few notes on Stardocks DRM policy

actually my first post .. that got me banned... was supposed to be exactly this... but i have a health problem... my blood pressure spikes to 180 and i cant think very well (if at all)... it was 180 when i wrote my first post + my English isn't very good

now its 135 so i think you see the difference.... 

Hope i helped....

I understand that you're trying to say that the reason you won't pirate Elemental or other Stardock games is because it is no bad DRM & otherwise they are a nice company.

Most people I know that pirate games also say this. They say that they will pirate a game to try it out and if they like it they will buy it.

I have never seen one of them actually buy anything they already "own" through pirating. Saying they're just trying it out is often a justification mindgame for them, so they can feel okay about pirating things.

I'm not saying that you will do this, but I am saying be careful that you don't fall into the trap of saying you're just trying out a game, liking the game, and then never buying it because you already have it.

Isn't this your third account now?

well i am trying not to be like that... i like keeping a collection of books and games its just that games are harder to collect since they are 4+ times more expensive

also I was trying to give good feedback on the DRM - its the best out there... both good at keeping pirates away and good at not being a pain to the customer 

Eh...yeah.

I understand what you're trying to say.  

Piracy is not as simple of an issue as most people try to put it.

The rate of piracy of a thing comes down to 3 key things: Demographics. Demographics. Demographics.

If *I* were making a first person shooter, I would probably put pretty restrictive DRM on it because that demographic is much more likely to pirate.

IF something is easy to steal, people will inherently, even unconsciously, reduce their view of its intrinsic value. As a result, people who can afford to buy expensive hardware, pay for their monthly iPhone bill, etc. suddenly "can't afford" a video, music, or a game because they subconsciously treat paying for it as a luxury.

The reason Stardock's retail products don't have DRM is because we have made the determination that OUR demographic is inclined to pay for software and is very sensitive to any inconvenience. Thus, we don't put in obnoxious copy protection because we would lose more sales as a result than we would gain from putting DRM on it.

That said, there are regions of the world where the demographic simply won't purchase IP unless they have to. A Chinese version, an Eastern European version, a Russian version, etc. would have something on it because (and I realize this is politically incorrect but it's reality) their cultures don't value non-tangible property like people in western Europe, North America and Japan do.  That isn't to say that everyone in those territories is a pirate, far from it.  But the level of casual piracy in those territories exceeds the threshold where you gain more by being generous than by protecting it.

People who say anything can be cracked are both right and wrong.  I used to crack games for fun. I didn't distribute them but it was a great way to play with Turbo Debugger and learn assembly language back in the day.  But the Internet is changing that.  Pretty soon, parts of these games will be server based and at that point, publishers will have the option to require a net connection -- a constant one - to play and that's a whole new level of pain.

My own view remains the same - don't treat your customers like criminals and they will reward you with increased sales.  But that is a view that is heavily based on the type of games we make and where we sell them.

no its not my third account - i just renamed this one

nicely put Frogboy ... very nicely indeed ... you have my respect on how accurately you view things... same view as mine

i am already collecting money for Elemental

P.S. for those who might think i am a brown noser ... forget it ... i ALWAYS say what i think .. and the truth and nothing stops me... when someones opinion is deep i respect that and show it! sometimes Truth might get you into trouble but its always worth it!.. .well not always...

I think its his third name.  His previous (Middle) name, VladimirVladimir or something like that appears to have been changed to ScienceMad.  If I had to guess, that's probably the name of the first account that got banned and the forum Mods have been nice and folded his accounts back together.

I made the decision when I bought Gal Civ 2 that pirating was stupid. All I want to do was buy democratically designed games like Stardock's. Buying power matters and I don't even want to play games that are not like this. For example I seriously doubt I will buy any more RTS or FPS unless they are extremely good (like Civ 5 or Disciples 3 might be). The reality is I have little time to play games anymore (some called me Mr the other day even) and I don't feel connected to the games other companies are producing. If people started to show dissatisfaction with the way things are made today, things would change.

I don't really care about DRM and server based content. I look to the future when the interafaces allow simplified creation of user based content that is wholly transferable. Game makers should only have to make the foundation of a game, the rest is better created by those that  inhabit the virtual space.

I think I am saying that StarCraft 2 is not on my buy or play list unless there is something there that I am missing. Same goes with Fallout Vegas and whatever sequels the industry has in store this christmas.

seanw3 I am in the same situation you are   ..i rarely play games.. and i dont like the way they make them today... to simple.. not a lot of thought ... great graphics but thats a secondary trait ... and the industry treats it like a primary one

its games like Elemental that grab me.. ihavent played FPS and RTS since forever... 6-7years...

... but i do care about DRM

..this is still my second account .. but i changed my account name to something that fits me a bit better

i havent bothered to check my first one...

It's amazing how many gamers don't care about DRM though. 

I think DRM-free would work with more mainstream genres, this is an area I disagree with Brad on.

Frogboy I dont like piracy and i dont like theft but the fact that you guys at stardock have not gone down the path of "guilty untill proven innocent" i respect your games alot more. More to the point i dont preorder games untill i hear feedback. That is untill Elemental, because of the way you treat your customers. 

Kudos 

Interesting point, never thought of it that way.

I must admit I have pirated games in the past, mostly because of convenience. Pirated stuff is easy to find and quick to download.

But things have changed. Today I buy 100% of my games and 99% of them come from Steam or Impulse for the same reason, convenience.

I live in world where I continually feel powerless. Pirating to me was an attack on a society that doesn't value my personal qualities. I constantly feel dejected and undervalued in a world of aesthetic primacy, while the ancient utility values are tossed by the wayside. I have since had some other philisophical changes and pirating is no longer a piece of this.

Collectivism is my goal now.

Ah, the real world. How quaint.

Oh, nevermind then.

Instead of fighting piracy, we need more education and enforced responsability. Too naive even for me (globalization? globalization my ass!) but that's how I see it.

That said, future is about Google OS in which you "share" all your data with the internet, only online games (single player or not) and lots of headaches trying to prevent hacks and similars from getting easy bounty from massive data theft.

So we are agreed that collectivism is the best solution.

The respect for intellectual property is often linked to the average wealth of members of that nation. South Korea is also fiscally well-off (reasonably) and has a healthy respect for IP. This world bank wealth distribution map could just as easily be a map of the "Who's Who" in terms of rampant piracy.

Advances in technology have opened up the abillity to sell to poor nations and many companies expected that they could take their luxury products into them and expand their market. However the reality is people who make less than $2,995 a year cannot afford luxuries priced at western world values. At the begining of this last decade, Microsoft (among others) spent a lot of time promising big returns on "The Next Billion Users," while failing to respect the reality of the economy. The result was a lot of sabre-ratling at these countries for their "lax" policies on piracy because many felt they were being denied profits in that market, but the money was never there to begin with.

This has nothing to do with piracy in developed nations, or piracy by governments, mind. Just an observation about piracy also being linked to the economy and not just culture of a given nation. i.e, although piracy is a problem in "China," an individual Chinese person having immigrated to a western nation and making a fair wage here is often willing to pay for IP.

Frankly, there are so many poor quality games being released these days, without demos or any way to test it outside of reading the opinion of some reviewer somewhere who may or may not have an unbiased view of the game and the company. I've got a tight budget and if I'm going to drop $50 on a game I want to know that I'm getting my moneys worth. There are a few development teams that I don't need that confirmation with because I know they do quality work and they've yet to disappoint me with a game. Every stardock product I've purchased has been high quality and I won't hesitate to purchase their software in genres I enjoy. ( That being said, go hotseat in elemental! Please )  Bioware has the same distinction, blizzard used to but the beta of Starcraft II was disappointing as it's just a prettier version of a 10 year old game. Gaspowered games lost that right with the abomination that is supreme commander II. Creative Assembly lost that title with the disaster that was Empire: Total War. I admit Napoleon was far better, it was everything that Empire should have been.

Then there are the developers I've never heard of, or ones that have disappointed in the past, if there isn't a demo I'm going to get access some other way to make my decision. If your company produces products that are worth buying, then people will buy them. If anything, piracy in this form actually gains sales for companies.

If I am skeptical about your game, your company, I'm not going to just throw money at your possibly bad products. I've already got stacks of games that just didn't deliver, hundreds of dollars spent on companies and products that frankly, weren't worth supporting. If I test your product, and enjoy it, I'll purchase it to support the company because I want more of that. King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame is a good recent example of that. It was a little rough around the edges but I really liked the ideas they had for the game and would like to see more from them as a developer, I think they could make some really cool stuff in the future.

If you're selling quality products, people will buy them. Everyone is focused on the companies as the victims and completely ignoring the customers getting ripped off by shoddy products all the time. There's only so much research you can do using what somebody else thinks of a product, ultimately your views are your own.

Kudos to Stardock for taking pride in their work and EARNING the loyal customer base they've got.