Demo to Help Stop Piracy?

So many sims on the market? I must have missed them... If only that was the case.

I read reviews, message boards etc, then watch videos before I buy. I can usually come to an informed decision.

I paid £25 or so in the Steam Christmas sale, £25 really isn't a lot of cash. I can easily spend 4 times that on a single night out. I've had way more than my moneys worth so far and at the moment I've got frustratingly little time to play. Even if AC doesn't hold my attention long term I'm happy to have supported the genre.

 

rfactor1
rfactor2
simraceway
stock car game 2013
raceroom experience
iracing
assetto corsa

 

The best way of reducing piracy is to have a very open and fair demo with loads of gameplay that is constantly upgraded and more fun than an offline pirated full version. Make people desperate to play online and get more content to hook them in.

 

They think different. Why using a demo, if you can have everything for free except MP.

 

I'm not gonna lie. I pirate basically every game that I can. And no demo would ever stop me from pirating. If someone is used to downloading games for free thats what he'll do. Me included. I just default to torrenting a game. Assetto Corsa is only the second game I ever bought because I wanted to pay for the work and not just for MP. It really is something special this game.

The only games I haven't pirated were games I had to buy in order to play multiplayer. BF3, dayz.... Games I can play MP over lan (like tunngle) I don't buy either. So to be honest, the only geniune way to prevent piracy is to use a good multiplayer protection. A unique CDKey based system, with kunos master servers (or steam...) A system which is used by FPS games, by MMO games etc... The only system that can't be pirated. Such a system would however hurt AC in the long run, as LAN is a critical part, and without it the MP community would eventually die out. Sure, people who pirate games will still pirate it and play SP. But you CAN NOT prevent that. Not with a demo, not with a trial, not with anything.

 

not many people will buy the game without trying first, i tried my friend's and loved it. and thats why i bought it. but what if those who cant try it out first? they wont go ahead and pay unless they are too rich. the opinions of the people matter for sure, but you have to see it for yourself first, to buy.

a demo with 1-2 cars and 1 track with MP would help stop piracy, because you will be eventually bored of single player. and those who can't pay yet will stay, and eventually buy the game. like somebody else said, MP protection should be strong against pirating. so that the people wont start running their cracked servers around.

 

Well, I'm not sure on if you are talking about me or about people downloading games in general...
Anyhow, this is a topic as old as civilization. And it doesn't apply just to games, but to almost everything any human has ever done. We could have a thousand page topic about it, and not be any closer to a consensus. And much brighter people than us have argued over this many times, so the point I'm trying to make is that arguing about it is meaningless, and I understand it if you can't look at this from a different angle. After all, you are a developer, and are on the completely other side of the process. Still, if we did have the conversation I could make a very, very good point about how the pirates are the smallest problem in the videogame industry. And about the greedy capitalist publishers pressuring the developers. And about the countless games ruined, rushed, canceled, released premautrely because of money hungry owners. And about many software houses that were closed because they didn't make enough money for their huge companies. And about things like how kickstarter supporters are largely pirates. And I could tell you that you are the ignorant one, expecting other people to change. But like I said, let's not argue over this, since there really is no point.

And if you were referring to me in particular, than all I can say is that I have bought AC, and I love Kunos and have more respect for you than for any software company ever. I am horrified if you understood my post as bragging. Me having posted was purely in the interest that you (kunos) might get a tiny little bit more insight into piracy, and hopefully knowledge which will enable you to make good decisions considering this. And if you dislike me for it it makes me sad, but if get some gain out of my posts, my information, it's still a win for me...

 

Well, I'm sad that you only read the part of my post which insulted you (which wasn't even my goal...) , and ignored everything else. Maybe you just refuse to understand why I posted in the first place. But I guess if you think it's useless to talk -- than everything I achieve with replying to you is you disliking me more. So I'll stop.


And for the sake of my point: I didn't call you ignorant. I said that you were being ignorant if you expected your problems to be solved by other people changing. It would be like saying: "All we need for the war to end is the enemy changing their minds." And why would it be useless to talk about piracy with pirates? I say talk to as many as you can! Learn why they pirate, learn how you can stop them from pirating. That is the proper way, not just blindly saying 'pirates are bad! let's not talk to them. let's do nothing!'

And another thing, it's okay for you to insult me in almost every word in your post, but the slightest hint in my post offends you this greatly? It really makes me sad. I have kunos in the highest possible respect, this surprises me.

So now I truly will stop posting in this thread, since like I said, it will only lead into conflict. And please dont' get offended again; I love you guys!!!

 

My logic is like that:
Dont support Activision or EA by buying 150€ (DLC's and microtransactions are included) ****ty games like Ghost or BF4 and support small teams like Kunos, BeamNG Devs, Bugbear (Flatout series) and such.
Its only an example if you like Shooter next to racing

 

I'm not going to argue with you except..... what's weird about Game Stock Car 2013? It's cheap and it's fun, doesn't really try to be a next generation sim and does a good job of simulating the Brazilian Stock car series and throws in some other goodies too.

 

I have never pirated something to save money, only ever because it was easier.

Now, buying music on iTunes is easier than torrenting, so I buy on iTunes.

Games are easier to buy via steam, origin, etc. Therefore I get them there.

The only thing left is for the movie industry to catch up, we need a steam/itunes for the movie industry.

 

In my opinion, there's 2 kind of pirates;

The pirate who downloads games, movies, to check it before they buy it

And then there is the pirate who just wants to save money.

In my opinion, there's no way to get out of that. I don't find it as a problem, aslong they buy the game afterwards. But on the other way, i dosen't think a demo would help. I assume that AS gonna be a pretty online focused game, so people who really like it, would probably buy it, to play online.

Just my opinion.

 

I wouldn't have pirated it if there had been a demo. Simple as that. I tried simraceway without pirating. You can download it for free and drive 3 cars on all tracks. Didn't like it, didn't buy more cars.

 

There's the 3rd, the one who takes the easiest option.

If developers make it that difficult to buy a game legitimately, it will get pirated.

If it it is more difficult to pirate than buy, it will get bought by a majority. I have a NAS drive with over 2tb of TV and Movies on it, all legal, and from my DVD collection.

My DVD software destroys any section less than 3 minutes long so therefore removes all the adverts etc from the movies, now on a lot of these discs the adverts cannot be skipped. And I see my software throwing away sometimes 35+ adverts on legally purchased media, compared to a pirated movie that you just click and it plays straight away it's kind of obvious to see why people would pirate them.

Better product, easier to put onto NAS which is becoming more and more popular with media centres etc, and less money.

The price charged for a DVD isn't much, but the movie industry need to come up with a way to distribute in a way that makes it easier for the would-be pirate to obtain the movie, legally, than go through torrents.

Steam pretty much has this nailed for PC, which in my opinion means that those who pirate games available on steam/origin/uplay will do so regardless what developers do.

 

I would say this for piracy, if someone pirates the game the developer should not count that as lost sale. The pirate will not purchase it regardless of demo or anything. I would say skip the demo and skip the anti-pirate measures and make a better game. Word of mouth will allow for the game to grow and make Kunos money. The more time and effort spent on making the game harder to pirate just does two things, waste money and make it harder for the people that actually purchase the game use it. There are millions of crackers ready to break any type of anti-piracy because it will be a challenge.

Look at Minecraft, you can just grab a copy of the game and give it away, yet the guy is making money hand over fist. Not because people are not pirating the game, it is because he spent all his time making a REALLY good game and not worrying about piracy.

 

Voted second - to try before buy.

Obviously we all know demos dont stop piracy but it can help a tiny bit. I know from personal experience of buying many games that are shelved since day one where i had no demo which then made me super catious since games can cost quite a bit. At least for being money you just throw away. I have indeed tested games in the past that had no demo but i bought them since i liked them as i read up on them before hand. But i really wanted to see that i didnt throw my money away. Many games today get raving reviews from paid reviewers which is equally ugly to the consumer.

The stupid logic a lot of pirates have is mind boggling though. That making a copy of a physical thing isnt stealing since you didnt get the physical copy the developers created. Failing completely to see that if that copy didnt exist for the (free) taking they would have to buy it which would give the hard working developers their cash. Developers work like any other people that go to work. And amazingly enough they also have rent/morgage to pay and they even have to eat. Weird i know.

I think a demo could help a tiny bit. There are people out there that do want to try a demo before buy. And some of them will pirate if the option isnt there, and some of them might not even buy a legit copy since they have the pirated copy already. Even if its a few more copies sold with a demo i think its worth it. You never know how little or big it will be. Two cars, two tracks and a locked practise mode maybe should be enough to feel this awesome sim out and make a desicion for them.

I hope MP will be out of reach for pirates. That will help as well to sell copies.

 

You see - a demo is senseless, if the 3 cars and the tracks of AC wouldnt catch your taste you wont buy it.
Waste of time for a small team.