From: opinion@real.FRee.speech
Subject: Piracy and game software
Organization: Anarchists, Inc.
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 19:23:48 GMT

	Seems to me, PC pirating would not be so prevalent if there wasn't a
dissatisfaction already with PC games.  I remember when I was much younger
whipping out the Copy II+ on the old apple ]['s, a big problem on that
platform was you'd have lots of KARATEKA clones, Donkey Kong clones, etc.  any
good games I _bought_.  I bought JET, OMEGA, CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN, ODYSSEY, and
the Infocom games, because they were good games, worth the money at the time.
However, I did NOT buy Conan, HERO, Hacker, Mario clones, and most arcade
translations.  Want to know why?  because I did not like them.  I copied them,
held onto them for awhile (not playing them), and then after I got the trade
value out of them, I ditched 'em.  I reckoned I saved over $300 on bad games
easily.  However, I paid well over that for good games.  What happens?  makers
of good games get support, makers of bad games don't.  bad game makers lose
money, and continue to do so until they make good games.  good game makers
make more money and either a) make bad games until they falter enough to
remember what profits they made with good games or b) make more good games and
thus make more money.  It's darwinian in a way.  survival of the fittest.
	Same thing on the IBM, except it's a much larger market.  however, I
believe IBM gamers tend to be older, more mature than I was at my early apple
days.  Young people I imagine gravitate to the console market, while adults
want more sophistication in their games as well as having the money to spend.
This makes the purchasing of PC games a more difficult decision.  Do I want
game A with the nifty box or game B which has multiplayer?  Game B looks like
some game I already have and don't like, whereas game A looks like some kind
of cheesy arcade game.  hmm...  People will say that "oh, pirating is killing
profits in the software industry, so many people not paying for software".
Please.  Imagine if there was no way to browse thru a book your friend has, or
go to the library to see if you wanted a certain novel.  you'd damn well
borrow your friends novel anyway. I see computer games as analogous to
well-written, highly-entertaining novels.  some novels appeal to certain
tastes, some to others.  but I'll be damned if I have to buy a novel because
the cover looks interesting, see that it's full of grammatical errors and
stupid plot, and not be able to return it.  I'll borrow a copy somehow and
peruse it first.  If it's really good (like Douglas Adams, Asimov, or Terry
Pratchett), I will buy it to have in my library (now at well over 200 novels
not bad for a limited-space college student).  if not, I will return it and
look for something else.  
	Do you want to know what is probably the best way to cure a lot of
piracy going on?  I mean the casual pirate who wants to "try before he buys"?
the best way is to distribute copies of the software via shareware, or make
freely available demos which work to a point (rather than simply animating a
movie based on what the game might be).  Id's wolf3d is a great example of
this.  you receive a fully working copy of wolf3d to test as shareware, but if
you like it and want to keep playing it, and advance further levels, you have
to pay a quite reasonable price.  This is the way all software should be
initially distributed, with manuals available through the mail for a nominal
charge.  do serious gamers need flashy box graphics, glossy pages and glitz?
I think not.  My first copy of Strategic Conquest came with a manual printed
on a bitmapped laser font on roughly cut paper, but I didn't give a shit
because the game was SOOOOOOOOO GREAT!  
	game producers, keep making average games.  I'll keep trying before I
buy and probably throw out the HD wasters.  game producers who make
exceptional games, keep it up, you have a loyal purchasing customer who sends
you money at the direct expense of your less capable competition.

- Try before you Buy, and erase what you don't like, and BUY WHAT YOU DO!!