4 ms·

This is great. Reminds me of Game Dev Tycoon's developers releasing a cracked version of the game onto torrent sites where you'd always lose due to players pir

by yoklov 11y ago

This is great. Reminds me of Game Dev Tycoon's developers releasing a cracked version of the game onto torrent sites where you'd always lose due to players pirating your game [0]. When I heard what they did I sort of thought it was stupid, but the chart at the end where they show that 90+% of the users of the game were playing the pirated version is somewhat chilling. Kind of makes me want to release a version of games I make to pirate sites (well, if I ever went indie... this would be a very hard sell anywhere I've ever worked), just to get similar usage information, although it's probably a mistake, as the information would only bother me. [0]: http://www.greenheartgames.com/2013/04/29/what-happens-when-pirates-play-a-game-development-simulator-and-then-go-bankrupt-because-of-piracy/ http://www.greenheartgames.com/2013/04/29/what-happens-when-...

anon4 11y ago
If 90% of players pirate and if your statistics for how many players there are for a given game usually come in the form of "number of sold copies", then you could be severely underestimating the size of the potential userbase; feeling that you are getting a small piece of a small pie, while in fact you're getting a small piece of a much larger pie. Statistics on pirate behaviour are sort of hard to come by anyway -- if you buy games at all, you're not really a pirate, you're someone who downloaded a game they didn't know if they'd like, or you didn't have money at that moment and wanted to check it out, or any other explanation. Over the years, me and my friends, have basically bought every game we've played. On the other hand, if you habitually pirate and never buy, game developers aren't interested in talking to you; in fact you're basically a criminal in their eyes, stealing their profits. I really wish to see some sort of study disentangling these two groups and finding a way to talk to and understand the latter group. Why they do what they do, what motivates them and so on. Once you know that, you can start addressing the issues that drive such behaviour.
- sukilot 11y ago
  You are wondering what is the explanation for people taking readily available free (to them) stuff they enjoy? This is not a deep mystery of the Universe.

by yoklov 11y ago

anon4 11y ago

If 90% of players pirate and if your statistics for how many players there are for a given game usually come in the form of "number of sold copies", then you could be severely underestimating the size of the potential userbase; feeling that you are getting a small piece of a small pie, while in fact you're getting a small piece of a much larger pie. Statistics on pirate behaviour are sort of hard to come by anyway -- if you buy games at all, you're not really a pirate, you're someone who downloaded a game they didn't know if they'd like, or you didn't have money at that moment and wanted to check it out, or any other explanation. Over the years, me and my friends, have basically bought every game we've played. On the other hand, if you habitually pirate and never buy, game developers aren't interested in talking to you; in fact you're basically a criminal in their eyes, stealing their profits. I really wish to see some sort of study disentangling these two groups and finding a way to talk to and understand the latter group. Why they do what they do, what motivates them and so on. Once you know that, you can start addressing the issues that drive such behaviour.

sukilot 11y ago
You are wondering what is the explanation for people taking readily available free (to them) stuff they enjoy? This is not a deep mystery of the Universe.