So I downloaded World of Goo off the Pirate Bay last night (yarrr!!).  But don't go jumping the gun, I bought it this morning, and I could write several pages about how great and innovative this game is.  This thread has a different purpose though.  I'm not quite sure what yet, but I'm sure I'll make a point eventually.


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Why do people pirate games?
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The main reason is Economics (surprise surprise).  But it's never a case of "I don't have any money to buy a game" though.  The issue is "I don't think this game is worth what is on the price tag."  Think, Fun Factor per Dollar.  It's a waste of money to buy a game and then discover that you really don't like it.  I mean, there are a LOT of games out there, and to be quite honest, most of them are not even worth playing at all.  World of Goo definitely doesn't have that problem though - this game has an amazing blend of innovation, mechanics, and style, and is worth every penny.

There are some other reasons... personally, I find it annoying to have to drive to the store, and then having to store yet another CD in my software binder, and then put the game box into storage.  Of course, if the game is just downloaded, all of that is avoided.  Small games are, of course, easy to host online and distribute.  Larger games, thanks to services like Steam, are becoming available for legitimate download.


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Copy Protection - Friend or Foe?
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First off, for the foreseeable future, no amount of copy protection will save your game from being pirated.  Companies have been trying for what, ten, fifteen years now?  And they just haven't been successful.  Serial numbers can be reverse engineered, validity checks over the internet can be bypassed, online activation can be spoofed.

Now, World of Goo does not have any sort of copy protection built into it.  No serial numbers, no online activation, zip zilch nada none.  Quite an interesting stance to take, actually.  The real question is, of course, is not having any protection scheme causing more piracy and lowering sales, or causing more distribution and increasing sales?  Without actual statistics on hand, I can't say for sure.  But I can speculate.

There are only two categories of consumers that we need to concern ourselves with here.  First, legitimate customers, who had the intention of purchasing the game but then decided not to because they got their hands on a pirated version.  Second, pirates, who had the intention of pirating the game, but then decided to purchase it.  If there are more people in the first category, then you can generalize that having no copy protection hurt sales.  If there are more people in the second category, then you can generalize that having no copy protection helped sales.

Of course, you must also take into account of a third category - how many people had never heard of World of Goo, but installed it due to the wide proliferation of WoG having no protection scheme?  This is not so much of a factor for large publishers, but *especially* for an Indie game, lack of copy protection, combined with high game quality, *might* increase game circulation, and thus increase sales.


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Category Four
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There is one last category of "consumers" I would like to look at:  Pirates.

A bit of a minor mantra has emerged in the gaming industry lately - a person who pirated a game probably would not have bought the game anyway if the piracy option was not available.  True, for the most part, I must admit.  There are a number of us on the fence though.  Which way we fall, though, is pretty variable.

Spore.  I watched a video of the 2005 Game Developer's Conference.  It was a 35 minute presentation on Spore, and it was pretty damned cool.  I was pretty excited.  Showed the video to some of my friends, even.  The plan was to buy Spore the day it came out, and evolve a bunch of amoebas into an intergalactic overnight.  But before Spore was released, I had heard about the copy protection scheme they were going to use:  a limit of three installs.  Now, to be honest, most people would only need one, and the limit wouldn't be an issue.  But just the *concept* that my CD and key would become useless after three installs just pissed me off.  Actually, I think it pissed a lot of people off, because Spore went on to be come the most prolifically pirated game.  Ever.  And have you seen the Amazon rating and reviews for that game???  (http://www.amazon.com/Spore-Mac/dp/B000FKBCX4/)

World of Goo, on the other hand, is kinda the opposite.  I'd never even heard of World of Goo before.  Actually, I take that back.  I've seen the title in a list on review sites like IGN, but never looked into it.  Until I saw it on the Pirate Bay, near the top of the charts.  And I was like, what the hell is this, 62 MB program that's getting so much attention?  I'd better download it and see what the fuss is all about.  This game was so refreshing, so original, so awesome, that NOT buying it is right up there on the evil-o-meter with cannibalizing dead babies or something.  Well, not quite that extreme, but the point is, I felt COMPELLED to buy this game.  It was just wrong not to.

Blizzard Entertainment makes some pretty amazing games.  They will be releasing Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 soon, both of which descended from some pretty amazing games and have some large shoes to fill.  These are two games that even pirates will want to buy.  Of course there will be pirates as usual, but I suspect that this game will have a substantially higher percentage of purchases to pirates.


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The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything
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You know, I don't even know where I'm going with this thread anymore.  I suppose the conclusion I'd like to draw from the last section is that if you make a better game, more people will buy it instead of pirate it.  And, btw World of Goo is an AWESOME game!  I hope that I can get more pirates to admit that, and convince them to purchase it as I have.

Right.  So that's my two cents.  Plus some.  Kyle, Ron, good luck with 2D Boy!  May your creative minds be blessed with... endless... creativity... or something like that.  You know what I mean.

~ Nick

I agree fully!

There are so many crappy games on the market that there is NO way I will buy a game without trying it first.

World of Goo is an example this.  A game I also found via the wonderful world of torrents.  But after being undeniably addicted to this game for the last two days and seeing a more than fair price tag I also ponied up the $20 for it.  Honestly, $20 is more than fair for this game.  The replay factor, the fun and the originality of it make it worth even more in my opinion.  So no need to pirate this one. $20 is already stealing it from these guys.

What isn't helping is that game studios are making less and less demos for people to try out first.  ::) Making us base all the judgment on reviews only. Honestly that will only push people to pirate the games since it will be the 'unofficial' demo.

[quote author=komugi link=topic=1277.msg8742#msg8742 date=1231946269]
What isn't helping is that game studios are making less and less demos for people to try out first.  ::) Making us base all the judgment on reviews only. Honestly that will only push people to pirate the games since it will be the 'unofficial' demo.


Yes this.

[quote author=strongnc21 link=topic=1277.msg8588#msg8588 date=1231526690]
But it's never a case of "I don't have any money to buy a game" though.  The issue is "I don't think this game is worth what is on the price tag."  Think, Fun Factor per Dollar. 


This too.

Plus, I mean, 2 guys in coffee shops building a physics game easy enough for my 8-year old and challenging enough for me? I want to pay them for that. It's like "Awesomeness Tax"

Could some of the piracy be due to how distanced the would-be customer feels from whoever made the product? If a huge multimillion dollar established corporation with executives who get paid millions of dollars a year releases game, is the mentality that they don't really need that one extra sale?

On the other hand, if an indie publisher with few resources makes games because it's their passion, does this influence a would-be customer to support them?

I think that might have something to do with it. It also seems like the larger a company gets, the more they become interested in maximizing their profit margin at any cost, even if this means alienating some of their customers with an indifferent attitude and DRM.

Also, indie devs like 2D Boy feel much more intimate, since they communicate many of the details regarding what's going on with their game. We get to see so much of the process, along with a blog, forum, etc where customers can actually converse with the people responsible for the product. They do things that say that they are looking out for their fans. For example, giving them things like a Linux port, not to mention being able to download for several platforms (instead of tying you into one).

Knowing all that about 2D Boy, would someone be as likely to pirate the game?

I think the more likely pirate would be someone who only knows the bare details about World Of Goo. They only know that it's a game available on torrents like all the others. Once anyone finds out the back-story and still decides to pirate the game anyways? Damn. That's heartless.

[quote author=strongnc21 link=topic=1277.msg8588#msg8588 date=1231526690]
But it's never a case of "I don't have any money to buy a game" though.


I don't really agree with that. I, myself and I know many others who also join the pirate scheme for the same reason, download a lot instead of buying because the prices are ridiculously high here. Trying the pirated version out first to check if it's worth the money is another reason but not as important as the other one. If I do want to buy something after having tried the pirated version I mostly buy it from the US as it usually costs way more in Euro's.

If it's great stuff and the price is attractive, I'll buy it for sure!

@strongnc21 aka ~Nick

Spot on. Copy protection is just an annoyance. Many times I'll legally buy what I've demoed (props to TPB etc) only to find out the cumbersome, DRM laden restrictions are nothing short of a pain in my arse. So the legal copy gets shelved and I keep using the "freer" version on my own desktop (various checks and comparisons notwithstanding).

Also

Very rarely do I find a game so enjoyable that I go and buy it. It was like that with the original half-life (with my first intention being to load the mod counter-strike so a friend and I could play together). The game (HL) was mind blowing. For me, WoG is simply fun for three reasons:

[li]The music. I don't know what style, type, kind or genre this is but whoever did it has REAL talent! It almost has an air of Tim Burton to it.[/li]
[li]It has a vague similarity to Worms Armageddon. Or, rather, at the very least WoG has an emotional appealing that so closely resembled WA to me that I couldn't help myself ;D[/li]
[li]Unique. I've never seen a game like this before and while my exposure has been limited (ha, not likely) this just screams awesome.[/li]

I pirated the game while I was deployed to Iraq. Due to insecure internet in the region, it was not wise to use credit cards for any type of transaction. However, I bought the game on Steam as soon as I got back to the states.

Same goes here. I pirated it fist, but the next day I bought it. I knew I just had to buy it. Why?
-The game is excellent. Great entertainment, great quality.
-The whole game shows in every bit of it that it is made with heart and soul.
-It is DRM free in every way. If devs trust us so much, I felt that I had to return their trust.
-The online community is very fun. I wouldn't feel a part of it, if I had stolen the game.
2D boy did all the right moves and they actually obliged me to buy their game.

To throw in my two cents here, other than the fact that this is one of the most innovative games I've seen in the last while, I bought this game *because* there was no copy protection.

Why would a consumer buy a product that is more difficult to use than the pirated version? The music industry still hasn't gotten this one.

I never heard about World of Goo until I spotted it on Mininova. Downloaded it some time ago out of curiosity, installed and played it last night, and finally bought it today. And yes, $20 is a steal for this game.  No DRM, no marketing BS, just pure and honest goo-goodness.

These days I always download games before I buy them. Too many times in the past I had burnt my fingers with dodgy titles that was buggy as hell, or didn't live up to all the promises. I don't believe in demos either because many of them give you the wrong impression regarding the actual game.

Anyone remember Bet-On-Soldier? It was extremely buggy and crashed all the time. I bought that piece of garbage based on reviews alone, and I am still angry about the whole thing. Oh, and the Starforce copy protection system really screwed up my PC. I had to re-install XP about a month later.

Anyhow, all the best of luck to 2D BOY. I'm eagerly awaiting their next release.

A very sober and well-woven post. Goes to show pirates are not idiots, and give a damn about the game industry. Also points out a lot of things developers and some publishers already know, like the fact that piracy may be good for sales or DRM is a worthless investment enforced by silly developers and investors. Why they pretend otherwise is another issue...

Anyway, thank you for this post, and thanks to 2D Boy forums for allowing it. After I made a similar post to the Steam forums, my account got banned without warning.:o

Cheers!  ;)

This is the first game I've ever paid for. It's one of the best ever made, and will probably trigger many more physics games. The developers simply deserve the money.

[quote author=LagMasterSam link=topic=1277.msg10139#msg10139 date=1235261937]
I pirated the game while I was deployed to Iraq. Due to insecure internet in the region, it was not wise to use credit cards for any type of transaction. However, I bought the game on Steam as soon as I got back to the states.


lol?  hard to imagine someone posted in iraq playing world of goo!
ive got a weird mental image right now of an intense firefight whilst one guy sits casualy playing with goo-balls on a laptop :D

I have run into very few games worth their price.  Basically the only games I have bought are Blizzard titles (Starcraft/Warcraft/Diablo), Half-Life titles, and World of Goo.  Amazing. I certainly look forward to more goo...

As someone who has played PC games for many, many years and has pirated her share of them, I gave it all up some years back and went legit. With everything. Napster was the last blast of pirating I did. For reasons I won't get into here I decided that if I didn't buy it I didn't want it in my home.

I read about WOG in several game magazines and on various websites, even before it came out. Everything I read about it was simply GLOWING. However, I was deeply immersed in a few other games plus life, so I set it aside. When I read in the latest version of Maximum PC, in Thomas McDonald's column (I love ya still, Tom!) about the rampant pirating of this fabulous game and his personal rant, to put it mildly, about anyone that pirated it, I decided to quit stalling and go pick it up. I live near a vast number of stores and although I despise shopping other than online, I will head into a store if it's for something I MUST have. And this game I MUST have, I said! The local Best Buy had it for $19.99 a couple weeks ago when I was in there picking up something for the hubby's work. So I went there. None left and they said they didn't think they'd get anymore. You see, they heard just like I did that 2DBOY was or had gone out of business due to the rampant pirating of this game! So I went next door to Target, a store I hate almost as much as WalMart. They had ONE copy and it was $14.99 (USD) so I grabbed it.

I adore this game. I LOVE this game. I GROK this game (to use an old term from a favorite story). The hubby immediately glommed onto it but I tossed him off my computer so he bought a copy online for himself. Yup, we're honest enough that we bought TWO copies, like we usually do these days.

Now, Spore is another story. I love Wil Wright's stuff. Played the original Sim City, and Sim City 2K, until my eyes bled. Spore was on the top of my list as one to buy the DAY it was released. WalMart/BestBuy/Target, etc. be damned, I was going in! Then I read about the DRM.  UUUUGH!!!  So I put it off.  Finally bought them after the new year and yes, bought TWO copies cuz the hubby loves these games too. Well......beyond the DRM, which ticked me off enough to grab a pirated version to use and put the honest version on the shelf, the game is a disaster. It crashes and crashes and crashes. Started out fine, I played it to death but the past couple weeks, bam bam bam. Everyone on their forums seems to be having these same problems too. So the game not only is now not being played but also I ended up breaking my personal rule of not having pirated anything anymore in my household. Oh, and I also bought the Creature Creator not knowing it can't be on the same machine that has the actual Spore game. Nowhere on the box does it say that and of course I opened it so no taking it back. Just one more thing that EA/Maxis did with this whole Spore thing that has me pissed off beyond belief.

Good thread and good food for thought. I just had to share. I do hope to see more of this great game and the people behind it. And I really hope that they can stick with no DRM in the future.

PS... the Spore problems are happening on both gaming machines in this house and one is running the retail DRM-full version. Given what we read in the forums for Spore our problem is minor, although annoying enough to ruin the gameplay, compared to what many others are dealing with.