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News id Software talks piracy (again) at GDC 2007

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Tim S, 13 Mar 2007.

  1. Tim S

    Tim S OG

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  2. Baz

    Baz I work for Corsair

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    But Et:QW is an online only game, which you HAVE to buy to play online? Piracy of online only games (such as BF:2, World of Warcraft) is practically zero, as there's no point in playing it singleplayer (or on a private server in the case of wow).

    Sounds like a cheap excuse to justify the delay of ET:QW to make a few dollars out of the xb360 and ps3 markets.
     
  3. orb

    orb satisfying.

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    Actually if you know what you're doing you can get keys quite easily what work online
     
  4. aggies11

    aggies11 What's a Dremel?

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    Re: Orb, if I'm not mistaken that isn't piracy, as much as it is "theft" :p

    There are ways to "Pirate" online games, but they are not nearly as attractive/simple as for singleplayer games.

    Regardless though, of all games, Online (Authenticated CDkeys) would likely be the ones that are least affected by piracy.

    Aggies
     
  5. DriftCarl

    DriftCarl Minimodder

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    Its pritty simple. make good games and people will buy it. What is wrong with Valves system? How many people actually pirate halflife 2? everyone I know has a legit steam account and has bought HL, HL2 and episode 1. And I will continue to buy the episodes, as long as they keep me interested. I have seen HL2 on torrent sites but the downloads are no way near those of other games such as doom3. I will also buy UT2007 because that seems like an amazing game. you also need a legit key to play online.

    So to sum it up, good games need good secure multiplayer environments, a good plot and great gameplay.
    Doom3 lasted an hour for me before I uninstalled. Same with many many other games. I simply dont have enough money to buy every game that comes out promising to be the best game ever without actually trying it out.
     
  6. orb

    orb satisfying.

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    Sorry, but what do you think Piracy is? If you have connections they can get you a key as easy as 1 2 3.

    Piracy isn't theft, lol wtf
     
  7. g3n3tiX

    g3n3tiX Minimodder

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    The cost of games as well as PC hardware (to get the same result as on a next gen console) is way higher. Thats's why people prefer to buy a console, for a lesser price than PC, and it will (supposedly) last longer.
    I also think the sheer SIZE of games (SupCom is around 6GB) makes it a good deterrent to downloading + piracy...
    And Orb,not everyones has the right connections...you could be mine ^^
     
  8. Bladestorm

    Bladestorm What's a Dremel?

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    In the case of an online multiplayer game, essentially you are paying for a CD key, if people go around copying said keys and using them before the legitimate purchaser, they have in fact stolen them from them.
     
  9. bilbothebaggins

    bilbothebaggins What's a Dremel?

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    Piracy *is not* theft. That's why we have a discussion in the first place, isn't it??
    If torrenting a program would be the same as stealing someone's bicycle we wouldn't have the discussion if it's evil. (We do have one, do we?)

    SW Piracy is a copyright infringement (yes, I needed to look that up to spell it right). This is not the same as theft.

    br,
    -btb-
     
  10. mmorgue

    mmorgue What's a Dremel?

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    Theft, piracy.. It's just semantics. The point is, they have the same effect, be it loss of revenue for developers or loss of quality game/s/ing for consumers.

    So far, the best "anti" theft/piracy solutions I have seen have been the use of registered, online keys. True, it's not anywhere near 99% secure. But compared to physical disc protections, rootkits, complex inbuilt key algorithms, etc -- I think it's the better option.

    But the way it's broadcast out, how badly it's hurting the industry, etc. How is it any different than someone stealing a car? Or your mobile? Or your wallet? I mean, major car companies (or i should say insurers) have to deal with this inevitabilty of theft. But they keep supplying more, innovative models and technology to us. So why is the gaming industry throwing its hands up so high? It's the same principle, just different medium.

    If they want to stop it, address some of the deeper social issues about wealth, poverty and the pervasivness of technology, etc. People will *always* want what they don't/can't have. And bigger doors and better locks simply mean bigger hammers and better keys. :rolleyes:
     
  11. randosome

    randosome Banned

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    Right so by your logic, if i go out and download and run windows, i didn't steal it, i didn't pay for it, but i didn't steal it ?

    Come on man, piracy is theft in a way

    However, i believe that for example, if i go and download supreme commander, and play it, and then decide i don't like it - that i haven't really done anything wrong
    If you like a game, and play it lots, then i think you should buy it, because the Dev's deserve it, and if you didn't it would just be like going to the shops and taking a copy off the shelves

    It would be like going to the supermarket, if you eat a grape to find out if the bunch is OK, then that's OK
    but if you go in and just eat bits of food, with no intention of buying it, that's wrong
     
  12. orb

    orb satisfying.

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    Just because piracy isn't walking into a store and taking the software doesn't not make it theft, you're still using software you haven't paid for
     
  13. Sim0n

    Sim0n rm -rf /

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    So true :p

    I think it seems rather stupid blaming "punters" on this.
    The problem is whoever leaks the content into the mainstream, be this a coder at the company, someone at the DVD/CD Fab plant, somebody in the shipping dept taking a copy, or just someone at the store taking a copy.
     
  14. TomH

    TomH BELTALOWDA!

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    My first thoughts when reading towards the end of the article were: Why have id decided that piracy is destroying their bottom line, and why do they think that they need to release more console titles to remedy it?

    If they took a look at the two examples, where a great PC game doesn't account for a large chunk of torrent traffic across the Internet; Half Life 2 and WoW, they'd notice a few things:

    1) These games are bloody brilliant. They've pushed the boundries, enthralled gamers and above-all else, provided a new experience for many.

    2) They both rely largely on content servers.

    There is the argument against not being able to play a game without your Internet connection, but for pete's sake; the 1990's called and they want their lack of Internet access back -- this is the 21st century.

    And again, the question of privacy. Of not having someone snooping on you to check that your copy of xx game is legitimate. The answer is that they don't have to necessarily -- the practice of requiring a simple login/key authentication is probably deterrent enough for most.

    Couple that with needing an account, specifying personal details to be used with your games, and you've got a 'casual piracy' deterrent right there. Of course some would still go to greater lengths, but piracy is only rampant because it's easy..

    For instance, you want to purchase Quake 4:

    i) Walk (probably drive) to the shops and pay for the game across the counter
    ii) Buy game online, wait 2-3 days for delivery
    iii) Download it from xtorrents.xxx within an hour, whilst you're playing another game. For free.

    So what, you're lazy. We're all incredibly lazy as a species, so if it's possible these games are available to be paid for and delivered via the Internet, again, a-la Steam (and I think soon, WoW); you suddenly take one very large component out of casual piracy.. Laziness.

    When it came to Half Life 2 (and the subsequent Episode 1 expansion) I of course chose to pay for it online and download it from Steam. After-all, you're only paying for a license? My 10Mbit connection makes mincement of the download times (and it'll be 20Mbit come June).

    If id were to launch a content delivery service (or possibly strike a deal with Valve, whom I'm sure would love to have id on-board), possibly include a few nice new features to get more people downloading (option for a DVD to be mailed along with your order, for instance), they'd soon chop their piracy issues in half.. If not more!

    Console development worries me slightly, though. Take 'Deus Ex: Invisible War'; what a way to spoil a game. Design it for the console first and hope we wouldn't notice? Halo too, what was so special about that compared with other FPS games available on the PC?

    id need to stop fixing the solution, and start fixing the problem. Catch up with the industry, and above all else.. Actually make some enjoyable games! There's been hardly anything fundamentally new from them in the last few years, and if they really want people to pay for their work, they need to work a little harder at keeping it impressive or some gamers just won't see the £20-30 justified.
     
  15. randosome

    randosome Banned

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    The funny thing about console games, is that they are much easier to pirate
    due to the fact they don't do as much work to protect them because they think their safe, as soon as you compromise it, then its wide open, whereas PC games usually require modified exe's, other funny fixes or whatever and even then you cant play online

    So really, i don't see how consoles are better for less piracy, because its easier to pirate on them :duh:
     
  16. Vergil_117

    Vergil_117 What's a Dremel?

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    I really doubt it'll take an hour to torrent a copy of Q IV. I've torrented games before (which I later purchased out of reasons oh great now I need a legit one cause of patches). And it'll take you like a day or even more and since most people don't even seed maybe even longer.
     
  17. randosome

    randosome Banned

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    depends on the game tbh, i think when doom3 came out you could have it in an hour, and graw took a couple, supreme commander takes like 8 hours, but it is 6gb
     
  18. aggies11

    aggies11 What's a Dremel?

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    "The point is, they have the same effect, be it loss of revenue for developers"

    By that logic, every game I decide not to buy, for whatever reason, deprives revenue from the developers. So not buying a game is "theft". Every time I walk out of a store without an armfull of games, I should be arrested on the spot, for all the revenue I just deprived the developers of :p

    At *best*, piracy is "stealing a sale", but stealing a sale, and stealing a product are not the same thing. And then one can debate the fact that exactly how much piracy is infact stealing a sale (eg. if you never would have bought it in the first place etc).

    If I walk into a store, put a copy of supreme commander under my coat, and walk out. Thats theft. If I download the game from the internets, that's piracy. I'm not saying one is any better/worse than the other, only that they are different.

    Aggies
     
  19. DXR_13KE

    DXR_13KE BananaModder

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    he is right.

    as for id Software.... i can only say one thing.... "words out of a$$", piracy does not affect that much, 40% of my legal game purchased were due to the awesomeness of games i downloaded from the internet, so if i did not download them i would not buy them..... or the probability of buying them would be really small.
     
  20. Almightyrastus

    Almightyrastus On the jazz.

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    I have torrented a couple of games in the past but i always had too much trouble afterwards to make them worth the hours or even days spent getting them. plus the fact that most games now are HUGE downloads now, it is a far nicer thing to get something that i know is going to work and has a manual in case of control tips needed. I think i am just getting lazy in my old age, can't be bothered with the playing about in cracking, mounting or writing out the stuff
     
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