Game Developer's Response To Pirates

cliffski writes "A few days ago, indie PC games developer Positech publicly called for people pirating their games to explain why, in an open and honest attempt to see what the causes of gaming piracy were. Hundreds of blog posts, hundreds more emails and several server-reboots later, the developer's reply is up on their site. The pirates had a lot to say, on subjects such as price, DRM, demos and the overall quality of PC games, and Positech owner Cliffski explains how this developer at least will be changing their approach to selling PC games as a result. Is this the start of a change for the wider industry? Or is this the only developer actively listening to the pirates point of view?"

Comments

Re:About time

[maexio]

Just a logic check here ..

I used to pirate games after I bought them because the pirate editions were generally easier to use and I didn't have to have a disk laying around to play it.

Ok, I know how frustrating 'Insert Play Disc' is.. (Even more so when it gets scratched and then you have to buy another whole copy of Red Alert to play the damn Game!... (thats another story...))

But then you sign off with :

'll finally be able to get what I want, when I want it, and the way I want it. Perhaps I could get back into video games on the PC again

So while the concept of playing a game by putting a cd in was a big hassle, and you can't do all of this 'work' in keeping track of your computer games to put them in the dvd tray, but by the 'video games on the pc again' it seems as though you haven't given up Video Games entirely, just PC Based ones.. Now I'm going to assume you're not the small percentage of people that have an Xbox or a Wii that don't actually have or rent any games (ie, nothing to organize), and so i am forced to ask :

Why do you find it soo much harder to 'mess around with any of that crap' (paraphrased) on a PC Video Game, but on an Xbox / Playstation / Nintendo system, its no issue?

While you're intention was good and to show the benefits of a developer moving towards a customer centric model, the problem is that you've tried to logically explain an apparrent emotional decision to not PC Game.
(Considering most console games are played on a couch type situation 4-6' from the monitor / video game console, while computers are typically within arm's reach of the 'playing location', it would seem that changing discs / cartridges is much more of a pain on the console than a computer?)

In all honesty though, i'm probably just wasting my time pointing this out, as I generally agree with your dislike on current PC gaming, but my anal retentive nature has caused me to point out this.

Load of nonsense

[drix]

These idiots will rationalize for hours given half a chance. All this self-righteous, highfalutin BS does little to mask the fundamental, basic fact that most people are averse to paying for something that they can acquire for free. Spare us the crap--if you steal something (and who among us hasn't), you're just a thief. Ideology don't enter into it. The fact that the person you stole from gave you a soapbox to moralize on doesn't make you any less of one.