Gameguru Mania

[ggrobot]

Funcom, the developer behind the adventure game classics
The Longest Journey and
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, have announced their decision to stop producing traditional, offline PC games. Funcom, who previously have mentioned MMOs and adventure games as their primary focus, blames piracy as the reason f

Read more...

Source: GGMania headlines
GGMania.com - Daily Gaming and Tech news

[Ozieo]

Pussies, nobody is willing to play online crap.

[Venom1]

Funcom = asshole

[Safer]

I am more interested in where the hell they get their numbers. They cite download numbers here and download numbers there... but how do they get them? Plowing around trackers looking "snatched" counts?

[hairball2]

the numers is probably higher, all thou... so he is "probably" right. Funcom is a small company, and they make good games, so they need to get most out of the games, cashwise.

Online games is the bomb nowdays, wow cs anyone?!?

but episodes are the worst thing that has happend, just hate it...

[Sabot]

If the figures are 200,000 illegal downloads, then surely they would opt for retail only!?!?!?
That means that you get genuine people making an effort to go to a shop or buy from an e-tailer because THEY want THAT game.

Digital/Online piracy is the way forward for the majority of lazy assed teenagers. It's too easy to sit in a bedroom and 'steal' without any effort on their part. Whether they want the game or not, give them an opportunity to download The Sims Xmas Special and they will for the sheer hell of it.

When Half -'brain'- Life 2 was released digitaly, there were thousands of 'bought' copies with stolen credit cards etc and accounts banned!

[xxxx]

Teenagers only huh? Pfff Yes lets blame teenagers and kids for all the piracy that goes on. I'm so sure you're an angel..

[Nosferatu]

Damn, I loved Dreamfall the Longest Journey so much! I don't think they'll be able to make mmo games that are as good as their offline games. Though everybody wants to make more money, so I don't blame them.

[Safer]

hairball2: Or less maybe (I'm not interested in that matter that they make kickass games and deserve to cash in on it, which they do.) - if they cite figures they need to cite sources. Semantics, sure - but it sure as hell beats the hell out of factual errors and smack talk for sympathy like others in the industry op for.

Stumpus: Et tu Stumpus? You seem affixed to the morale of piracy and how a creator deserves a right to get money out of their creation. This black and white viewpoint takes you only to extreme measures on how to counter react piracy or contra: letting it flow freely.

Instead, consider the very nature of this... "conflict" and what lies at it's base:

Piracy is the result of the universal computer where all information is reduced to 1 and 0 and a psychological laziness of the human mind. In such a system, the computer that is, the very fundamental function that makes it work is copying of 1 and 0 from one place in the system to another.

Now, developing software, which indeed is a set complex instructions - unique even, for a system which reduces all information regardless of level of complexity or uniqueness, you will and need to live with the fact that "your" information is being copied around and that there exists no kind of prevention of this which will not brake the logic of the system itself.

Considering this and the fact networking, ergo Internet, has expanded so much it is only logical to take the next step in distribution is via a direct medium instead of spending time and effort on pieces of plastic being shipped around.

By removing the matter of boxed copies and having authentication through online connections they are inflicting one of the most draconian copy protection schemes in existence, superseding the serial key. Even though loop holes from time to time have been found they gain a upper hand;

- Better copy protection control through online authentication.
- Better means of distribution.
- Cost cuts in reproduction and distribution.
- Cost cuts = Cheaper software.

This will hardly curb piracy, but combined with a better value for what you buy, this will and already has convinced many people to contribute by buying the product in question with the bonus of not needing to get their arse not even a millimeter out of their chair.

The morale of copy or to not copy is probably as weak as the attempts to stop it. I for one need not to justify that fact that I download stuff from the internet. But what I do to help the creators is what is more important - get the product "legally" if I like it buy some merch, help the community and so on.

This is essentially the key in getting customers: offer great stuff apart from the product itself. More value. Fan service.
So while downloading it, I might get the software, but not the fun, interesting, maybe even intricate stuff that comes with "the real deal".

In closing; this status quo (will it last), combined with efforts to give more value instead destroying everything with evil copy protection apparatus (Starforce... >_>), probably will level the standings in time.

The great irony is that the soon whole regional economies, maybe even a great deal of a countries economical basis will stand on immaterial property. Judging by history - our leaders do really stupid things when the word "economy" is involved (read draconian law enforcement).

By the way: piracy is NOT a youth en devour. My grand father, 69, probably downloads more then me. On the other hand, we are Swedish.

[xxxx]

Now do you see what I mean about verbal diahrea...

[Genoism]

its pretty freakin easy to find out how many people stole your damn product are you people ignorant or brain dead?
Go to any torrent site, search for the program and 99% of them will tell you how many people have stolen it. Its that fckin simple! Those numbers are probably not even CLOSE to what the actual number is, and I mean the actual number is probably way higher.

I feel for those guys, they spend years making a game(although i heard it wasn't so great) but still, fact is they invested in it, they may have made profit if people weren't asses and bought it rather then downloaded it. We'll never know of course.

All these great places are seriously going to move to online stuff for the protection or just quit and its only because people steal like no tomorrow.

[Safer]

XXXX: Indeed - but I feel better now ^^

[Sabot]

Yeah but it doesn't quite sound right blaming pensioners does it?

Afterall, the MASSIVE majority of illegal music and game downloads are by teenagers -period!

At the end of the day, my point was completely missed -as per usual.

[Safer]