Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) General Cruel ... (Peek 33)

Yeah companies buy that software (flash, photoshop etc.) because it's not a good idea to have cracked or unlicensed software on the office PCs. Could easily spell doom for the company.

But generally individuals dont or cant as its way too pricy, so they get the cracked versions from wherever...either way, 9 out of 10 people who got the cracked version wouldn't have bought the software anyway.

So it shouldn't count as lost sales due to piracy if they wouldn't never pay the high price in the first place.

Ps. I'm not trying to justiy piracy, just instilling a logical perception as to why a lot of it happens.

Thank god I'm not alone...

Concerning the German-English thingy of Alrik, Well it's just the cost of the translation compared to the possible market. An English copy can be sold almost anywhere in the world while a German copy can only be sold in a few countries. You are lucky to even have a German version of BD. Do you think the Larians will make a Flemish version?? They aren't stupid. That would mean that the flemisch people would have to pay something like 400 $ a copy or something. If they would make a Flemish version they would probably make a Dutch version and sell it in Flanders too (Dutch and Flemish are basically the same languages). That would give us a deathknight that would curse things like "asjemenou" and "krijg de klere tyfusbek". In that case I prefer the English version.

(With my apologies to all Dutch people present on this forum for not liking the Dutch way of cursing)

sometimes i get the feeling companies KNOW
that there software is "abused" by the normal pc consument.
they make trials, wich you have to enter a "code" to upgrade the software from trial to full version.
i mean why do this risk?
because if 1 person distributes his code on the net, everybody else could upgrade there trial versions for free!
i call that plain stupid. why not make a trial wich can't by unlocked with a simple code,
but a kind of (unique)upgrade patch has to be downloaded to unlock the trial??
(it's still not water proof i know, but it makes it a bit harder)

the biggest laugh i got was with norton antivirus.
i installed there trialversion from there website.
after a few mouths, the update program said the trial was finished. and no more new virusdefinition will be downloaded by the program.
(wich is nessery for a anti virus program ofcourse.)

so for the fun of it i changed my system clock a few years back and tried to upgrade it again. and gess what? it works... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

Well in my school all microsoft software id free for students. A good move for both students and microsoft. When I graduate and I find work where I am resonsable for the PC's I will be more lickly to use microsoft since I am familiar with the software instead of the one that is maybe better but unknown.

Actually, if you re-read Peek 31 and Peek 33, you'll see that the DEVELOPER is "ranting" about all the trouble caused by the Copy Protection. Since the English version of the game isn't even released yet, I have no idea how "hard" I will have to work to install and play the game - but we DO know how hard Larian has had to work (and is still working) to get the copy protection implemented.

I never once said this was all about me - re-read my original post(s). My point was, and still is - is it WORTH all that trouble for the developer AND the consumer?

After all these posts, we've only seen one poster (Marian) offering anecdotal evidence that in one isolated case CP might have resulted in additional game sales. Is that really enough evidence to make it worth all the trouble?

Does anyone in the US remember the huge uproar over the Copy Protection that Intuit used on Turbo Tax last year? It was EVERYWHERE - even CNN and other "mainstream" media outlets were reporting on it.

Now read the "Aftermath":

CNN Money

Read the article - it's interesting...



After they LOST nearly $100 million in sales due to backlash over their Copy Protection last year, they removed it this year. That's not anecdotal evidence, that's fact. Now someone show us a similar article proving that Copy Protection has SAVED a game company money...

What I'm saying is this - bottom line:

Why do we, consumers and developers, just accept that all the aggravation caused by Copy Protection is just "part of making games"? If consumer backlash over CP can result in $100 million in lost sales for Intuit and result in the removal of the copy protection, why do game players AND DEVELOPERS just roll over and say "oh, well - that's just the way it has to be?"

I don't want Larian or any other game developer to lose money - far from it. But I do want someone to prove that all this aggravation, for both the DEVELOPER and the consumer is worth it. (have I stressed the "developer" part enough yet?)

From Peek 33:


Does that sound like someone that is having fun working on great new features to add to their game?

From reading those two "peeks", I figure Larian has spent at least 100-200 man hours (probably much more) on implementing Copy Protection for Beyond Divinity. Can you imagine what they could have done to improve the game (or release it sooner?) if they didn't have to waste all that time on something that just causes aggravation for developer and consumer alike?

OK, I'm done "ranting" - for now... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Hi, my name is LordMalis, and I'm a computer game addict. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

Its like cigarettes in the US. Everybody harps on how evil and bad they are including the government, but instead of making them illegal, they raise taxes on them out the wazoo as a "deterrent". In reality, they know you're addicted and will put those tax dollars in their pocket no matter how much they cost.

Its much the same with CP companies. I can't stop playing games and they know this. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

concerning Copy Protection and why companies like Larian spend so much money and effort on it...

I think it's more of a subjective feeling of "hey, I don't want anybody to play this game in an illegal way, not without me receiving the propper credit for it". I think that this is a quite normal behaviour but were it all goes wrong is on how much money they would like to spend on CP to make this dream come true.

In general, companies who are specialized in security stimulate every possible way to make people believe that their security systems work and that it is also necessary to protect every little titbit of miniscule piece of data. I once had the case of company who insisted on installing a tripple DES system to encrypt their internal mail. Their internal mail for GOD's sake. The company who sold the system at that time was able to convince the not so bright IT-manager that it was absolutely necessary because the sensitive information they were distributing internally shouldn't fall in the wrong hands (mainly jokes and avi-files btw...). Needles to say that it was all a big waste of money because most people found the system to encrypt and decrypt mails with their keys to cumbersome and absolutely unnecessary for most of the mails.

The only system I have seen uptill now that really worked for a game was the system Halflife used (and so many others now): a unique key to gain access to the multiplayer-environment. So simple, so effective but off course useless for BD (no multiplayer). So please, don't spend to much money on CP, just the necessary and don't make those bastards of the security industry any richer (I even suspect them to crack the games themselves).

Sorry for all the rambling...

Great post Lord Bubba!

I totally agree.
Just take a look at technical forums for some recent "protected" games from UBI and THQ, and see the endless compains, people swearing they won"t ever buy another game from UBI, etc.
This is reality, and they should be aware of this.

Philippe

Yes, but which are the alternatives to giving a game free for copying (by removing the copy protection) ?

Please tell me !

There's different levels of copy protection I believe. Advanced protection that attempts to deter even the most agressive hacker...and that seems to cause problems for everyone, even the honest users!

Then I'm sure there's basic protection that will prevent the average user from making a simple copy with a cd writer but wont hold up to a real hacker using some apps to crack it.

The basic protection is generally good enough to deter most people I know, and a pro hacker would beat any protection eventually no matter how good it is, so is it best to stick with just the basic deterent to avoid CP causing headaches for normal players?

I think so anyway... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/think.gif" alt="" />