and buy it. Sometimes I pretend it never exisited.

These are the best reasons I can think of, about the only reason I would ever, let me add one more option, and this is for mainly handhelds only.

4. Too many games to carry around - On handhelds you don't want to waste pocket space carrying the device and a handful of games to go along with it. With back-ups you can have only your system with one card, and depending if it is a PSP or DS, you can have a good amount of games to a whole collection with you at all times.

[that1guywiththeface]

Downloading older games: Buying them used doesn't give the developers a cent.

I didn't even think about that one. Good point man!

[mooseknuckle2000]

My parents do not buy me games often (not that I need them to, I have $300 in cash I can't spend because they don't think I should envy others? wtf kind of reason is that), and as I am under 16, I can't drive myself to the store, so I have no other choice.

Downloading older games: Buying them used doesn't give the developers a cent.

although, buying used games from game resellers keeps them in business and allows them to buy more new retail games to sell....so in a way, buying used games does/can help the developer

[osgeld]

what ever happened to demos and shareware

im not about to plop down 50+ bucks for a $#@!ty dreamcast reject (psp simpsons game im looking at you)

i dont pirate, and i rarley buy, give me a reason to