3 ms·

There's still significant pirating of games despite the existence of Steam.

by gcp 10y ago

wooptoo 10y ago
I'd say much less than it used to be. Those emails saying "An item from your wishlist is now on sale for $9" is highly effective.
- gcp 10y ago
  Oh, not arguing Steam is an awesome tool in generating more revenue for the publishers. But it didn't "solve" the DRM problem. It mostly showed that it's a red herring. (Steam itself is also DRM, but AFAIK easily broken so more perfunctory).
  - wtetzner 10y ago
    I guess it depends on what the DRM problem really is. If the problem is that companies don't make enough money because of pirating, then Steam did solve the problem, because they make enough money despite pirating.
- DiabloD3 10y ago
  Now only if I'd get an email for Doom 4, and the price is $15 or less, I'd totally be all over that.
antocv 10y ago
You could add to the first claim "offer a good product and pirating will stop", with "lower economic inequality", so despite Steam being nice and all - pirating exist where its still too expensive to access their games. It would be nice if the pricing of Steam was adapted to the economic conditions of the country - but that then has problems of rich country users would probably find proxies in poor countries. Its just not fair for someone making/having enough cash to buy Steam games with pocket change, while another large group of people have to plan and save for months to get same access, of course they will find other methods.
- gcp 10y ago
  but that then has problems of rich country users would probably find proxies in poor countries. It's my understanding Steam has been cracking down on this, probably exactly for the reasons you describe.
- halomru 10y ago
  >It would be nice if the pricing of Steam was adapted to the economic conditions of the country - but that then has problems of rich country users would probably find proxies in poor countries. This is a thing. Steam games have different prices in different countries, and there is some amount of region locking going on. On websites selling steam keys you will often find Russian keys that can only be used through a proxy. I think the bigger thing causing piracy is inequality in the same country. Steam sales are a good measure by giving patient people significant discounts, but apparently that's not enough to completely eradicate piracy.

There's still significant pirating of games despite the existence of Steam.

by gcp 10y ago

There's still significant pirating of games despite the existence of Steam.

I'd say much less than it used to be. Those emails saying "An item from your wishlist is now on sale for $9" is highly effective.

gcp 10y ago
Oh, not arguing Steam is an awesome tool in generating more revenue for the publishers. But it didn't "solve" the DRM problem. It mostly showed that it's a red herring. (Steam itself is also DRM, but AFAIK easily broken so more perfunctory).
- wtetzner 10y ago
  I guess it depends on what the DRM problem really is. If the problem is that companies don't make enough money because of pirating, then Steam did solve the problem, because they make enough money despite pirating.
DiabloD3 10y ago
Now only if I'd get an email for Doom 4, and the price is $15 or less, I'd totally be all over that.

antocv 10y ago

You could add to the first claim "offer a good product and pirating will stop", with "lower economic inequality", so despite Steam being nice and all - pirating exist where its still too expensive to access their games. It would be nice if the pricing of Steam was adapted to the economic conditions of the country - but that then has problems of rich country users would probably find proxies in poor countries. Its just not fair for someone making/having enough cash to buy Steam games with pocket change, while another large group of people have to plan and save for months to get same access, of course they will find other methods.

gcp 10y ago
but that then has problems of rich country users would probably find proxies in poor countries. It's my understanding Steam has been cracking down on this, probably exactly for the reasons you describe.
halomru 10y ago
>It would be nice if the pricing of Steam was adapted to the economic conditions of the country - but that then has problems of rich country users would probably find proxies in poor countries. This is a thing. Steam games have different prices in different countries, and there is some amount of region locking going on. On websites selling steam keys you will often find Russian keys that can only be used through a proxy. I think the bigger thing causing piracy is inequality in the same country. Steam sales are a good measure by giving patient people significant discounts, but apparently that's not enough to completely eradicate piracy.