Don't argue with Jonnymstgt, it's pointless.
He's not here to discuss anything, he's here to poke holes in anything you discuss to prop up his desperate ego.
Then if you respond in a negative fashion to whine about it and play the victim since he was so polite in telling you why you were wrong.
Poor boy, so misunderstood.
I take all this piracy talk with a grain of salt.
I remember long ago in the mists of time when I was a boy and just started gaming, or more to the point "Please Mommy buy my that, Daddy I need a CD-ROM please, Can we get a modem like the kid in Wargames? I promise I won't change my grades!"
Originally there never seemed to be any protection. If I had a friend with a computer I could copy the floppy and trade it to him for a copy of his floppy. Wasn't exactly a common practice as living on an Army base there weren't all that many other kids I knew at the time and there were few enough games of any worth out that odds are we had the same things anyway.
I think the Copy Protection I ever noticed was on Sierra Quest games which asked you questions from the stories in the manuals (not very invasive at all if you read them at all) or In some RPGs like Eye of the Beholder that asked you for pictures on pages or some other obscure reference that made you keep the manuals around. Still not all that problematic cause if you lent an ever so cool game to a friend you just handed him the manual too.
The thing was back then though, the games were good.
The other thing was, the company usually planned on being around for awhile and building up their name.
I remember I gave my AD&D group one of the first SSI Gold Box games, probably Pools of Radiance, because I was so impressed and it was something to pass around and share between us and our mutual love of AD&D and games. At the very least it was somethign to play inbetween playing our own paper and pen games.
The game spoke for itself and I didn't have to trade around my copy of the game, they bought the sequels themselves so they didn't have to wait for me and my copies. I probably added another dozen or more custmers to SSI who each probably bought another half dozen of their games.
Hell, the original Fallout was lent to me as was Fallout 2, but when I saw FO2 in a bargin bin I picked it up to have my own copy. If Fallout 3 had come out I'da bought my own at the time sight unseen based on what I'd played of the games beforehand.
Companies used to actually build a client base like so many other businesses in the world, they'd build series as well which like comic books fans would hope and wait for the next issue.
Even if you didn't go to a store and buy a game when it came out you might hear about it or get a copy of it from a friend, and then you'd probably check out the rest of that series if you liked it, wait for more from it, or check out what else such a great company had to offer.
Now many companies can't rely on that, largely cause they make crap. Reviews of games these days, suck, and it reminds me of most press coverage of the Bush years. They're just afraid to say anything bad it seems so you get loads of milquetoast reviews that usually say every game is great, or at least every game made by people who our employers like is great.
Most of even the old companies names have gone into the crapper. Interplay used to mean a lot to me, didn't last long. Sierra is the name most of my childhood gaming revolved around, and it still produced great games for awhile, but eventually it was being parted out by the companies that bought it making fast cash on an established name. Like if someone bought a famous handcrafted furniture business for the name that had been built up over it's lifetime, then started cashing in on chairs made of balsa wood.
So you can't really trust reviews, and there are few company names you can trust, and most companies afraid of an honest appraisal of their work before you buy it won't even give you demos or clips of unedited gameplay.
Bethesda is a great example of a company who's largely built up on carefully crafted hype and limited glimpses of that hyped product, and OF COURSE they're heavily against piracy because it gives glimpses of their game and it's obvious flaws to people who may then base purchasing it on the new information.
Where as piracy in the past, I just don't see as all that much of a problem for Companies with quality product and development. They typically built up thier product as a series and as a company name. Almost like all publicity is good publicity you counted on if you missed the first installment of a series, found it through other means and liked it, you'd be happy to pick up further installments, and odds are you'd pick it up through them. They have missed an oppurtunity for money on one installment, but they'd found a customer they may not have otherwise who'd pay for a few more when they got those out - providing you're thinking of the future and producing the quality to be there for it.
But these days there are few series, and most games are hyped up one hit wonders, the next best thing in the media for five whole minutes, and if those are leaked the company expects a loss. They won't build a future clientele of a one hit wonder. Few companies care to build up a franchise, they merely take advantage of them.
He's not here to discuss anything, he's here to poke holes in anything you discuss to prop up his desperate ego.
Then if you respond in a negative fashion to whine about it and play the victim since he was so polite in telling you why you were wrong.
Poor boy, so misunderstood.
I take all this piracy talk with a grain of salt.
I remember long ago in the mists of time when I was a boy and just started gaming, or more to the point "Please Mommy buy my that, Daddy I need a CD-ROM please, Can we get a modem like the kid in Wargames? I promise I won't change my grades!"
Originally there never seemed to be any protection. If I had a friend with a computer I could copy the floppy and trade it to him for a copy of his floppy. Wasn't exactly a common practice as living on an Army base there weren't all that many other kids I knew at the time and there were few enough games of any worth out that odds are we had the same things anyway.
I think the Copy Protection I ever noticed was on Sierra Quest games which asked you questions from the stories in the manuals (not very invasive at all if you read them at all) or In some RPGs like Eye of the Beholder that asked you for pictures on pages or some other obscure reference that made you keep the manuals around. Still not all that problematic cause if you lent an ever so cool game to a friend you just handed him the manual too.
The thing was back then though, the games were good.
The other thing was, the company usually planned on being around for awhile and building up their name.
I remember I gave my AD&D group one of the first SSI Gold Box games, probably Pools of Radiance, because I was so impressed and it was something to pass around and share between us and our mutual love of AD&D and games. At the very least it was somethign to play inbetween playing our own paper and pen games.
The game spoke for itself and I didn't have to trade around my copy of the game, they bought the sequels themselves so they didn't have to wait for me and my copies. I probably added another dozen or more custmers to SSI who each probably bought another half dozen of their games.
Hell, the original Fallout was lent to me as was Fallout 2, but when I saw FO2 in a bargin bin I picked it up to have my own copy. If Fallout 3 had come out I'da bought my own at the time sight unseen based on what I'd played of the games beforehand.
Companies used to actually build a client base like so many other businesses in the world, they'd build series as well which like comic books fans would hope and wait for the next issue.
Even if you didn't go to a store and buy a game when it came out you might hear about it or get a copy of it from a friend, and then you'd probably check out the rest of that series if you liked it, wait for more from it, or check out what else such a great company had to offer.
Now many companies can't rely on that, largely cause they make crap. Reviews of games these days, suck, and it reminds me of most press coverage of the Bush years. They're just afraid to say anything bad it seems so you get loads of milquetoast reviews that usually say every game is great, or at least every game made by people who our employers like is great.
Most of even the old companies names have gone into the crapper. Interplay used to mean a lot to me, didn't last long. Sierra is the name most of my childhood gaming revolved around, and it still produced great games for awhile, but eventually it was being parted out by the companies that bought it making fast cash on an established name. Like if someone bought a famous handcrafted furniture business for the name that had been built up over it's lifetime, then started cashing in on chairs made of balsa wood.
So you can't really trust reviews, and there are few company names you can trust, and most companies afraid of an honest appraisal of their work before you buy it won't even give you demos or clips of unedited gameplay.
Bethesda is a great example of a company who's largely built up on carefully crafted hype and limited glimpses of that hyped product, and OF COURSE they're heavily against piracy because it gives glimpses of their game and it's obvious flaws to people who may then base purchasing it on the new information.
Where as piracy in the past, I just don't see as all that much of a problem for Companies with quality product and development. They typically built up thier product as a series and as a company name. Almost like all publicity is good publicity you counted on if you missed the first installment of a series, found it through other means and liked it, you'd be happy to pick up further installments, and odds are you'd pick it up through them. They have missed an oppurtunity for money on one installment, but they'd found a customer they may not have otherwise who'd pay for a few more when they got those out - providing you're thinking of the future and producing the quality to be there for it.
But these days there are few series, and most games are hyped up one hit wonders, the next best thing in the media for five whole minutes, and if those are leaked the company expects a loss. They won't build a future clientele of a one hit wonder. Few companies care to build up a franchise, they merely take advantage of them.
