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[mirosurabu]

That's a good question. I always use zip. Can't understand why some people use RAR.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

A few reasons:

- I believe rars compress and uncompress faster. This can be significant if you're compressing a large amount of data. So it's not just that the size is slightly smaller, it's also that the compression and uncompression process is faster. And this can be a non-trivial amount of time. I've unzipped files that have taken me 13 minutes in .zip format and 30 seconds in .rar format. That's a non-trivial difference.

- I've also noticed there's an ego issue too, for many. "I don't use those newbie .zips, I use .RAR!!" etc. Which isn't to say there's no advantage of .rar, just that a lot of the time it's just seen as the cooler format.

I actually hate when games are in either .zip *or* .rar, I prefer installers. Compressed files always feels unprofessional to me, I hate having to uncompress something myself and remember where I downloaded it and what folder I uncompressed it to. I prefer a nice desktop icon linking to it instead, it's more convenient. I wish more freeware games would use installers instead of just being lazy and putting them in a .zip or .rar file.

[BorisTheBrave]

I actually hate when games are in either .zip *or* .rar, I prefer installers. Compressed files always feels unprofessional to me, I hate having to uncompress something myself and remember where I downloaded it and what folder I uncompressed it to. I wish more freeware games would use installers instead of just being lazy and putting them in a .zip or .rar file.

Yes!

[Alex May]

It's because rar is great.

But seriously I don't really mind. If people can't be bothered to have software installed that reads all kinds of archive formats then I don't mind if they give up trying to play my stuff. I only distribute small things like unfinished projects or competition entries in .rar, so it's not a big deal. Otherwise I'll put it in an installer. Any way you do it, you'll lose, as some people prefer installers and some people don't. So it's not really a problem the way I see it.

[Akhel]

Kao, next time I'm distributing a software on floppy disk I'll consider RAR.

That was needlessly acid.

Splitting is useful if, for instance, you're uploading a very large file to a site that doesn't accept files larger than a certain size. It's also convenient for some users with slower connections, since they can get a few parts one day, turn their computer off and get the rest the next day.

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

Kao, I was just kidding

I had a friend send me a 7Z file labelled as a ZIP file, and accused me of being lame when both my Mac and XP couldn't extract it.  I have winrar, but didn't bother to use it because it was labelled as a zip file.

I actually hate when games are in either .zip *or* .rar, I prefer installers. Compressed files always feels unprofessional to me, I hate having to uncompress something myself and remember where I downloaded it and what folder I uncompressed it to. I prefer a nice desktop icon linking to it instead, it's more convenient. I wish more freeware games would use installers instead of just being lazy and putting them in a .zip or .rar file.

There are certain people now whom are reluctant to 'commit' to installing something. Just like the people whom baulk at the prospect of instaling a browser plugin, or indeed installing 7zip just for 7Z files.

Also, because of user 'rights', some people don't have the option of installing. This is especially true of people using their PCs at work, where they can run EXEs from folders on their desktop, but they can't install stuff.  For these people, amateur is quite handy.

Of course, with installers, they seem proprietary and a bit ropey sometimes. Especially with shareware, which can be a bit sticky. (also, my boot camp installation doesn't show the 'add/remove programs' thing right now).  If installing Windows software was like Steam or getting content on iTunes, it wouldn't be so bad.

[Don Andy]

Whether a game should have an installer or not depends on the type of game for me. If it is just a small one that I'll play a few times and then probably forget about it/delete it, I want it in an archive so I can just extract it somewhere and play it. I don't like it when these small games basically "claw" themselves into my system leaving files all over windows, most of which probably aren't deleted after I uninstall it (like config files).

It's just really a "state of mind" for me though. You know, the whole clawing into system thing. Extracting an archives equals to "dropping" it on the HD for me, and I can just swipe it away again. Installing equals to "etching" it into the HD for me and I have to scrub to get it off again.

[Atnas]

rar rar  :3

I like 7zip, personally

I usually just zip my files when I send them to a friend I know who isn't as computer literate. But I rar them when I'm sending uh, sensitive files. rar has password protection.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I think the people who are reluctant to commit to installing something are mainly those same people who use .rar out of ego reasons. There's a definite culture difference between techies / people who started using the internet 15-20 years ago, and everyone else. And I think being in a techie culture makes us underestimate how many people don't even know how to use a .zip file, or who think deleting a shortcut means deleting a program and are unable to find a program if it's not on their desktop. That group vastly outnumbers the number of people who are suspicious of installers. So I think installers will usually get a game a larger audience, it'd cut off a few people who hate them, but allow a huge number of people who don't know how to work .zip files to play them. And you can always offer both. It might even be an interesting experiment for a popular freeware game to offer both, and see which one is more downloaded.

Good point about user rights, but I don't think people should be installing games on their work computers anyway -- shouldn't they be working?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Whether a game should have an installer or not depends on the type of game for me. If it is just a small one that I'll play a few times and then probably forget about it/delete it, I want it in an archive so I can just extract it somewhere and play it. I don't like it when these small games basically "claw" themselves into my system leaving files all over windows, most of which probably aren't deleted after I uninstall it (like config files).

It's just really a "state of mind" for me though. You know, the whole clawing into system thing. Extracting an archives equals to "dropping" it on the HD for me, and I can just swipe it away again. Installing equals to "etching" it into the HD for me and I have to scrub to get it off again.

Does any installer actually do that, though? Do you really think that most games that use installers claw themselves on your system in that way? I think that's a bit paranoid, the huge majority of installers, probably around 99.99%, just install in C:\Program Files\GameName, setup a desktop icon, and that's it, they don't touch anything else.

And regardless, offering both an installer and a zip file would solve this problem. I think that's the best thing to do.

[mirosurabu]

Oh, yes, I am one of those who hate installers. Especially when demos and small games use these.

(Side note: I also hate when people package files rather than folder containing these files)

[Don Andy]

Does any installer actually do that, though? Do you really think that most games that use installers claw themselves on your system in that way? I think that's a bit paranoid, the huge majority of installers, probably around 99.99%, just install in C:\Program Files\GameName, setup a desktop icon, and that's it, they don't touch anything else.

No, no, don't get me wrong, I just FEELS that way for me. Nothing I can do about it really. It's like my fear of spiders. Totally irrational, but still there.

It's definitely not an ego thing, though, or at least not one I'm aware of. I mean, it's not like I refuse to install stuff that only comes with installer. It just gives me an awkward feeling.

You've seen the show Monk? Like that, only with computers.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Haven't seen Monk, unfortunately. But I do understand irrational feelings of reluctance in general, yes.

[increpare]

Fwiw, the main problem I have with installers is that they make uninstalling a pain.  One has to uninstall them from the control panel or else the list there will get seriously jizzed up.  It takes ages to load, so I generally just end up deleting the folder manually anyway.  Especially when the game is small.  But I agree that in generally it's good to provide installers as an option.

(OSX doesn't have this problem, thankfully, though I do like keeping small games kept out of the applications folder and put somewhere else).

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Oh? I've never had a problem with uninstallers. What do you mean by jizzed up?

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

See, amongst all of this, some decent answers have come to surface.

- RAR ensures the user doesn't execute the file from the zip 'folder', and not have the same access to the neighbouring files.
- RAR also ensures a certain level of technical competence from the user.
- If a game is being 'released' it should be using an Installer program anyway.

Mirosurabu, that's a good point about installers for demos. That's a time when you want to be as least committed as possible.  I prefer using demos from steam because I feel like I can remove them more cleanly and without them hogging space in terms of folders to mentally take care of. Program Files becomes a mess when you don't recognise the folders in there.

Which raises another question - why don't Windows or Mac support RAR natively? Is it a closed format? In which case, will 7Zip 'take over'?  

Equally, if you use RAR right now, why don't you use 7zip now?
I haven't yet developed an association with the .7z file as being an archived folder, just like it took me a while to get used to .m4a being mpeg4 music.

Interestingly I often notice that in Japan they still seem to like the LHA/LZH formats

(I love that this isn't an issue on the Mac at all btw. I have a folder called 'games' with all my games '.app' files in there, and I can add and remove them at will)

[increpare]

Oh? I've never had a problem with uninstallers. What do you mean by jizzed up?

I mean that I'll end up manually deleting loads of games because it's easier to just delete the folder, but that won't remove the entry from the add/remove programs list, so I end up getting loads of crud entries there.  Same goes for start menu (I slightly resent my start menu being violated in the first place).  Also, the windows uninstaller has traditionally had the habit of not deleting program directories if there were extra files in them, which is confusing.  As I said, I understand the logic of making them available, and why there good for a lot of people.  It's not to my taste, though.  (Wouldn't turn me off downloading a game if it only had an installer though, or trying it out).

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Not all installers add to that add/remove programs list, though. I suspect only a minority do. It's not an inherent problem of installers that they clutter the add/remove programs list just because some installers do that.

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

With the "Add or remove programs" thing, has anyone ever used it to ADD a program?  I suppose you could adjust your Microsoft Office install to add more programs, but that's a different issue altogether.

I wish they would add a bit more function to the add/remove application, such as the ability to update software automatically from there, and the ability to remove a program but still have the ability to put it back (via download) when it is needed. Essentially, like Steam.  That would make using Windows pretty nice to use in comparison to how it is right now.

Rinku, surely it's a larger problem if it doesn't get added to the add/remove list. Otherwise removing it is a huuuge pain, especially as 'Uninstall' doesn't tend to be in the folder for a lot of applications these days.

[Don Andy]

I don't even why the Add/Remove thing needs so long to load every time you open it on XP, but I got used to use CCleaner for uninstalling stuff, as it has pretty much the same functionality, just with INSTANTLY loading your Add/Remove list instead of taking ages to do it.