Help a Uni student, take a survey!(now with added Tim Curry)

[Sailor Taurus]

Hey guys, it's been a long time since i've posted on this website. I doubt any of you guys will remember me; a few years ago I was working on a dating sim in RPG Maker XP. Anyways, I am pleased to say now that now i'm in my final year of University studying games design! :D

Of course, during our final year we have to write a dissertation. My dissertation is on video game piracy, and part of it involves looking at it from the perspective of the consumer.

And this is where you guys come in. :cute:

For my consumer research, I have this anonymous survey on video game piracy.
http://www.kwiksurveys.com/online-surve ... O_f2d02070
As It says on the first page, you don't need to actually pirate games yourself in order to take this survey; the main purpose of the survey is to gauge the general attitude towards piracy and DRM. However, if you do pirate games there are some optional questions on the last page you can answer if you wish.

I would really appreciate it if you guys took this survey, and perhaps passed it on to your friends. :grin:

 

[Juan J. Sánchez]

It is done, sire.

 

[Sailor Taurus]

It is done, sire.

Jolly good ol' chap! :thumb:

 

[Perihelion]

Okay, I took the survey. I would've appreciated a comments box to elaborate on my reasons for piracy. I tend to buy games whose creators I want to support or games that are new, whereas I'll pirate games that are old or that I would otherwise buy from the gray market (therefore earning no money for the creators of the game, and I tend to buy online, so I'm not even supporting Gamestop or whatever). I'll also pirate games that are either too much of a PITA to get physically or that I'm not sure I want enough to spend money on. I almost never buy new games, so it's not like game companies get a lot of my money anyway. For the most part, the things I pirate I simply wouldn't buy even if I couldn't download them illegally, so it's generally not a lost sale. I would probably pirate things with obnoxious DRM out of pure spite if my computer could run them, but it can't, so I don't. I have actually heard of cases where the DRM is so bad it's actually easier or less destructive to your computer to just pirate it than actually buy it.

In my opinion, companies should look to doing things like what Minecraft does--requiring a paid account for access to awesome online content, such as multiplayer and updates and whatever else--instead of putting in obnoxious DRM. They need to update their business models instead of pissing off legitimate customers who do want to pay money for their games (generally not me, but still). One big reason I don't have a Steam account (besides being broke) is that my home Internet connection is dodgy as hell, for example. Making your product harder to use is not a good way to endear yourself to your customer base.

 

[Ellie]

Awesome, 50 gil will get me a new sword!

 

[Venetia]

I took it, but I feel like the choices were a little anemic. I agree with much of what Peri said as well.

Typically, when it comes to pirating, there are a few factors ...

Cost typically only applies to general software (OS, word processing, animation, etc). Companies like Adobe and Microsoft mainly cater to businesses who will use their products to earn much more money than the cost of the product. Yet the price for just a general user license, for the most part, remains the same. Why would a recreational animator or incredibly small-time freelancer be expected to spend hundreds of dollars every few years on a single program, when the cost will always exceed profit? It's ridiculous.

For games, it's almost always a try-before-I-buy situation. If developers made a better attempt at giving out demos (that weren't stupidly incredibly restrictive), I feel that MUCH of the problem would be absolved. But a lot of the problem there is content: they can't give an hour-long demo out when the game will only take 5 to master. What a shame!

I remember when Impressions Games released PHARAOH ... They let you play like 5 or 7 full missions! It not only whet my appetite but made me want to beat down my grandma just to buy the full version. There were hundreds of hours of fun to be had there. It was so worth my time I ended up buying that fucker 3 times over the past 12 years (b/c discs would inevitably become worn or damaged or lost). And the most recent time I bought it, it came packaged with Cleopatra, and Zeus, and Zeus's expansion, and Caesar III. Very worth my money.

Valve released the Orange Box a few years ago, and that included, again, hundreds of hours of entertainment for the same price as anything else on the shelf. And they kept releasing updates and add-ons for free or incredibly low prices, and I just can't say enough good things about them.

Blizzard always gives free long-term demos with all their products. With WoW, you get a free month and a rare item when your friend buys a subscription, and your friend gets a free trial too--with no obvious limits or restrictions--for 10 days or more.

If developers make us WANT the games, and make them WORTH our money, piracy'd be a niche interest. Instead, a lot of companies just keep figuring out new ways to annoy and fatigue the people who actually bought their products. They're always going to be as easy to pirate as ever--all they're doing is pissing off legit users to the point of cracking the shit anyway.

 

[Ellie]

The only game I have ever pirated, to my knowledge, was GTA3, which was to see whether it was worth trying to find it in the stores (at the time it was hard to find). It turned out it wasn't, and I never played it again.

It was also a no-cd version - which is very important to me. I really do not like having to carry CDs and DVDs around with me. I use a laptop, and I don't want to be limited in what I play based on what I brought with me! If I knew how I'd have nocd versions for all my games. Although I think only the Sims and THUG2 have made me use the CD so far (I don't really play that many games).

I don't mind serial numbers, but I hate having to phone up the company at my expense when I've upgraded my PC or something's gone wrong with the computer number limitation. I ended up just pirating RPG Maker XP for this reason, after three times, even though I legally own the software.