...to try it. And just moments ago, I bought it.
Just showing you guys that download-to-try pirates do exist
try proxifier
anywhoo Im waiting til i have enough money to buy demigod
One downside that is overlooked is improperly pirated games, or games that can't be 100% fully pirated and end up causing issues with the game itself that a true demo or retail wouldn't have, and skewing your overall outlook on the game because of it.
One such instance was with Assassin's Creed, when it came out on PC. The pirated version would crash the second you tried to enter the second city and people clamored to the forums with complaints and grudges when all of a sudden it became apparent that they were all using a pirated version, since no one had the issue who were playing it legit. And it was done by RELOADED, one of the best game piracy groups around.
That must be it...
Cheers: Snarl
We would rather you wait for the demo if you want to try it. Many of those who pirate are not trying the game, they are stealing it. And yes, some of those folks would have never bought the game at all.
And we are not "DRM-Free". We are don't get in the way of legit customers. There is a difference.
I do have a question for you. I am in the exact situation as the OP. I got this off of Demonoid Yesterday. I am getting it through Impulse as we speak (47% finished! ). I did the same thing with a number of games: Sins, DOW 1 & 2, Supreme Commander, and a few others. Basically if I download a game and I'm still playing it after 3 days I buy it (this one was an exception, as was Sins for a number of reasons. This one took me a day to decide, Sins took 2). I generally do not bother with demos as I like to see the full game in all its glory to really get a feel if its worth my money.
My question is, what does it really matter whether or not I wait for/try a demo or get it through other means, as long as I pay for it in the end? I don't promote piracy of games. not at all. I only promote spending money wisely. Make sure you really want something before spending had earned money. I work very hard, 10-12 hours a day and I don't want to throw it away on something, anything, that I'll only use for a week or 2.
Is what I do really immoral? Really, I ask in all sincerity. I will stop doing this if anyone can convince me that it is wrong.
P.S sorry to bring this thread back from the dead.
And thanks to all involved for making such a wonderful game, and providing it without system crippling malware like securom, etc.
I am a download to try before I buy pirate as well. I did the same.
I hate demos. I generally pirate and if i like it I'll buy it.
Demo's usually do not give a good indication of what the game is actually like.
Citations needed please. - I would think the opposite - people who get that itchy credit card or impulse buy at Best Buy are, if they're like me, likely to get burned by a game that they find annoying and are then less likely to buy another game after being burned. I think I bought Supreme Commander - just something I thought was going to be strategy but seemed like a twitch festival that gave me a headache. Now if I'm going to buy a unknown game I"m waiting a year or more for it to get to a price I don't feel like I'm going to get ripped for buying it just to try it. A single purchase that isn't what someone ultimately wants isn't going to endear that customer and get him to want to buy from that company again. This isn't quite like movies where you know, for five to ten bucks you can go see a movie and like it or not and not be out 50 bucks like with a game. Fact is the games from this company that are so easily copied - are the demo games - no need to go the expense of creating a drm filled demo when you aren't all using drm anyways.
I think the key with reducing piracy is via online account creation and tying that to a value add. That way pirates _want_ to buy the game, if they like it, for that online account. In Demigod's case the value add is online play and most of their piracy to sales converts will likely be for that.
For me this game was a 15 minute download via Giganews using NNTP and not Torrent. The game was rock solid, stable, fun, and the install converted very cleanly to a registered copy when I bought the game through Impulse. I didn't need to download it again from Stardock and I doubt they could deliver it to me as quickly.
I really think companies should look at piracy as an untapped market. Someone who downloads the game is a potential customer. Your product is your marketing opportunity. How do you hook that person into buying a legit copy, what value adds will bring them over? Can you estimate the market? Can you track the conversions into paid customers? In what ways does the scene increase your marketing prescense?
See, here's the thing about "try before you buy" piracy.
It's not your decision to make.
The creators of a game are the ones who get to decide how their product is copied and sold. This notion is codified by centuries of property law.
If there's not a demo for a game, you do not have the right to decide for yourself that you can make a copy and call it a "demo". If there is a demo for a game (or one forthcoming), play the demo. That's the thing that the creators have made available free of charge. Incidentally, it doesn't cost nothing to produce a demo--they're giving away something with real value that they don't have to give away. It may help promote sales, but if the game is good enough, word of mouth is likely enough to promote sales. Frankly, I wish Stardock wouldn't bother with a demo and would spend that time adding things to the game.
Deciding for yourself that you deserve a retail copy of a game to try out is selfishness, pure and simple. Who are you to decide that a demo isn't good enough? You are not the king of gaming, with all game publishers as your vassals, who owe you tribute in the form of free video games. If there's a demo, play the demo. If there's no demo, and you have to try before you buy, don't buy the game. Nobody ever gave you the right to play any game you want.
Just because you *can* do something, doesn't mean you *should*.
I am not sure Frogboy would state it exatly this way, but I think he feels this way. I gather he believes people will pirate no matter what and if you offer good enough games with real support and benefits to ownership, some of the pirates will buy the game. So in other words, don't screw you customers with obtrusive DRM and offer a reason (quality product, patches, DLC and support) that give the try-to-buy crowd a real reason to buy.
yeah i pirate games as well and buy them if theyre worth my hard earned money, i remember burning 200 bucks a month along time ago when i just buy games that looked interesting when i visit gamestop, but most of the times i REGRET buying most of them............. so yeah i moved on to pirate first and try before buying it. Demigod is one, bootlegged it and bought it after.
This is awful reading.
1) If you want the game at launch date: Buy it2) If you're interested in the game, but want to make sure that it's worth the money, wait for the reviews to tick in or wait for a demo.
I was anxiously awaiting the new Mazda6 to hits the Mazda dealers, but breaking in 2 days before they were in the show room and taking it for a ride, really isn't justified by buying the car in the end. It's just sheer idiocy. (The example was meant solely for descriptive purposes, don't start a "pirating software isn't stealing physical items" thing on me ).
If you're interested in a product you have to abide by the terms of the producers. Justifying it with "they should have provided a demo", "the item isn't available for my country yet" or the likes is the most miserable justifications I've heard in a while.
What the poster of this thread needs to consider is this: if a pirated version of Demigod wasn't available, would he/she have abandoned getting the game? Hardly.
This is called stealing. Developers stealing from consumers. They release garbage software... And you either have to buy it and hope you get what you pay for... or just ignore it and not take the risk.
Sadly there is little to no accountability for gaming industry anymore. They release piles of garbage every month and there are always a few sorry souls who get screwed over and actually purchase the software. THANK GOD FOR TORRENTS. Sadly my friends and I purchased this game and are very upset about it currently.
I think this is a component to the piracy problem that a lot of developers just don't address. There is so much garbage released, games that never get more than a beta patch, software that is barely playable (or just not at all) on release days and all of them seem to charge a similar price despite the production quality varying hugely. I am not supporting piracy by any means, but I can see why people would resort to it. And what is the typical response from developers when a game remains "broken", if there is a response at all, well we didn't sell enough to devote our employees to fix it, or we'll get to it while we finish our next cash cow we hope you will all buy because, after all, sub-par products has become acceptable in the industry. Almost everything else I buy, if its crap out of the box, it goes back into the box and back to the store. Unfortunately, bad games, you're stuck with if you actually buy it from the get go.
Unfortunately, there was something about Demigod that didn't interest me or the friends and family I play with, and I am not so bored that I need to steal games I am not interested in, and have the money to buy the ones I am interested in which already take up plenty of my free-time. I am more interested in what Stardock is attempting to do as a company and their version of digital distribution than anything else.
Pirated it as well. Bought it a day after. Awesome game
No point convincing a pirate, they are to full of them self to understand what they are doing in stealing.
Wooo so special i can dl a game woooooo.
Why would you download it again if it's already on your HD? All I needed was the key I bought online.
The only good pirate (including those who justify 'trying out a game before purchasing' by using torrents, not demos) is a pirate who has been hurtled into outer space on a missle bound for Saturn; with no space suit.
I went to the car dealership the other day and just took a car home without asking anyone, just took the keys and went. I didn't understand why the dealership was so upset, I was going to buy it if I liked it!
The funny thing is that is a great example. Apply that to anything else.
Even on a console game...yeah you can go rent it for $7 or whatever to try it before you buy it but you still have to pay some cash to do that.
Ill be honest I do not agree with people who pirate download games or movies. You can try to justify it in all the ways you want but its plain and simple just not right. Your interested in a game? Then read about it. Go to forums and ask questions about it. Go to gaming websites and watch movies of it. You can get enough information to make a decision without having to pirate a copy.
I guess part of the irony is, is that there are few people in this world who have never stole anything.
I support companies like Stardock, but you have to be realistic and be aware that pirates exist. I think they have the right attitude, not to punish the honest customers with crazy restrictive systems. Most people will purchase products, if they are priced correctly and are of the right quality.
Some people will always just steal.
Oh dont take the hardcore one side of the line or other stance though. In my thread above Im not trying to say Im all high and mighty and have never stolen anything. Sure when I was about 9 I stole a couple packs of baseball cards. Yeah I left the grocery store once and realized they forgot to ring up the dog food I had on bottom of cart and I didnt go back in. Yeah yeah yeah.
But in this case I disagree in that people try ot make it sound like they are all divine and all "I pirated the game and then bought it later...I only pirated it though because there was no demo...but I needed to see if it ran on my system ok so I pirated it...".
Those are just lame excuses to try to justify taking something they are not supposed to. You can do your research and read and watch videos of the game. Ask question on the forums etc. That will give you more then enough information to make a proper decision without having to pirate it.
I too pirated it because i needed it to see it before buying. And since there was no demo...Anyway, i've preorder it here in Europe. Btw, why in Europe it gets released a full month after the release in US? This sucks...
Maybe it's wrong, maybe not, but in the end i bought and that is what counts. Some people would never buy it, even if there wasn't a pirated copy available. Some, like me and others, bought it after playing the pirated copy. Others don't bother and buy it from day 1. Piracy will always exist, but the good part is some pirates actually buy the stuff they like.
Anyway, i like where this thread goes, so much hate for the pirates, lol.
The problem with taking the moral ground like this is that it doesn't work. I mean, look at MP3 downloads. The entire MP3 format is popular because people were pirating music on Napster. People do it today via torrents and 5 years from now it'll be another distribution format. Most everyone downloads music and these same people would never steal a physical CD from a store shelf.
But they do it with games, music or movies because it's digital and they all rationalize it "well, I never would've bought it anyway and it's not like I'm diminishing anything by making a copy, so why not?".
I don't think you can change that and honestly even though people will say "Demigod didn't have a demo, that's why I pirated it" I really really doubt piracy is reduced a whole lot when a game has a demo.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
Sign in or Create Account
