Quote:
Originally Posted by sirmaru
There definitely needs to be a new model of some sort to protect rights holders of those products. I really don't think customers world wide can be trusted for unprotected products like cited above including eBooks.
|
You're correct, and the new model is already here. GOG.com shows how it's to be done, as I've already said often. They seem to be doing very well, and they only sell old crap (= very old computer games, and some not so old games) for peanuts. How?
- Complete. Game, Expansion (if any), art, CD-quality soundtrack, manual.
- Ease of use. The games are patched up to the latest official patch level, and they are modified to run on newer computers (if necessary). Often, old games won't run on new computers, but GOG.com versions will. Install, DONE.
- Convenient. No DRM. Pay, Download, install. On as many computers as you want. After you download the game, you can use it forever, as long as you have a computer/OS to run it on, even if GOG.com ceases to exist.
- Good price. Many games cost between $5 and $10. They do release some new games too (also without DRM), for $15-$20. They often have 30-80% discounts on bundles.
Some time ago they ran a ticker on their website, and I've watched it for a minute or two. On average, they sold a game every few seconds; evidentely, they're making a ton of money, and they're making it by mostly selling
10-15+ year old stuff!
Quote:
|
I posted a link early in this thread showing the widespread use of piracy with software products by nation. That software includes all the products cited above. It ranges from 20% in the USA to over 70% in Armenia.
|
Most people pirate if they don't have a lot of money, but have a lot of time. When I was in school, I copied and pirated games. I really did. Now that I have a job, I don't have the time to keep up with the latest cracks that work with the latest updates, I don't have the time to ferret out the retail versions of ebooks on Torrent sites (instead of getting crappy OCR versions or versions mangled by 25 calibre conversions).
It costs too much time compared to what I would pay to get a legal version directly, not to mention from a trusted source, a working one, and an unmangled one.
If I can get games and books for $3-10 (€2.20 - €7.35, prices I couldn't even DREAM about 10 years ago when buying boxed games and paper books), not taking into account any discounts, I don't even THINK about pirating stuff. It's just not worth the time and hassle compared to the price.