Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Bruce Everiss On Piracy
I rant about software piracy (and it's equally evil opposite, DRM) a bit. But Bruce Everiss is even more passionate about the subject, having seen a company go from highly successful to failure all attributed to the rise of piracy.
Bruce On Piracy
According to him, the fading of non-MMO PC games in favor of consoles can be directly attributed to the ease of piracy in recent years. And his conclusion is even more grim, from my perspective: In the future, all PC games will be MMOs. Although he also note EA's foray into purely ad-based revenue.
Me? I personally hate these alternatives. I mean, yeah, I like some MMOs, and I play some Flash games that are subsidized by advertising. But if that's all there's going to be, in the future, I'm gonna hang up my mouse. Which is going to really suck, because a lot of my favorite genres are ones that only work well on the PC. And I still greatly prefer FPS titles on the PC over their console counterparts.
Now, I'm the kind of guy who doesn't watch a TV series until it's been out a year so I can watch it on DVD sans commercial interruptions. It saves me 20 minutes per hour-long episode (which is really only 40 minutes), and I'm happy to pay for that privilege of NOT dealing with commercials. I'm also the kind of guy who likes watching old movies and shows (including old black & white films), and enjoys playing older games. I don't want to be stuck playing nothing but the current dreck because the great games of yesteryear are no longer supported by their respective companies and don't have an MMO-style server up and running.
There has got to be a better solution than this!
(Vaguely) related dreck of my own manufacture:
* A Pirate Story
* The Real Cost of Piracy
* PC Game Publishers: Please Hurt Me Some More!
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Labels: Biz, Mainstream Games
- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 8:27 AM (Permalink)
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I imagine the answers will be:
a) making games run from the server even when they don't have to (not great, but it does solve piracy neatly). The developer gets stuck
with maintaining the server, of course... And when the server goes off-line (temporarily or permanently), you are stuck with a DVD coaster.
Unless the vendor releases the server code (maybe as an auto-update) once the game isn't popular enough that it's worth keeping the server up.
b) Product Placement. Well done, shouldn't be a bother. Otherwise, will probably be a major pain...
a) making games run from the server even when they don't have to (not great, but it does solve piracy neatly). The developer gets stuck
with maintaining the server, of course... And when the server goes off-line (temporarily or permanently), you are stuck with a DVD coaster.
Unless the vendor releases the server code (maybe as an auto-update) once the game isn't popular enough that it's worth keeping the server up.
b) Product Placement. Well done, shouldn't be a bother. Otherwise, will probably be a major pain...
These predictions don't do much for ones morale. It makes me wonder just how much of this will come to pass, because I see little hope with DRM shutting down pirates, and rather shutting down the user. I have returned more than one game to Walmart because the DRM wouldn't let me play. Civilization 4 ( or 5 ) and Team Fortress on Steam ( I waited years to play this, still waiting ).
I am one of the people who has quit buying off the shelf titles for PC, and it isn't just because of DRM. They just aren't that good anymore. Dungeon Lords was the last good game I bought off the shelf for PC, and before that it was Balders Gate 2.
I can't even find myself drawn to hype anymore when they say a new greatest ever RPG is coming out. Bottom line has been, if it is for the PC, it probably isn't going to be very good. It will join all the last PC titles I bought collecting dust on my shelf.
An industry can't keep taking advantage of the customer and hope to stay in tact. This behavior has most likely prompted a lot of the piracy. It's not right, but that's the way some people think.
I would say the best ways to combat piracy is to sell exactly what you advertise, no more, no less. Treat your customer with appreciation, not apprehension (other industries still do this). Take some preventative measures to ensure you are not an easy target, it keeps honest people honest.
I am one of the people who has quit buying off the shelf titles for PC, and it isn't just because of DRM. They just aren't that good anymore. Dungeon Lords was the last good game I bought off the shelf for PC, and before that it was Balders Gate 2.
I can't even find myself drawn to hype anymore when they say a new greatest ever RPG is coming out. Bottom line has been, if it is for the PC, it probably isn't going to be very good. It will join all the last PC titles I bought collecting dust on my shelf.
An industry can't keep taking advantage of the customer and hope to stay in tact. This behavior has most likely prompted a lot of the piracy. It's not right, but that's the way some people think.
I would say the best ways to combat piracy is to sell exactly what you advertise, no more, no less. Treat your customer with appreciation, not apprehension (other industries still do this). Take some preventative measures to ensure you are not an easy target, it keeps honest people honest.
(Already posted this over at 20-sided a while ago, but by then everybody had moved to another topic...)
In the future, I believe that the whole publishing paradigm is going to change, radically.
The ultimate solution to media piracy, be it games, movies or music, is to demand payment up front - before you even start making the media in question.
(Yes, this method is currently too unwieldy for multi-million dollar projects, but advances in over-the-web social networking ought to fix that within ten years or so.)
As it is, I’m keeping an eye on the Swarm of Angels project, which illustrates my point perfectly.
The “consumer as publisher” paradigm seems to me to be better in several respects (assuming you can make it work).
Rather than publishers guessing what gamers want, the gamers themselves will tell producers what they look for in a game, how much money they want allocated to graphics, and so on.
(And yes, I am aware that gamers might not know what they like best - the Zelda Windwaker graphics controversy being just one example. Still, publishers make their share of mistakes… )
Additionally, I figure it should be more satisfying for a fan actually to have been a part of the game making process, than simply paying for a finished product.
(...well I guess that part was kind of redundant for most readers of THIS blog...)
In the future, I believe that the whole publishing paradigm is going to change, radically.
The ultimate solution to media piracy, be it games, movies or music, is to demand payment up front - before you even start making the media in question.
(Yes, this method is currently too unwieldy for multi-million dollar projects, but advances in over-the-web social networking ought to fix that within ten years or so.)
As it is, I’m keeping an eye on the Swarm of Angels project, which illustrates my point perfectly.
The “consumer as publisher” paradigm seems to me to be better in several respects (assuming you can make it work).
Rather than publishers guessing what gamers want, the gamers themselves will tell producers what they look for in a game, how much money they want allocated to graphics, and so on.
(And yes, I am aware that gamers might not know what they like best - the Zelda Windwaker graphics controversy being just one example. Still, publishers make their share of mistakes… )
Additionally, I figure it should be more satisfying for a fan actually to have been a part of the game making process, than simply paying for a finished product.
(...well I guess that part was kind of redundant for most readers of THIS blog...)
# posted by 
: April 23, 2008 2:13 PM
: April 23, 2008 2:13 PM
elyandarin:
I have heard the concept before - but I don't see it happening in practice...
1) Before forking money out, unless the publisher has a great reputation, many people already wait for a review or a trial. Paying at concept time seems like a terrible deal, specially for games, where minor bugs can ruin a product.
2) If you are going to just give away afterwards, too many people will just wait till its free.
I have heard the concept before - but I don't see it happening in practice...
1) Before forking money out, unless the publisher has a great reputation, many people already wait for a review or a trial. Paying at concept time seems like a terrible deal, specially for games, where minor bugs can ruin a product.
2) If you are going to just give away afterwards, too many people will just wait till its free.
This is why I'm collecting as much movies/games/books as possible. When it's all DRM'd to death and you can't access it because it's been wiped outt or the internet is swamped whenever you do want to access it I won't have to worry about it.
I currently have 3,500 games (including demos) on my computer. About 2500 DVD's (currently copying to my home file server) and about 1000 paperback books (Have alot of digital books too), and 200+GB of MP3's.
The only online gaming I've ever really done was BBS games and MUDS. I only play computer games (when I get the time), so I don't have the time or patience for console games and I do not watch live TV. (Buy the DVD's when they come out).
and I'm only in my late 20's.....it'll be interesting to see how much media I'll have collected by the time I'm 50....
I currently have 3,500 games (including demos) on my computer. About 2500 DVD's (currently copying to my home file server) and about 1000 paperback books (Have alot of digital books too), and 200+GB of MP3's.
The only online gaming I've ever really done was BBS games and MUDS. I only play computer games (when I get the time), so I don't have the time or patience for console games and I do not watch live TV. (Buy the DVD's when they come out).
and I'm only in my late 20's.....it'll be interesting to see how much media I'll have collected by the time I'm 50....
One company has been doing this with their RPG - Mount & Blade. However, that program's only been going since Alpha. It doesn't solve the problem of getting the game to alpha in the first place (and that's going to be 1/2 to 4/5ths of the cost!)
But I really wonder if something like that might be required. I mean, if the first sale becomes the last sale due to piracy (we had an old joke about selling games in China - that you'd always sell one copy, but it would be played by everybody), that one sale would have to be pretty pricey.
I suspect that the ultimate solution is going to come down more on the side of not necessarily online games, but regular online support of the game. Which is what Stardock is doing. The pirates will have to go through the trouble of CONTINUING to pirate the software, over and over, for years as it gets constantly upgraded and updated for the *real* customers. Or they can wait until the game is 3 years old and no longer being actively updated, I guess.
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But I really wonder if something like that might be required. I mean, if the first sale becomes the last sale due to piracy (we had an old joke about selling games in China - that you'd always sell one copy, but it would be played by everybody), that one sale would have to be pretty pricey.
I suspect that the ultimate solution is going to come down more on the side of not necessarily online games, but regular online support of the game. Which is what Stardock is doing. The pirates will have to go through the trouble of CONTINUING to pirate the software, over and over, for years as it gets constantly upgraded and updated for the *real* customers. Or they can wait until the game is 3 years old and no longer being actively updated, I guess.
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