Indie Developer Conducts Piracy Poll

[El Dee]

Positech Games developer decides to start a poll to see why people pirate his games, and after getting a overwhelming response he posts the <a href="http://www.positech.co.uk/talkingtopirates.html">results</a> and suggests how he is going to adjust to the complaints.
<blockquote><b>Game Quality</b>

This was a big complaint too. And this also surprised me. I have a very low opinion of most new games, especially triple A ones, but it seems I'm not alone. Although there were many and varied complaints about tech support, game stability, bugs and system requirements, it was interesting to hear so many complaints about actual game design and gameplay. Not a single person said they had felt ripped off by a game due to substandard visuals or lack of content. The consensus was that games got boring too quickly, were too derivative, and had gameplay issues. Demos were widely considered to be too short and unrepresentative of the final product. People suspected that the full game was no better than the demo. Almost everyone had a tale of a game that was bought based on hype which turned out to be disappointing.</blockquote>
Would have to agree with him about the disappointment and hype, but is it really necessary to pirate a game to find out if it is crap? These days usually it is not too hard to spot a steaming pile of crap before it is even released.

<blockquote><b>DRM</b>

This was expected, but whereas many pirates who debate the issue online are often abusive and aggressive on the topic, most of the DRM complaints were reasonable and well put. People don't like DRM, we knew that, but the extent to which DRM is turning away people who have no other complaints is possibly misunderstood. If you wanted to change ONE thing to get more pirates to buy games, scrapping DRM is it. These gamers are the low hanging fruit of this whole debate.</blockquote>
This has been discussed ad nauseum on the Codex and DRM, and similar copyright protection programs, do seem to deter gamers from purchasing games that utilize it.

<blockquote><b>Confessions</b>

I got a few people, maybe 5% of the total, who basically said "I do it because I like free stuff and won't get caught. I'd do the same with anything if I knew I'd get away with it." This is depressing, but thankfully a small minority. I also got the occasional bit of abuse and sarcasm from hardcore pirates who have decided I am their enemy. Who would have thought that would happen? They give the other 99% of pirates a bad name, and are the reason people don't listen to pirates.</blockquote>
5%? That seems a little low. I would venture to guess that the majority of people that pirate games do it because they like free stuff, of course these people are going to be less likely to submit a response.

Thanks, Brother None!

 

[Azarkon]

Well, the quality argument has some weight. I'd never pirate a Blizzard game, for example. But that's also because of the online play. One way to avoid excessive piracy is to always have a strong online component for the game. Unfortunately this is not so easy for CRPGs, which explains why single-player games are mostly on consoles, nowadays.

 

[avatarrr]

Positech Games developer decides to start a poll to see why people pirate his games, and after getting a overwhelming response he posts the <a href="http://www.positech.co.uk/talkingtopirates.html">results</a> and suggests how he is going to adjust to the complaints.

I like this guy's approach and am very curious how his changes to games he developed and is developing will impact sales. If by dropping price, removing DRM, putting extra effort in his games, releasing longer demos, making digital distribution hassle-free he will receive a boost of sales, I think we'll have a proof that piracy is not or at least shouldn't be a problem.

 

[aron searle]

I don't buy the "scrap DRM = pirates start buying".

I won't buy a game that has crappy DRM.

But then i certainly won't pirate it, i really just can't see more than a minority changing their decision on that one, makes me wonder how many of the people who responded to the survey where actually pirates or telling the truth.



EDIT / This is also an ace marketing trick, i would never of heard of them if they hadn't done the survey.

 

[Fez]

I've gone from being demoralized by pirates to actually inspired by them, and I'm working harder than ever before on making my games fun and polished.

One good thing came out of it, at least. Certainly interesting to hear what the results of this was and that they were not what was assumed to be the case. Perhaps it was only 5% because that really is the true percentage. As he said, the small numbers of abusive pirates drown out the others and give a different impression of them all as a result.

 

[El Dee]

EDIT / This is also an ace marketing trick, i would never of heard of them if they hadn't done the survey.

I was thinking the same thing. Now that he is on the front page of the illustrious RPG Codex magazine fame and wealth are his for the taking.

 

[Brother None]

EDIT / This is also an ace marketing trick, i would never of heard of them if they hadn't done the survey.

I was thinking the same thing. Now that he is on the front page of the illustrious RPG Codex magazine fame and wealth are his for the taking.

Dude, this has gone all over. RPS, Kotaku, the Escapist, Eurogamer, Shacknews

Cliff wasn't an unknown before that, being ex-Lionhead and all, but this sure hasn't hurt his fame none. If it's a marketing ploy, it's the best one since Cloverfield.

 

[sqeecoo]

I pirate games because I can't be bothered to scrape up the cash to buy them. I know it's not nice (especially when I do it to nice companies), but I can't help myself and I don't feel it's so bad I MUST do something about it. Where the hell am I going to get 50$ every few months? I would have played like 10 games in my whole life if it wasn't for pirates...

 

[drunkpriest]

That's why I pirate pussy. I only woulda had like 10 fucks if it wasn't for pirating.
I know its not nice, but I can't help myself.

 

[Xi]

I don't think the poll is very conclusive. It seems like research could be done on each poll topic individually. It only shows "why people think they pirate" essentially.

The difference, and something that further research could shed some light on, is the sub-conscious motivators for piracy. Usually we find that individuals who succumb to such inconsequential methods of piracy do so because they lack moral boundaries, do not understand the relative relation between lack of self control and piracy, and fail to distinguish between an act of physical theft and one of a virtual nature.

Would it not be odd if research showed something like IQ being the motivational factor, or low IQ, because I'm pretty sure once DRM is removed people will just come up with a new excuse to steal from you.

"I don't like locked doors"..."If you remove those locks, I won't steal from you, I will instead goto the store and buy a similar product."

It's just the vicious cycle of piracy excuses, not like we haven't seen this before. Plus, I don't think this developer will get anywhere in terms of increasing sales by converting pirates even by listening to their demands, but kudos for actually trying different methods as it will be something that others will be able to look at for understanding later on.

 

[Murk]

piracy, the new rape

('sept now a trojan gives you a virus instead of protecting you from 'em, oh loawdy how things have turned around)

 

[Elhoim]

That's why I rape pussy. I only woulda had like no fucks if it wasn't for raping.
I know its not nice, but I can't help myself.

Fixed.

 

[Fez]

It's not stealing because nothing is taken from an inventory.

 

[Xi]

It's not rape because at least one of the two parties wanted to do it.

 

[WalterKinde]

Ok let me be honest here.
I have download games i couldn't get elsewhere for sale or wasn't sure it wasn't a rip off.
Aka abandonware games, like daggerfall or Frontier :Elite 2 or Frontier First Encounters i also downloaded the original NWN ( bought the collector's edition and all the official disc expansions after playing it, multiplayer is the bomb) Freelancer, Half Life 2 (cause i couldn't wait for the copy i ordered) and an assortment of movie tie in games ,yes they all sucked.
Currently the most recent game i bought is the Gothic 3 collection, the last game i p2p'd was Fantastic Four The Game (based on the movie) currently waiting on The Witcher Enhanced.

 

[Xi]

That's the thing though, justification for an act such as piracy is built around a framework of moral interactivity. In this case it's not only to protect just a single entity but all that are involved. You do not have an inherent right to play video games, and whether you can afford them or not is far from the moral interactivity of doing so.(I cannot afford a Ferrari I will just steal one instead.)

And sorry that I also argue this from a moral perspective, but this is the nature of interaction and fairness of such actions. Some people attribute morality to a religious belief, but this is hardly the case, and some of the best moral teachers were also the strongest advocates for anti-religious belief. So I like to think of morality as a specific fair interaction between more than one entity.(Many different ways to think of it too.)

That said, piracy is just a scapegoat for laziness when you could also go read reviews, forum posts, watch videos, listen to podcasts, etc. These things would obviously give you an idea of how well you would receive said video games. Economically we cannot just decide what is and isn't of value to us to justify the theft of one product over another. Price is set by the creator, whether you like that or not, and if the product does not seem worthy than the individual does not need to purchase it. If you're arguing that you pirated some "crappy movie adaptation video games" then you perceive such games with at least a bit of interest and value. This should be a good enough reason to purchase them. Not to mention you could have researched the games before buying.

Piracy is just the scapegoat for weak excuses, all of which have been easily countered at this point, and only resides in the mind of individuals who lack either self-control or the belief in moral integrity. Also, self control isn't just following a strict code of laws because of the consequence for not following them. It is in fact following a strict moral guide when consequential factors are not present. Piracy being a great example for lack of consequence. How many of you just cannot control yourselves if something isn't helping you to do so? I would say most pirates fall into this category, which I think is a rather despicable quality.

 

[pkt-zer0]

Would have to agree with him about the disappointment and hype, but is it really necessary to pirate a game to find out if it is crap?

Well, better be safe than sorry, or so they say. And if it's a good game, you end up buying it anyway, so no harm done.

Money

This *did* surprise me. A LOT of people cited the cost of games as a major reason for pirating. Many were kids with no cash and lots of time to play games, but many were not. I got a lot of peoples life stories, and a ton of them were my age. Even those who didn't cite cost as their main reason almost always mentioned it at some stage. A lot of anger was directed at the retail $60 games, and console games. People in Australia were especially annoyed about higher prices there. My games were $19-23, but for a lot of people, it was claimed this was far too high. People talked a lot about impulse buying games if they were much cheaper.

I don't get it. What's supposed to be so surprising about this one?

 

[WalterKinde]

So somehow with the exception of the movie tie in games and Abandoware games, all the games i have p2p'd and later purchased leads to me being lazy and inherently evil?

As for reviews and gameplay videos, Oblivion had scores of those and look how that turned out.
Also i did buy Oblivion based on the walkthrough/demo video bethesda released as well as the 10/10, 5 stars reviews it was given so saying that reviews etc are enough is just not true, yes being burned has made me older and wiser and please look at the ages of those games i mentioned this was before (with the exception of the movie tie in games) coming to the codex, i have not since FF the game or had an inclination to download anything because most games released today suck, it took getting Oblivion to open my eyes to this.

 

[The_Pope]

I pirate games because I can, and if I really enjoy them I buy them so that I can feel smug and morally superior.

Best of both worlds.

 

[Topher]

I can't believe I agree with Xi but I do. There is more then enough info on games to decide if they warrant a purchase. That's not to say that I haven't or wouldn't again pirate a game but I treat it like an extended demo, if I like it I will go out and buy it because I like to keep and replay my games, I also like to own the disk. Point is that if it's good enough to play then it's good enough to buy.

 

[Kraszu]

"I don't like locked doors"..."If you remove those locks, I won't steal from you, I will instead goto the store and buy a similar product..

The problem is tat those locks only exist for legal buyers. It is a turn off if pirated free game offer something better. Lower prices will not get rid of piracy, removing DRM will not remove piracy, all claims like that are pointless, it is not 1-0 reality. If lowering the price could bring more revenue then that is most important. If lowering the price would decrees piracy, but bring lower revenue then it would have opposite effect on developer survivor.

Original games should go whit extras, nice manual, map, things that pirated version can't offer, maybe 2 version of game, CE prices are ridiculous compared to what they offer. In Poland popular game often have nice extras, and shit like that. Manual whit art, and some background about gameworld are great. I don't want shit like click left mouse button on ground to move there, use w to go forward I can check those options in game fast. Manual should set the mood for the game.

 

[vrok]

Cliff Harris a.k.a. cliffski on Bluesnews is a known hardcore anti-piracy poster. Someone else dug up a bunch of quotes that pretty much speak for themselves regarding this whole poll being marketing vs a serious effort of understanding piracy.

more tedious crap from you defending piracy.

run along to digg or slashdot where dicks like you belong

*blah blah all games suck blah blah the devs are evil blah blah piracy is ok blah blah*

the thieving cunts like you will still try and pirate it because you feel born with a right to take other peoples stuff for free. 99% of the people whining about "OMGZZZZ I will NEVER BUY IT!!!!111" Will buy it on the first day anyway.

hey jerkoff, tell me what percentage of WoW players use cracked servers, compared with those playing the PC call of Duty?

then please go play in the road with your pro-piracy thief friends.

This is no different. Its annoying, but blame the thieving warez kiddies and their apologists, not the developers who spend their whole lives trying to make stuff to entertain you, probbaly for less money and longer hours than your job.

but hey, we all know how much you LOVE piracy. Do us a favour and fuck off to console land, your kind have done enough damage to PC gaming as it is.

its not rocket science, and anyone with a shred of morals understands this. You clearly enjoy stealing stuff, so no rational argument is going to get through to you.
Your not kidding anyone here, only yourself.

The downside is that thieving little twats have all but wrecked PC gaming, and they have people like you cheerleading their cause.

agreed 100%, but many of the pirates that are killing off PC gaming would still like to cling to some infantile excuse to claim what they are doing isn't wrong.
It is wrong, and it is illegal, and you can (rightfully) get your ass prosecuted for it.

if they are pirates like you, why do I care? you and your friends just steal games anyway, so as far as people making commercial games are concerned, your opinion isnt worth noting.

The way most people see it, taking stuff you didn't pay for, and which isn't free, is theft. You can argue your way through 10,000 posts on the internet to try and make yourself feel better, but anyone who isn't a selfish leech already knows what they think of you.

yawn.
your not a hero. your just a thief.
grow up kid.

 

[Kraszu]

How emotion. I can hardly stop the tears.

 

[Elwro]

Well, better be safe than sorry, or so they say. And if it's a good game, you end up buying it anyway, so no harm done.

No harm? If you torrent/p2p, you let other people download the game, and those people may not be equally morally stellar and not plan to buy the game if they like it.

 

[User was nabbed fit]

Cliff Harris a.k.a. cliffski on Bluesnews is a known hardcore anti-piracy poster.

Being angry at something can be pulled off with style, but, unfortunately for him, that guy just doesn't have any and simply ends up sounding butthurt (going by his post that you quoted).