CM4 has made it onto the local pirate store shelves. I could get the game for less than US $1.50. Curse those stupid morals!

Seriously, is there anything that can be done about piracy?

Originally posted by stkelly52
CM4 has made it onto the local pirate store shelves. I could get the game for less than US $1.50. Curse those stupid morals!

Seriously, is there anything that can be done about piracy?

No, there isn't. But the guys at SI have built a very solid comunity. Most fans would not stoop to ripping Marc and company off. I think that this is really a bigger problem for bigger releases, though.

I know out here CM is concidered a must buy game. Almost every gamer that I know has several versions of it, but no one owns a real copy. I have to wonder how much money they would have made if piracy weren't a problem.

On the other hand, how many of them would but it, if the cost was $60?

I still think the piracy is wrong, but I'm wondering how many sales SI is losing due to it (or is illegal software being spread by people who never would've bought the game @ full price?).

Wow, I opened this thread thinking it was going to be another April Fool's joke...

Does FOF or OOTP suffer from the same issues? I admit, I don't know what the market for pirated software is. Just wondering if Jim's ultra-conservative approach to opening the game up for customization really helps in keeping FOF away from these types of problems.

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Does FOF or OOTP suffer from the same issues? I admit, I don't know what the market for pirated software is. Just wondering if Jim's ultra-conservative approach to opening the game up for customization really helps in keeping FOF away from these types of problems.

I think it's a risk/reward kind of thing.

Do you want to open the game up to a broader base (more customization), which would obviously lead to a bigger fan base, and ultimately more piracy...or do you want to serve a small niche base, and keep it as under control as you can?

Personal preference, I guess...

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Does FOF or OOTP suffer from the same issues? I admit, I don't know what the market for pirated software is. Just wondering if Jim's ultra-conservative approach to opening the game up for customization really helps in keeping FOF away from these types of problems.

I've seen plenty of pirate software. But of the niche text games, I've only seen Baseball Mogul and CM. I have the real versions of both. But they were there. I can't imagine what return the pirate gets for games like that anyway.

I still think the big releases are the ones that really suffer. But they have sort of brought it on themselves at the big software houses with the gouging of customers and the products that don't work. They also don't interact with the custmers after the games fail.

I think that it's tougher to steal from someone you know. So, SI games, .400, or Solecismic is less likely to get ripped off.

I think OOTP and FOF are so much less popular there's just a much smaller chance for them to be pirated. To be honest, I don't think Jim's approach really has any effect on it at all.

Over here someting like 75% of all software bing used is pirated. The malls are filled with stored selling pirated stuff. There are actually quite a few text sims that are available. OOTP (under the name season ticket baseball), as well as season ticket basketball, & football as well as football mogul and about 10 soccer sims. FOF 2001 and 2002 are both still available, but not TCY or FOF4.

Danged If only I live in Malaysia!

Originally posted by stkelly52
Over here someting like 75% of all software bing used is pirated. The malls are filled with stored selling pirated stuff. There are actually quite a few text sims that are available. OOTP (under the name season ticket baseball), as well as season ticket basketball, & football as well as football mogul and about 10 soccer sims. FOF 2001 and 2002 are both still available, but not TCY or FOF4.

I saw the same thing in Hong Kong when I was there. I heard that Malaysia was the best place for pirated DVDs, though, as 80+% are pressed out there.

Why is Malaysia so big on piracy?

The government has been trying to crack down on piracy, but (reportedly) so many of the police are on the take that when ever there is a raid, all the shops are closed. I have heard that it is all part of the organised crime, and they make sure that their is no difficulty making pirated items available.

The other big problem is the price. For example, windows XP can be bought bundled with System works, MS Office XP, and about 20 other programs for about US$2.50 Buying just windows is close to an average month's salary for a Malaysian. Who will spend a month's salary when they can get it for $2.50

And yes DVDs are widely available as well, usually for about $2.50. But many of them are from someone sneeking a video camera into the theater. You see people walking in front of the screen all the time, and the sound is terrible. I much prefer to go see it in the theater.

Originally posted by stkelly52
Seriously, is there anything that can be done about piracy?

sure.
don't support it.

Originally posted by bbor
Why is Malaysia so big on piracy?

Can you get caned for Piracy, like you do for tagging a car?

Any game that is released on store shelves is going to be pirated. If a game catches one of the guys that release software, then it will probably be pirated. I dont believe that FOF4 or OOTP5 have been pirated, but previous versions that were sold in store were released.

Originally posted by Ksyrup
Does FOF or OOTP suffer from the same issues? I admit, I don't know what the market for pirated software is. Just wondering if Jim's ultra-conservative approach to opening the game up for customization really helps in keeping FOF away from these types of problems.

You would be surprised by the games that either have been pirated or have several requests for pirates to crack. If you know where to look you can find almost anything :( :mad:

Just as a test, I took five minutes and found 6 copies of CM4 that I could d/l for free. Too easy. and way too quick to have cracked games out there.

Please bear in mind that at least some of these warez versions of CM are fakes that I distribute to annoy pirates ....

They appear to be full versions until an arbitary trigger occurs which locks them into 'demo' mode and asks the user to purchase a legitimate copy.

Originally posted by Marc Vaughan
Please bear in mind that at least some of these warez versions of CM are fakes that I distribute to annoy pirates ....

They appear to be full versions until an arbitary trigger occurs which locks them into 'demo' mode and asks the user to purchase a legitimate copy.

Brilliant!!!

I don't know what this phrase means "some of these warez versions".

Contextually, I get it, but I don't know what the term warez means, I guess.

warez means pirated software.

Originally posted by stkelly52
CM4 has made it onto the local pirate store shelves. I could get the game for less than US $1.50. Curse those stupid morals!

Seriously, is there anything that can be done about piracy?
Oh, I thought being a soccer game it was only worth $1.50. :D

Tarkus

I wouldn't pay $1.50 for any soccer game.

But that is not the point of this thread, is it?

Originally posted by stkelly52
I know out here CM is concidered a must buy game. Almost every gamer that I know has several versions of it, but no one owns a real copy. I have to wonder how much money they would have made if piracy weren't a problem.

I have known people that have had illegal versions of it, but if they decide they like it they buy it. These were somewhat of 'pirates with ethics' so to speak. They would take the opportunity to try things out for free, and then either buy it or delete it within a couple of weeks. That is a real gray area, ethically speaking, but way better than people who try to sell pirated copies and those who play a game everyday and never buy it.

Some people wouldn't see that as a gray area at all, Tekneek.

I don't see a huge deal with it on an individual basis (of course, I am not a software developer), but the developers clearly do not think this is OK, and since it is their property.........

Geez Marm, what are you doing posting here when you should be running baseball tournament games. I mean, it's been almost two days since you posted anything... ;)

A couple more series are coming up tonight. It take a while to chart the stats, I have to add up AB's, Hits and RBI's for each game to get the series totals. Then the same with the pitchers. Then the game writeups.

I don't want to burn out this early into the tournament! :D

Excuses, excuses, excuses... :D

Originally posted by Marc Vaughan
Please bear in mind that at least some of these warez versions of CM are fakes that I distribute to annoy pirates ....

They appear to be full versions until an arbitary trigger occurs which locks them into 'demo' mode and asks the user to purchase a legitimate copy.

I suppose you're the one putting fake versions of real songs up on Kazaa, too.

damn you.
:D

A side note...CM4 has become the fastest selling PC game in UK history. Wild stuff.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sports/championshipmanager4/news_6024265.html

Originally posted by Marmel
Some people wouldn't see that as a gray area at all, Tekneek.


I'm not sure I see it as a gray area myself, but the people I knew often ended up trying games they never would have otherwise bought and then ended up buying them. They spent more money on games when they were getting the real things for free than they did before then. This is all probably an exception to the rule, though. Just like I am positive there are people who use p2p networks and such to get a chance to hear an entire album before buying it (while there are others who are just looking to steal an entire album).