3 ms·
In a world where we increasingly don't own software but we rent it, is hard to imagine that shareware even existed. As a kid I remember playing only first leve
by DeathArrow 2y ago
In a world where we increasingly don't own software but we rent it, is hard to imagine that shareware even existed.
As a kid I remember playing only first level of Doom, because it was distributed as a shareware and didn't have money to buy the game.
I remember saving money and buying computer magazines and then installing all the shareware they had on floppy disks, out of curiosity. For me the discovery process was fascinating.
- thesnide 2y agoBah.. we just don't call it shareware anymore, but freemium. And mission disks are called DLC. Which also work with DRM free content. DRM and renting feels like short term gain to me.
- immibis 2y agoI've bought one mobile app in my life. It was a tower defense game. The first few levels were completely free. After that, the game sends monsters that are too tough to destroy with the towers in the free content of the game. You could pay $2.50 for more towers, $2.50 for more more towers, $2.50 for more levels, $2.50 for something I don't remember, as in-app transactions. I thought two things: "this game is fun enough to be worth $10," and "this is a really stupid way to do shareware."
- thesnide 2y agoThat's not shareware. At least not in the spirit. That's pay to win. Shareware is about more features /content and a clean cut out of them in the free version.
- rob74 2y agoThen you must be misremembering... the shareware version was the first episode, which was around a quarter of the final game. This practice was started by Apogee (who published, amongst others, Wolfenstein 3D) and then continued by id software for Doom and Quake.
- nuancebydefault 2y agoWhat I remember is a title ascii screen (yellow letters against a red background or something the like) stating 'if you copy Doom, you will go to hell'. I'm pretty sure I got a copy of the complete game. I guess a lot of people will be going to hell.