one of my issues is that lately i find my self liking a game enough to pay more than $10 for it less and less

I'll buy a game if its content pipeline err gameplay or whatever you would call it requires a network subscription (and the requirement is valid and not just padding the bill) such as mmo's, metaverses, and steam games where you must be valid to participate in the community AND the community is worth a true desire to participate in (cs:s, quakewars,auidosurf,etc..) if its a single player game... forget it.. no need to buy it by my mind. The single player market is pretty dead anyway I mean, when was the last 20 hour+ adventure game you finished? I think mine was Oblivion, and I bought that cuz it was fantastic for a 1player game and the whole time i just wished i could lan up with my buddies.

So you see, I will support 1player games, but Im not likely to do so with crap like "murder at the abbey" hitting the shelves. In contrast, I have preorders on both spore and the sims 3. I have also, in the past, dumped more $$ into secondlife than I care to admit.

Honestly,
Neurosys

Uncle nitro is obviously not aware of the p2p situation as it exists in the world today.

I think Nitro is talking about Karma or something.

Copyright Infringement != Theft. I can´t understand why anyone would compare it to shoplifting. It would only be the same if the shelf magically filled itself again with copies of the taken objects. This won´t happen until there are replicators like in Star Trek.

I agree with Indiglow. The old idea of selling copies of bytes will work less and less and people will have to think of new business models.

Yeah thats what I mean. Things we do wrong have a way of coming back and kicking us. Not a very scientific opinion, I admit...but I believe it and have seen it Thanks for the help clarifying amy!

What I mean't by this was better put by Amy.



I would not like to see advertising in games becoming the main income for games development teams, any more than the next man. But then I also hate spam mail and pop-up advertising. Realistically this is a likely business model to see in the future, although I am sure there will be others.

The current MMO trend is a good reflection of the industry reaction, after all paying a smaller repeat fee to be a member, where your data is stored on their servers, stops copyright being a major issue. No account? can't play!

As games move more and more online, the ability to pirate software will be come something of a mute point.

Still those that can't hit the market with a strong and possibly unique MMO ip, may find it harder to get a real ROI for their product.

Very interesting times we live in

There are new business models as you can see in the world around you:

• online-activation
• online gaming
• launching new titles first on console platforms
• gaming clubs via browser

The problem for the industry is: retail prices kept constant while production costs are rising more and more. The usual customer wants to have highest quality, wants a new block buster but don't want to pay more for that, no, they even want to get it for free.

Maybe sometimes you get tons of advertising in games in the future, like the breaks in television. Maybe you get free games with in-game advertising or you have to watch a trailer at every start. I find all this very bothering and this is the reason why I don't watch movies at television. But the majority does.

The market will decide, paying customers will steer, pirates can only destroy.

or ingame advertising, which i wouldnt mind playing a racing game, and seeing a mcdonalds at the next exit billboard on the side of the road, if anything, that just makes the game more real.

I agree with that, also think of it this way, if a game like SOCOM, now can be bought for 15 bucks... but when it came out was sold for 59 bucks... why couldn't it have come out at 20 bucks? why raise the price soo much, the only thing I can think of, is to pay off the dev team, but even then, you don't really need to do that right away, plus if a game comes out at a lower price, more people will buy it.

Also there already is advertising in games, think of at the very start of games, sometimes it shows another company, or even they're company, also don't forget about the advertising on a developers web site, that makes big bucks

Another thing, it's really not hard, or expensive (for a big company) to buy a couple dedicated servers that only hold valid serial numbers, and once the serial is used up, it can't be used again, make a person create cridentials, so they have to log in to use things, not hard to do at all, it may be a little more annoying for honest people, but it's something that must be done

Also copying (notice I did use the word "stealing") is not illegal in EVERY country, just because it is in the states, or the UK, doesn't mean it is in Switzerland, or Canada (Although it is on the way to becoming illegal here) In Canada, the law currently states that you are allowed to download any content you want, as long as you are not uploading content (sharing content) and hence ISPs in Canada have started to limit upload speeds (And download speeds for another matter) but I can safely download a movie and not be stealing that movie.. Although I do agree it is dishonest, because people did work to make it, and it's the same with games, and songs

I also know for a fact that it's not illegal to download, or upload stuff in other countries around the world

Pirating and downloading are two different things, some people here seem to thing that pirating is downloading and playing the game... that is very incorrect, pirating is downloading, burning, and selling a game or movie, or songs, that is illegal, and the reason people do it, is because other people in the world who are not internet, or computer savvy don't know how to download movies, or games, so they go for the cheaper price, and voila, pirating

I think that you have to look at the forces of piracy as the water pressure behind a large damn. If there is a hole in the damn, the water will pour through. You can get into the physics of it-- the why-- but it doesn't change the fact that it will pour out. It is a problem by design, not intent. Folks intend on being good, and software makers intend on providing good services for a fee, but nonetheless people poke holes in "digital security" any way they can, and anything that can be done to mitigate or stop it helps to ensure that good folks support software makers with $.

Reducing the barriers to purchasing and creating feasible pricing structures helps. That is if it is simply less trouble for folks to purchase something, then they will go that route more often than not.