Dhruin
SasqWatch
Dhruin, no one ever said that games wer not buggy 10 years ago. Games always had bugs. But you cannot ignore that many players have the impression that it's getting worse. I would also imagine that bugs have nothing to do with the amount of gigabytes a game has - or do you honestly believe that it is the program code that is blowing up the size of games?
I can easily ignore it because I think they are wrong. I would imagine art assets eat up the most data but I feel pretty confident the latest shaders, physics etc produce far more complex programs that also rely heavily on drivers from other people.
All true what you are saying, but then again you shouldn't continue an anology that you describe as erroneous. I would also think that customers have way more rights when it comes to buying a car than buying a game. Also (and here I'm doing the same mistake as you did), if I compare Vanguards state of release with a car, then that would have been a car without tires, and with a motor that stops working every half an hour. I would think that you don't see that all too often with new cars...
Guilty, I did continue the analogy. Customers buying a car need more protection because of the larger value and safety concerns. I think Vanguard is more likely a car that's very unreliable and with poor mileage than one that doesn't go anywhere (a car without tires is useless) - but I think we agree it's a dodgy analogy so I'll leave it at that.
I don't see software pirates as one big homogeneous group of people. That seems to be a harsh generalization to me. I'm sure quite a lot of people do as you say - they pirate because they can. But I also think there are people who would be willing to buy more games if they saw their gaming needs and wishes fulfilled. Some might also pirate software because they cannot afford the product.
Also if you think about it - your approach to the topic is fairly pessimistic. It means that there is no solution to the problem (apart from a copy protection that cannot be cracked). I mean, what do you want to do? Dragging every single software pirate to court will most likely not work out.
No, they aren't homogenous and there are some difficult areas around the edges, but is that really central to the debate? It has little bearing on Western pirates and is still an excuse for many, many others. I still see it the same if a game is 1/10 of your income -- if you can afford the hardware to play Oblivion, you can afford the game. It may take a while to save up, or maybe you need to buy a 6600GT instead of an 8800, but at the end of the day, you know you can get the games for free.
Bjon045 is right that these markets will always exist but the reason is still an excuse and comes down to "because you can". If they couldn't pirate games, they'd budget differently or perhaps move into other hobbies. I'd love to learn how to fly a plane but I can't justify the costs, so I have other hobbies that are within reach. Since you can pirate gsmes that makes it nice and convenient: I can spend on hardware because the software cost is always zero.
As for being cynical, I think it's just realistic. And I'm not offering a solution - I don't know there is one. Why should a seller lose money discounting or giving stuff away to make the value appear better? You can't beat free. At the end of the day, the beancounters will do a cost/benefit analysis and if reducing the price gets enough additional buyers, they'll do it. If not, they won't.
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