“Accept you’re a thief” if you’re still playing pirated Demigod, says Wardell

YEAH!! This will surely scare the hell out of those pirates…

lol!!!!!!!!

EDIT: btw, being a pirate rules, har harrr!!

…accept you’re a copyright infringer…

/runs

Arrr, me hearty! Th’only thin i be piratin is’th’great seven seas! Yo ho ho!

He should be proud of the 100,000 times it was pirated. That means the game was wanted by many, granted, they didn’t wanna pay for it. Still, it also means he won’t be driving in that Porsche any time soon. hehehe

Lots of these people made this game in order to provide for a living — I don’t think any of us would laugh if our earnings were stolen after good, hard work.

Developers need to get ahead of the pirate wave or the gaming industry can kiss itself goodbye.

12

Oh please, you really think they aren’t getting paid because of this piracy? It still sold, ok, it didn’t sell as much as they are expecting but still. This guy is trying to make this bigger than it really is. And you are just buying his bs.

btw, let me get the violins while I read your comment again.

It’s every person’s right to get what they work for, 100%.

12

They are still getting it, just not in money but word of mouth. You have to admit, piracy also promotes a game.

They’re not getting what they worked for. I’m sure that if you have a job right now, you expect every last penny.

12

Maybe more software houses should provide demo’s of their titles before release? Maybe they should implement DRM solutions that dont effectively sleep with your wife/girlfriend as they’re that intrusive etc.

Maybe they should go STEAM.

I find it funny how devs seem to assume a pirate copy = a lost sale, most of the time people simpley wouldnt have played the game if they couldnt have got it ‘free’.

It’s the devs fault if they thought releasing a PC game wouldn’t get pirated. If they thought that, then they deserve what they are getting. Also, last I heard, they released this game full of bugs, so there you go. Can’t believe in this day and age that some companies act surprised and pissed off about piracy in the PC world.

The basic rules of any marketplace apply to the gaming industry; this stuff is only going to hurt us all if things don’t change. We know for a fact that thieves will always try to steal, so they won’t change. Developers have to get smarter and learn to protect themselves.

12

I don’t believe he’s selling any “bs”, Alakratt, although luckily it would appear that you give it out for free.

All Mr. Wardell is saying is that the pirates should either buy the game or accept they’re thieving little toerags. Surprisingly this is a lot to ask as they have a funny disposition towards rationalising their actions and getting it into their heads that they somehow deserve to play games for free. Oh, and incidentally Stardock don’t use any DRM.

@ TheTwelve

I agree with you but not completely, I believe that those rules don’t necessarily apply in gaming. Some rules may apply, but not all. If the devs wanted this game not to be pirate food, then they should’ve released it on Steam (like Redh3lix said).

Once again the sociopaths turn out in droves to support their piracy habits.

Thank you, Alakratt, for helping to raise game prices so that honest people have to pay more to compensate for your greed.

Oh and being paid in ‘word of mouth’ ain’t going to pay the bills. Would you like to be paid in word of mouth? I’m sure your employers would be happy to say things about your work instead of give you money for it.

After all, talk is cheap. Especially when you can say things whilst bravely hiding behind anonymity.

@ Aimless

hheheh, so I give it out for free huh?

Don’t worry people, I won’t start throwing flamebait around, but you have to LOVE the moral brigade here. pathetic…

For example, I’m a music pirate, and if it wasn’t for piracy I wouldn’t know most of the bands I know today. Some music “artists” critize piracy, claiming that they are affected by not enough sales bla bla bla, but yet, you see them on limousines and big houses.

So don’t get moral on me and claim pirates are thieves when Demigod was released unfinished! Full of bugs and all! The Demigod makers (if we can call them that) are the real thieves here!

@ Shatner

You’re welcome!

Karma, Alakratt.

Would you be happy if others helped themselves to your work and then laughed in your face when felt you ought to be paid for it?

If you wouldn’t want to be treated in such a way then it would be inappropriate for you to treat others in such a way.

You people act as if they are on the street begging for money! They are doing just fine, they just think that every pirated copy means a lost sale, which ain’t true.

I never said that piracy is good, I just look at it in another way. You gotta admit that it acts as a sort of promotion to the game and some of those pirates might get their copies locked up after an update and decide to buy it after all.

So while looking at piracy from the “good” side is the first thing to do, try and look at things from another perspective.

@Alakratt

Is that how you justify your actions? You look at it from another perspective?
I just hope for those people around you that you’re able to keep your rationalizations to theft crimes only…

yawn…

This fight against the “moral” zombies is getting boring, I’m gonna go watch some of my pirated Pirates porn DVD lol.

There are far too many commenters on this thread who clearly haven’t read the blog post or have any awareness of Stardock’s fairly switched on attitude to piracy and DRM. I don’t think he’s said anything remotely ‘bs’ or unreasonable. Doesn’t mean he has to be all nice to the 100,000 people who want to take the piss though does it?

“So don’t get moral on me and claim pirates are thieves when Demigod was released unfinished! Full of bugs and all!”

Which are being ironed out. For free.

Man puts a superb clock out for sale in his store window, then leaves the window open. Another man nicks it on the pretext that while the clock gives perfect time, one of the buttons is wonky.

The clockmaker meanwhile notices this flaw, and offers to repair all such clocks purchased to date at his own expense.

Who’s the bigger bastard?

And while there’s no conclusive evidence to suggest a pirated copy equals a lost sale, there’s just as little to indicate that it doesn’t.

Let’s say just 1,000 pirates would have bought one £30 game apiece last year – a year in which nearly 9000 people in this industry lost their jobs – had they been given no choice. £30,000 in potential sales. A decent salary.

Do developers only get paid according to how much the game sells? I thought they got paid for a job. What happens after they’ve done their bit isn’t their concern is it?

I mean, musicians get royalties, as do actors, but devs just get paid, innit. So all this “Would you be happy if others helped themselves to your work and then laughed in your face when felt you ought to be paid for it?” coming from a development point of view is moot surely?

Alakratt is correct. I’ve never pirated anything I’m actually willing to pay for. If that were true then I wouldn’t still go to the movies, buy DVD’s and purchase games from Gamestop and through Steam. I do use it to try stuff out and see stuff I wouldn’t spend the effort on otherwise and it usually turns out to be for good reason. Am I a pirate? No, but I do procure items from them. There has actually been more than one occasion when something I’ve procured led to me purchasing said item which would not have happened if I had not gotten the pirated version first. Either way, it needs to stop being referred to as theft. A data copy is not the same as the theft of tangible, physical property and it never will be. If you go into a store and steal a TV, the company is out thousands of dollars despite whether you would have purchased the TV or not had you not been able to steal it. The same equivalency is not and will not ever be applicable to a digital copy of 0′s and 1′s because to call it theft requires the assumption that the “thief” would have purchased the item had he not been able to get the copy which is just that, an assumption and one that I for one can attest to, is inaccurate. Or to try and put it a little more simple, If I steal the TV, the company is out 2 grand. If I copy the TV, the company is only out the illusion that I might purchase that TV in the future and if I won’t ever have 2 grand then its just that, an illusion.

Mike -

If the developer’s product flatlines through lack of sales, thus plunging the publisher’s margins into the red, then yes, it’s their concern.

An “if”, yes, but not a far-fetched one.

dirigiblebill – Of course, but that’s only conjecture for now isn’t it? Or is there a direct and provable relationship between the two?

No, as I said before there’s no conclusive evidence either way, but I find it hard to believe that 100,000 out of the 100,000 who pirated Demigod at launch would absolutely, emphatically have not bought the game otherwise.

Yeah, but that’s got nothing to with the individual developer though has it? He/she still got paid.

Well, Stardock seems to be getting by, yes – will be interesting to see their financial results for 08-09, if they announce them.

EDIT – Or did you mean that regardless of whether a game flops or flies, individual developers will still get the wage they’re contracted for? Providing the company hasn’t gone bankrupt – of course. But will they still have a job at that company the following year?

bah, i can’t read more of this b/s. Alakratt u’r a f**king a**hole! everyone else, why r u talking back to this guy? it’s clear he is incapable of understanding the concept of work. look it up on the web a**hole! maybe u’l learn something.
Pat, u guys should delete these kinds of posts. or, find an alternative to deleting. idk.. promoting piracy so pisses me off. especially if u do it that way. i won’t say much about the game. or about mr. wardell. basically, i have mixed opinions about the first and good ones about the second. and yes, i played and still play the game when i have the time.

@db: that’s the point, it’s all speculative. From a development point of view piracy could mean nothing by way of your pay cheque at the end of the month. Games will always need to be made. The amount of games being made doesn’t seem to be slowing down although piracy is rife. So why, as a developer, should piracy bother you?

(unless of course, there’s a clear and definable connection between downloading a title and a dev losing their job)

“Do developers only get paid according to how much the game sells? I thought they got paid for a job. What happens after they’ve done their bit isn’t their concern is it?”

So that makes it all alright then? There are a variety of revenue models in the games biz, some of them milestone based, some of them royalty based but regardless, it’s absolutely fair to be concerned if their ability to have a job making games is in any way compromised by rampant piracy.

Yeah, IF their ability to have a job making games is compromised. Where’s the proof that it is? There isn’t any afaik. If there is, then fair enough.

@ endgame

no I’m not

Dude I respect your opinion, too bad you’re a brainless f*ck who doesn’t respect the opinions of others. Oh and calm down, it’s just a discussion.

i’m still waiting to receive my copy from shopto but i’ve not bother downloading it

Ah Mike. You’re so transparently contrary to a particular view that you’ll demonstrate your own ignorance just for the hell of it! You’re a few whiskers away from promoting piracy in your determination to be contrary.

I’m glad we can rely on losers like Alakratt and clueless folk like you to reliably tell us how things work!

Mike – staff get paid out of the company’s money. If the company folds (because for example sales weren’t high enough) then they lose their jobs, etc.

Sure games are being made but right now many developers are losing jobs and companies are going bust – so they’re going to be hyper sensitive to anything that could affect income.

As for piracy, sure not every copy means a lost sale, but some must. Even 5% of 100,000 is a fair bit on income to lose (and that’s just loses over the first weekend).

The issue is that with digital assets its easy for people to take the view (and rationalise) that they’re copying, not stealing directly.

Mind you the view that ‘its just a fact on PC’ is depressing. Sounds like ‘you don’t go to that area or you get mugged’ It might be true, but that doesn’t mean its a good thing.

Mind you, with stupid DRM antics, etc. developers haven’t helped their case either. I understand they want to protect their assets – but making life a misery for your paying customers is just about the worst response I think.

There are means and ways to stop the pirates – Steam is one way – so there is no point complaining about it, if you arent prepared to make changes.

And everyone uses pirates as an excuse to mask poor sales. Sins of a Solar Empire shifted over 250k in the US alone – because it was a damn fine game and they had good DRM.

Time to wake up me thinks!

This is just a discussion, it’s not like our opinion (which differs a lot from yours) will change anything. I’m not in the government, nor the company, so my opinion does not change a thing, but people like Shatner and the rest of the moral squad act like it does. So, again, calm the f*ck down!

It’s funny that game devs trash pc gaming with pircay talk when consoles have just as much or even more. I can back my statements with facts. Here is what 2d boy had to say about drm.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23570

pircay on consoles

http://news.softpedia.com/news/1-Billion-Dollars-Worth-Pirated-DS-Games-Were-Seized-83135.shtml

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=10232

yes even the great sony ps3 gets pirated

http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/rehashplus/post.htm?id=63005989

By the way I bought demigod it’s a good game but not worth $40 it needs more contente.

Alakratt, you’re in no position to present any sort of moral argument or question the moral position of anyone else. Nor are you a poor, put-upon victim.

You, and people like you, are the problem.

I think Wardell makes a valid point when he says that people who are still playing the pirated copy from day one up until now are just loathsome folks. If you invest so much free time in it and clearly have fun with it then they should be willing to pay up as well. More sales isn’t just for keeping Stardock/GPG alive but it will increase the odds for more future free content and better addons/a more ambitious Demigod 2; a thing which will be good for everyone who enjoyed the original game.

Demigod isn’t full of bugs either, the matchmaking needs fixing but nearly every other major PC title has featured errors like that (L4D, GTA IV, DoW II, Empire, etc.). That’s just PC gaming and it doesn’t give you any excuse to start pirating these games and to never buy them, not even when they’re patched.

For the record: both Sins of a Solar Empire and Demigod have ZERO DRM, you can install them and play them right away offline, that’s even less restrictive than the Steam online authentication ‘solution’. To get updates with new free content and to play multiplayer you need to register on Impulse though.

And jeezes, 29th April?

…whatever…

You’re absolutely right Shatner, I am the problem and also, I am the creator of all things evil…didn’t you noticed?

“There are means and ways to stop the pirates – Steam is one way – so there is no point complaining about it, if you arent prepared to make changes.”

Games on Steam get pirated too. There is no successful method of DRM on PC.

cottage cheese anyone?

Thats right Swift – but maybe thats the way forward. I also believe that people download games to give them a try to see if they will like it.

You cant believe a single review out there as the $$$ spent on advertising, or promises of exclusive content on a crappy triple A guarantees a much higher review score.

lets take a look at more console pircay

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Almost-1-Billion-Dollars-Lost-by-Nintendo-in-2007-78918.shtml

the wii has lost 1 billion to pircay that is alot more than pc pircay. Another thing can publishers and game devs prove the number of game pirated because as far as I know pircay is almost imposible to track!

http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/17901/Pirated-Copy-of-Gears-of-War-2-Hits-the-Internet/

http://news.bigdownload.com/2008/10/10/fallout-3-pirated-on-the-xbox-360/

should I post more proof of console pircay!! In fact pirates don’t make money off of pc games. They do make money on console pircay.

http://kotaku.com/5084522/epic-sinks-gears-2-piratemodder-in-court

How do pirates make money? It’s just a matter of downloading stuff that’s free.