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#1 Apr 29 2013 at 1:33 PM Rating: Good
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-04-29-game-dev-tycoon-forces-those-who-pirate-the-game-to-unwittingly-fail-from-piracy

TL;DR - an indie game developer released a cracked version of their own game (a game developer simulation) anticipating piracy. Users of the "cracked" version still don't get the hint when they can't beat the game due to piracy affecting their in-game progress.

Quote:
Pre-empting the game's eventual appearance on file-sharing sites, Patrick and Daniel Klug uploaded their own cracked copy of the full game. But within the code lay a few extra lines.

Those who play the pirated version are warned that their own attempts at creating games are being hampered by piracy. Profits for each project will be less than those who own and paid for the full game.


...

Quote:
Despite repeated warnings that piracy was killing the player's in-game career, many users did not get the hint. Messages began to appear online from owners of the cracked copy, asking for help in avoiding the situation.

"I can't progress furher... HELP!" one user wrote. "Guys I reached some point where if I make a decent game with score 9-10 it gets pirated and I can't make any profit.

"It says blah blah our game got pirated stuff like that. Is there some way to avoid that? I mean can I research a DRM or something?"

Said another user: "Why are there so many people that pirate? It ruins me! Not fair."


Quite the social experiment.
#2 Apr 29 2013 at 3:07 PM Rating: Good
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Here's the story from the author himself.

I thought this image was particularly descriptive.

Quote:
Over 93.6% of players stole the game.
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#3 Apr 29 2013 at 4:07 PM Rating: Excellent
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They were all just testing it to see if they liked it and were totally going to buy it later.
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Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#4 Apr 29 2013 at 4:15 PM Rating: Good
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#5 Apr 29 2013 at 4:46 PM Rating: Good
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If you were ever into the DS "flashcarts" back when Nintendo first released their Anti-Piracy Developers Kits, the first developers to use this did this to their games. I think one of the earliest ones was one of the FF Crystal Chronicles games. After a little bit of playing, the screen went to a Moogle who said something along the lines of "Thanks for trying the game, go buy it now".

Later, with many of the Dragon Quest remakes for the DS, key NPCs and events were removed from every step throughout the story if it detected you were pirating the game. Most notable being a certain NPC you had to talk to in order to get off the boat at the beginning of the game. Without it, you just walked around on this little boat talking to people. Various FAQ sites (like Gamefaqs) were flooded with questions like "How do I get off the boat" or "How do I get past X". Basically telling the other users they were pirating the game.

Later though, the devs got lazy and just made the game not boot or boot to a black screen if it detected piracy. Obviously there were patches and various coding methods to bypass this, but day one releases that were just straight rips from the game cart were always filled with little bugs put there on purpose by developers.

Pretty sure the Playstation 1 had a method of detecting people using boot discs. I remember a lot about some Spyro games that would act strangely or going to various warning screens about mods being detected if it wasn't patched correctly.
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#6 Apr 29 2013 at 5:35 PM Rating: Good
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Slashdotted.
#7 Apr 29 2013 at 5:36 PM Rating: Good
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I don't like pirating games, but I like paying for crappy products even less.

I'll stop if they stop releasing half-baked console ports, or at least start handing out free demos, so we can try it before we buy it.
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#8 Apr 29 2013 at 7:18 PM Rating: Good
Quote:
"There are still individuals who either can't make a legal purchase because of payment-issues or who genuinely cannot afford the game," Klug concluded. "I don't have a quarrel with you.

"To the rest who could afford the game consider this: We are just two guys working our butts off, trying to start our own game studio to create games which are fun to play."


Prove I'm/not poor? Smiley: dubious

I don't know, that little line just made brain cells implode. If you are poor, they are cool with you stealing their stuff . . .
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#9 Apr 29 2013 at 7:55 PM Rating: Good
Sandinmygum the Stupendous wrote:
Quote:
"There are still individuals who either can't make a legal purchase because of payment-issues or who genuinely cannot afford the game," Klug concluded. "I don't have a quarrel with you.

"To the rest who could afford the game consider this: We are just two guys working our butts off, trying to start our own game studio to create games which are fun to play."


Prove I'm/not poor? Smiley: dubious

I don't know, that little line just made brain cells implode. If you are poor, they are cool with you stealing their stuff . . .


What's so hard to comprehend? They don't care if people who can't afford it want to play their game, but they do realize that the majority of people who would pirate their game probably aren't doing so out of poverty reasons.
#10 Apr 29 2013 at 8:47 PM Rating: Excellent
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#11 Apr 30 2013 at 7:22 AM Rating: Good
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So they discovered people bootleg games. Maybe they'll win a Nobel for it.

I'll wait the week for the untainted torrent to come out.
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#12 Apr 30 2013 at 8:01 AM Rating: Excellent
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I'll buy it when it's in a bundle for $3.

I'm cheap, but honest.
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Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#13 Apr 30 2013 at 8:11 AM Rating: Good
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Three bucks for the game, or the whole bundle?
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#14 Apr 30 2013 at 8:12 AM Rating: Excellent
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Bundle, natch.
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Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#15 Apr 30 2013 at 10:08 AM Rating: Good
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Even then ... I guess it depends what else is in the bundle. Just what I read about the game sounds more like a 99¢ at most cell phone game.
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#16 Apr 30 2013 at 5:15 PM Rating: Good
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So it's another one of those "build a business" simulator thingies? The screenshots remind me of Theme Hospital from the 90's. Brilliant game, that one, from Bullfrog Productions. It's an EA game, but this was before EA stopped giving a ****.

God, I miss Bullfrog. Dungeon Keeper 3 needs to happen.
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#17 May 01 2013 at 9:00 AM Rating: Good
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Imagine, if everyone who pirated their game instead bought it and then convinced ten of their friends to buy five copies each, these devs would be bazillionaires.
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