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I know that you need the disc to install the game but once you do that you still need to use the disc to play the game ??? is it a plus point to the game or is it all about anti-piricy?
if i made a game should i make it so the entire game installs intead of just some of it ???
i am not a pirate or anythng but i don't like having to use the damm disc to play the game and i need a good reason why i should wast my time with discs???
does it speed up the computer or is it just anti-piricy?
with computers having lots of HD space nowadays, it's only there for piracy, if the whole game is installed on the HD, it'll run faster.
Purely anti piracy. Some may have their soundtrack as music cd, but I have only seen this with very few games.
In most cases it's just pure stupidity. There are even online games which require a key to play them. Yet they also check for a disc, just to keep the player buisy.
Should be forbidden.
Some of the older games used them to save hdd space, an example of this is fallout. Although it isn't very effective, cracks are easy as pie to find, unless you have no idea where they are (like me).
>In most cases it's just pure stupidity.
I disagree. If you worked hard for 2 or 3 years on a game, would you want people to distribute it for free, and you not make money for your efforts?
I admit I have illegal copies of some games too, just like everyone else, but still, it is not stupidity. It is smart and they should be allowed to do it, so do not say it should be banned.
Another thing, in most cases, even a crack wont give somebody full ability to play a game. For example, I have a cracked version of the Halo PC game. I love it, it is awesome. However, I cannot play it over the internet with other people. I can play LAN games with other people, but not games over the internet. Why? Because playing games over the internet requires a patch to bring my version up to date with other peoples' versions, and the patch nullifies the crack, therefore Halo would not work for me if I installed the patch.
yeh but you already need a serial to play online anyway. Generally if you have a pirate game you cant play online because all the serials on the net have been banned or they wont allow multiple connections.
Pirates will always find a way around copy protection. All the cd check does is inconvenience people who actually paid for the game.
Sorry, but you also have to see it from the customers point of view. A CD in the drive is more than just a pain in the ........... Some people don't like to have their drive blocked all day because some brainless dev decided that a key hash isn't enough security. (Remember, I was talking about online games ;) )Quote:
Originally posted by DavidP
>In most cases it's just pure stupidity.
I disagree. If you worked hard for 2 or 3 years on a game, would you want people to distribute it for free, and you not make money for your efforts?
Also, from the customers point of view it looks like this: Hey, I paid those guys 60€ and I have to have the CD in my drive while my neighbor just downloaded a cracked version from the net and doesn't have is CD drive blocked all day.
CD checks are no security at all. Most can be removed in a few minutes and even those that don't know how, know how to download a crack. In the worst case someone who actually bought the game downloads a virus infected no-cd-crack. Wow, that CD check actually helped a lot.
Some goes for those so called copy protections that keep you from listening to audio CD in CD-ROM drives. The first CD I bought that had this "protection" was also my last (I don't have a "conventional" player). This is rediculous. The people who rip CDs and upload them to the internet won't be stopped by such "copy-protections" - it maybe takes a month until the first applications can copy those CDs - but the usual listener is the dumbass again. Whohoo.
I noticed something that Epic did with Unreal Tournament *and* the sequal - Unreal Tournament 2003. After a few patches had been released, it stopped asking for my cd to play - basically, one of the patches that came out a few months after each of the aforementioned games removed the cd key check.
I guess they must have decided that most of their sales that would be lost from piracy would be in the first few months or something, then removed the cd key check for the convenience of their customers.
Creative thinking; i'd like to see ideas like this pop up more often :P
-jEFF
(ps yes i do have *some* pirated games too, but if I play the game much then i buy it, its only fair)
cheers to epic, its not often any of these guys think about the legitimate consumer.
>>Sorry, but you also have to see it from the customers point of view. A CD in the drive is more than just a pain in the ...........<<
Same can be said about the lock on your car or house. They can be easily bypassed as well.
I would rather go through the trouble of changing CDs than not have as wide a choice of games.
Thats a bad comparision. The car is mine. The house is mine. I hold the key. Do I hold the "key" to MY cd? No I don't.Quote:
Originally posted by novacain
>>Sorry, but you also have to see it from the customers point of view. A CD in the drive is more than just a pain in the ...........<<
Same can be said about the lock on your car or house. They can be easily bypassed as well.
I would rather go through the trouble of changing CDs than not have as wide a choice of games.
Now please don't start with the "but you don't own the game" stuff. I own a copy of the game. The should be enough.
To reply on second quote: I don't believe that a CD check has any impact on the choice of games or CDs. At least those companies could remove their checks after the first month with a patch, like epic and idsoftware did it.
The *best* a CD check might do is to delay illegal copies by one or two days. No more. After that period it becomes completly useless.
>>Do I hold the "key" to MY cd?
The CD is the 'key' to the game.
It does state to the HONEST user that it is wrong to steal this work. If there was no piracy then there would be no need for CD validation.
It used to be worse. Games on floppies had to be validated by looking for a word or picture on a differing page in the manual each time they started.
>>I don't believe that a CD check has any impact on the choice of games or CDs.
Piracy cost the software industry billions each year. That is billions not spent on more games ect.
>> The *best* a CD check might do is to delay illegal copies by one or two days. No more. After that period it becomes completly useless.
You'd be surprised.
Just being on this board means you are PC savy.
The average user does not know how to crack a game or where to get the crack or is honest enough reward someones hard work that gives them enjoyment.
Here we have booze buses. The police block the main freeways and test all drivers. It takes time and causes delays, particularly as it mainly happens late at night. But it has dropped the percentage of deaths on the road involving alcohol from 35% to <25% in two years.
Sometimes we have to make sacrafices for the common good.
>>It used to be worse. Games on floppies had to be validated by looking for a word or picture on a differing page in the manual each time they started.
OMG I remember that! Brings back memories...Indiana Jones and Atlantis (or something along those lines) One of the best games ever, had to look in the manual for the correct sequence :) Good times! :D
If a person knows how to burn a disk they probably know how to search on google when the game doesnt run.Quote:
The average user does not know how to crack a game or where to get the crack or is honest enough reward someones hard work that gives them enjoyment.
Personally I cant justify spending $100 on a game that i will be bored of in a few hours. Maybe if the software companies lowered their prices people would buy more games and not waste their time trying to copy them.
It puts ware on the cd having to keep putting it in and out the drive all the time, I did have a great game -GTA3 until the cd stopped working, if I want to play it again I'm going to have to buy it again.
I usually download no-cd patches for games, even that I own the original copy, nothing can be more bothersome than looking for the CD, and putting it in the drive.
Have you tried to contact GTA3's publisher? I guess they'll replace the CD for you.
Doesn't this belong on another board??
Same issue with music cds- the companies have probably found the right price where the ratio of money from sales to pirated copies is best... so prices will probably stay the same unless people stop pirating *first* (did that make sense)?Quote:
Maybe if the software companies lowered their prices people would buy more games and not waste their time trying to copy them.
One of my favourite games on floppy is "Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus".
Fantastic game, but you get a code wheel with it for piracy protection, and at certain locations in the game it would give you four pictures/words and you had to find the corresponding number on your code wheel. Quite frustrating but the code wheel was time consuming to duplicate.
I never finished that game, it wouldn't protect you from using key items to make spells. :(
yeah with only a $25 postage and handling fee:rolleyes:Quote:
have you tried to contact GTA3's publisher? I guess they'll replace the CD for you.
Yes.... sought of... er... not reallyQuote:
Same issue with music cds- the companies have probably found the right price where the ratio of money from sales to pirated copies is best... so prices will probably stay the same unless people stop pirating *first* (did that make sense)?
I think what PsychoBrat means to say it that music prices will not go down unless people stop pirating music, and people wont stop pirating music unless prices go down. Is that vicious circle thing.. y'know...Quote:
Originally posted by Kinasz
[BYes.... sought of... er... not really [/B]
There are games that store some data on CD, simply because it wouldn't make sense copying it to the HDD, like videos (see Diablo 2).
ah ok, well from now on everyone stop pirating stuff!
well that was an easy solution, prices should start dropping in about a week.
Im convinced if everyone stopped pirating, prices would go up, because there is no alternate way to get the medium but to pay whatever is asked.
In my opinion, if you can't justify spending a hundred dollars on it, how can you justify using it at all? If you don't want it enough to pay for it, why waste your time on it?
STOP PIRATING SOFTWARE, PEOPLE!
By that logic, the more we pirate, the cheaper stuff gets.Quote:
Originally posted by Kinasz
ah ok, well from now on everyone stop pirating stuff!
well that was an easy solution, prices should start dropping in about a week.
Im convinced if everyone stopped pirating, prices would go up, because there is no alternate may to get the medium but to pay whatever is asked.
Definitly a trend that could be seen :rolleyes:
Look at it this way: it takes a crapload of money to develop a game. The developers price the game to where they can make profit. The more it cost to make it, the more it takes to just break even.
And the less copies actually sold, the more each must cost.
Exactly.
PS: Free software is great, isn't it? :D
The publishers price the game to where they can make a hefty profit and give a little pocket change to the developers.Quote:
The developers price the game to where they can make profit.
It takes a crapload of money to develop an engine. Then a whole bunch of other people wack skins on it, different levels and call it a new game. Also a new $100 if you want to play it.Quote:
it takes a crapload of money to develop a game
Maybe if the games were cheaper they would sell more and make more money. If all the new release games were $25 I would never waste my time pirating anything.
PS: Yes... Free software is great!
Well I feel like I am in a class on Economics: The affects of piracy
:D
But I also concur.
>>It used to be worse. Games on floppies had to be validated by looking for a word or picture on a differing page in the manual each time they started
Same same, that should be reinstated, I suppose it would be effective. Then again, I can only imagine pdf files of manuals being spread around, and I guess they would come online anyway at customer support.
>Same issue with music cds- the companies have probably found the right price where the ratio of money from sales to pirated copies is best... so prices will probably stay the same unless people stop pirating *first* (did that make sense)?
I agree. I find it is much more satisfying actually owning the CD, or record, or tape in that case than having a few megs for the mp3s. And anyway I don't think it's fair at all to artists.
Oh, and David, I tried your VSA site and it did not go through. Having tried thinking it is Vietnamese Student Association (like it is at UCI), perhaps I am most likely wrong? =) Let me know, hehe...
Anti-Piracy mostly
This was a while ago, but I have something to say. I think all software should be distributed open source.Quote:
I disagree. If you worked hard for 2 or 3 years on a game, would you want people to distribute it for free, and you not make money for your efforts?
Open source and free are not the same thing. Open source software is still protected by copyright law and can not be distributed without consent from the author(s). Even freeware can be limited in how it is distributed.Quote:
I think all software should be distributed open source
As do I; however, if the industry didn't exist, there wouldn't be as much software out there. Most of what I use is free, but you got to realize that most free games are utter crap. There aren't many free games worth installing to your HDD.Quote:
I think all software should be distributed open source.
Not necessarily - this might apply to software developers like Microsoft. However, developers for applications like Photoshop and 3DSMAX that get most of their money out of commercial buyers would still end up charging the same, because companies can't afford to take the risk of pirating software anymore, the fines are just too great; its mainly the little people that pirate now. Also, game developers wouldnt do that because they generally seem to not be $$$$$$$s like a lot of other people in the software industry. Sure, some of the distributors like EA are pretty moronic, but if they tried to make the prices too much the game developers would simply refuse to work with them. I think... :PQuote:
Originally posted by Kinasz
ah ok, well from now on everyone stop pirating stuff!
well that was an easy solution, prices should start dropping in about a week.
Im convinced if everyone stopped pirating, prices would go up, because there is no alternate way to get the medium but to pay whatever is asked.
-jEFF