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Indie Game Developer Shares Free Keys on The Pirate Bay (torrentfreak.com)
Jacob Janerka, developer of the popular indie adventure game 'Paradigm,' recently spotted a cracked copy of his title on The Pirate Bay. But, instead of being filled with anger and rage while running to the nearest anti-piracy outfit, Janerka decided to reach out to the pirates. Not to school or scold them, but to offer a few free keys. From a report: "Hey everyone, I'm Jacob, the creator of Paradigm. I know some of you legitimately can't afford the game and I'm glad you get to still play it :D," Janerka's comment on TPB reads. Having downloaded many pirated games himself in the past, Janerka knows that some people simply don't have the means to buy all the games they want to play. So he's certainly not going to condemn others for doing the same now, although it would be nice if some bought it later. "If you like the game, please tell your friends and maybe even consider buying it later," he added.
Nothing insightful to contribute, just wanted to say that I hope it works out for him. People like this are the ones that make the world a more amicable, and slightly better, place.
If you're wondering what the opposite of a DMCA-wielding media conglomerate looks like - this guy is it.
He's not going to see a dime from this. If you can't afford the game, hey, maybe save up or just don't get the game. That life lesson will go a lot farther than some millennial mamby pamby ass "here are some free keys because I know some of you can't afford this game" bullshit. How about, saving some money and paying for the game or going outside and playing in the real world because you can't afford to get this game. Both will take these people a lot farther than some welfare handout which has been proven to not work. You give something away for free and you quickly create the exception that it should be free.
Try it, bring in pizza for the office 3 Fridays in a row, hell, just 2 and you'll see your cow orkers will be expecting free pizza on the next Friday.
It's a marketing gimmick at best and a poor way to run a business.
Actually this is viable. For most people, "I'll buy it when I have more money" becomes "it's not worth it to me now" later. When you've had a turn of good-faith and you're not a sociopath, it becomes more of a dutiful obligation.
In other words: this cost nothing and some people are more-likely to purchase the game later. An arms race against piracy costs a lot of money and largely stops a few people temporarily, while the ones who don't get the hammer brought down on them largely don't care and find another way, all the while inducing nobody to actually pay you.
Basic negotiation. His legal obligations are limited because he can stop big-time distributors, but not the individual clients of those distributors. He wants those clients to purchase legitimately from him. Thus he needs to negotiate with those clients for best results, and an extension of good-faith and fraternity will bring them to identify more with him and, in some subset of cases, to become amenable to supporting his particular brand. You have just broadened your basis of brand loyalty.
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But after reading this, I will now buy it.
Said almost no one ever....
We are currently faced with a generation that generally believes the world owes them a living (Food, housing, healthcare, security ect). It is how they were raised. They demand healthcare be considered a right that minimum wages are too low, why not entertainment too? Just listen to them claim it's "fair" to pirate music, movies and the like. Why do we expect them to not demand entertainment as a right as well?
If you don't protect your stuff, you have no hope of getting paid in this world..
How much did each key cost the developer to produce? This is how much money the developer was deprived of each time the game was pirated.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
Total nonsense. So all the hours spent developing the game initially are free? No opportunity cost? It'd be much more accurate to say, "how many keys did the developer expect to sell? Divide that across (total number of hours to develop the game) x (dollars per hour that the developer values his time) and now you've got something meaningful.
You apparently believe that someone who spends hours and hours crafting something should do it just for the love of it, and they obviously have nothing better to do with their time.
> As many on here will tell you, if you're making more than it costs to produce the game, you're a greedy bastard.
No, we don't even have that many retarded people. You expect them to break even? If they make more than 0 profit, they're greedy bastards?
You might find a more amicable audience at a site called Reddit. I highly suggest you visit there. You'll like it.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Man, that sure was a wall of text to say "but I like stealing".
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.