Do you abstain from paying $60 for PC games?

JDR13 said:
I'm sure you're going to explain why that is.
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Well, early full-priced sales are obviously more compelling. I didn't really mean much by it though, I know you buy games at release if you really want to support them.
 
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DoctorNarrative said:
Well, early full-priced sales are obviously more compelling. I didn't really mean much by it though, I know you buy games at release if you really want to support them.
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Sorry if my previous reply seemed snarky, I just didn't quite get where you were coming from on that one.

I only buy new (factory sealed) games from Ebay, so I'm not sure how much of an impact the actual purchase price makes. Also, I only go to Ebay for games that I'm mildly interested in, or titles that I'm not quite sure about.
 
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JDR13 said:
I only buy new (factory sealed) games from Ebay, so I'm not sure how much of an impact the actual purchase price makes. Also, I only go to Ebay for games that I'm mildly interested in, or titles that I'm not quite sure about.
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Right on. If you get them new then the publisher was paid normal price for them long ago most likely, so that matters little really. I get new copies of older games off ebay and amazon all the time.
 
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The whole 'who pays what, from whom, and when' discussion is actually pretty interesting ... and made moreso by publishers/developers who say buying a used game is the same as piracy as far as they are concerned.

Just like there is no need to go to a theater to see a movie anymore (watched the Tron sequel on DVD last night from RedBox for $1, just over 4 months since it hit theaters), the same is true for games. And since paying $60 for a new game sends a message to publishers, so does paying less.
 
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It's pretty much impossible to "vote correctly" with a purchase these days.

About the only thing you can be certain of, is that the money won't benefit the actual development team directly. Indirectly, is all you can hope for.

Likely, the money will end up at the people who financed the game - and they're going to interpret success in a way that will provide more money in the future. So, your vote is meaningless. I voted for Dragon Age by supporting it, for instance - and how was the success interpreted?

There's no direct link between the end-user and the people responsible for the actual experience you had.
 
I look at it from the angle of wanting as many games on PC as possible, then we sort out the good from the bad after they're available. Therefore buying games I like signals the publishers that there is a market on the PC worth making or porting games for.

I can be a hypocrite though because digital sales are much better for developers, especially small ones, and yet I insist on buying boxed copies.
 
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DoctorNarrative said:
I look at it from the angle of wanting as many games on PC as possible, then we sort out the good from the bad after they're available. Therefore buying games I like signals the publishers that there is a market on the PC worth making or porting games for.

I can be a hypocrite though because digital sales are much better for developers, especially small ones, and yet I insist on buying boxed copies.
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I'd sacrifice 99% of the PC games out there in a heartbeat, if it meant the remaining 1% were current-gen System Shocks, Gothics, or X-Coms.

I'd pay 10 times the price for them - equally without hesitation.
 
DArtagnan said:
I'd sacrifice 99% of the PC games out there in a heartbeat, if it meant the remaining 1% were current-gen System Shocks, Gothics, or X-Coms.

I'd pay 10 times the price for them - equally without hesitation.
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I don't think it works like that... ;)
 
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I say we all pay $1 a week for an RPGwatch lottery pool and if we ever win the big jackpot we start a studio and make classic style PC games.
 
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JDR13 said:
My advice is to start using Ebay for PC games. I almost always manage to get a new PC game for around $25-$30 within a week of release. Find an auction that ends in the early afternoon for the best chance at a low price.
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I got burned on that back in the early 2000's. I remember ordering Throne of Bhaal and when I got it, it was obviously a copy. Happened a couple times and I just stopped buying games that way.
 
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JDR13 said:
I only buy new (factory sealed) games from Ebay, so I'm not sure how much of an impact the actual purchase price makes. Also, I only go to Ebay for games that I'm mildly interested in, or titles that I'm not quite sure about.
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That seems odd to me. Why would a new factory sealed game be so much cheaper on eBay than in the store? Are you sure they are not just re-shrink wrapping them or something?
 
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txa1265 said:
The whole 'who pays what, from whom, and when' discussion is actually pretty interesting … and made moreso by publishers/developers who say buying a used game is the same as piracy as far as they are concerned.
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That argument pisses me off. Is renting a book from a library piracy? I understand that if you are running at the margins, you might look at that as lost sales, but how many of those people would have bought the game if they couldn't have bought it used?

Just like there is no need to go to a theater to see a movie anymore (watched the Tron sequel on DVD last night from RedBox for $1, just over 4 months since it hit theaters), the same is true for games. And since paying $60 for a new game sends a message to publishers, so does paying less.
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I love going to the movie theater (so long as it is not overrun by kids!). It's an experience that I really enjoy, though I have to say that the difference between home and theater is slowly going away. We bought a 1080p projector in January and are now throwing up a 110" image on the way. The picture is amazing and we are just using a beige wall. When we get the actual screen put together (hopefully next month), it's going to become very difficult to convince myself that going to the theater is worth it. I'll probably only start going for really big movies.
 
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DoctorNarrative said:
I say we all pay $1 a week for an RPGwatch lottery pool and if we ever win the big jackpot we start a studio and make classic style PC games.
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Based on on our discussions here, can you imagine the fights during the design phase? :D

Turn-based! NO!!! Real-Time!!
Party based!! NOOOO!!! Single Character!!!
3D isometric is the only way to go! Bah True 3-D is where its at!
and on and on.....

I think we'd get about a solid hour in before the bloodshed started!
 
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blatantninja said:
That seems odd to me. Why would a new factory sealed game be so much cheaper on eBay than in the store? Are you sure they are not just re-shrink wrapping them or something?
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You have to go for the auction-style listings, and just have the patience to wait for the right one. People don't always make money on Ebay sales. Also make sure to check the seller's feedback rating.
 
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I have and do use Ebay on a regular basis JDR. Although they are good deals to be had in the first week, I almost always get the games for less than ten bucks by simply waiting.
 
txa1265 said:
The whole 'who pays what, from whom, and when' discussion is actually pretty interesting … and made moreso by publishers/developers who say buying a used game is the same as piracy as far as they are concerned.
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How in the hell is that the same as piracy? If I buy an original disc of the game, than the publisher/developer was already paid for that game disc, unless in the rare instance it was stolen originally. It is nowhere near the same as making copies of the games and selling those off. Not even close. It is no different than selling anything else used, from a cd to a car.

And apologies for the double post.
 
Once I was by two youngsters on a flea market who sold me a box of NWN ... And I didn't know it needed THREE CDs ... They just kept the "play CD" ...

And, to damage my reputation even further, I even had a similar experience exactly one year later ... On the same flea market ... possibly even the same youngsters ... Since then, I own a KOTOR2 package which I cannot use ...
 
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Icefire said:
How in the hell is that the same as piracy? If I buy an original disc of the game, than the publisher/developer was already paid for that game disc, unless in the rare instance it was stolen originally. It is nowhere near the same as making copies of the games and selling those off. Not even close. It is no different than selling anything else used, from a cd to a car.
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It's not piracy, it's just a mentality that publishers are trying to spread while looking for ways to increase their profit margins.
 
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