Quote:
Originally Posted by Messianic
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If something can be replicated (after creation) at no cost, I have trouble seeing why it deserves protection, as long as the first generation audience/customers had to make a purchase to acquire it.
But i'm torn. These are just my thoughts, not necessarily my hardened view...
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Put yourself in the shoes of the software developers...
Ever wonder why super-awesome big budget games like Mass Effect are so few and far between? Because there's a lot of cost put into making games like that, and if there's no guarantee on a return on investment because there are X number of first-generation customers that actually purchase it, and there are Y number of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc, etc generation customers getting the same enjoyment out of it without the same revenue generation...
... suddenly it becomes more difficult of a business decision to pump that much time and effort and money into producing a game.
And then you get shit games. Or buggy games that are unplayable until the 1.01 patch. And then games that cost $60 instead of $20 because the execs are figuring for every 1 game sold, 2 copies are going to be made for free, instead of 2 extra sales.
We brought this on ourselves.
If you decided to quit your job and work full time developing your own games which were distributed on some indie game site and the amount of $$$ you made was directly proportional to how many people clicked on your game and put in their credit card/pay pal info, you'd probably want some sort of protection against piracy too in order to maximize the number of people that had to click on "purchase" in order to enjoy what you just spent the last X number of months making.
I don't see what's so difficult to understand about this having adverse effects on the software industry. Unless you only look at it from the consumer's "i want as much shit as possible for free -- SUCK IT!!!!!!" side.