Before starting, this thread is meant to tackle piracy from another angle than the other thread (which has turned into a discussion on wether piracy acually hurts the industry or not). This thread is meant to focus more on how we can improve on the current situation, so I figured it warranted a thread on it's own. Especially since I've been meant to start it for quite a while.
Though if you disagree, feel free to merge it with the other thread.
Anyway, to start out the actual thread, Spotify is a program that (given that you have an account) lets you listen to music for free. You can listen to any track or artist you'd like to listen to (provided that the artist is avaliable - there is almost no Beatles up, for instance), you can make your own play lists, there's almost no delay. Spotify have made a deal with the record companies so the service is perfectly legal. The artists gets payed when you listen to their tracks, and it's payed for by commercials or premium accounts.
A while ago a guy who I was working with in a class said that there is no point pirating music anymore - with Spotify you can already get all of it for free. And you can get it in a way that supports the artists (even if it isn't as much as a bought record), which must be seen as an improvement over pure piracy.
This got me thinking: would it be possible to do something similiar for games? Would it be desirable?
Possible? Probably. I'd figure some steam-like program where developers add functionality into the loading screens so that they can also show comercials (with some commercials promoting the ethicality of paying for the full game even though you can get it for free). If this increases the load time - nothing but more incentive to actually buy the game. You could also add them poster slots in the game that are updated from time to time with real commercials (which would go away if you bought the game as well).
Would it be desirable? That's more tricky. I think it would, because we could get pepole who would otherwise never contribue financially to the gaming industry to acually contribue a little. If they did this the whole excuse for pirating would go away. What I can see as a problem is that pepole might feel it to be "enough" to merely use this service, even though it would be better to buy the whole thing.
Any thoughts?
Übereil
Though if you disagree, feel free to merge it with the other thread.
Anyway, to start out the actual thread, Spotify is a program that (given that you have an account) lets you listen to music for free. You can listen to any track or artist you'd like to listen to (provided that the artist is avaliable - there is almost no Beatles up, for instance), you can make your own play lists, there's almost no delay. Spotify have made a deal with the record companies so the service is perfectly legal. The artists gets payed when you listen to their tracks, and it's payed for by commercials or premium accounts.
A while ago a guy who I was working with in a class said that there is no point pirating music anymore - with Spotify you can already get all of it for free. And you can get it in a way that supports the artists (even if it isn't as much as a bought record), which must be seen as an improvement over pure piracy.
This got me thinking: would it be possible to do something similiar for games? Would it be desirable?
Possible? Probably. I'd figure some steam-like program where developers add functionality into the loading screens so that they can also show comercials (with some commercials promoting the ethicality of paying for the full game even though you can get it for free). If this increases the load time - nothing but more incentive to actually buy the game. You could also add them poster slots in the game that are updated from time to time with real commercials (which would go away if you bought the game as well).
Would it be desirable? That's more tricky. I think it would, because we could get pepole who would otherwise never contribue financially to the gaming industry to acually contribue a little. If they did this the whole excuse for pirating would go away. What I can see as a problem is that pepole might feel it to be "enough" to merely use this service, even though it would be better to buy the whole thing.
Any thoughts?
Übereil