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Thread ID: 67023	2006-03-14 10:00:00	Piracy, an elightned soul.	Metla (12)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
438041	2006-03-14 10:00:00	I cant really add anything more, so read the link :thumbs: The PC gaming industry is its own worst enemy. www.gamespot.com	Metla (12)
438042	2006-03-14 10:35:00	But it's a kinda small issue in the greater scheme of things. Other people have to get up at 4:00am to bake bread and collect rubbish.	Greg (193)
438043	2006-03-14 10:45:00	Well, I hope they wash their hands inbetween tasks. Anyhow, The collapse of the PC gaming industry affects thousands of workers and millions of consumers, and even a shareholder or 3...	Metla (12)
438044	2006-03-14 19:54:00	I hardly think the industry is going to collapse just because someone linked to a warez site.	Greven (91)
438045	2006-03-14 21:06:00	You what? Why comment if you didnt read the article? It has nothing to do with anyone linking to a Torrent site. anyhow. GS: Why did Stardock opt not to use traditional industry-accepted forms of copy protection? BW: It's only industry-accepted in the PC game industry--the industry that people are regularly saying is "doomed." Most of our business is in the application software market (the market that no one argues is "doomed"), and such copy protection measures are not used. I don't have to keep my Adobe Photoshop CD in the drive to use it. We simply applied the PC application software model of IP protection to our games--release the game with no CD-based copy protection and include a unique serial number that they need to use in order to obtain updates. What we do is take feedback from our customers and release free updates to our games. Since we have a database of every serial number that's been issued, we can control who has access to those updates. By releasing frequent, convenient, free updates, we reward people for buying the game. GS: Have you had any positive or negative experience using programs like StarForce in your games? BW: I don't really have any experience with StarForce. I have read about people having problems with such things but I suspect those problems have been exaggerated. What other publishers do to protect their intellectual property is up to them. I simply don't [think] CD-based protection is particularly effective. Any copy protection system, in my opinion, should be focused on trying to increase sales--not stop piracy. The two aren't the same. Most people who pirate a software product would never have purchased it. It's pointless to waste time on those people. The people to focus on are the ones who might have bought your product or service but chose not to because it was easier to pirate it. Most serious PC gamers have had cases where they've lost a CD or damaged it. They resent not being able to play the game because on top of the game using gigabytes of disk space...it's also treating their CD-ROM drive as an expensive dongle key. As a result, the question is, how many legitimate gamers choose not to buy a game that has CD protection because they're on the fence and know that sooner or later, they'll probably lose that CD? For us, that's the underlying question--do we gain more sales from gamers who were on the fence but decided to buy the game because they didn't have to worry about losing/damaging a CD than we lost through piracy? GS: Will this change your approach to copy protection in the future? BW: Not at all. As I type this, EBGames has released their top-selling PC games from last week. Galactic Civilizations II was number one. So if piracy is such a menace, it's not apparently affecting us to the degree that some say it should.	Metla (12)
438046	2006-03-14 21:18:00	You what? Why comment if you didnt read the article? It has nothing to do with anyone linking to a Torrent site. Sorry. I see things differently when I first get out of bed. I don't know how I managed to miss the rest of the article. This is what I saw: StarForce site forum moderator posts link to download pirated copy of Stardock's Galactic Civilations II. In an ironic twist last week, a moderator on the forums for copy protection software StarForce made it easier for people to pirate a game, posting a link directing users to a site from which they could download illegal "warez" copies of Stardock Systems' PC strategy game Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. In response to a user's remark that Dread Lords has been experiencing strong sales despite a lack of copy protection (other than a serial number used to download updates), StarForce forum moderator JM posted a link to a Web site and a message saying that several thousand people were downloading the game illegally. He suggested that the game's success was despite the lack of copy protection, and not because of it. The offending link has since been removed, and yesterday another StarForce forum moderator offered an apology for the situation. "In the end, on behalf of the whole StarForce I would like to tender our apologies to all people who have been working on creation of the game Galactic Civilizations II," wrote a moderator using the handle "SF shum." The moderator continued, "We have to officially claim that what has happened is just a mistake of our employee that was boosted into 'our planned PR action' by the people who hate StarForce." The mod also said it would be the last time a staff member would post a link to a site hosting illegal content, and indicated that the site would be revising its rules and policies in order to prevent such an occurrence from happening again in the future.	Greven (91)
438047	2006-03-14 21:23:00	Yes, well, I was being a little cryptic to see if anyone would read the entire article and make the connection with what I was referring to as far as enlightened souls and how copy protection hurts the industry. Muhahahaha. I figured most everyone would read the headline and go...Pffft...who cares....	Metla (12)
438048	2006-03-14 22:01:00	I might buy this game. Looks nice.	mejobloggs (264)
438049	2006-03-14 23:14:00	I might download it..... ....muhahahahahaha.	Metla (12)
438050	2006-03-15 03:50:00	I quite agree with BW on this point. " Most people who pirate a software product would never have purchased it. It's pointless to waste time on those people. The people to focus on are the ones who might have bought your product or service but chose not to because it was easier to pirate it." I buy quite a few games and also have the odd pirated game which I would of never bought in the first place. Trevor :)	Trev (427)
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