Would Piracy decreas if Developers would release more demos?

I know that a lot of people don't pirate just because they don't want to pay for it, but because they Developers would not release a demo. In other words, people pirate to see how the game runs on their rig, because if they bought it from a store it would be unreturnable. There ARE people that pirate the game, see how it runs, then go to the store and legitamitly buy the game. What do you think about this? Is it the Developers fault?

I know that a lot of people don't pirate just because they don't want to pay for it, but because they Developers would not release a demo. In other words, people pirate to see how the game runs on their rig, because if they bought it from a store it would be unreturnable. There ARE people that pirate the game, see how it runs, then go to the store and legitamitly buy the game. What do you think about this? Is it the Developers fault?

jstamm33

More or less, it would be a step in the right direction but i think the biggest problem is the size of demos. You know, between downloading 3gb for a demo of an hour or 4gb for the full game, it doesn't seem like it's worth it.

What i would like to see however is some sort of renting system, like 5-10 bucks and you get the full game for a period of time after which you could buy it with a price reduction equal to the price you already paid renting it. That would seem like a good way to have nice and affordable games without having to blindly buy them or get some huge demo that takes a chunk of your monthly limit of download your isp provide.

It might help with some people, but on the whole I really don't think that it would do a lot. With today's economy, if you could get a game for free, wouldn't you? I'm not saying that it's right, but piracy has one hell of a factor in it's favor: It's free.

The problem is the by creating a demo Hackers can crack the exe and use it to create no-cd patches/images. So publishers don't want developers doing this. Although I think it would help restore some customers confidence in developers/publishers it has proven to be a back door for pirates.

The problem is the by creating a demo Hackers can crack the exe and use it to create no-cd patches/images. So publishers don't want developers doing this. Although I think it would help restore some customers confidence in developers/publishers it has proven to be a back door for pirates.

dbpvivi

Mmmm demos were awesome. I remeber buying my favourite mag to try upcoming games but now... I have no idea what to do. Demigod looks awesome but I do not know whether I will like it. I am crap at rts games and since the game is online only that automatically means that it is hard.

No demo is a lame excuse. They are still going to try and get somethingfor free rather then paying for it.

While I do think developers should release a demo when possible, I don't think that's really what's driving people to pirate. A lack of demos is an obviously made-up justification used by pirates to make themselves feel better about downloading the full thing for free.

Same with every other excuse people give for pirating other than "I didn't want to buy it."

Mmmm demos were awesome. I remeber buying my favourite mag to try upcoming games but now... I have no idea what to do. Demigod looks awesome but I do not know whether I will like it. I am crap at rts games and since the game is online only that automatically means that it is hard.

rzepak

The problem is the by creating a demo Hackers can crack the exe and use it to create no-cd patches/images. So publishers don't want developers doing this. Although I think it would help restore some customers confidence in developers/publishers it has proven to be a back door for pirates.

dbpvivi

No they won't help hackers with making a no cd patch just because the demo runs of the hdd. The demo is free and unprotected, but it's also has a totally different exe file than the full game will have. If what you said was true, then any unprotected exe from any other game would help the hackers. You can't just swap totally different exe's with eachother and expect them to work.

And also, developers are finding new ways to stop piracy, like with gta 4, the first no cd patches (or just swapping the exe of the dvd version with the direct2drive one) did make the game start and run, but the camera was going crazy and playing the was made impossible. Although that didn't take very long to get around as well.

But anyway on topic: Yes i do think that if every game had a demo, piracy would decrease, not dramatically, but still. A big group of the peoplewhodownload the games do it just to see if the game is any good and if it runs well enough.Andlet's be honest, they do have apoint.Who hasn't spent 30-60 bucks on a game which turned outto betotal crap ornot playable on your pc.And demo's are easier and smaller to download than full games, and you can still see what the game is about and how it runs.

Yes.

Yes,because pirates would play the demos of some of these **** games and just decide they aren't even worth pirating

Demos aren't really very useful, as they have more bugs than the game would when it is released.

I think the excuse would just change.

Most of it would stop and yes Gamestop needs to die cause their freaking pre order to access the demo is total **** Demos are meant to be FREE!!!!

Most of it would stop and yes Gamestop needs to die cause their freaking pre order to access the demo is total **** Demos are meant to be FREE!!!!

Hekynn

A demo could be and should be the most powerful sales tool the video game industry has available. Sadly, there are a few problem with the current demos and it appears as if no one really cares.

One of the issues I see is that lack of any real instruction on how to play. This isn't going to be a problem for people who are familar with the genre as the commands tend to besimilar from game to game. What if the player is someone new? How long do you think it will take for a console gamer to throw up his hands in frustration and go back to his console because he can't figure out how to play? The same could be said about a fellow PC gamer trying out a RTS or flight simulator for the first time. A demo is no good unless it shows you how to play. It seems to me a demo that includes a tutorial would solve a common complaint gamers have about having to redo the hand-holding section of a game they want to replay or already know how to play.

Have you ever been at the movie theater and had the film interupted because some dweeb asked someone near him what was going on all because he couldn't be bothered to show up on time? What about trying to watch and understand the T.V show Lost without seeing any of the pervious episodes. Kinda sucks doesn't it? Developers do this all the time with demos. Explaining what is going one seems like something very important for story based games. It doesn't happen very often in demos.

Another thing I don't think is right about demos is the tendency to take one or two levels out of the game and repackage them as the demo. At the very least it will leave you with a been-there-done-that vibe if you play the full game. At worst, the player gets bored and quits before getting to the good stuff.

An example of a perfect demo is the one for Temple of Elemental Evil. It used to small faction of the artwork and was very short. And yet, it taught you how to play and gave you a clear idea on how most of the game was going to be by introducing you to character interactions, combat, and team controls. Another good example is Half-Life one's demo. It was a brand new area designed to introduce players to gameplay elements without ruining anything from the main game. F.E.A.R. get honorable mention as it's demo is a mix-up of parts from various levels.

On the issue of size and distribution. Don't console distributors release 5 or 6 demos on a single disc from time to time? I throught I saw these things show up in the store from time to time. I'd be willing to pay $5 for a demo CD or $10 for a DVD full of demos for upcoming games. How about you? I doubt this would be as expensive to make as spending2+ months trying to rework a game engine with a goal of keeping the demo download size small.

A good demo will teach people how to play andintroduce them to gameplay elements without ruining the game. It could become the most powerful sales tool the industry has available. Sadly, they have been putting out substandard work and we have been happy to accept it for so long that any change would likely be meaningless. Hopefully I'll be proven wrong.

I think the excuse would just change.

Swiftstrike5

well piracy certainly won't -increase- because of demos, but I doubt there would be that much of a decrease. The thing with piracy is, you get a full game for free.

No, not at all.Maybe a tiny tiny bit...but mostly no.Pirating games=free not pirating games=teh moneys.Very very simple.

No, Demos always are way better then actuall game.

I think having good online gameplay and also selling your game on steam is the best way to get around piracy. Demo's might help to increase the hype of the game thus moving more units, but I don't think it's the solution.

I don't think quality demos or more no. of demos can decrease the piracy rate! it will still be the same. But there should be a BAN on torrent sites and P2P clients! this will definitely decrease piracy rate!vj02

Having more demos would not help. Nor do we need more. If anything we need less demos as they waste site bandwith making it more expensive for sites like fileshack for instance to host the far more important patches. The two reasons people claim that demos are needs are moot. 1. Will I like it? With online previews, reviews, walk throughs, developer diaries, etc, etc. if you don't know if you will like a game before you buy it ... too bad. You have a myriad of resources out there to find out beforehand. 2. Can my computer run it? If your computer is so crappy that it can't nigh max every game out there you need to spend your time getting a new job, not playing games. In essence ALL piracy is due to a lack of morals. And it is never excusable.WDT-BlackKat

[QUOTE="vj02"]I don't think quality demos or more no. of demos can decrease the piracy rate! it will still be the same. But there should be a BAN on torrent sites and P2P clients! this will definitely decrease piracy rate!sSubZerOo

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"][QUOTE="vj02"]I don't think quality demos or more no. of demos can decrease the piracy rate! it will still be the same. But there should be a BAN on torrent sites and P2P clients! this will definitely decrease piracy rate!vj02

Nah I doubt it helps. Sure some people pirate for that reason, I've done it myself few times to see if the game runs, but I think majority of pirates don't belong to that group. Also in the cases where lot of people want to test whether the game works or not it's usually because it's poorly optimized and releasing a demo of such a game would possibly only hurt the sales even more. It's more profitable to just downplay the system requriements and let people discover it runs like crap AFTER they've bought it.mr_mozilla

So your solution is for developers to lie about sys requirements? :? Don't see how that is relevant or how that would help. Alot of people would just return the game after finding out it couldn't run on the min requirements.

[QUOTE="mr_mozilla"]Nah I doubt it helps. Sure some people pirate for that reason, I've done it myself few times to see if the game runs, but I think majority of pirates don't belong to that group. Also in the cases where lot of people want to test whether the game works or not it's usually because it's poorly optimized and releasing a demo of such a game would possibly only hurt the sales even more. It's more profitable to just downplay the system requriements and let people discover it runs like crap AFTER they've bought it.True_Sounds

So your solution is for developers to lie about sys requirements? :? Don't see how that is relevant or how that would help. Alot of people would just return the game after finding out it couldn't run on the min requirements.

[QUOTE="True_Sounds"]

[QUOTE="mr_mozilla"]Nah I doubt it helps. Sure some people pirate for that reason, I've done it myself few times to see if the game runs, but I think majority of pirates don't belong to that group. Also in the cases where lot of people want to test whether the game works or not it's usually because it's poorly optimized and releasing a demo of such a game would possibly only hurt the sales even more. It's more profitable to just downplay the system requriements and let people discover it runs like crap AFTER they've bought it.Astaroth2k

So your solution is for developers to lie about sys requirements? :? Don't see how that is relevant or how that would help. Alot of people would just return the game after finding out it couldn't run on the min requirements.

Pirating a game "just to try it" sounds a very feeble excuse for pirating a game. Once they have it they aren't going to go out and pay full price for it are they? The more games they "pirate to try" the worse the piracy figures look, so stores will continue to refuse to take PC games back. If they are unsure about gameplay or content in the game they can find out what they want from reviews or forums. If they are unsure about performance on their PC it really isn't that hard to compare your spec with the rec spec, and then get confirmation from forums on how others are finding it runs.Avenger1324

actually, some people do. i have a friend who pirates games in this manner. after pirating CoD:WaW, he plans to buy the full game when he gets his next paycheck. that said, i would bet that most dont do this. i dont pirate games, but if i did, i wouldnt bother paying for them later

fair enough, now just think about illegal CD keys and full games,movies,softwares ...! Video games are the real hard work of some game designers spending their days and nights to build a perfect game! and people just download it?? what a shame! show some respect to those programmers and designers at least and buy the game!! I would say there should be some action against torrent sites!vj02

Torrents are imo a brilliant invention, I use it a lot for downloading legal files such as mods, makes it easier to find and manage your downloads, but most importantly it gives individuals with limited resources the means to effectively distribute their creations.

[QUOTE="Swiftstrike5"]

I think the excuse would just change.

takeiteazy3

[QUOTE="WDT-BlackKat"] 2. Can my computer run it? If your computer is so crappy that it can't nigh max every game out there you need to spend your time getting a new job, not playing games. In essence ALL piracy is due to a lack of morals. And it is never excusable.mr_mozilla

A moderate amount of money spent on building a computer generates a machine capable of maxing out every game in existence, including Crysis and other such benchmark titles, if not at 1900x1200 at least at 1680x1050. A goal that even those on a modest income can manage.

Crappy ports get reviewed and previewed as being crappy ports... so if you don't do your homework before you buy you deservedly might lose. Do you go to a movie before seeing a trailer or hearing a friend or reviewer praise it? Do you buy a book without at least reading the jacket or back cover description? And even if the game does suck you're out... what? $50 at most? That's less than the cost of a date that didn't work out, or a play that sucked, or a sporting event where the home team lost.

[QUOTE="mr_mozilla"][QUOTE="WDT-BlackKat"] 2. Can my computer run it? If your computer is so crappy that it can't nigh max every game out there you need to spend your time getting a new job, not playing games. In essence ALL piracy is due to a lack of morals. And it is never excusable.WDT-BlackKat

[QUOTE="WDT-BlackKat"][QUOTE="mr_mozilla"]Sorry but that's bs. We should not be expected to blow cash on insanely overpowered hardware so the developers can get off easy making crappy ports.mr_mozilla

[QUOTE="vj02"] fair enough, now just think about illegal CD keys and full games,movies,softwares ...! Video games are the real hard work of some game designers spending their days and nights to build a perfect game! and people just download it?? what a shame! show some respect to those programmers and designers at least and buy the game!! I would say there should be some action against torrent sites!mr_mozilla

Torrents are imo a brilliant invention, I use it a lot for downloading legal files such as mods, makes it easier to find and manage your downloads, but most importantly it gives individuals with limited resources the means to effectively distribute their creations.