Why lack of DRM and piracy aren't to blame for Demigod's poor launch-day performance

[aldyr]

Err... it does not make piracy right. If I carry on with my analogy, then it's like someone breaking in, but not taking anything? But that's not quite right either hey? Point is, it's wrong. But no one can do anything about it.

[Jan]

Err... it does not make piracy right.

Yes, that's exactly why I said that despite the fact that piracy is not theft, it is still unethical.

If I carry on with my analogy, then it's like someone breaking in, but not taking anything? But that's not quite right either hey?

Also not quite. The pirate still gets something that took time to create for nothing. By breaking into a house but taking nothing you just get kicks.

I could be making a big mistake here, but how about this analogy. It's not perfect but I think the principles are the same. Imagine you had a way with which you could make perfect copies of expensive paintings. Now instead of buying the painter's original work you just create an exact replica for yourself and hang that on your wall. You wouldn't have bought the painting anyway (maybe you didn't like it all that much, maybe you thought it was too expensive, and maybe you just didn't have the money) so the artist hasn't lost a sale, but you've gained a perfect copy of the artist's painting.

But no one can do anything about it.

And therein lies the problem. Short of regulating the Internet (which will be a *very* bad thing) governments really can't do much about the problem. Turn 9-year-olds into criminals because they know how to work uTorrent? Great, but how are you going to find an prosecute all of them?

This is the point Brad Wardell (and now I) am making. I'm going to be very arrogant and quote myself from a comment on the article I wrote on Hellforge: "Another point to consider (which isn't mine, but Brad Wardell's) is that piracy is a constant, it's an unfortunate reality, and so game designers, developers, and publishers can, and should, plan around it."

[weakest_link]

on the point of 3rd party software ... its not just about put into the game ... sometimes making it compatible is a bigger pain in the butt ... i would know ... simply just hate installshield ...