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Ask Slashdot: What Is a Reasonable Way To Deter Piracy?
An anonymous reader writes "I'm an indie developer about to release a small ($5 — $10 range) utility for graphic designers. I'd like to employ at least a basic deterrent to pirates, but with the recent SimCity disaster, I'm wondering: what is a reasonable way to deter piracy without ruining things for legitimate users? A simple serial number? Online activation? Encrypted binaries? Please share your thoughts."
You could choose to provide life-long updates for those that buy the tool. At least that made me pay for several programs.
If you need DRM, you are ALREADY DOING IT WRONG!
The biggest thing you should worry about is not customers ripping off your product, but shovelware firms rebadging your product and stealing your market with their superior ability to reach the customer.
Serial number. "Call home" only on new install to check the serial.
One side wants information to be free, the otherside wants market forcesto prevail. Eitherway you lose as the price will be $0
It doesn't matter, because in the end it is human nature to take the product of others' labors without compensating them . . . .
Just don't. The people who want to pirate will, no matter what you do. Any DRM would only inconvenience legitimate customers. Just make it easy to buy your software for people who want to do so, and provide something worthwhile for the money (e.g. answer support questions, respond to bug reports, etc.)
Proud member of the Ferengi Socialist Party.
Whatever you do, man, make it easy for people doing reinstalls to preserve the install key. A lot of times we redo a computer for a customer and we can't put back some software because there's no way to get the key. Something like an online system where you enter your e-mail address or something to re-register could be nice in those cases, assuming the worst case that whatever stored the registration was deleted.
Don't require online connectivity to run once registered though, that's just asking for trouble.
You can divide people into 3 categories: those that WILL buy it, even if they could pirate it, those that might pirate it or might buy it, and those that will not use it at all if they can't pirate it. The second group of people is going to be the only ones that you might convert from pirates to customers by imposing DRM and that group might be quite small. Don't screw over the first group with overintrusive DRM.
Activate on install and random behind the scenes renewal with no penalty if the server couldn't be found. No user notice. Have the software just report install code to you randomly every 6 months and see what percentage has been pirating your version 1. Go from there. You may need more or less.
This way no one is hurt if it doesn't connect again and you get some usage data on serial number duplicates. No other data should be sent.
People who want to pirate it will find a way, just price it right, offer support and don't be a dick. As a bonus you get to advertise it as DRM free.
Short of having some of your application run "on the cloud" like SimCity or Diablo III, your application will be cracked and distributed in 48 hours *if* it is worth pirating. Feel free to head on down to the pirate bay for proof of this.
Seriously. Don't. If your program is any good, people will pirate it. Actually even if your program is terrible people will pirate it, just because they can. And they can, no matter what steps you take. However people are vastly more likely to give money to a indie developer. Pirates can be classified people that are either compulsive/hoarder pirates and wouldn't pay for it anyhow, genuinely need your program but cannot afford it, and people that will pay for it after a "trial run" when the realize you are an indie developer and your program is reasonably priced.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Sell things related to the product, like your expertise in using it.
Give people the opportunity to feel good about giving you money. Software is considered free, culturally. But premium extras make people feel affluent.
If your software actually gets pirated that means people like it enough to want it and need it to bother to pirate it. You should be so lucky to write a piece of software that is that popular. Quit flattering yourself.
One-time online activation seems to work pretty well and as an end-user I find this the least objectionable. Issue a unique code to the user and have them enter that into an online form and give them an activation code. Make sure the user can find this unique code/activation again if at some point in time they need to reinstall the product and limit the number of re-installs allowed to some reasonable number.
The simpler the better. My philosophy on this is that anyone with a moderate amount of determination will pirate your software. This is unlikely to heavily impact your bottom line, and (especially from an indie standpoint) you might not be able to afford the time, energy, and money required to implement a draconian DRM method anyway. Just use serial numbers or something equally mundane and then don't worry about anything beyond that, because you literally can't prevent determined piracy.
Shiver their timbers.
Seriously though... you will get a variety of answers here on Slashdot, ranging from "open source it and give it all away" to "put in ads and give it away". Charging for things seems to be a sin to some slashdotters.
I think a CD key, for PC games, strikes a reasonable balance, so long as you have some traceability (online activation is nice). Have you considered Steamworks? You'd have a distribution platform (though it wouldn't limit where you could sell it), and a proven, relatively non-intrusive DRM strategy.
Of course, Steamworks games get cracked, but you can never really stop determined crackers or pirates. All you want to do is encourage legit buyers to remain legit buyers. Steam is a pretty decent ecosystem for developers and gamers.
And people will buy and respect you. :)
You have seemingly already decided that you're going to implement DRM, so the next question you should ask yourself is: "How much am I willing to inconvenience my paying customers?" Also in similar vein is the question: "How much time am I willing to spend on a protection scheme that will be circumvented anyways?" The problem with DRM is that it doesn't stop dedicated people at all, it merely stops the "let me borrow the CD and I'll install it, too" - crowd, nothing else, and therefore it's waste of both your and your customers' resources to use much time or effort on it.
A simple install-time-only online activation is probably the best of both worlds as long as you can ensure that your activation servers are always accessible. Anything else is just a losing game.
If it is easier to pirate than to spend the $5 - $10, you are charging too much.
That's probably the easiest way to deter piracy: price it reasonably for it's job. Most people would rather get it legitimately than pirate it. Make it easy to download without going to shady download sites like CNet (I say shady because there's no way of telling where what they're hosting came from or who put it there, and I do not trust software where I can't trace it's provenance). Hosting downloads from your own domain will help, and leads into the next item: mark each copy you sell. Encode a serial number and buyer identity into each copy, making each one unique to the buyer. Make it clear when they buy that the copy's been stamped with their identity, and do the same on the initial splash screen if any and in the About dialog. This won't be seen by most people as anything particularly objectionable in itself, at the same time it'll make them skittish about just handing it out willy-nilly knowing that if someone they give it to uploads it to a torrent site or something it'll be them clearly identified as the source. It won't stop the hard-code pirates, but then very little will. It won't stop people from installing an extra copy for family. But it should be enough to convince the majority of people to tell their friends to just shell out the $15 for their own copy.
The best way to combat piracy is to ignore it.
If you can't make any money while ignoring piracy, then you are doing something else wrong.
You could take the Microsoft approach. Don't worry about piracy, and let the unauthorized user crowd ramp up your user base, and therefore your usefulness.
Ask yourself why Wordperfect, which was the standard, got blown out by the vastly inferior Word?
You may not like it but it works for a lot of things. It's just annoying enough to deter most casual pirates. For most people, walled gardens provide a safe and simple installation process for little utilities. And given the fact that you're a small developer it may help your exposure since most of the desktop walled gardens (Windows Store, and Mac OS Store) aren't overflowing with applications. Given your price range it's going to be very hard to justify marketing cost on your own.
Deterrent is the wrong goal. Give up on the folks who choose to steal it. They aren't worth your time or concern. Worry about making it both easy and encouraging for the folks who are inclined to pay you to do so.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
If it is a small useful utility make sure people have an extremely easy means of making a financial contribution to you. GUILT them into it. Don't force them. Then if you can tie it into something else shoot for that. GNU/Linux distribution? Tie it into GNU/Linux friendly hardware. What physical goods does your target audience need? Partner with those companies and take a percentage of the profits.
I know it sounds unbelievably crazy, but how about this:
Give away one version for free, missing some pro feature like exporting to standard format, but otherwise fully functional. Make it very clear that you spent time and effort making this, and it's only $10, and strongly encourage people to support it if they find the product useful.
Try to make yourself look smart and respectable and sell the real version through a simple process, maybe through something like a user/password database, but not necessarily serial numbers.
People will steal it, sure, but they're not going to be your core customers anyway. Its their bad karma, and the people who steal $10 applications from indie developers are just scummy immature douchebags anyway and wouldn't give you money even it you were asking for $0.01.
Furthermore, if you have any kind of forum for support and simple questions, ensure that you have a way of identifying paying customers.
Charge 3-5x more and don't worry about it (these graphic designers are getting paid, right? Not hobbyists?). Alternatively - Make it a webapp so they have to pay you to have access.
You're already on track to the best solution. Charging $5-10 for an a useful application (which seems pretty fair to me depending on what it does) is a great deterrent. As others have said, there are those that would pirate it if it were 25 cents, those that would buy it at 100x it's list price (or not use it) and those in the middle who will pirate when the price to value ratio is out of skew or the price point is simply too high for their budgets.
Don't waste your time. Just do some simple check (e.g. a registry key) and remind the user on the splash or main screen that your game is not freeware and make it very easy to buy/register it or donate.
Assuming you have a good product, the best way to deter pirates is to set a reasonable price so that people feel they are getting value for their money. The lower the price, the less people will want or need to evade the cost. There are studies showing the price points where you tend to meet increasing resistence, although I don't think they have much data on the sub-$10 field.
Having a free trial period with limited time or limited features would probably help to ensure people can feel good about spending their money.
Offering support would help also.
Free updates would also be a plus.
Any sort of serious DRM will turn people off for low cost products, but some sort of protection (serial number tied to user name?) will be necessary if you offer a free trial.
Trying to deter piracy with DRM is a losing battle. If people don't want to pay you, they won't pay. The trick is to get them to want to pay you.
The first step is to learn the art of asking: http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html
Ask for money, don't demand it. Let them pay you whatever they think is reasonable, but communicate how much you want ($5 in this case) as a default.
And for all those freeloaders who decide not to pay you, and there will be plenty, show them some ads to recoup the cost. Better they see your ads than piratebay's.
You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
then ask them to do it.
Many will, if it's valuable to them. Those that won't likely wouldn't have done so anyway.
There was a recent TED talk, "The Art of Asking," that made an argument along similar lines, though it was more concerned with digital music.
I pay for stuff I like if I feel that the price is fair. Most others are the same way.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
as long as the bottom line matters more to the company than the people, you're not going to get an argument focused on keeping customers, rather litigating additional revenue. treat your potential customers better, you'll generate repeat business and customer base to comfortably provide for everyone, everything AND the bottom line. You loose your customer base to a certain point, and then you have to resort to the new 'fee schedules', 'litigation revenue' etc. which will only serve to push more people away.
There are three kinds of people in the world. Those that can count, and those that can't.
Give the software for free and charge for support. It's a proven model that allows plenty of folks to make a living.
A lot of games released on consoles today are priced 60 dollars on day one, deritive titles with stale formulas - the kinds that force publishers to shut down. Often these games find a second life during a Steam sale. Figure out what your pruduct should cost after seeing people's reaction to it. If people think it's a fair price, they'll be much less likely to bother prirating and just just click the paypal button instead.
If your having problems with people paying then you screwed up trying to charge for something people don't want to pay for. If you make something worthwhile that people will use then you should expect to see people pay you because you did a good job.
Do whatever you want, there is no threshold for what is 'reasonable' once you're already committed to using a per-copy business model. The labor you would put into development is what has value, copying information is virtually free but that is what you're associating with a cost. There might still be plenty of people willing to give you 5 or 10 bucks to copy information but no matter what you do the people who feel bitter about it will pirate or ignore your implementation.
An idea I had was to try to figure out a way to make pirating difficult enough that people would prefer to purchase the real version. I'd also like a way to do this that doesn't overly inconvenience legit users - and allows them to continue using the program even if the entity that created it in the first place went out of business. Note that I haven't actually tried this method in practice - it's at the idea stage right now.
The idea is that each download comes with some sort of keyfile that lets it run. When started, it contacts the server and asks for permission to run. If the server denys permission, the program deletes the keyfile, and refuses to run in the future. If it can't contact the server due to network problems, it waits several minutes and then runs. Otherwise, it runs normally.
The developer would then monitor places that may host pirated versions of the software. When he or she sees a pirated key, he adds it to a server-based block list. This causes the top of the google rankings to fill with broken versions of the software - making it increasingly more difficult to find an illegitimate copy - and hopefully pushing people to buy the legit version.
On the other hand, if the creator of the software stops monitoring for pirated copies, then those copies continue to work. This is, I think, a good property - it allows the software to become abandonware once the creator is no longer interested in making money from it. What's more, this method gives legitimate users the ability to run the software they paid for indefinitely.
Honestly, in the $5-$10 range, it is probably more hassle to implement any anti-piracy scheme than what it's worth. If you have a product that is worth $10, people are probably more than willing to pay such a small amount just to avoid potential viruses.
But several companies shoot themselves in the foot by making it incredibly difficult to take the damn money.
Any pirates weren't going to pay anyway.
Piracy is socially normalized. It didn't matter when a small number of people did it back in the 90's, but since then we've had a generation who have grown up without there being any consequences for "not paying". Google "Piracy Rate 1 dollar Android Apps" to see that even when people have a simple easy way to pay a small amount, they'll go out of their way to acquire the software for free.
I worked on a tool to be used by consultants. These people have very sticky fingers. Are issue was how to we prevent consultants taking the software to another firm?
We compiled a build for each customer with there logo inserted into various places. So when you run a report, no matter what there user entered, the embedded logo would appear on the reports.
Going to another accounting firm, and then generating reports for your boss with your previous companies logo on it tend to get you frowned upon.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Honestly, the best thing to do is look at your business plan and determine the best price - the one that yields the maximum sales for you in the market you are trying to target and the minimum piracy that you are comfortable with. Just realize that piracy will be non-zero as people who want to pirate will no matter what you do - no matter how much or how little you charge. So find the price point that maximizes your potential in the market you are aiming to sell into and don't worry about the rest.
Unfortunately, you need to do a market study to determine that price - so as always you have to spend money to make (more) money. You may be surprised that what you thought was only a $5-$10 app may be a $50 app; OTOH, it could turn out to be a $1 app too.
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)
There are a lot of different options available but I think it is important to keep these things in mind.
1) You can't stop people from pirating it. It can't be done for the same reason DRM can never be fool proof. You can't give them access to use the program but still prevent them from being able to use it.
2) What ever scheme you pick make sure it as easy and painless as possible for your customers. These are the people actually paying you money and you want to keep them happy so they will hopefully keep paying money in the future.
3) Don't try to be sneaky and punish pirates in some subtle way, like corrupting their images. You aren't perfect and you will somehow end up doing this to your paying customer which is BAD.
For a small inexpensive utility even a one time online activation seems like overkill. Remember this requires you to run and maintain online infrastructure for you legitimate users for as long as the utility is useful. Even a simple process means a long commitment and this too can be hacked. I'd suggest a basic serial number with the program automatically checking it possibly with some access to updates assuming there is some reason for them to want updates.
Force users at random to look up various facts found only in your manual. Like how many hitpoints the color purple has.
The best solution is a hardware key (or dongle) that plugs into the user's computer. The dongle should maintain an always-on communication check with your server. In the event that the program detects a missing dongle it should delete some random files from the pirate's hard disk.
A $5-10 dollar utility will probably not get widely pirated to be worth the headache for paying customers. That being said, a one-time online activation seems reasonable to me. That's what I've used at my company, but our software costs a lot more than $10
The answer is to make it easier to buy your product then it is to pirate it.
Price it right, make sure ANYONE can download it (in other words, make sure you have a way of getting money from someone in the US and UK just as easily as you've got a way from a guy in China or India to download your game) and make it easy to find where you can buy it.
If someone really wants to pirate your software, they will. But make sure that the pirated version isn't a superior version to what you offer.
But above all else, you want users, its a whole lot better to be known for a game that everyone's heard of and played and 75% of the people didn't buy then it is to be the creator of a game that no one's heard of and played but the few users who did play the game bought it.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Make sure you have a working link to the payment page. I actually went to buy WinRar because I thought "hey this is so much better than winzip and i want this dev to get money to keep doing this work" ... payment page 404'd everyday for like a week. I just didn't even try anymore...
Since you're an actual developer willing to talk about piracy, I'd like to ask you a couple questions. I feel like I'm living in an echo chamber. Consumers want no DRM and so bloggers and posters rehash this bias over and over again. What is your objection to piracy? Is it emotional? Do you not like the idea of someone using your work for free? Or rather do you think of it more rationally, in terms of sales potential? Is it worth it to you for a user to lose a serial key and have to contact you to use their legitimate software? Do you personally believe that in some cases piracy can increase sales? And why wouldn't it increase sales with your product?
I'm honestly curious. Personally I think any DRM implementation is an unnecessary bother for both ends, but I'd like to know if you have a fresh perspective on it.
with activation your software dies with you, not really fair on your customers
just use a serial number and a really easy way to pay
Something of value that you do not have to 'give' to pirates..but this requires registration and some kind of serialized key... support to registered owners..new features with a serialized number check....free as crippleware...pay for full utility.
Basically, people don't like to let others copy their software when the splash screen says "Thank you for your purchase, <customer>!".
Checksum the name so that someone editing the binary will be met with a crippled or nagware version, telling them how to get a fully functional one.
In any case, don't sweat it much. If someone is intent on stealing it, nothing you can do will prevent that. But accountability will prevent casual piracy because the mostly-honest person will not think it's harmless when someone asks for a copy.
Practically every bit of commercial software ever sold has been cracked / pirated. If your software is any good and you charge $10 a copy then I honestly hope you have millions of copies pirated while only managing to sell 100,000 copies :-)
Apple proved the business model and android is supporting it as well now
release an app with base features for free and charge for add on features
I say this because your price point alone makes it very attractive to simply purchase the thing. I would just leave it at a serial number that maybe phones home for validation on install. Copy protection inevitably only hinders legitimate users.
I am curious though as to what your program is and what it does as I am a graphic designer myself as well as faculty attached to the graphic design program at the local college and I am always looking for new/cool stuff both for myself and to share with students.
Anonymous Cowards generally receive no replies because you're a coward and I'm a bitch
Read this. Memorize it. It tells you everything you need to know as a developer:
http://tommyrefenes.tumblr.com/post/45684087997/apathy-and-refunds-are-more-dangerous-than-piracy
I started and worked on a very successful iOS game with over 9,000,000 users (and now over 1m on Android).. In the earlier days, we saw that it's piracy was 3 to 1 (so there were at the time about 3m users per 1m paid).
We don't care. Every user who doesn't pay but enjoys the game spreads word about the game, which will work well for the sequel or for branded toys. Those who don't pay for it probably weren't going to, at least they've now heard of your brand and your game. Free marketing.
Good low prices.
Run it on your own servers.
1) Make a game that's worth buying.
2) Sell it at a price that people are willing to pay.
3) Don't make piracy a better experience than buying the real thing.
4) Give your customers a legitimate way to try the game for free.
Sure, there are and always will be people who pirate games just because they can. There really isn't a way to stop this.
The vast majority who do pirate usually fall into one of these categories, though.
For me, the only reason I've pirated since graduating HS is #3, and even then I have only used pirated versions of games I own, or for games that I legitimately can't find (especially Dreamcast games).
Seriously. Call the program
"screener-720p"
Your first challenge is fitting "reasonable" and "piracy" into the same mental model...
Maritime nations through history have sought to deter piracy by displaying the miscreant's remains at harbor entrances.
Think of that as a way to show increased risk.
But software piracy? What's the risk? If you look at eliminating the gain from piracy, then you need to ask, what's the "gain?" To some, the gain is saving a few bucks. Pricing your software low works to eliminate that gain. Or providing support and/or upgrades to legitimate users. But to some, the "gain" in piracy is playing the game, and that gets back to a rational relationship between your goals and a pirate's: there may not be one. Someone engaging in piracy as a way to get their rocks off isn't likely to be motivated by pricing, support, upgrades, or much of anything else, even the lack of a technological challenge.
Is piracy something you can more or less ignore in your target market?
But "fighting" piracy? Old adage: never wrestle with a pig; you'll get filthy and the pig will love it.
First thing to acknowledge is that piracy will happen, and it is not in your interests to spend a million dollars to save a few (eliminating the last 1% of the pirates). Accept that a certain amount of piracy is 'unstoppable', and you can implement a far more pragmatic scheme.
Ours is simple. We distribute our software as v1.0 (regardless of the build). Inside code, we apply a countdown timer that will crash the application after 50 starts. We make it a kind of 'nagware', but a fairly mild one. We don't use those annoying 5 second delays before you can click OK or any of that crap.
The countdown timer can be cancelled when someone patches to any version that doesn't have a '.0' on the end. However, to upgrade, they have to register (which is a semi-automated process). It costs us about 5 seconds to approve someone's registration.
Once again, remember that this is easily hackable. Anyone with an ounce of IT skills could reset the timer, have the version identifier in the exe, etc, etc - but the point is that 98% of people wont, and 1% of people will try unsuccessfully. Every once in a while we discover someone who has pirated the software, and we send them a dirty letter, and most of them true-up at that point too.
Stay pragmatic, and don't let it annoy you. Good luck!
Hate to say it, put it up on either Apple's or Microsoft's walled garden, per appropriate OS. If it's *unix... open source it.
Like every other business, set a fair price for your product. If you don't know what that value should be, take a look at what similar software sells for. You may think that 5 to 10 dollars is fair (it may be completely fair) but if similar software can be had for a dollar or even free, you're going down a dead end.
Then, don't worry about the pirates. Piracy is a function of the popularity of a product, where the popular software and media gets pirated more often. Take pride if your product gets copied 100 million times because you have made a great piece of software.
Remember, freeloaders will always seek to pirate software but honest people will remain honest if you give them a reasonable way to purchase and use your product. You don't need DRM or license servers to keep honest people honest. Make it easy to buy your software and give good support to your paying customers. Listen to their complaints by fixing bugs and providing frequently requested features in new versions.
Invest the time that you're thinking of spending on trying to defer piracy in marketing or improving your product.
People who were going to pirate were going to pirate regardless of the deterrent.
The downside is that no one will be able to run it at all, so you may wind up with a lot of people asking for refunds. However, a few people will be too ashamed to ask for a refund, and you can keep their money.
Embrace the Pirates, for they may be your salvation.
Release two versions, paid and pirate. Call them that, and have fun with it (pirate skin). Give them a reason to "buy" it, something emotional, tied to being a pirate (enhanced pirate skin, which they will pirate too). Tell the pirates you don't want their money, you want a Starbucks Gift Card (or whatever). Tell the Pirates you want them to tell their friends that you embrace their actions, as a means of publicity.
IF you product, service or whatever is good, then publicity is your friend. Then ask them to pay for it when they use it, just don't nag. Perhaps a reminder every month (30 days) of "hey, you like this app, please consider buying the Pirate version with the all new pirate skin".
If you fight the pirates, they will route around any attempt to block them. It is a fool's game of whack-a-mole.
And for those people that pirate apps, do you really think you're all that clever for going to Google and typing "Pirate Bag Android Apps". I really hope you all find hacked versions that steal your identity and money. Pay the damn $1.99 already.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
upload it, no drm, no-set price, allow people to choose whatever they wish to pay..
if it's shit it's shit, if it's good it's good... (don't blame piracy.)
Do you think that people who would pirate instead of paying are your customers? If the answer is no than there's no need for protection.
Use a pay-what-you-want model (with possible incentive for people who pay above certain amounts, like in kickstarter).
People who want it for free will be able to get it for free without pirating it (and risking spreading viruses, think of it as preventive vaccination), people who like it and find it useful will probably pay more for it than you would have asked for in the first place, if it's good enough.
Almost zero piracy (*some* people will still pirate it, even if they can get it for free), no hassles for paying customers, and everyone is happy.
If your software is at all popular, people will remove your phone home check, and distribute this cracked version of the software instead. Furthermore, if you have any sort of bug in your phone-home software (say date comparison that starts failing in the future due to incorrect leap year handling), then you open the possibility of your legitimate customers being harmed even though you didn't mean to.
IMHO, the best approach is to have no DRM at all, but to seed all the major torrent sites with legal shareware versions of your software that include infrequent and unobtrusive requests to upgrade to the full version if you like what you see. Some people will still pirate the full edition, but you'll up-sell to a few of the downloaders, which is more than you would have gotten otherwise.
I'm an indie developer about to release a small ($5 — $10 range) utility for graphic designers. I'd like to employ at least a basic deterrent to pirates,
Then you will surely die a thousands deaths in obscurity.
Pirates are Free Advertizing you idiot.
Think about it. You send a free evaluation copy of your game / tool / app, to bloggers/journalists to get the word out....
FUCK! Never mind, I can't complete this post you're too fucking stupid to understand it.
I'm ok with the time-limited trial; say 30 days. I download the odd piece of time-limited trialware to solve a one-off problem and then if it looks like I'm going to need it more, I'll buy it. Or if I'm using the product to make money (like my billing/invoicing software) then I'll try it out and buy it if it will do everything I want. I can get activation codes for my billing software but it's adding value to my business so I don't mind spending $40 on it.
But don't artificially restrict what the software can do. Make it fully functional until a certain day... Sure, people will keep reinstalling new eval versions but if they want to do that once a month, it's up to them...
if you invest as much thought on how to improve your program than you do now to prevent piracy, you would gain at least as many paying additional users as you now lose through piracy.
A word many forgot. Value. If there is value in buying a game or service then people will buy it. I didn't buy Batman A.C. until it was $10 bucks. Why? That's what it is worth to me. $60? No game is worth that to me. There isn't any value in it. It's that simple. I played Eve Online and paid $15 a month for it, it was worth it because the service they provided (uptime, patches, content, etc.) was worth it. It had value.
"Why pay for it when you can copy it?" Because it isn't worth my time. I go to Steam, see if there is a deal for something $10 and if there is I buy it. IT's not worth my time running around digging through spyware infested Torrent sites to sit around for 6 hours while I try to download it only to find the last 5% of it is only being seeded by 2 peers. I get patches, content, dlc, multiplayer, etc through steam and what is even better, I don't have to do a damn thing beyond click Install and maybe, maybe once in a while fill in some info.
Gates was right, the future is Software as a Service because people don't want to pay for software but they will pay for service. Much like people eating at a Denny's\Embers: you aren't there for the food. Everything there you could make yourself (copy). Rather, you are there for the service. You want someone else to cook it and hopefully someone competent and cute to bring you said food.
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
If you want to prevent piracy don't code it.. All the suggested means are hackable
in a transaction that they don't believe to be fair?
That's a losing proposition for any business. Like it or not, DRM or no, a business is ultimately at the mercy of its customers and what they believe to be fair—right or wrong, however that is measured.
Unless there's a plan to wrestle a monopoly on an absolutely necessary-for-life good out of a $5-10 app...
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
I saw a graph on the internet one time showing the correlation between piracy and global temperatures. I guess you want to alter global temperatures?
Why does a plumber not have a problem with "piracy"? Why does Beardyman not have a "problem"? Why do (actually) online games not have a "problem"? Why do Wayside Creations not have a "problem"?
Because they are selling a *service*. The service of programing/designing something. Something that actually takes work to make, and hence is *actually* worth money.
Why does the Content Mafia have a "problem"? Why do you have a "problem"?
Because you are trying to "sell" us mere *copies* of said work. Which themselves took *no* work to make. (Only the original service did.)
By that logic, we could just as well "pay" you with mere copies of our money that took hard work to make.
There is no problem. There is no "piracy". There is sharing of worthless copies. The problem is your mindset.
You're expecting us to pay real money, while you sit on your fat ass and do nothing, just because you failed to design a proper business model. Even though pretty much *every* job in the world has a proper service model (work for money).
The model you are used to stems from physical objects and energy, which cannot copied other than to re-do the work it took to create them. Hence they can be used to store a series of works applied to some natural resources. You cannot copy a car. You have to build it again, every time.
But for information, that doesn't work, since copying is free. So it it available in infinite abundance. And any attempt to stop that ("deter 'piracy'") then is just the creation of artificial scarcity. Which is a crime by the way. You can go to jail for it.
And on top of that, you cannot control distribution anyway, unless you plan to put a TCPA chip in every data processing device on the planet. Including brains. So you cannot actually prevent the abundance anyway. You can only make people fall for delusions. (E.g. DRM, or calling file-sharers "criminals".)
But that doesn't work anymore.
So why do you cling to that old impossible and idiotic business model anyway?
The Content Mafia does it, because with it, they can rip off people. They only (let others) do the work once. (E.g. by paying the programmers and designers only once in the form of monthly paychecks while being on that project.) But they want to get money for it *until the end of all time*. Without doing *any* work. (Uploading it to a website [like iTunes] once doesn't count.)
So the question becomes: If you yourself aren't such a criminal who wants to rip us all off... (and I will assume you aren't) ... then what stops you from just using a proper service business model, and seeing file sharing as *marketing* that raises your popularity.
Because then, when you got paid for your *service*, you already got paid. You can ask for more donations, but you are not *entitled* to more money. Especially not, when your service/work is not worth much money because e.g. it is shitty.
Of you can go on, rambling about "OMG TEH EVIL PIRATXORZ, WAAAAHHH!" and go bankrupt from ignorance and stupidity. Your choice.
Piracy is a tax on being popular.
The less popular you are, the less of a tax it is.
It costs goodwill, it cost money, and it is for the most part not effective. What is effictive is to find a way to make money even with pircacy out there.
Read some posts at TechDirt. Find out if freeimum, or posting a comment or a product at thepiratebay or something else would work for your business.
There was an article about a director who made $60,000 last year on a project and spent $30,000 if it trying to deter piracy. She could have doubled her money by doing nothing. That was a case study. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1999-12-29/
vi +
http://blog.wilshipley.com/2005/06/piracy.html
Seriously, people will buy in if you make them love you and your product. Anyone that has any chance of ever paying for something will reward stuff they love. But you have to make them love it.
On the other hand, as a business, that should be your goal anyway. Anything less isn't good business.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
"I'm an indie developer about to release a small ($5 â" $10 range) utility for graphic designers.
Here's the problem. You are competing with app stores now, on both Windows and Mac. They make DRM pretty much invisible to the user in most cases.
That means that ANY protection you add not benefitting from this framework annoys users way more than it will do anything else.
If you are not releasing though an app store then you may as well not even bother unless your app is DRM free, or so amazing that people may in fact go to the trouble of entering a serial number.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I have no problem paying for software that is useful, especially if it reasonably priced. However, there have been many times where I needed to get a job done and was hindered in doing so because of the hoops I had to jump through to get software activated on an offline machine, or didn't have access to the serial number at the time. This has burned me enough that I won't buy any software that requires activation, and am even leery of simple serial number activation.
Nearly all the software on pirate sites has been cracked, so the pirate's version won't require the user to enter a serial number or be calling home on the first install anyway. Even these simple anti-piracy methods hurt the user and not the pirate.
Provide your customers something that is not easily bit-torrentable. Recognize that the value of a paying customer is the pride of ownership and the ease of use versus piracy.
Things that come to mind:
Limited free support
"Material" items ie goods - send them a mug, a shirt or whatever matches your pricing model, or perhaps a paper copy of the manual
Special newsletter that contains items of *real value* - IE not just spam, but things like promotions, tips and tricks. Something a user is excited to receive rather than add to their spam filter, be sure to have an opt-out feature.
Restricted community forums for registered users, which contains things like:
*Developmental builds
*Constantly updated help files for download (.chm files or whatever)
*API documentation and the license to use it
*Source code (not downloadable, but as viewable text)
At $5-10, it's not worth messing around with torrent sites and possibly getting hit with malware, etc, while downloading an illegal copy, for people who actually work for a living. (That is, not students and youth.) Most piracy isn't lost sales, it's non-sales to people who wouldn't purchase your work even if there was no pirated version available. (The exception is with very expensive programs necessary to do certain work, like certain programs by Adobe and Autodesk et al.)
An big fat splash screen that gets progressively longer you use the "trialware". Also, providing source code for the product under ONLY FOR YOUR PERSONAL USE license
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Charge a reasonable price. Provide updates as necessary. Don't plan for you and your kids and grandkids to retire on this one application; rather, use the profits to keep yourself in cheese nips until you build your next application. And the next one after that. In the meantime, don't worry about piracy. It costs more to pursue, in stress, money and goodwill, than you'd ever get back in additional licenses.
Decades ago, I wrote a content management system back when they weren't as common as dirt. I wanted to distribute it in a fashion where it would do the job but the code wouldn't be directly copyable. It's obvious in retrospect how stupid that was. It was all for nothing , and all that time spent could have been spent on my next product instead.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Just hand out licenses with the users name and associated random garbage. Don't call home or check anything over the network.
Speaking as somebody who has been selling graphics software for more than $10, less than $5 and as freeware; nothing will stop piracy.
ALL of my software has been cracked and distributed on warez-sites. This includes the completely security-free freeware software, which was claimed to be somehow "cracked". Not even giving software away for free will stop piracy.
Don't waste time creating a complex security system (but make sure you have one; it makes paying customers feel good) when you could have spend that time on features, support or marketing. Especially the latter; from a business point of view, a product is merely a set of unique selling points to be used by the sales & marketing department.
Charge enough for the game before you make it that you won't lose money if all the copies after you make it are pirated. That's the very best way to handle piracy. As a bonus for this strategy, you can make sure people who pre-paid get something nifty (but preferably not gameplay unbalancing) for their faith in you before you even had a product.
Barring that, just ignore it. If you can't make enough money on the game, tell people that you weren't able to make enough money to pay for your time and are thinking of leaving the business. Give figures on how much you made (not on what percent you think was pirated) so people can see that you made squat on making something decent and useful for them.
If you want to, you can try offering people who can prove they don't have a pirated copy stuff that isn't necessary to play the game, but is nifty and shows off that they bought it. This works especially well if your game has a strong online component. This works even better if there's some sort of way to allow people to purchase this item in-game for the cost of the game.
Charge for access to the server if it's an online game.
Set it up so players are solving some random problem for you by playing the game. Make money selling that solution.
Stop trying to force people to give you money. Trust in them to give you money if you make something good enough. People know how it works. And a gentle education is usually all that's needed if they forget.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
have everyone pay by credit card and embed their credit card details in the executable steganographically (it has to be possible in code too !) and tell the buyers you've done it. It should stop them passing the .exe around anyway.
Nullius in verba
If you use a serial number it will be cracked and posted online overnight. I've found a good solution is to have a separate download for the licensed version. They get the trial version. When they pay you give them a link for the full version. The full version takes a serial number. Most payment services will even automate all of that for you.
Then there's issue #2, which is that your software is almost certainly not going to sell enought to be worth the trouble, anyway. I don't mean to be snide or discouraging. That's just the way it is. People generally don't pay for software and don't need to. If what you're doing is worth having, someone else will write a free version. Even with iPhone apps, which are at "peak fad", the number of people who really make money is small.
I have found that the less you worry about piracy, the less of an issue it will be for you. The people who are going to pay for your product are the ones that value it and can afford it. The rest wouldn't probably pay for it regardless if you setup some kind of drm or not.
I really like TextPad. You can download it from the developer and use it right away if you need to. It will ask you to pay for it. One license seems to work forever for all versions. It doesn't need internet access or any other fancy bullshit to get it working. Thinking too much about your protection is going to cost you more money than it makes you.
Keep it simple. Don't spend too much time and money on your solution. If people want to pay you then they will. You can't force people to buy your product.
Can you create an ad supported version? If so, create an ad supported version and seed it yourself.
The people who want to buy the software will come to your site and buy it from you (requires serial #). Those who go to your site and say "$5? F that noise, yo!" (because that's how pirates talk) will go start looking for torrents. Seed the ad-supported version yourself. Make sure it's the most popular torrent for your software. Anybody who decides they'd rather torrent it than pay you gets the ad-supported version and is probably none the wiser that the paid version doesn't have ads.
Now you get $5-$10 out of the people who were willing to pay for it, and you make some off the ads for the people who weren't.
Yes, somebody can crack the no-ads paid version and torrent that. Every month or so, look for it. When that happens, either try to out-seed them (so people who don't know the difference download your version) or just release a "patch" and seed that. So the currently cracked version might be 1.5, but you just released 1.6 ("now with more graphicals and improved performances!") and most people are going to download the most recent version. Now you're ahead until they crack 1.6.
Alternatively, you could also seed it yourself with a message that says "hey buddy, I know you got this off Pirate Bay, but come on, it's $5 and here's a picture of my starving kids. Help me out!" and a link to buy the full version.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
the right question is "what services can I provide that my Customers want". Your never going to get pirates to buy your game no matter what you do.
Travel in convoy through high risk regions, with naval escort and just blow the pirates out of the water.
Also, hide the odd QShip in the convoy to reveal its weapons in the event of attack.
I'd also been wondering about drone carriers, so the escort can be smaller than an aircraft carrier because it's carrying unmanned armed drones.
Make it so if you register the program and it's legit you get a free hat in Team Fortress 2.
When was this, the 70s?
I can tell you that in the pre-Black-Friday 90s and late 80s, everyone I knew who had a legit copy of something like Photoshop or Corel or AutoCAD had their media and serial numbers go 'round the block many times. Probably at least a 5:1 pirate:legit ratio, if not worse. Of course, these products cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars then. Actually, -every- piece of software was more expensive then, considering that most games sold new for $50 and most utilities for $75+, back then. Every game I bought made its rounds among my friends who were interested, and vice-versa. It's not like, as a middle/high school student, I could afford to pay for them, and professional programs were expensive even for professionals.
If you're worrying about piracy figures less than 1:1, and you're not selling $10K enterprise software, you're wasting your time and money.
In business there is no good or evil, there is only money. Don't let yourself fall into the ideology trap that pirates are evil - that's a question for a philosophy class in college or a million arguments on the internet - but all that should matter to you as a businessman is the money.
The best possible case of DRM is to convert potential pirates into customers. There are lots of not-so-great cases, they generally involve pissing off your paying customers, something that should be avoided at all costs because paying customers who are unhappy will tell the world how unhappy your product has made them and that will discourage any new paying customers.
So, I am going to suggest that instead of DRM to punish pirates you should look for ways to identify pirates and upsell to them. Give them the carrot instead of the stick, that way you never have to worry about accidentally hitting a paying customer with the stick - worse case is just more carrots.
One option is to let the software run just fine without a serial number, but after some number of launches without a serial number, like maybe 20, start putting up a click-through start-up screen. On that screen you can nicely point out that they've used the software 20 times now and it is only fair that since they are getting so much value out of it, they should pay for it - remember you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Then give the user three choices:
1) Enter their serial number
2) Go to a web page where they can buy a serial number
3) Click through and use the software anyway
If someone is inclined to pay this helps them to remember, if they are already a paying customer and they lost their serial number or whatever, this won't stop them from getting their work done and so won't piss them off and if they are a hardcore pirate who will never pay, you still haven't lost anything anyway.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
The $5-$10 range is enough to deter piracy--in the sense that anyone who pirates your software was never going to buy it anyway, so even though piracy will happen, you're not going to lose sales over it. You don't need to do anything else.
I pirate games that cost over 30$. With DRM fails I experianced its just too much to risk to get pain in return...
I also pirate games that do not allow trying before I buy. And I sometimes pay afterwards. Why? Cuz i do want to support good work creators so that they can continue.
So my advice is, embrace piracy. Instead of punishing maker it a moral choice. Like Indie Humble Bundle does by showing how much on avarage users payed. May be add facebook connect with 'be first from your friends to support this game'.
Also make game in small chunks. And hint kickstarter style that money you pay goes towars making next game. Pirates can't pirate something that was not made yet.
Also check this TED talk on embracing your fans as if they do not support you then you are doing something wrong anyways
http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html
After all, do you see anyone pirating slashdot? It is a fool-proof strategy that has worked for taco and the rest of the employees of this site for a long time now!
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
For small programs that aren't over-the-top popular you might never find a pirated copy of it on the net. Believe me, there are certain things that I looked hard for such as the decrypted code for phpmotion because the author claimed open source and after buying the license I didn't get that -- just encrypted software. Unfortunately I couldn't find it, only sites where people would decrypt each page for a set amount. I've seen other indie software without torrents or the full version uploaded to a file sharing site even back when megaupload was a big thing. Just remember that piracy is the least of your concern. Work on delivering a high quality product and you'll sell more than what you'll "lose" from piracy. No really, you don't lose anything -- people that pirate will not pay for your product anyway unless they wanted to try it before buying it. Something basic like a serial number and online validation is going to be your best bet to deter some piracy if any.
I just realized I am a hoarder.
Release under GPLv3 charge your fees for support and upgrades,patches, downloads etc..You'll never be able to deter piracy or enforce DRM give up even trying.
if someone like adobe really wanted to slow down piracy, they'd sell older versions, say 2 product cycles back (cs4, as cs6 is current), for dirt cheap* and without support. until someone actually does something like this, there is noway to tell how the demographic industry would respond, so don't give the whole "legit customers will just wait" shenanigans. if they're going to wait 2 full product cycles, why the hell would they get the latest version anyways?
*yes, i'm talking the whole master collection for $100. $100 that is way, way, waaaaay better than nothing, and those shitty elements versions can eat the dicks of the uber-novices they are designed for.
Simple Serial numker/License Key
If you want to go one step further you could make it register with a central location to make sure the user is only using the key on one device. If it isn't out of your price range, there are services that will do this automaticly.
This is enough to work for any mostly honest user. I'm sure it can be circumvented by someone who is determined to bypass it, but its enough to prevent most users from buying 1 license and installing it on 100 devices.
I recommend no upfront enforcement. But delayed enforcement mechanisms, where you seek to detect piracy rather than prevent it. Detect it as covertly as possible -- arrange for the pirated version to stop working or fall into a degraded mode of operation suddenly, after a sufficient period of time elapsed, or at a new release, while you make as certain as possible that legitimate customers are not impacted. Don't tip your hand in regards to what all your defense mechanisms are; instead of seeking to block pirates, seek to make their use of your software unreliable or full of annoying surprises.
Normally when there's an upfront enforcement mechanism such as a serial number, the defense is easily detected and subverted.
On the other hand; if your defense is broader, and the code less identifiable, you may frustrate pirates into confessing and buying.
I see the goal is to convert pirates into customers, which might not always be possible --- but by frustrating them, and then offering them a "discount" to come clean, you may profit from the pirates.
So, instead of serial number locks.... Just embed the customer's name and address information in non-trial executables "This software is licensed to: John Doe"; Display the last 4 digits of some personal detail; store in the executable a private encryption key (Client SSL certificate), for securing communications with a remote server, trusted remote public key, and installation ID. No big serial numbers entered by the customer. No activation codes; possibly just an order number pre-populated with a number unique to the order. Customer-specific media.
Display the customer's information, with a copyright warning, when they start the program.
Have the installation process, also involve downloading an encrypted data file that will be used by the client.
Digitally sign the production executables using authenticode; or other code signing technology for your chosen OS.
Implement your server, such that all communications from the client must be digitally signed, with the private key (or authenticated with client certificate); that is unique to the customer.
Have clients periodically check in with the server; and provide a mechanism where the server can lock out a specific installation of the product, eg by quietly updating the data file to indicate ["As of 90 days from the date this new data file revision is delivered, this product will cease to function, until the customer answers our calls and gets a new license for this installation, or a piracy unlock"].
Include features in the software that subtly integrate services from a remote server. ("Cloud-enabled features").
For bonus points, include freemium features available for no charge, and other cloud-enabled features requiring a monthly or annual fee.
If pirated software is detected, the free features are shut off at the remote server.
You detect "innocent" piracy; when you over an extended period of time see a few; two or three more than the ordered number copies of software active under a customer.
If it continues for a sufficiently long amount of time; possibly you send the legit customer a polite e-mail, or you arrange for all their installations to prompt for a username and password next time the program starts, to confirm that it's an installation authorized by the customer.
Obvious abuse occurs when you detect 100 or 200 extra copies of the product... well, in that case, you might still go through the same process; or you might push out deactivation in 180 days, for all that customer's software; and requirement for compensation, before that specific person is allowed to purchase more units.
Reasonable prices, a decent program and respect. a lot of times I pirate just out of spite, but companys that i respect ill buy from if i am interested in the product and i have the funds to do so.
Also, focus on your customers, not on the pirates.
Add DRM and your basically challenging people to pirate it.
I found this answer on SO a couple years ago and flagged it as a favorite because I figured I might need it some day.
The short version is a lot like what people have already said, have cracked keys be detectable and then decide from there what to do.
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3550556/ive-found-my-software-as-cracked-download-on-internet-what-to-do
This guy decided to redirect the users to a website to inform them that they're using a cracked key and that they should really purchase the software.
His studies seem to indicate that it works well.
the pirates will eventually lose interest and go somewhere else to drink
Make it easy to buy (paypal, or similar), install, and use. Make a custom binary which fills in registration data, which comes on the title/bootup screen, saying "This software is licensed for the exclusive use of $customer, all rights reserved, copyright $year". Hide it in the binary (make it hard to find and edit with a hex editor/ decompiler), but don't spend too much time doing so. You have the right to be paid for your work, but being a dick in protecting those rights is just not worth the effort.
Embed the name from the credit card into the license key. Any shared keys trace back to the original purchaser.
20 yrs ago I bought to software that did this. I've never shared it.
DRM exist only to make your customers suffer. No pirate will have any trouble with your DRM. If a customer don't want to pay you, they will not pay you. It don't matter if you add DRM or not. Either the DRM will be broken, and then you can download it anyway or your DRM will not be broken, but than nobody will use your software.
So don't matter how you look at it: DRM exist only to make your customers suffer.
Furthermore, DRM is Fuck You to all your customers. Not only it will make them suffer, but it takes their rights away. The right to create backups, fair-use rights, re-selling rights, etc. In my opinion anyone who uses DRM with the product should lose any copyright protections. Because DRM take away any rights it should also deny any privileges.
http://www.mueller-public.de - My site http://www.anr-institute.com/ - Advanced Natural Research Institute
A simple nag screen on application startup should be sufficient.
Do not reduce any functionality from the application; there is no point, it will only drive the users away.
The nag screen can be legally removed by entering a simple combination of username / checksum (bob / 2013-028819)
Don't do anything cute like checking for time elapsed since application install, simply have it from the start.
Do not give the disassemblers any satisfaction by trying to implement a sophisticated protection mechanism.
Compile a string named "TO CRACK, PLACE AN X IN THE BRACKETS [ ]" and then check the string for [X] to skip the nag screen.
Then implement a crack by doing a simple search replace across the binary so that you do not screw up future releases.
Upload the crack for your own program to the PirateBay and place a comment in the crack stating that
you are the owner of the program and that you understand that not everyone can afford to buy your program,
but that perhaps they would reconsider once they use it for a while and start loving it. Be short and sweet.
Just buy an off-the-shelf copy protection solution, like AsProtect or Armadillo ( http://www.siliconrealms.com/ ) - it's cheap enough and will provide some protection against amateur crackers. Just don't turn on remote activation crap. Should be good enough for a small utility.
What we have to worry about is lost sales due to piracy, not piracy itself. As long as piracy is done non-commercially, it really doesn't affect sales.
So, crack down on counterfitting.
If you are going to use DRM, don't use a DRM scheme that destroys a person's computer, or requires an always online connection. There are legitimate DRM schemes, such as the PSN, App Store, iTunes, etc. If there is a multiplayer mode, make sure it is a legitimate multiplayer mode, (there is absolutely no reason for SimCity to REQUIRE you to be online; Call of Duty is, however, made to be online, but remember that if there is Single-Player portion, you can't expect them to have a connection to play it).
Don't sue your fans. As I said, crack down on counterfitting, but suing fans will just make them less likely to purchase from you. People are still willing to spend the same amount of money on entertainment they used to. This number is not going to grow, but if you are offensive enough, it can shrink.
Don't use Monetization schemes. This produces some money in the short term, but just pisses off fans in the long term. Make sure any DLC is well worth the price, and it's satisfying without it. Satisfied fans will come back, with their wallets open. Unsatisfied fans won't.
Don't muddle the genre. A dedicated multiplayer mode could add hours of playtime to a game, but something that was just tacked on is less then worthless, (there are a thousand half-decent multiplay games as it is). If it's a single player game, let it be a single player game, (as in, don't force people to play multiplayer to affect their single-player game). If it's a multiplayer game, like Battlefield xyz, don't half-ass the single player. It doesn't need a single player game, so all it really needs is a basic training mode; a chance for you to learn the basics of the game, and maybe a firing range. If you want a decent single AND multiplayer game, then treat each as equally important.
Co-op is nice, but don't force it. Take Resident Evil 6, it lets you play Co-op through the campaigns, (yah). However, if you want to play offline you have to change five different settings just to do that. Compared to L4D, where they simply had 1 choice between offline and online.
Provide additionals for free. Themes, backgrounds, ringtones, a few high res rederings. Let fans be fans. This still lets you sell t-shirts, soundtracks, art books, guides, etc., but nourish your fans, and they will reward you.
Learn from your mistakes. If a sequel is worse then the original, you could complete destroy the fan base. If you aren't going to put the effort into a sequel, then don't bother with it. Fans would much rather LOVE a single game/movie/album, then have their love destroyed by a crappy sequel. When I say LOVE, I mean they might be fans for life, and for decades to come be willing to by merchandise from the show, attend conventions/live shows, all the while giving you money, but a single crappy sequel can ruin this.
Make sure merchandise is worth the price. Again, if they are fans, they will be willing to buy whole hoards of things for a fair price, but if it's not a fair price, they might only buy 1 or 2.
Piracy is the best and the most wildly successful outcome you should hope for. In the most likely scenario, nobody will use or even notice your utility. If people pirate it, it means it is relevant and people want to use it. And the more of them are out there, the better it is for you. That means that eventually companies will start using it - and they will pay. So any basic method that lets people know that they should pay is sufficient.
instead of charging a typical amount for your software (say $70) and trying to lock it down yourself and go direct to customers, get on a store (like Apple's AppStore) that has a very reliable, unobtrusive, standardized, and reasonably effective (i.e. "friendly") DRM. Drop the cost, (down to say $20-25) and make up for it in the volume due to the lower cost AND due to being on a friendly store.
Software distribution is going to be almost exclusively digital download soon. And most people just aren't willing to shell out big dollars for a double-click, regardless of what it is. But if you can get your product in front of many eyes, and make it uber-easy to buy, you have a good shot at getting the volume to make up the difference.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
That's total rubbish, I'm afraid.
The article linked by the parent applies even more to audio production software than to games. The musician is going to make a multi-year investment in a given package (like a DAW) and therefore must have a good relationship with the manufacturer, and not be annoyed by DRM and losing keys on machine upgrade and similar nonsense.
Propellerhead lost custom when they went from a relationship based on trust to one based on dongles, and they're not the only ones. DRM is not a recipe for success. "Focus on your paying customers, not on your pirates" is very good advice.
Give it away for free. With a cryptic UI and no documentation. Make your money by writing O'Reilly books on how to use it.
Have gnu, will travel.
> I've bet I've had over 30 credit cards replaced at various times
Replacing 30 cards is not normal. The only identifiable common factor in these incidents is you. "Paranoia" isn't a word one should apply to things that happen regularly. Based on the average age of people around here and assuming you didn't get one until the age of 18, it looks like you have to get a new card at least once a year and probably more often than that. Have you ever stopped to consider that maybe, just maybe, it's something you're doing?
I realize that you think you're only on the hook for $50 (and may have forgotten that $50 x 30 = $1500), but that's not even the true cost and that money comes from somewhere. Most likely the costs are absorbed by the merchants and the rest of us suffer higher prices as a result. My experience is that I've had exactly one card that was an issue in my entire life. I was able to identify the company responsible and it was not due to an issue I could have known about. And I've had a card of some form or another for ~15 years now. So I'm pretty shocked by how you could have had so many issues and yet be so cavalier about it.
Keep it DRM free, maybe a basic serial number registration system.
Add on your site and in the app "please be honest, I'm just trying to put food on the table"
Those who want to crack it will crack it. You cannot stop that, so there's no point in even trying to encrypt the registration key to the nth degree. Anything more than a basic registration system will just
a) take more effort on your part
b) inconvenience legitimate customers of your software
IMHO personalizing each copy (where people see their own name as they run it) is totally harmless and will tend to make people want to not spread their copy. That makes it a good idea. In some situations, watermarking the app's generated data might be ok, but probably not in your case, since people who uy a graphic utility will want data quality w/out extra noise. Adding customer's name to generated metadata may be ok, but some people might legitimately freak out about it. If you do that, make sure the software clearly tells people it's doing that, and has a not-default option for skipping that.
(Personalization will be trivially circumvented by people who care to, but remember: the consequences of that to you are zero. Failed deterrence is a don't-care condition.)
Online activation is mostly harmless, but probably deters purchase more than it deters piracy. You'll break even or slightly lose, doing that.
Encrypted binaries sounds pointless and useless but also costless. I can't think of what the point of that would be, or how it would deter either piracy or purchases.
Forget the DRM! It just interferes with people getting their work done, and most who will benefit from your tool will be happy to pay a few $$ for its capabilities. If they give it away to others to try out, then great! That will bring MORE people to your site to purchase since then they can get support, updates, and other good stuff.
As an aside. I worked as principal engineer for a major software vendor for many years. We investigated such tools intensively, and realized that even when they work well, there is still a chance that something will break and a customer who cannot use something that they DEPEND upon to get THEIR work done, that they have paid good $$ for, will cost you in numerous ways.
1. They will find another tool to do the same thing, but doesn't encumber them.
2. They will spread the word that you are unreliable and not to use your software to just the kinds of people you want to sell to!
So, in the immortal words of whoever - fergedaboutit!
Why not take the money and manpower you're spending on people who won't buy your product and spend it on the people who will, instead?
Best method I've seen is generating a license file which has the users name and email address in it. That will at least make them think twice before throwing it up on TPB, assuming you've got a manual check to make sure people aren't putting in blatantly bogus information. It also makes it easy to blacklist a serial when a new version is released, and you can refuse to sell to that person if they come back again. Obviously there are ways around this, but at some point it's a mutual respect between developer and end-user. The most draconian I would get would be to have it phone-home when a license is applied. Apply the license whether they're online or not, but just have it keep retrying until it finds a connection.
No?
Cheap software doesn't need much if anything. On the other hand if you are selling your software for $100+ I would look into using hardware dongles. They are nearly impossible to break.
There's a Mac App Store: http://www.apple.com/au/osx/apps/app-store.html
There's the iOS App Store - available from iTunes and on iOS devices
There's the Windows Store: http://windows.microsoft.com/is-is/windows-8/apps
There's Google Play: http://www.android.com/apps/
They all handle DRM for you in a relatively unobtrusive way, plus they handle payment processing and distribution. The end user doesn't need to worry about you going out of business, your authentication servers going down, your serial numbers not working etc or dealing with another payment processor.
The advantage of something like the Mac App Store is that if I buy apps on here, Apple keep my purchase history. When I get a new machine, I sign in to the App Store and download all my apps from one place, and don't need to keep track of serial numbers or activation keys or anything like that.
This leaves you to handle doing the coding and the promotion of the app. Yes, you give up a cut of 30% or so, but if that's a big problem for you, put your price up slightly to take this into account. Or, give up the 30% cut knowing you don't need to handle any payment processing, hosting downloads, going over your bandwidth cap on your hosting plan because your app became popular, DRM, activation, providing lost serial numbers to users etc...
Specialist Mac support for creative pros, Melbourne
I read all the above comments, and here are 2 new ideas:
1) give it freely !
Work hard on improving your tool, and ask for money if you want.
Once your tool reached a critical point, just sell your company.
Hey, it worked for Instagram !
2) give version 1.0 freely.
Improve your program for your paying customers, and publish a list of improvements of every version.
This way, people will try your program, and if they find it useful, they'll pay to have the latest versions.
Don' worry about pirates if you upgrade your program frequently.
Well, aside from the semi-phonetic use of the language - this is actually the best suggestion. If you can customize the version, that's the best idea. In fact, if you want to distribute a trial, make it a fully functional one and put a tasteful "Trial version - not for commercial use" on it. People who are just dinking around will probably not care - and probably won't buy it anyway. A reasonable fraction of those who might not otherwise pay for it, but who use it for "work" will be shamed into buying a copy.
If it's really useful, and only $5-10, you've really done all you can. I'm not going to claim to be the most ethical software user on the planet, but I do have about half a dozen shareware licenses I've paid for. Those are the utilities which are so straightforward and timeless that I reinstall them on every machine I get. Usually I "try" software for a year or two. I know, that seems long, but I may only get to use it a couple of times. I know that if I reinstall it on the next new HD or machine, it's worth my while and worth paying the developer. I feel better sending someone like you $10 to register a great utility than the $1000/year extortion I pay to Autodesk.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Why not go the Steam way? Since I got it I never got a game in another way.
So you want to stop free riders, huh? First of all DRM can work, but only in some situations and some element of luck is involved. Not that the purpose of these techniques is not profit maximization. The purpose is simply to reduce or stop free riders.
---The DRM Option---
1. Code the DRM yourself. Make sure that a cracker at last would require knowledge of assembly language to crack it. Anyone can use a hex editor. At least make sure that your cracker has to be somewhat competent.
2. Don't advertise the software too much. Try to keep it from getting too popular. As soon as a competent cracker sees it and thinks your software seems useful he's going to put your code on his to_disassemble_list and a crack could be released in just a few days.
3. Don't make the software too good or too useful. Ideally it should not do anything better than other software in its category. it should not be a best-in-class sort of thing. If it seems to be getting too popular introduce some subtle but annoying bugs in the next release.
---Bait and Switch---
With this method you introduce the software initially as freeware but not open source. Build a following. Let people get dependent on it. I'd recommend giving it a full year or two so that people basically think of it as free software.
Then go commercial. Give as little warning as possible. Quietly remove old versions from your web site beforehand A good time to do this is just before you fix an annoying bug. If you have to, leave a bug unfixed specifically for this purpose. Even introduce one if you have to. Just make sure to add a new feature when you do so.
At this point introduce the above homemade DRM and try to keep a low profile as noted in the first strategy. The delay between initial release and the implementation of DRM will discourage a large percentage of crackers. It just won't be on their radar anymore since it is old software at this point. Of course if your software has already become too popular then it is still hopeless, but you have to prevent that.
The basic idea behind these strategies is not to try to defeat the crackers. They are way smarter than you are. Just forget it. The idea is to stay below their radar and make your DRM just hard enough to stop the easy search and replace hex editor attacks.
Eventually your software may indeed be discovered by a competent cracker and then the game is over. Go work on some new software. Rinse and repeat.
---divide and conquer---
One tip for staying obscure is to break up your software into many smaller applications. Not only does that make more targets for the crackers for the same functionality, but it makes the software less useful which remember is a good thing. You don't need to get every customer in the world. Just enough to make some money. Don't get greedy or you will certainly fail.
If your software has a menu take a look at the different options and see if you can split them out into different applications.
---keep prices low---
A cracker is less likely to target you if you are only asking $5-$10. I see that this is already your strategy. It is an excellent way to both deter crackers and to deter potential pirates from even bothering to search for a cracked version. Cracking a $1000 application gives way more prestige than cracking a $5 one. Note that this merges quite nicely with the above divide and conquer strategy.
Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
It's something big studios don't get, but some indies got that one right, so you might want to try it too.
What's the big reason people buy "normal" goods in stores instead of, say, from the back of trucks for a fraction of the price? I mean, you can get a big screen TV for a few 100 instead of a few 1000 bucks, no really. Here it is, don't ask, don't tell. Don't want it? Gee, why could that be?
Could it be the warranty you get when you buy it in a store? Or the additional goodies that come with it?
Make sure that people who buy your software get MORE out of it than just the software they'd also get from a pirated copy. When they register their copy, how about gaining access to you for support? Certainly not full time and 24/7, but even knowing that I COULD mail you my problems is a big psychological issue. How about offering that you will hear their suggestions for future versions and the promise of some updates free/cheap when they are implemented? Having the ear of the maker of a tool I enjoy using and feeling my input is valued sure is worth 5 or 10 bucks. And you get free suggestions for improvement of handling for free, too.
One of the biggest assets for you (and it's amazing how many ignore this): If that tool allows the creation of plugins, offer a place where people can showcase and offer their plugins, or if it is used to create something these people could probably want to publish, offer them a place to do that. Of course only if they are paying customers. Webspace is cheap or even free, what's problematic is to get people to VISIT yours, and you having a customer base for this tool means that you're a hub for your customers when they are trying to reach like minded people.
YOU are the center of this tool, wherever you make this tool point everyone using this tool WILL know, whether they like to or not.
Even the ones that didn't pay for it.
This makes whatever webspace you offer (even if it's merely some sort of linking hub) critical for anyone who wants to publish what this tool creates, unless he has a better platform. It is very unlikely that they do, though.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I like serial codes being used to authenticate software because they're relatively painless, particularly if stored in a text file and copy & pasted when required. They should be locally-validated however - I don't think it's fair to deny people access to their software if the vendor goes out of business or the licensing servers are down.
You might say "well with local validation serial codes are easy to pass around", which is true. But I know for example that with Neverwinter Nights, Bioware had the smart (and I genuinely mean smart instead of sarcasm) idea of having the user add the game serial keys to their forum profile. Once a key is added, the user is identified as owning the product and is granted access to further NWN-specific forums that require at least one of the appropriate keys. I think you also get access to more avatars relevant to the product keys you add.
Basically you can stipulate that if a user wants support, they require a legit key. Perhaps think of other benefits one could provide to people with legit keys as well.
I've always liked it when a product was released free for non-commercial use, and a low price for commercial use. Since this is targeted at people in graphics design, you've got people that just like to design for fun, and people that make a living out of it. Give it away to people to play around with, and if they decide it can help them in some type of commercial venture, you're there for them with a product they're already familiar with.
so u cant shoot other players
Oh, you mean 'copyright infringement'.
Well, like piracy in EVE Online, you can't stop it. You can only mitigate it.
One, make sure it's a quality product. People dislike paying for shit. Two, make sure it's priced fairly. People dislike being gouged, even if you are the only source. Three, make sure you're not a raging asshole. That simply means no DRM. Because if DRM exists, people have a moral obligation to get an undamaged product in its place.
Yeah, I'm serious about that last part, because when you're throwing rootkits on people's systems without their knowledge - effectively compromising their systems, sorry - fuck you.
*cough*
Anyway, those are your three steps to mitigating piracy.
You will get people who cannot pay. The average college student is dirt poor, get used to it.
You will get people who will not pay. Some people are big bags of dicks.
The good news is, both of these categories will still serve as advertising. Think on it as an investment rather than a loss.
Did anyone else read it that way? Might not work, but I like the sound of it...
One concept that I've always given Brad Wardell (CEO of Stardock) kudos for is realizing that pirates are not your customers. They aren't even potential customers. You then have to keep that idea in mind when you do your market research to see if the price your customers are willing to pay are enough to justify your production costs.
pirate the app. I wouldn't. I simply wouldn't buy it or use it if I didn't think the price was fair.
But the evidence I've seen says that piracy is basically people that wouldn't pay for software anyway—given an enforced choice between nothing and paying the asked price, they'd choose nothing.
So you have two choices:
1) Reduce the price more to turn some pirates into paying customers.
2) Leave the price as-is and either fight piracy (and possibly lose paying customers due to annoyance) or don't (and end up with some people that wouldn't have paid your asking price using it).
Either way, you're not likely to increase sales significantly with anti-piracy measures. And more and more tech and software and the 'net in general are goodwill markets in which people want to want to pay. It's part of the value of a product/service, and when it's lacking, you're missing the best of your marketing potential.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Sasquatch Clearly.
the price range being talked about here is hardly a major expense. It's the price of a burger.
I buy apps routinely in this price range, sight unseen, based on the customer reviews in the app store.
Anyone that can't get people to shell out $10 for a product based on its description is not making a product that sounds very useful to the intended audience.
At $10, I can't see how it would be worth a software pirate's time to track down and/or crack a piece of software, apart from people that are in it just to be able to say they did it—and no anti-piracy measure will stop anyone like that; quite the contrary, it will simply encourage them.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
But you can control the services you give them.
Lock out tech support and online services to registered customers only. It's that simple. If your program has no reason to go online, then DRM isn't going to help.
If your not on the MAS I probably won't buy your software. Unless your software is essential like Photoshop or VMware, or support and include licencing for all major OS (Linux, OSX & Win.) like Sublime text. The MAS is so convenient that I have repurchased software just so I don't have to hunt around for serials etc. next time I install. If your utility for graphic designers is not available for Mac then your wasting your time since most good designers are on OS X.
To paraphrase another author -- your biggest problem is not going to be piracy, your biggest problem will be obscurity. Being well known that piracy numbers are significant will be success, as it implies your software is actually well enough known for someone to put in the time for a keygen.
Min
On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
of course, because we all know the 'right' crowd is? who exactly?
Provide a quality product that people will be eager to pay for, at a fair price. Not rocket science.
As a value added to buying your product, only provide support to legitimate users, close your forums so only registered users can read and post, this will make paying even more attractive since the hub for sharing information about your product, tips and tricks is only available to people who paid.
Don't bother protecting the software, waste of time and energy.
Put it on Steam.
That will do it.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Look at how others do it.
One of the few pieces of software I have bought, enjoyed and thanked myself for buying it many times is Circus Ponies Notebook.
http://www.circusponies.com/
They do a 30 day trial. I don't remember if there is any other DRM but I doubt it since I really don't like having DRM, phone home, etc.
I do use two other pieces of software that phone home on each launch without asking you (my firewall picks it up) which is extremely annoying. Don't do that.I tell people about them or consider buying more copies. The developer responds quickly and gives free updates.
I am also extremely happy with linode.com and they give free upgrades periodically. That is a different service, and I am quite against you forcing the user to be online or phoning home, but you can see the kind of enthusiasm and increased users you get from good service.
As for piracy, it happens. I would be against spending so much time on DRM that it jacks up the price. Figure it is free marketing and get on with it.
Where have you been? Clearly not readings articles and comments on slashdot. Because if you were, you'd know that open source is the only way to go. Not just that, but information wants to be free, besides which, piracy impliesv"theft" which can only occur if you deprive someone of their bits when you acquire those bits of your own. So if your tool is any good, it will be copied rampantly. The drm mechanism will be cracked, and 9 out of every 10 users will be using copies for which you'll receive zero compensation. That leaves providing support as your only option. Which is useless for a simple tool that presumably would y need much support.
That leaves your best option as making the program incredibly complicated, so that e en If someone gets their hands on your program, it'll be useless without a support contract.
Because everyone here knows - those bits you create are just bits. App, music or movie, the creator of them shou,d expect no control or compensation once they go on the Internet. Right guys?
Some time ago I wrote a handy software to do something that is specific to electronic manufacturing industry. It's nothing major or groundbreaking. I just used it to learn WPF. But in the end it was a lot of code, and I didn't want to just give it all away.
Naturally, I was also too cheap to pay for any external licensing software (and besides, it's all mostly junk.) So I wrote my own, using this as an excuse to learn MS Crypto API. It ended up being also pretty large, but it works well.
I wanted to tie every license to a specific hardware, and to make licenses permanent (to that hardware.) If the hardware fails then the customer can negotiate a new code out of band. (In other words, if you ask for a new key once in every few years it's OK, but if you ask for a new key every day it's not.) This instantly closed a bunch of loopholes that relate to backup and restore. I did not want to use online licensing, though this is something I'd like to do one day, for educational purposes.
So the software starts, and in background it collects a ton of hardware descriptors - m/b, HDD, video card, MACs of all NICs, and so on. This gets encrypted to a public key of the publisher (me) then ASCII armored and saved into a file. This becomes a license request block. User sends this file to the publisher.
The publisher is the only person who can decrypt this block. He does so and sees a lot of hardware information. The publisher deletes unwanted hardware tokens, adds his own tokens if he wants, and then he signs the modified plaintext and encrypts it to the public key of the application. (Each software has its own key.) After ASCII armoring this becomes a license file. It is sent to the user.
The user then starts the software. It decrypts the license file and compares those hardware tokens that the publisher elected to keep with those that are fetched from the hardware. If they match then the software runs. If not ... too bad.
This solution has several vulnerabilities, of course, and it can be defeated by a single jump instruction - as long as you know where to insert one. That is not obvious. There are other ways to attack this system. But I did not want to build an overly complex protection scheme; my software is not that popular anyway, being very special (it's useless to anyone outside of the industry.) I just wanted to see what I can do :-)
As it often happens, this software was built to scratch a personal itch. I'm running it myself, and all these instances are carefully licensed with proper license files. I started this software many times, and I use it pretty much every day. I had no failures (after a couple early bugs were found and fixed.)
There's an application that extends usability of trackpad functions on Macbooks running Windows, called Trackpad++ (Link)
Upon downloading for free, it is fully usable, but the owner updates the product with bugfixes and sometimes features once a week. If you don't register the product by sending the owner a donation to receive a license key, it is disabled every week (and doesn't download updates automatically). You can continue using the product, but only if you go online and download the latest version.
This has the benefit of showing off other potential goods you have on your website, giving you free advertising, in addition to forcing users to see the "purchase" button over and over again.
If a consumer doesn't like or need your product, it stops working, no loss. If he wants to test it a little longer, he can keep downloading it, until he decides to purchase or not. When he buys it he is guaranteed updates and a usable product.
Offer a referral program for paying customers. $1 off until 100% off for each referral that results in a purchase.
DRM is easily broken. On the other hand, there might be customers who take a look at it and go "oh, DRM? moving on". Myself being one of them. You see, the _only_ thing your "digital protection" is doing is screwing me over. Even if it's something minor, it's still an unwanted annoyance that other people - ze pirates - don't have to deal with. Simply accept that pirated copies are not lost profit, and move on to showing your potential customers how awesome your product is.
is as effective as the War on Drugs, Prohibition, and Theft Prevention. You will undoubtedly end up spending a significant amount of funds on something that will get defeated within a week. You will end up on the losing side.
Defender of Microsoft and Communism!!!
Rather than creating DRM concentrate on creating a community of loyal users. Have an open beta. Reward bug reports with credits.
Let users suggest new features in a forum. Keep up a dialog.
DRM is much less effective than perceived value. If the consumer believes your product is worth it they will buy it.
The ones that don't didn't intend to anyway.
I'm sorry, "share your thoughts" ? For free? How about I charge you $5-10 for my thoughts. To do otherwise would cheapen my intellectual property.
Do not deter piracy. Embrace it. It's simple change of perspective that takes you step ahead of idiots trying to control internet.
or pretty much any FOSS license.
Make it easy for me to buy (either in store availability guaranteed, or digital download - the latter is a lot easier to achieve) and PRICE APPROPRIATELY.
If you still have piracy, they were never going to be customers anyway (i.e., if it was too hard they wouldn't have purchased), but may encourage others to buy, by getting you free publicity.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Quit thinking about it like piracy, and the problem disappears. "But wait!" you say, "how will I feed my family?" Rather than discouraging piracy, you should be encouraging support from your audience. Add in a splash screen that can be disabled by the user once they paid/donated that encourages the purchace of a license, and what the support will go to. Throw your code up onto github or some other service and solicit for input from your audience, thus building a relationship with your audience, and even opening the doors for contribution in the form of code. It is far easier to give money to people who you actually have some form of relationship with. Things that don't bother people, but remind them, and encourage them to give the support you need is how you grow your body of support. Doing things to annoy people, will result in them not cooperating with you, and thus, doing things that one might consider piracy.
Here's my take: If I find value in a tool, I'm quite willing to pay for it to use it.
If I find no value in a tool, then I quit using it and delete it.
People that use your tool but refuse to pay for it are willing to invest a lot of effort in to circumventing any kind of DRM you might wish to use.
Consider their time and effort as a non-fungible expression of the worth of your tool. Simply take the high road and ignore them.
For an example, see the "Audio-Grabber" project.
At worst, limit updates to only paying users. As "haters gotta hate", deadbeat users are just another fact of life. It isn't worth worrying about them. Put your effort into pleasing those that pay you.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
You forgot a fourth category: Those who will only buy the product because they hear about it by word of mouth from people who pirate it. This is a category of sales that will go away if your DRM is successful. Do you have any estimates for how big this group is? According to Blil Gates, this group is one of the big reason for Microsoft's early success, if I recall correctly.
The cost for producing each copy is 0$ and can be done by anyone. Supply is automatically the same as the demand. Artificially forced scarcity might work to stop the horrors of non-scarcity, but not completely.
Imagine a future where everything can be replicated. Would it then be theft to let my santa clause machine print/build all my furniture, just because I don't buy it from those who demand to earn a living from building furniture?
It's about time somebody asked.
First, you need to respect our privacy. That means you do not collect our names, address, phone numbers, social security numbers, credit card, drivers license, email address, or require us to have an internet connection for something that should be working without it. You need to respect the fact that many of us will NEVER register anything, for our own security. If we run into some software that we pay for, but it requires any of those things, then that just motivates us all that much more, to pirate it.
CD Key is just fine. Some people will still pirate it, but if you still have the same number of copies on the shelves, and still sell them, then it did not hurt you, and you need to realize that somebody else is likely to spread the word about your product and purchase it. Make it part of your business model.
Second, don't release it until you are sure it is fairly stable and reliable. If you release software and we discover major bugs in the first five minutes of using it, then you did not test it very well, and you have sold a fraud and you should be criminally charged.
Third, do NOT include any spyware, or third party packages such as toolbars. people HATE that, and it highly motivates us to pirate stuff.
Fourth, do not install anything or make any changes to our computers unless it is absolutely unavoidable.
Fifth, if we have direct X 12 installed, do not force install Direct X 11 over top of it. This is common sense.
Sixth. let people decide for themselves how to pay you. Do not require a credit card, or pay pal, let them send you a money order. You will be surprised at how many people are willing to pay you in advance just to keep control of their own personal information.
If you remember those basic rules, your software will be very well liked.
If your customers respect you and the work you do then they will go out of their way to help you.
Treat your customers like your friends.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111208/15341817015/invincible-killer-scorpions-other-drm-hijinks.shtml
You could just simply stop counting pirates as non-paying customers and treat your real customers better.
For example: it's nice to see that these days lack of DRM is considered a feature.
Don't listen to the people who say "don't bother about piracy" or "pirates will pirate it anyway". I'm saying this as an indie developer myself. But slashdot is not the right place to ask such questions. Better find a specialized forum
Don't ask how to deter piracy. Ask how to increase sales.
You care about the number of sales you make. That affects you. The number of people who rip you off is totally irrelevant except as a proxy measure for sales impact -- but it's an awful measure for sales impact. If some of the people who rip you off end up buying your stuff later, or showing it to people who buy it, you might come out ahead.
Start by clearly understanding what you want. Unless you are very petty, "maximize sales" is more important than "minimize piracy". If you have a choice between:
1. 100 people buy your program. 0 people pirate it.
2. 101 people buy your program. 1,000,000 people pirate it.
The second is a better deal for you, because it's got more sales.
Also, consider "value to people who buy it". A thing that won't screw them by failing to run under some future circumstances is worth more.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
You could add a picture of yourself and a couple of lines describing why you made the program to the manual (without turning it in a TLDR), so that people realise that is not some big company's clueless fatso CEO who's Mercedes they are powering by paying for the software, but just a normal programmer paying his rent/mortgage/food etc.
You stop it the same way you stopped people stealing car stereos; Don't sell your product at exuberant prices just because a large enough part of the customer pool is willing to pay for it for you to break even. No one steals car stereos after the chinese flooded the market with 50$ stereos. Now people will break your car window for a pack of cigarettes, but leave your stereo.
If you want me as a customer, offer a freemium version with the limited functionality (but no time limit) and a premium version with enhanced functionality. Keep the price for the premium version in a reasonable range (people are used to lower prices now with all the app stores) and make unlocking simple (register and pay on website, get a key by email. Entering the key instantly unlocks the premium features). Make a simple webpage where I can compare the two versions and give some information about yourself and your business to make me feel more emotionally involved. A blog and a forum can help as well.
There will always be pirates. if you want to get the most out of those who choose to actually be customers and not drive them to piracy also, then have reasonable prices and good service. Offer a good demo, also. Don't lock paying customers out of doing whatever they want with the game once they have it. You will be rewarded.
Back in the day, there was a great text editor (PC-Write, I think). The disk was available at any shareware spot, and the splash screen said, "Please make copies of this disk and give it to everyone you know." The author explained in the README that his business was selling manuals, not bits. The manual was $45. And despite that, the docs that came on disk were quite good.
He said his conversion rate was pretty good, and he made enough money to continue doing what he loved.
Most people are honest, and if you give them something useful in such a friendly way, most of them will _reciprocate_ by sending you money.
Adobe sells Photoshop at a price that ordinary people cannot afford. Everybody who wants to work in graphics design pirates it, as does a lot of hobbyists (they are the ones that have time to comment on every Gimp discussion on Slashdot, talking about how perfect Photoshop is, and how important CMYK is in web design).
Because of this, everybody in the graphics business knows Photoshop best, and when they get a real job, Photoshop is what they have the company buy. Adobe is getting rich on this scheme.
If people could not pirate Photoshop, They would learn Paint Shop Pro or The Gimp, and if these were what everybody knew, Photoshop would have a much smaller market.
When considering DRM, remember that DRM only limits the paying customer. Cracked copies have the DRM removed, so all DRM does is show people how stupid it is to pay for software when the pirates get it that much easier. Heck, among those of us who want to stay legal, it is not unusual to buy e.g. a game, put the DVD on the shelf and download the cracked version. This even goes for serial numbers you have to enter. Paying customers need to enter this really long number, with lots of room for mistakes, before they can install the software. Keygens, on the other hand, often automatically copy the generated serial number into the correct boxes.
You need to make people WANT to buy your software, rather than trying to force them to. Force creates resistance, and when that force only hits those who do pay, it will just push more people to piracy.
Make the software free and charge for support and updates. That would be ideal.
One time activation is OK too. Either require a CD key during the install, or e-mail your customers an activation key they'll enter when the installation is finished.
I'm writing a one-man game at the moment. I don't imagine it will be anything more than an obscure indie game at best, but it's nice to pull out of the game programming and give thought to "what might happen" if it's popular and sells millions, and write some code for things not directly related to the game itself. I actually ENJOY planning things like that and at what point I'd have to pull in cloud servers and this and that, and how I'd get one proper "retail" boxed copy made of it, just for me, even though boxed copies are basically dead nowadays.
As such, I've thought through things like scalable storefronts, download capacity, selling it on Steam, etc. and even things like DRM and how I'd sell it by myself.
To be honest, it was only a side-distraction but as someone who has 500 Steam titles on their account and myriad other indie bundle games and GOG.com games, I have to say that - pretty much - my buying tastes affect my programming tastes. As I got to the point where I thought "I wouldn't tolerate that on a game I bought, especially an indie game", I stopped and did something else. Hell, I ended up recreating a Steam-like achievement system rather than code on the DRM once I thought it had gone "too far" (the fact that I made it so I can drop-in a real Steam library system with minimal changes just reflects my insane optimism!)
My game has code for DRM. I have a single define in the code that removes all the DRM, throughout every file, check and build process, so it's literally a single switch to compile a version without any DRM or with. I honestly expect to never have to turn it on if I ever finish the game and the DRM code I have put in will languish in my SVN repos forever. But it was a fun intellectual exercise to code.
My DRM works by embedding an X509 public key certificate into the game, and giving an X509 certificate to each user, signed by the corresponding private key (which, obviously, I keep secret and do not distribute anywhere). Users can download the game from anywhere but need their "key file" to activate it properly (which works nicely for "demo" versions too - anyone can download the same game but the key turns it into the full game). It should, thus, be impossible to fake a valid, signed key without actually changing the code of the game itself. No "keygen", as such.
The code itself does various checks to make sure people aren't fiddling the certificates (the ones embedded into the game, or supplied to paid users), and the details on the certificates can contain things like their address or even credit card number quite easily. This, I hope, would deter the casual user from sharing their key with other users and/or present enough of an intellectual barrier that they think "Oh, I won't try to fiddle this, then". There's also a quick DNS check where I query a remote DNS server under my control which returns some custom-formatted records that tell me whether or not the underlying game key matches the one that the DNS is providing (so a primitive revocation / demand a certificate update facility).
I don't FOR A SECOND think that any of this will stop a determined pirate. I think it will deter kids from sharing their copy of the game with their mates, or running 20 copies at home, and amateurs poking around seeing if there's a way around it. Anyone smart enough to look into the code with a debugger, or run Wireshark is going to defeat anything I do, I'm under no illusions, and the worst I can do is make it tricky for them. It's the balance of that trickiness versus the likelihood of affecting genuine users negatively that's the ultimate question.
When I was younger, I did a bit of all levels of "hacking" programs. I pulled Desert Strike through MS-DOS's debug command and - with a copy of Ralf Brown's Interrupt List and a knowledge of x86 assembler - defeated the "must have the CD in the drive" protection. I never distributed my crack (hell, there were better ones out there already, I just didn't have an Internet connection to know about t
[x] none of the above
I've been in your shoes, releasing and selling an add-on tool for a 3D engine. My approach was no copy protection whatsoever. Instead, I offered my customers a fair deal and appealed to their good nature by offering them the same package for 4 different prices (10, 20, 30, and 50 US$). While that sounds weird, it worked. I added descriptive labels ($10 student/amateur, $20 indie, $30 big indie, $50 pro) and told them that if they don't have much money, they are free to pick the lowest price, that's totally ok.
It turned out that half of the customers voluntarily pay more than they have to. And I'm not aware of any piracy. There's probably the odd guy who gave his copy to his friend, sure. So what?
In the area you and I are in, piracy isn't that much of a problem, I believe. Contact is more personal, we aren't faceless corporations, and frankly, spending two hours on improving the tool will very likely do more for your bottom line than adding even a serial number check (which is also code that needs to be written, tested, etc. etc.)
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I released games and applications for the Amiga in the early 90's and it helped me pay for college. One game even got on a cover disk. I think it is as true now as it was then. The games I released that had no limitiations made some money. The only thing I had to bug users was in the readme and it stated that if they liked the game they could send me whatever they thought it was worth. Sometimes I'd get 5 bucks, sometimes it would be 20. The only game I didn't make squat on had the last third of it locked down and would only work if paid for and registered. I only sold two copies of it and it was my best game.
The other thing that was cool was the letters I would get for the games and apps from countries outside the US. People would go to the trouble of converting local currency to US bills, write a letter that was obviously composed by using a 'some language' to English dictionary and tell me about how their kid or wife or husband had been playing the game all days and nights so money for you should have to make better life.
I'm sure tens of thousands of people played the games or used the apps. Hundreds paid for the 'pay whatever you want' software. If I were to go back I would have had more to offer on all of it and approached it as additional features instead of punitive.
I've been in an out of the piracy game since irc times but there was one approach that really worked for me.
The author of Lux (a java based Risk game) had a nice system for detering privacy:
1st: The game was free to play for 10-20 times and then it required registration (simple key code)
2nd: The author had set up a website so when you searched google: lux warez, serialz, serial, keygen, his website was the first site you got to where he asked crackers to respect his tiny cottage industry (I think it was 5-15$ for a lifetime key), and at the same time pointed out to users that by stealing his software they were poisoning his part of the ecosystem.
It seemed to work. I never found keys to the software (this was 6-7 years ago), and we didn't pirate that piece of software. I stopped looking for keys after I'd read his page and that was the important part.
On the other hand I have very little problem pirating professional software to play around with 3DStudio and Photoshop, however once I got into photography (and had spent much more than the cost of software on gear) I've had to change my approach. I pay for my Raw software (Capture One Pro) and I use gimp or open source tools instead of PS. Sometimes I want to dick around with CAE software and I have no problem pirating that since I'm interested in demo-ing it and not using it as a tool in my business. I think reminding users what they would be paying for (its your time not the tool) is the best approach.
The more popular it is the more legitimate sales you have. But without a doubt it will be cracked within a week if it's popular. And never underestimate how pirates, at least in the beginning, for an unknown publisher, actually promote your game for you.
So your best bet is to update the software with token features or items every week and keep it fresh. Those that really find your software worthwhile will pony up just to have the updates ASAP.
Just put Eric Cartman on a plane to Somalia, and your piracy problems are solved!
asking customers politely to buy the software after trying, providing an unlock-code for those who do, or limit your demo in an insignificant - but in the long run: annoying - way. (e.g., disable drag 'n drop - import). don't use any copy-protection. this way customers can try your product, but will get annoyed by the friendly "buy me"-pop-up if they like it and use it on a regular basis. pirates on the other hand probably won't bother removing only the pop-up/slight limitation if the product is otherwise fully functional.
You could just simply publish your source code with your binaries with a free software license. Announce a donation scheme that would classify donors as customers and deal with their complaints and feature requests. If you product is really useful, people would copy it and use it, whether you like it or not. But getting new features means work for you, and if there are people who really want to use those features, they would pay for them.
The problem is, how can you make money off of your software? Piracy is not a problem, it's a fact that you need to get used to. It's what humans do and always have been doing.
I have a Simpler Solution. Charge a reasonable price that everyone can afford and I bet piracy won't be a problem. However, if you think your 25 lines of code are worth $100,000+ per person, then you deserve to be ripped-off.
I saw a site develop basic functioning software and then selling it with details of future updates when $X amount was reached. The main product was useful to get people to purchase just for the initial software, but the updates were very tempting to be had. This way the company can also contract work when funds become available and then need less initial investment as well. Genius idea if you ask me! Plus have updates require downloads which would then have a new encryption to be paired with. The verified and working serials can also limit duplicate redownloads, so if a pirated copy gets out, it gets blacklisted quick and stops updates from being performed. To take it even one step further, you could put an encrypted piece of code that fails after a certain flag or starts to degrade in quality. But in all reality, it is truly a cat and mouse game. As long as someone tries hard enough, they will reverse engineer the software. A second option I thought of after writing the above... Instead of selling software that users can download onto their computer, put it in the cloud. You could have the application be hosted on your own servers(software developer), and have a VNC style interface where you can only use the functionality of the program thru a web interface but not have access to the actual files for the applications. For dealing with large files, this could currently be a major pain, especially dealing with HD video. Another downside could be that you would need to host servers and if your application is processor intensive, you would need the horse power to run these which might add substantial costs. Another major downside of copy protection; if you have great software with good copy protection that is costing the consumers a good chunk of change, someone else can just see your work and copy. They then release it at a cheaper price without ever needing to design, only write the code. So balancing your software's price to deter this from happening should be considered. Probably part of the reason prices on new released software is expensive then usually falls shortly afterwards.
AutoCAD was very expensive and you needed a dongle to run the software. No dongle, software won't run.
Hard to pirate around that.
Not impossible. But hard.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
unless you're talking so far back that people didn't really think of software so much as the product as the reason people bought your hardware
How is that not still true of Macs and iDevices and to a lesser extent Nintendo game consoles?
Ok.. I am a (kind of) graphics designer myself. What I mean by that, is that I'm more of a video guy, but for that, I need to make graphics.. also I do other stuff, like web design. I'm also a gamer.. and a pirate. So you want my money do you? Here is how you'll get it:
1) Make something good (this seems obvious.. but as they say, common sense isn't so common. Remember GI Joe - the movie? Yea....)
2) Offer a full, time based trial (expires in 3 months). Depending on your software / plug-in, there may not be enough time in a single month to test out the features / uses for it. Most of my single projects themselves take at least a month.
3) Keep the price point to what the software offers. The features should = the cost. For example, if you make a plug-in that gives a radial blur effect to a picture (isn't that built into.. every single graphic design package?).. don't sell it for $500.
4) Activatation via online. Yes, this is DRM.. so what? If you're a serious designer, you shouldn't give 2 cents about having to activate your software. It also makes it easier for your customers (rather than having them re-install a full version or replace files).
5) If you want to go really sweet, offer what Fraps does.. free upgrades for life. Even major releases. I heard about Fraps.. I pirated Fraps.. I said, wow, this is a nice program.. and I went to the website. "It's only $25(?) bucks?!?" I clicked on Purchase and bought it.
In short.. don't make it over-priced, make it a reasonable purchase. Give it great features. Make it easy for users to install, activate, register, use. Offer a trial of the full release so people can see how to use it. That is how you'll get a Pirate's money.
My captcha is villains... rofl.
Long range missile armed drones flying over that part of the Indian ocean off east africa to sink their shios.
A Predator is probably too small, you could modify a P3 Orion to do the job, Or use a Global Hawk to spot them and smaller drones operating from a carrier...
History tells us that the only effective way to deal with piracy is to deploy an armada of ships to patrol and defend against pirates. Combined with the death penalty for those caught doing acts of piracy, it should only take a decade or two to eliminate piracy from the high seas, once again.
Many suggested an easy way to pay, so put in the apple store and play store an 5$ app that gives the registration number based in the identity of the buyer.
This has several advantages, easy to pay, ubiquitous, trusty, and if the buyer loses the key, he can always re-download the app you already purchased.
Host yourself the app and dont ask for any info for the download,
Deter privacy is easy: make a really good product that people want to pay for.
No DRM, no online activation, no nonsense.
If it's worth having, people will pay for it.
Yes, some people will pirate it: only the MAFIAA is stupid enough to think that those people are lost sales. They're marketing opportunities. They wouldn't have bought your product anyway, but if you have a great product that they pirate, they might tell their friends.
Just kidding. But seriously, watermark the image, but only during the most expensive portion of processing, or above a certain size of image, so that it is costly to determine if it actually _has_ been cracked. Use code obfuscation. And place the validation in unlikely routines.
Destroy the incentive to pirate with a low price and no DRM. You've already got the low price part done right.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Here's another indie-developer's thought on the matter:
Phi-Lars-ophy: SimCity vs. Piracy & The 4 Currencies
Certainly something to think about.
This depends on what view you want to take. If you want to view piracy is wrong and immoral then you do whatever you feel best.
If instead you want to view this as a transaction in which you have made something for which you are looking to get compensation to provide more benefit.
I state this to focus on the goal. You have made a product which you are charging a modest fee for ($5-$10). You want to maximize the amount of folks who use the tool and will pay you that compensation. So focus on the following:
Positive means more than negative. (We grouse at taxes but fail to realize the benefits and large penalties without the system it supports. Communicate your benefts)
Folks will pay what they can pay. Preventing piracy is an all or nothing proposition, it's a deterence. Through negative consequences you are seeking to provide incentives to pay for your product. Put yourself in your custom shoes, would you (the customer) really want to reward a bad actor (you the business) by giving them money if they make it more difficult to get what they have paid for?
My recommendations based on the above is a tiered payment structure.
Tier 1 - Basic tool, cheap.
Tier 2 - Additional features (avoid crippleware or nag ware just have a low cost and premium version). Focus on money vs. time as they will in making the choice.
Tier 3 - Support Manuals and forum access
Tier 4 - Premium cost for premium value.
A tiered support structure (without DRM, just more benefit for more money) will allow you to maximize your profit by providing incentives for folks to pay the most they can. Folks with more money than time will seek the higher tiers as long as you construct it effectively. Bundling multiple tools is a good way to add value for higher buy-in as well.
This is how grocery stores and boutiques do it. Focus on the value you are providing at the appropriate monetary level they are willing to pay.
TLDR; No DRM. Tiered pricing to take effect of what folks can pay based on their own time vs. money assessments. DRM is a stick. Look for a carrot.
"Don't fear death... fear not living..." -me
Have the app phone home at startup to nominally check for new versions. Any serial number that checks in from more than a dozen different IPs in a day can be presumed to be pirated. Give them a little nag screen that says, "$10 to register this program is a lot cheaper than a $5000 copyright infringement lawsuit. Don't be a dick, this is how I feed my family."
The goal, of course, is to have your software widely used and then convert as many pirates into paying customers as possible.
Hilarious that this got modded down. All of these actually got posted and modded up as serious suggestions.
Offer paid users technical support. Paying to have quality support and people is more valuable than the software itself.
i think alot of software developers value their work a little more than the market does.
Just my opinion, but if someone isn't going to pay, they never were in the first place.
The only effective method would be some kind of notice that is either displayed on startup or easily accessible that reads:
"Hi, I hope you enjoy this application. It was the product of many hours of work and refinement. If you aren't able to compensate us, please suggest this application to someone who can. If you've contributed to us, we thank you and hope you have many hours of enjoyment."
Don't be antagonistic, let the network effect of piracy work for you - not against you. Most apps that have heavy DRM are cracked, distributed and the creators ridiculed, because the pirates know nothing is 100% effective. To pretend it is means you have no idea how digital technologies work.
So, suggest they tell someone who has that nice income about your app instead, or that typical user that just pays their way no matter what. Forget those that won't, because they never will.
I say Don't cripple the product, don't include any form of DRM or copy protection. Make the utility worth the price, make it easy to get, pay for, install, and use. As others have said here, some will violate copyright to get what they want for free no matter what. As others have stated here, worry more about marketing your program.
Instead focus on making your app so valuable as a graphic utility that people *need* it. Then price it low so that you can make revenue but not BP style revenue. I've done this a lot and always found people who really *really* like your software are willing to pay for it, when they find out it's $10 or so then it becomes a no brainer and they buy it. Pirates will pirate no matter how deep down the DRM rabbit hole you go. The only thing you can do to stop it is embrace it. A good way to do this is make your software able to detect if it's valid or not (via CD key or something as mentioned a hundred times already) and if the same key was used more than 5 times from more than 3 computers, it was pirated. In which case your action should not be to batten down the hatches and make it restrictive, but rather, offer a discount on the purchase and provide those pirates an easy "no repercussions" purchase path. A 50% discount would get you a lot of money that otherwise would have been lost to pirates. Just a thought and is how most "indie" developers see pirates anyway, as free advertising. Sure there will still be people who don't pay, but by providing them an easy path to purchase for a discount to make their copy *legit*, you'll find if the price is right that people would flock to it.
I use Intel's Core processor crypto capabilities to protect digital content. It is called IPT (Identity Protection Technology). There are about 5 companies in the world that can deploy to you one solution that use this kind of feature. Basicaly, since SandyBridge there is a hardware based way to sign and certify machines for a given purpose. This is possible due a hardware implementation of EPID (Enhaced Privacy ID). Take a look is a cool and fine solution.
The right question is how do I make money.
What you need to do is list your potential pool of customers and then see how you can make money from them.
Hobbyist and College kids toying with graphics:
They're not going to pay. Accept it as a reality. They will hack your tool if you try. At best, use them as means to make your tool popular. Some might buy it, but most won't.
Large graphic shop: :P The lawyers will make sure a legit copy is made. I've worked for numerous software companies and the large ones have a team of lawyers running around. Now, a lot of the time people do use random software, but more often than not, the company will buy licenses. Really whats $10-$20 expensed for the company? I don't know what kind of deal my company makes with them, but we have legitimate versions of many pieces of 'shareware' products.
They will pay as long as it is illegal to use it otherwise. So don't release your product for 'free'. If you want, have a free version for non-commerical use and emphasize it in the tool that if it is used in a commercial setting, they must pay. Alternatively, have a simple serial number thing. It adds more authenticity to the agreement where you are purchasing licenses
Small to medium Graphic Shop:
These may pay and some may not. What can you do to help bring them over to the paying side?
1. Make it easy to pay. Sign up for a reputable app delivery service. easy for the smart phone market. Harder on a pc.
Pay me, and I won't pirate.
Another thing that often happens to me is I'll download and install an app, play with it a bit, or just look at the menus, and forget about it for a couple of weeks. Then when I come back to it, even though I've only opened it once, the trial period is over. And if I'm now ready to check the app out, the fastest and easiest thing to do is paste in the serial.
Some people will never pay, and there's no sense making it difficult to get around the DRM. It's been tried, and always fails. But a good app at a reasonable price will sell. Take note, Adobe!
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
A registered executable that uses a basic serial. Have each downloader register and give them a slightly modified exe with its own md5 tied to their serial. If it doesn't match, have it work perfectly, but then after a week and a half have it disable itself and tell them to stop being a thieving pirate punk. Use your own time source so the crackers wont be able to just set their clock forward to see if their crack was successful.
Don't sell the utility, lease it. Turn it into a web application and lease it out. Charge a fraction of the full price, like any lease. Over time you'll make more if it is a useful utility. Think how much more Microsoft would have made if they leased MS Office. I think this is the direction that MS Office 360 is going.
Piracy is ONLY caused by over-pricing (in direct pricing combined with barriers to delivery/use) what you are selling compared to the value buyer see it delivering.
Look at ANY black market that exist and you will always see this as the central factor. That includes cases where a government decides to "prevent" you from using something: they effectively raise the price of obtaining what someone wants and immediately creates a black market if the demand is there for the value but the only way to get it *at market value* is by substitutes or piracy.
This is the lesson of the RIAA pricing of albums vs. the iTunes store, for example. This is the lesson of the WoD. This is the lesson of MS Windows/Office piracy and declining official adoption. The list is endless.
Why steal when you can borrow? If you offer an avenue for people to acquire your product and pay what they can until they've bought it theft from necessity will be, well, unnecessary.
Try Tegotech Software. They have a DRM that is friendly for paying customers.
The fools in the USA are politicians and/or clueless with money, often from the USA inbreed aristocracy.
Like you I am well off and help where I can. I am 60+ USMC@17yo1968. Most of US are not fools, and we damn-it we don't lynch multi-term politicians.
It's that simple. Make your business model and services and support so bullet proof and customer-oriented that piracy is pointless, and you won't have a problem with piracy.
Arguments that piracy is a popularity tax, piracy is just the cost of doing business, piracy is an inevitability, all these arguments are only a partial consideration.
Yes, SOME things will always have a degree of piracy, that's a given. Work with it, since it's a fact of life. Instead of making your product something that people feel morally compelled to pirate, create a product and service and support model that's comprehensive and unique enough that piracy of it is pointless. In other words, sell a product that isn't just a one dimensional product. Sell a product that has a future, that purchasing includes so many perks and so many benefits that only an idiot would pirate it.
You know, a modern business model that incorporates the best of the things of the past, like excellent customer service, reliability, genuine product support, and innovation.
This, as opposed to something shiny and destined to be completely obsolete within months/a year.
The 10% of pirates you will NEVER stop. Don't spend time or money trying.
The other 90% need access to your product in way that is useful to them. NOT YOU.
As well, they will tell you the value your product. NOT YOU.
A product that is delivered in a customer friendly way and is the value the market supports will not run into wide spread piracy.
Conversely, if you limit delivery and over charge expect rampant piracy.
Display ads for the free version and take away the ads and add features for the non free version any other tricks will only inconvenience the legitiment user
If an application is good quality and inexpensive, more people will buy it rather than going through the hassle of pirating it.
A lot of good programs are priced so ridiculously high that it coasts an arm and a leg to buy...oh, EXSQUEEZE ME..."license"
them. Next thing you know, the manufacturer turns around and comes out with an update ("Oh, it's a whole NEW version!")
and you have to hock your kids to "license" that.
It it's priced reasonably in the first place, more people will buy it to begin with and won't balk at upgrades so much. And if you
have 10,000 buying your product at $700 ($7,000,000) as opposed to 250,000 buying your product at $150 ($37,000,000), the
cost reduction more than pays for itself.
But then I live in a make believe world...
Price your stuff so it' not worth the hassle to pirate it.
Audio and video files? Your distribution costs are close to zero these days. Let your prices reflect that and watch your volume explode. Put down the buggy whip, already.
Software? That's a bit of a different story. Depending on the work, it's much more expensive to produce, though the distribution expense is here also trivial. Sell the current version of AutoWord-DB-Pro for what you think is fair. Sell the older one's for cheap. Dirt cheap. The people who actually need the latest and greatest features will gladly pay, the rest will pay for the older version and maybe even become paying customers of your current one. Meanwhile, you're still capturing revenue from your old versions.
Start thinking in terms of total revenue, not how much "a copy" is worth. You are not losing sale when someone pirates a $400 program. You most certainly are losing a sale when you don't sell a $20 program that would have met the pirate's needs and for which he would have paid.
That'll encourage me to buy and will take care of the DRM bit.
Your CPU is not doing anything else, at least do something.
Have at least part of the functionality be implemented on the server and require a login.
It's simple, and the only thing that so far has shown to be a real detterent to hackers.
I have no advice for the game industry. But for a utility for graphic designers my suggestion would be to let me demo the software. Not for a limited amount of times but for a limited number of uses. I recently got a demo for a drawing application. It's limited to 30 days. I only sometimes need to draw anything. So in the next 30 days I'll maybe only have 4 real reasons to open it and will make time to play around with it in my spare time maybe 3 times max. But if I were given a limit of say 100 chances to run the program within a time limit of 9 months, that would definitely give me enough time to really evaluate, utilize, and possibly become dependant upon the software.
The piracy prevention in Minecraft was really effective IMO. When playing without verifying your account, the words 'unlicensed copy :(' appeared in the upper left corner of the game. Also, automatic updates stopped.
This got them at least two extra sales as I got a temporary account as part of a different game I got, I played for a while, thought it was nice, but when my time ran out, I wasn't really sold. However, when I found I could still play the next day, I decided to keep playing and then I got immersed. Then came the updates, I couldn't get them, I didn't feel right taking them. So when I felt that I owed them the $25 for how much I had already played, I ordered the game (I did try earlier, but their billing service wouldn't take my money for some reason). Then a while later my wife got an account so we could play together.
All of this, because the DRM was so light as to not matter except to remind me that I still hadn't paid for it. I don't doubt that this worked for many other people, nor that it didn't work for many others (who would take anything they could get), but Notch's philosophy was to concentrate on the honest people. Seems to have worked for them.
A simple serial number? Online activation? Encrypted binaries? Please share your thoughts.
Serial number user needs anyway - for support and such. (Or you provide no support?)
Allow users to run it in "demo" mode, until the serial is entered. Demo means:
- Couple of weeks of interrupted work with the program. (Best of all of you would actually count the time the program is actually used.)
- After the time has passed, once per day (or once per N uses per day) a polite reminder that the user should buy it, since well, develop has to feed his family. Politeness is important!
- If you are really really against the freeloaders, as time goes increase number of reminders.
Do encrypted/compressed binaries, if you can do it on the cheap/for free. Not really a deterrent to a pro, but just to prevent trivial tinkering. I have had cracked (and debugged) some programs (in the MSDOS/Win95 past) with a plain hex editor. :)
Overall, treat potential customers with respect and politeness. Do not annoy or eliminate - but remind to pay money.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
...is to release it under GPL.
It DOES NOT MATTER who pirates your stuff.
NOT ONE JOT.
All that matters is who pays for it.
If number of people buying x cost of item > costs of production including wages then it DOES NOT MATTER if the entire universe pirated it. You've been paid.
If 2 people pirated and 1000 people bought Sim City, it would flop. Despite a TINY proportion pirating.
If 2,000,000,000 pirated and 10,000,000 bought Sim City, it has broken all records. Despite a MASSIVE piracy rate.
That's easy. Set a trial period; once it expires, change every font to Comic Sans.
Gosgog:
Now the CIA is going in for Big Data! (read the article in today's business insider) So as we are all identifiable because of their ability to track anyone by cell phone (on or off, or even borrowed) and by the way each of us walks....THEN ASSISINATE 'THE PIRATE by DRONE ATTACK...HA! ha! After all, thanks to Obama & Bush et.al., there's no record of the act afterwards!!
Work on commission. If there is no one willing to pay you for the work, why would they pay you for a product with an infinite supply?
I hear what you're saying old man, some of my favorite people are Americans. ;)
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
This is Slashdot. Most of the people here will say there is no reasonable way to deter piracy. Many will believe you are wrong for trying to guarantee you make money from your effort solely because your effort is in the digital realm and "information wants to be free!"
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
Yes, 30 cards. And again, in case you missed it, the cost to me personally was ZERO, other than a small bit of time.
Not insane. Just a side effect of having many credit cards and spending lots of money both personally and for business. My credit history goes back 20+ years as well so again, this is not as unusual as you make it out to be. Cards get nicked all the time through no fault of the user. I buy a lot of goods online and logic would tell you that some of those vendors will eventually be hacked and give up the ghost.
If you have a problem with my "zero cost", then take it up with the fucking banks that issue the credit cards. That part isn't my problem Mr Iwantyoutopay. I don't give a flying fuck about YOUR interest rate or YOUR fees. Why on god's green earth would I care about your issues with fees and interest rates?
Make a quality product with no copy protection (a serial number for those honest folk). Honestly, the least pirated products are those with the least protection on it. I downloaded Anno 1404. Played the hell out of the game. After playing it for about 6 months, I gave the producers my money. Same thing with Mount & Blade, and a few other indie programs. Downloaded, played the hell out of them, then paid because it was worth it.
Others, by big publishers, I downloaded, played for a while then turfed. Not worth my money.
Try to turn your app a la SalesForce, or Google Docs, or something like that.
A Web-Only app is the way to go.
Please understand that this is different from what SimCity did. They had a binary that connected to a server.
What Im proposing is that your app is a simple JavaScript that connects to a server that performs all the work in the background.
Service is the way to go.
Perhaps this is one of our problems.
Even if you had $3,000 in charges on your credit card account, why the hell would this make you late on anything else? Minimum payment on the card while the thing is sorted, and what's the worst then, perhaps you won't go to a movie?
Don't get me wrong, I believe you when you say it took 110 hours to get fixed and that is $1,540 damage to you. But the idea that $3,000 on the card would make you late on your house payment? Bullshit.