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Stardock Declares Victory Over Demigod Piracy
We recently got a look at some hard numbers related to the piracy of Demigod , a new game from Stardock and Gas Powered Games. Now, two weeks later, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has essentially declared the game a success in spite of the piracy, and reaffirmed the company's stance that intrusive DRM is a bad thing. The game's sales figures seem to bear him out. Quoting:
"Yep. Demigod is heavily pirated. And make no mistake, piracy pisses me off. If you're playing a pirated copy right now, if you're one of those people on Hamachi or GameRanger playing a pirated copy and have been for more than a few days, then you should either buy it or accept that you're a thief and quit rationalizing it any other way. The reality that most PC game publishers ignore is that there are people who buy games and people who don't buy games. The focus of a business is to increase its sales. My job, as CEO of Stardock, is not to fight worldwide piracy no matter how much it aggravates me personally. My job is to maximize the sales of my product and service and I do that by focusing on the people who pay my salary — our customers."
I absolutely agree. I download unauthorized versions of some games, and if I like them, then I buy them. It's just too hard to know if a game is a waste of time/money without trying it out. Yeah, you can try a demo. But most of the time demos really just don't cut it when you want to decide about buying a game or not. It's a lot the same for me as if I were to go to a friend's house and play a game they already bought. If I realize it's a piece of crap after a few hours, then there is no way I'd buy it. But if it engages me and I decide I like it, I will buy a legit copy. I don't know why companies would have a problem with this.
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So unless you have full control over THEIR servers, it's DRM? Anti cheating measures? DRM! unique usernames? DRM! not allowing incompatible out of date versions on the server? DRM!
It is exactly about RMS Zealotry. When you're connecting to an eternal server, it's no longer about your software, it's now their server and their software and the user doesn't have any automatic rights to it.
DRM is about your software and your PC. Not about services provided on someone else's systems.
It's perfectly sensible in the same way that describing Demigod as a game for rapists is. After all, the dictionary definition of rape includes "violent seizure", and the definition of a rapist is one who commits rape.
If someone said "if you play Demigod, accept that you're a rapist and quit rationalizing it any other way.", would that be acceptable or sensible to you?
The word "rapist" is generally reserved for those who commit the other type of rape, the one described in legal dictionaries as forced sexual relations. Just as the word "thief" is not generally used to describe someone winning a game through luck, or moving stealthily but is used to describe those who deprive someone of their own property.
There are people who are paying rather large consequences, including some Swedish dudes who are threatened with jail time and huge fines. Yet they continue.
No, it's more than just being "consequence-free".
It's interesting to me how peoples' point of view changes reality. For some in England, I'm sure the Boston Tea Party (the original, not a bunch of working class crackers having a racist picnic) was seen as an act of Terrorism, but for Americans it was considered a blow for freedom.
It will be interesting if in fifty years this "copyright violation = piracy = terrorism" story is seen as a bunch of selfish people taking what's not theirs or a dying industry trying to hold on to it's fat payday in the face of technological advance.
Either way, Demigod wasn't all that. I'm glad I didn't drop any money on it after playing the free online demo.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Except they actually use DRM. I don't know what this clown think he is talking about.
It's Impulse.
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