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[Ragzouken]

An alternative solution is what is widely done in Korea.

The game is free, since it is ASSUMED that it would be stolen otherwise, but either the online play is subscription based, or there are items in the game that can (some times only) be purchased for real world money (see: Gunbound).

But what do they do for single player games? Feelies?

[december]

On the one hand, if someone pirates a game that they would never have considered buying anyway, the developer doesn't lose out.

One thing to consider is that it's not the developer alone that's being hurt, it's also all the people who bought the game who know that other people are getting something for free that they paid for. I paid $30 for Aquaria, and knowing that people got it for free is annoying, because it feels as if I lost $30. I'm not saying I would pirate it, but the feeling that I lost something, that the pirates took something away from me, the customer, is there.

You should see the thread on RPS about Bionic Commando getting a PC port.  People are up in arms that the game will be 15 USD to download when the XBLA version is 800 points.  Peoplle even said that games are more expensive on console and that is how it should be and this is an affront.  There are around a dozen people promising to pirate the game.

[Tobasco Panda]

An alternative solution is what is widely done in Korea.

The game is free, since it is ASSUMED that it would be stolen otherwise, but either the online play is subscription based, or there are items in the game that can (some times only) be purchased for real world money (see: Gunbound).

But what do they do for single player games? Feelies?

They don't really DO single player games for exactly that reason. I'm not saying it is a perfect system, just that there are other options.

[Ragzouken]

Are unofficial servers possible/popular at all?

[Nathaniel607]

Did you spend the time you would otherwise have spent playing Aquaria on perfecting your shift+1 technique?

Well... mabye I do use exclamation marks a bit too much...!!!!!!!!

I, personally, have never had a problem with buying a indie game, I bought Audiosurf off steam and that didint work (steams fault, no other games worked) but then I got steam working and it worked perfectely.

Noitu Love 2 was even better, just worked as soon as a got the email, which was about 2 seconds.

[increpare]

Without wishing to pull things too much off topic (I can't think of anything more to say directly on-topic than I already have), another financing option that has appeared in the open-source world, and also to some extent in Dwarf Fortress (I think) is the idea of users being able to commission certain elements in the game.  That way people are directly sponsoring tangeable development rather than purchasing a rather more ephemeral chunk of binary data.  This, I guess, fits in well with the 'service-based software' approach.  But it has definite downsides as well.  Ho-humm.

[Tobasco Panda]

Without wishing to pull things too much off topic (I can't think of anything more to say directly on-topic than I already have), another financing option that has appeared in the open-source world, and also to some extent in Dwarf Fortress (I think) is the idea of users being able to commission certain elements in the game.  That way people are directly sponsoring tangeable development rather than purchasing a rather more ephemeral chunk of binary data.  This, I guess, fits in well with the 'service-based software' approach.  But it has definite downsides as well.  Ho-humm.

So if I understand this correctly... players who make financial contributions can express what it is they would like to see worked on in the game? If so, that IS a very fresh idea...

I hate to admit that I haven't been able to scale the learning curve on Dwarf Fortress yet.

[shinygerbil]

Internet verification? Introversion do it. Granted, they seem only to be doing internet multiplayer games at the moment, but I'm sure they would almost certainly consider using an online metaserver for verification even on a single-player game.

Introversion are pretty forward-thinking when it comes to game piracy; while most companies try to blot it out, stuff their ears and pretend it doesn't exist any further than simply shoving SecuROM on to their game, Introversion, being a small company investing quite a large amount of their lives into their work, have bothered to look at the issue sensibly and deal with it sensibly. Leaving out copy protection on Uplink and Darwinia did them little to no harm, I'm sure; Defcon and the upcoming Multiwinia use "The Korean Way" - and it works well... ish. Better than the average game, you must admit.

Introversion, as I'm sure some of you will know, also released a fake Darwinia torrent themselves, which basically functioned as a handy demo, let you play the first level, then cut out and say "you know piracy is bad, we're people and we need money, buy our game"   Apparently Defcon had something similar.

Anyway, my point is, I think the ubiquity of the internet has reached the level where even a single-player game can safely put "Internet connection necessary for verification" on the back.

[Annabelle Kennedy]

All I know is I made a well received game but have not sold much at all in comparison to the massive amount of piracy it got. 

That sort of made a difference, and if I had a game on console it would at least feel more safer than on PC.

I bought NL2 and loved it.  Thank you konjak!!

[drakfyre]

Here is my rather lengthy breakdown of piracy, as I have seen it and researched it.  I am currently a developer for a large game software corporation, and I am both a game/media consumer and game/media pirate.

There are four types of piracy in this analysis, and they each have different effects on the industry, some direct, some indirect.  I call them Neutral Piracy, Constructive Piracy, Destructive Piracy, and Competition Piracy.  Together, all forms of piracy should be represented, but of course, you could break down piracy differently categorically.  This breakdown is based on piracy's affect (or lack of effect) on game sales.

Neutral Piracy is the most common form of piracy today.  Neutral Piracy is where people download/copy/share media without any financial consideration of said media.  They sometimes believe that information should be free, and sometimes they just like to exchange and collect information.  They are sometimes archivists, sometimes anarchists.  In other words, these people will pirate media because they can, and if they couldn't, they WOULD NOT bother buying it (Or, it would at the very least not affect their decision to buy, negative or positive.  An example of this is an early release pirate copy of a game.  In this instance, many consumers who pirate will get the game first pirated, then purchase the game as it becomes available.).  This is the type of piracy that is most vulnerable to legal attack, as it is prolific, and the perceived value of lost/stolen goods is HIGHER even though the actual value lost/stolen is nil.  The negative effect of this piracy is the "jealously effect," where people will feel swindled that they had to pay for media when these pirates get it for free, which can result in more Destructive Piracy and/or drive down the perceived value of media.  The positive effects of this piracy appears in the Constructive Piracy section below.

Constructive Piracy is the least common form of piracy.  Constructive Piracy is where people pirate a game, and then upon liking it, shell out the money at retail for the title.  Alternatively, people who would not buy a game save for to play it with friends usually end up in this category too (more on that below).  These people generally download to play rather than download to collect, and generally do not share their media wholesale (Save as a bit torrent client during transfer); rather, they tend to share media physically with friends.  This type of piracy was more common during the early days of multiplayer gaming when download speeds were restrictive to transfer media.  Instead, these people would buy games after their friends showed them to them (Perhaps legally, perhaps not.  The legal method was called "spawn" multiplayer), or they would purchase a single game to share with their friends who might not have the budget allocated.  There are a few other stories behind this type, but suffice to say this type represents a net GAIN for companies, and is categorized as such.  Also note: this form of piracy is the one MOST THWARTED by standard disc-check anti-piracy tools.  (I find myself in this category a lot, and I have seen situations where myself and my friends, as a group, decide to fully pirate a game rather than buy it because the disc check is more effort to break than just downloading the game; the disc check indirectly converting us to Destructive Piracy)

Destructive Piracy is the type of piracy that actually has a (direct) negative effect on the industry.  It also could be called "casual piracy".  In this piracy type, people who would normally buy a game end up pirating it, and do not pay for the game afterwards.  These people are people who are usually not active pirates, but find themselves in a situation where piracy is EASIER than the purchase of physical media (Or perhaps even download media, though I doubt that is often the case).  If the barrier to piracy is low enough that it is easier to get a game by downloading it illegally than getting it legitimately, you will see Destructive Piracy increase.  Also, Destructive Piracy can be caused by "extended demo syndrome", where a consumer who was thinking about buying a game decides not to after playing the pirated copy.  I think the best modern wholesale example of this is Crysis, which had record highs of piracy because the system requirements were so high.  Even though they had a demo, the final version of the game was slightly more efficient, so many people pirated the game to see if it would actually run on their system.  Those that were unsuccessful at getting a desirable frame rate chose not to buy the game after testing it.  (There are a lot of downloads of this title in the Neutral Piracy section, both by the usual suspects and by people who wanted to use the game as a benchmark for their rig, nothing more)

Competition Piracy is probably the most common after Neutral Piracy, and it can easily be confused for Destructive Piracy.  Competition Piracy is the result of piracy in the face of destitution.  Pirates in this category are typically semi-active, and they purchase games when they have the money.  When they don't, however, they don't go without playing games, they pirate instead.  This can be seen as an in-between of the other 3 types of piracy, because pirates that tend to be in this category are guilty of each type at different times.  Sometimes it is blatant though.  For instance, I remember recently, Super Mario Galaxy was pirated a few weeks before the game actually came out.  There was a couple people in IRC that were having a conversation about how they should pirate Mario Galaxy and then spend their money on a less-known title (I think it was No More Heroes) because they knew that Mario Galaxy would sell well enough on it's own to not need their money too.  In any case, the definition of Competition Piracy is where a sale is made for one company in lieu of another.

Anyway... that's how I categorize it.  The balance of Destructive vs. the other forms of piracy is the important part of how protections should be viewed for games, not the elimination or limitation of piracy in general.

[increpare]

So if I understand this correctly... players who make financial contributions can express what it is they would like to see worked on in the game? If so, that IS a very fresh idea...

Well, with the case of software applications it's easier; lilypond is what I'm familiar with: there they have a list of possible features and you can pay people to implement them if you don't want to code it yourself (see here).  It's a nice enough approach from some perspectives: a rather pleasant way of commercializing the open-source movement in principle I think.  I can't find any info on the DF site about what I thought it was about, so maybe I'm wrong (anyone else know more about this?).

Drakfyre, just going to read your post now; looks interesting...

[Aik]

Hopefully this isn't a credibility-destroying post or anything, though most people around here seem reasonably relaxed on the matter.

I'll happily pirate pretty much anything except stuff made by indies. For most things, I wouldn't have bought them anyway - either can't justify the price or just get it because it's there and sounds vaguely interesting, but isn't something I actually put any value in having. I pirated Flash because no matter how useful it is for me to have it (needed for some uni courses), there's no way in hell I or anyone in my course could justify paying $800 for it.

Equally, by pirating the book Life at the Limits: Organisms in Extreme Environments (for instance...) - a textbook that I don't have any specific interest in the contents of and would never otherwise even think of reading if it wasn't a free 2mb download on a torrent - I can't see how it's wrong to do so. I gain knowledge, no one loses anything. What's the big deal? I was never even a potential customer.

Indie and (a few - very few, and I'm not too strict on the matter) larger game companies I won't pirate from because I want to support the developer. However, this tends to just end up with me just not buying the game, not supporting them, and not getting any enjoyment out of what they made anyway because I can't justify spending the money. Sure - that they're cheap helps, but unless it's something I really really want, I probably won't dig into my non-replenishing funds to buy it. Really, my 'don't pirate from indies' ethos isn't helping anyone, and I'm not entirely sure why I keep it up sometimes (around now is one of those times, as I eye Universalis and the massive shipping costs, wishing that there was a PDF version of the book available like most other indie PnP games).

And sure, the other solution to the problem besides piracy is 'get a job and work a lot so you can afford to impulse buy whatever you please' - but as much as I enjoy buying things, not wasting my time at a job is significantly more important to me (but I guess that's an entirely different rant). Suffice to say - holding off buying something and/or pirating it is vastly preferable and is yet to induce even the slighest moral pang in me - and I'm yet to see a good reason why it should.

Basically, piracy has enriched my life by a very great deal, and I imagine most pirates find the same thing. I can see how those who don't make any important distinction between indie and non-indie would happily carry on by pirating indie games as well.

[Biggerfish]

Saying that you pirate a game because you can't afford it and won't get it any other way seems like you assume that games are a right, not a privilege.

I think the piracy you need to be worried about is the one that comes from people pirating because of the reasoning: "I can get this for free, why should I bother paying for it?". If they don't see supporting the developer as a reason to buy it, how would you convince them otherwise, seeing as there's nothing stopping them.

I can admit to pirating things simply because I can get it for free instead of paying for it, but I do (sort of) feel bad after doing it.

I guess as a sort of make-up thing to myself I would be the type of person that donates to sites and things I like if I had the cash and credit card (but I don't, so that is my excuse).

[jstckr]

I used to pirate some PC games that I couldn't afford but felt I also couldn't miss. There's certain games one must've played, if only to be able to chat about them with other people. I've also bought games I've never played eventually, so maybe that evens my karma, heh.
What I still  do without any bad feelings is pirating music. The music I like I end up buying, either in MP3 form or on CD if there's a digipak available (jewel cases are too ugly). Music piracy helped me form my taste, and helps me discover new artists - without the need for a massive budget or long waiting times for CDs to arrive from all over the world. This argument doesn't work for games though (and neither for movies).

[Eclipse]

Internet verification? Introversion do it. Granted, they seem only to be doing internet multiplayer games at the moment, but I'm sure they would almost certainly consider using an online metaserver for verification even on a single-player game.

No way, that kind of verifications are good ONLY with multiplayer games, a single player game can always be cracked, for example Half-Life 2 single player  was cracked a bunch of days after the game release, but still, if you want to play hl2 or it's mod online, you need an original copy. That's because you can always crack it giving a "fake" validation or the hacker can simply destroy your validation process changing a bunch of stuff even in the most obscure of the disassembled codes.

So as far i know, if your game has single player, your game will be surely cracked by someone. If your game is multiplayer oriented, maybe it will be cracked too, but you will lose almost nothing because at worst they can make the game running on a lan or hosting a desolated pirated server, even making who get addicted to the game to actually starts playing on the much more populated "official" servers.

I'm not talking only about MMO, even a client\server system controlled by a main lobby server works good, for example almost no ones plays Battlefield or Counterstrike on pirated servers...

If your game has single player, you can't really do anything

[Bennett]

I wish you *could* donate money to DF and earmark it for a particular purpose. I'd donate $100 if he would just fix up the interface and add full tiles.

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

What about browser based games?
Do you think there is scope for paid games that can only be played online? For example, there is reward for people that donate to play Dinorun (50 different hats for customising your dino), but that game has an online component too.

[Eclipse]

I wish you *could* donate money to DF and earmark it for a particular purpose. I'd donate $100 if he would just fix up the interface and add full tiles.

i'll only if they actually make it playable on a pc that can run half-life 2 at 1280 and max details, witch actually can't run DF on a playable speed.
This game could be awesome as everyone want but it's really coded like crap 

What about browser based games?
Do you think there is scope for paid games that can only be played online? For example, there is reward for people that donate to play Dinorun (50 different hats for customising your dino), but that game has an online component too.

it is, but i think it's still a niche market, there are even several browser based "mmorpg" like Dofus working with subscriptions as a stand alone game could do... still browser based games are perceived like less serious products by the average gamer

[team_q]

Despite all the claims, If you pirate, you are either lazy, selfish, or a dick. I have yet to see anyone make a claim for piracy that doesn't fall into one of those categories. Maybe if you didn't play all those pirated games that "you wouldn't have bought anyways", you would have the time to get a job so that you can pay for the games you would've.

DRM on major releases is to prevent Release day piracy. If a game is available online before its set to ship, you better believe there are people who will play either the game in the entirety or at least enough to decide that " its not good enough to buy" that they won't bother to buy it, even if they would have if the torrent wasn't up. They know its going to get cracked, they are just trying to delay it for as long as possible.

[Hayden Scott-Baron]

What about browser based games?
Do you think there is scope for paid games that can only be played online? For example, there is reward for people that donate to play Dinorun (50 different hats for customising your dino), but that game has an online component too.

it is, but i think it's still a niche market, there are even several browser based "mmorpg" like Dofus working with subscriptions as a stand alone game could do... still browser based games are perceived like less serious products by the average gamer

I can imagine some large single player games being worthwhile to play browser based if there was a small fee for an improved version. For example, imagine if Cave Story was browser based only.  The ability to not have adverts, and to save your game-progress remotely, would be worthwhile to pay $5-10, no problems. Allowing people a login with publicly viewable 'achievements' would be plenty for a game that you spend more than 60 minutes playing.