• Android piracy still sucks
    87 replies, posted
[url]http://www.altdevblogaday.com/2013/04/11/android-piracy-still-sucks/[/url]
�셝혻 what the heck is that?
I don't know, the game doesn't seem all that impressive. And releasing a paid version first with lite later, what did he expect?
[QUOTE=itisjuly;40249707]I don't know, the game doesn't seem all that impressive. And releasing a paid version first with lite later, what did he expect?[/QUOTE] I think he's mainly voicing his frustration. Even when everything's said and done about piracy, you'll still feel frustrated as a developer when you see your game being pirated in such large volumes.
[quote]there’s an emotional, open-handed slap across the ear to be had when you realize that your release is being pirated at a rate of 20:1.[/quote] "We should get rid of all DRM because piracy is a non-issue because it doesn't affect developers at all because pirates wouldn't have bought the game in the first place" - Half of Facepunch, /v/, Neogaf, and r/gaming.
[QUOTE=itisjuly;40249707]I don't know, the game doesn't seem all that impressive. And releasing a paid version first with lite later, what did he expect?[/QUOTE] That doesn't excuse the piracy
[QUOTE=Ericson666;40250549]That doesn't excuse the piracy[/QUOTE] It does! If the game doesn't 100% meet my expectations, it is not worth my money. I wish these developers would all conform to my dumb criteria for being a buy-worthy game.
[QUOTE=milkandcooki;40250548]"We should get rid of all DRM because piracy is a non-issue because it doesn't affect developers at all because pirates wouldn't have bought the game in the first place" - Half of Facepunch, /v/, Neogaf, and r/gaming.[/QUOTE] It seriously doesn't affect big name games that much. It's a hit and miss thing for indie devs. Thing is that android is a case in it's own, it's not comparable to any other platform. No other platform has such high piracy rates (if he's telling the truth).
[QUOTE=G-Strogg;40250587]It seriously doesn't affect big name games that much. It's a hit and miss thing for indie devs. Thing is that android is a case in it's own, it's not comparable to any other platform. No other platform has such high piracy rates (if he's telling the truth).[/QUOTE] I remember World of Goo, where the guy making it said that 90% of copies played were pirated copies. Pirates are the worst.
[QUOTE=G-Strogg;40250587]It seriously doesn't affect big name games that much.[/QUOTE] Source?
[QUOTE=G-Strogg;40250587]It seriously doesn't affect big name games that much. It's a hit and miss thing for indie devs. Thing is that android is a case in it's own, it's not comparable to any other platform. No other platform has such high piracy rates (if he's telling the truth).[/QUOTE] Don't you remember when Ubisoft was screaming 95% piracy rate?
[QUOTE=milkandcooki;40250548]"We should get rid of all DRM because piracy is a non-issue because it doesn't affect developers at all because pirates wouldn't have bought the game in the first place" - Half of Facepunch, /v/, Neogaf, and r/gaming.[/QUOTE] Are you saying DRM isn't a bad thing?
[QUOTE=Ericson666;40250606]Source?[/QUOTE] [h=3][/h] Anecdotes such as "I only pirate games to test them out to see if I would buy them" or "99.6345% of pirates wouldn't have bought the game anyways according to TORRENTFREAK and ILove_Torrents.com"
[QUOTE=milkandcooki;40250548]"We should get rid of all DRM because piracy is a non-issue because it doesn't affect developers at all because pirates wouldn't have bought the game in the first place" - Half of Facepunch, /v/, Neogaf, and r/gaming.[/QUOTE] The fact that 20:1 people pirated his game is in no way any proof of how many people would've bought the game if they couldn't have pirated it so I'm entirely unsure as to what you're on about here.
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;40250640]Are you saying DRM isn't a bad thing?[/QUOTE] As you can see, it's a necessary evil. As nice as saying "we don't need DRM, if devs are better then people won't pirate" is, it's obviously not the case, considering 95% of people pirated a game on Android, which has basically no DRM
[QUOTE=Ericson666;40250688]As you can see, it's a necessary evil. As nice as saying "we don't need DRM, if devs are better then people won't pirate" is, it's obviously not the case, considering 95% of people pirated a game on Android, which has basically no DRM[/QUOTE] Everything is pirated, even with the most locked down DRM you can think of.
[QUOTE=Ericson666;40250688]As you can see, it's a necessary evil. As nice as saying "we don't need DRM, if devs are better then people won't pirate" is, it's obviously not the case, considering 95% of people pirated a game on Android, which has basically no DRM[/QUOTE] Great logic there mate, you're the champion of deduction.
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;40250704]Everything is pirated, even with the most locked down DRM you can think of.[/QUOTE] So what are devs supposed to do? Take it like a champ when they have nearly every person who plays their stuff pirate it? You might point to Steam and say that they're doing it right, a stable platform that offers extra content to regular customers is a good way to stop pirates; but then when EA and Ubisoft come out with digital distribution platforms (which in terms of usability and resource consumption are way superior to Steam), people throw a hissy fit. What are devs supposed to do?
[QUOTE=Ericson666;40250792]So what are devs supposed to do? Take it like a champ when they have nearly every person who plays their stuff pirate it? You might point to Steam and say that they're doing it right, a stable platform that offers extra content to regular customers is a good way to stop pirates; but then when EA and Ubisoft come out with digital distribution platforms (which in terms of usability and resource consumption are way superior to Steam), people throw a hissy fit. What are devs supposed to do?[/QUOTE] As fucked up as it may sound, yes. Piracy will not go away. They need to get it through their heads that people will ALWAYS pirate their games no matter what. And saying nearly everyone pirates any given dev's games is a huge exaggeration.
[QUOTE=Ericson666;40250792]What are devs supposed to do?[/QUOTE] The ultimate way to stop piracy: stop making games.
[QUOTE=AJisAwesome15;40250852]As fucked up as it may sound, yes. Piracy will not go away. They need to get it through their heads that people will ALWAYS pirate their games no matter what. And saying nearly everyone pirates any given dev's games is a huge exaggeration.[/QUOTE] There are statistics, 95% of the people playing this pirated it, and Ubisoft was saying they had 95% piracy rates as well. And if people would stop using cop-out arguments like "everyone else does it" and buys the games, we wouldn't be in this mess and DRM would be a thing of the past. [QUOTE=KillerJaguar;40250858]The ultimate way to stop piracy: stop making games.[/QUOTE] Sadly, that may be what it comes to, indie devs won't be able to quit their day jobs and focus on their pet projects, and larger corporations will have no choice but to avoid artistic risks like they're the Bubonic Plague
[QUOTE=milkandcooki;40250571]It does! If the game doesn't 100% meet my expectations, it is not worth my money. I wish these developers would all conform to my dumb criteria for being a buy-worthy game.[/QUOTE] as sarcastic as you are this is actually how it works then the sensible thing to do would be to realign your change your target audience - maybe to a group of people who don't take video games quite as seriously and are willing to look past certain downfalls?
[QUOTE=Juniez;40250932]as sarcastic as you are this is actually how it works then the sensible thing to do would be to realign your change your target audience - maybe to a group of people who don't take video games quite as seriously and are willing to look past certain downfalls?[/QUOTE] [t]http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2012/0319/vg_gronk_1_576.jpg[/t] ?
[QUOTE=Ericson666;40250947][t]http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2012/0319/vg_gronk_1_576.jpg[/t] ?[/QUOTE] certainly beats the "streamline more like [b]casual garbage[/b] 0/10" crowd
[QUOTE=Ericson666;40250688]As you can see, it's a necessary evil. As nice as saying "we don't need DRM, if devs are better then people won't pirate" is, it's obviously not the case, considering 95% of people pirated a game on Android, which has basically no DRM[/QUOTE] My IQ just dropped reading this post.
[QUOTE=Juniez;40250961]certainly beats the "streamline more like [b]casual garbage[/b] 0/10" crowd[/QUOTE] touche [QUOTE=Rika-chan;40250968]My IQ just dropped reading this post.[/QUOTE] ...can you explain why?
shit like [URL="http://www.geek.com/apple/the-little-tank-that-could-for-iphone-was-pirated-96-percent-of-the-time-855202/"]this[/URL] is really bullshit - even when i was looking for this article, google wanted to autocomplete the game's name with "download" and "ipa". 45 sales and 1114 players, and that's on ios. and the "pirates wouldn't have bought it anyway" is pretty lame - they will still use developer's resources, like their servers for multiplayer or scoreboards.
[QUOTE=Ezhik;40251174]shit like [URL="http://www.geek.com/apple/the-little-tank-that-could-for-iphone-was-pirated-96-percent-of-the-time-855202/"]this[/URL] is really bullshit - even when i was looking for this article, google wanted to autocomplete the game's name with "download" and "ipa". 45 sales and 1114 players, and that's on ios. and the "pirates wouldn't have bought it anyway" is pretty lame - they will still use developer's resources, like their servers for multiplayer or scoreboards.[/QUOTE] I feel like purchasing a game is now more of a factor of "do I respect this company enough" rather than "do I want to play this game". I'm not basing this off anything specific, but I imagine it's easy for people to pirate a game from some indie company who they know nothing about. It sucks and I wish piracy didn't exist, but DRM isn't the solution. It's a hard thing to make the consumer trust the company, but I feel like it would be worth it in the end.
[QUOTE=Dirf;40251431]I feel like purchasing a game is now more of a factor of "do I respect this company enough" rather than "do I want to play this game". I'm not basing this off anything specific, but I imagine it's easy for people to pirate a game from some indie company who they know nothing about. It sucks and I wish piracy didn't exist, but DRM isn't the solution. It's a hard thing to make the consumer trust the company, but I feel like it would be worth it in the end.[/QUOTE] DRM is the solution - the problem isn't really DRM. The problem is that DRM being extremely painful to the user. If DRM had literally no impact on the user whatsoever aside from preventing you from illegitimately downloading the game, the only people complaining about it would be assholes. The real problem is how do you really prevent a user from unlocking something they already have all the content for locally? At some point a legal copy of the game is going to have to be decoded using some form of key, and once a hacker figures that out you're cracked. The only way to really prevent people from being able to pirate is something like diablo 3, leaving the only option to be reverse engineering the servers - but that shits on gameplay if it's singleplayer.
He made a puzzle game for a market inundated with puzzle games. Yeah piracy sucks, but have an iota of business sense and this might not happen. Let me find my tiny violin.
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