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Great article about copy protection (and the lack thereof)

MessiahMessiah Failed Experiment
in Zocalo v2.0
[url]http://www.gamespot.com/pages/news/story.php?sid=6145864&page=0[/url]

Comments

  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Yes I have been following this on digg and (the slower responding) slashdot. I borrowed a copy from a friend and I'm still evaluating if I like the game or not. If I do I'm going to buy it.
  • RhettRhett (Not even a monkey)
    Here's a quote that I love, from the lead developer of GalCiv2, and I think that more developers/producers should take it to heart:

    [quote]Any copy protection system, in my opinion, should be focused on trying to increase sales--not stop piracy. The two aren't the same. Most people who pirate a software product would never have purchased it. It's pointless to waste time on those people. The people to focus on are the ones who might have bought your product or service but chose not to because it was easier to pirate it.[/quote]
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I also like that they point out the obviousness of the apps approach: app developers suffer just as much from piracy, and yet they arn't anywhere near as draconian in their requirements for using the software.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    I have also heard from hearsay that adobe looks the other way when their products are given an extended trial for personal use. I'm sure adobe's thinking is the same - these people wouldn't have bought it (most cant afford it) anyways, so there is no loss to sales.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    There is also the arguable try-before-you-buy thing. In games, you can almost always get demos. In app software, it's very rare to get trial versions of any of the high--level apps like Photoshop, Maya, Office, etc. This could be part of the reasoning game publishers use to take a different approach.
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Also, I've been burned in the past by demos which were better than the games they were supposed to sell...
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Also a multiplayer demo would be great as multiplayer is another experiance altogether (and can even save a crappy single player game) But then again that brings us to [URL=http://forums.firstones.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9268]this conversation[/URL]
  • ArethusaArethusa Universal Cathode
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by croxis [/i]
    [B]I have also heard from hearsay that adobe looks the other way when their products are given an extended trial for personal use. I'm sure adobe's thinking is the same - these people wouldn't have bought it (most cant afford it) anyways, so there is no loss to sales. [/B][/QUOTE]
    It's more than that. Adobe is fairly well known to have tacitly supported the mass piracy of their software for several years. No one pirating it is going to buy it anyway, and they know that. Their market was never millions of kids on Something Awful. And what happens when those millions of kids grow up, proficient in graphic design in Photoshop? They get jobs supporting the industry Adobe serves. They only stand to gain, and they know it.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Yes. Adobe essentially gets new recruits to its software, rather than a bunch of people who grow up with the free (or easier to pirate) alternatives and prefer to use those instead. However, try and sell Photoshop illegally, or try and make a living off a pirated copy, and if they find out they'll come down on you like a ton of bricks. Because then you have no excuse.
    It's essentially the same reason they opened up the PDF standard. Make something easier to adopt and people are more likely to adopt it.
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