Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

What does any of this matter to us, we will all, every last one of us, be dead in a 100 years, our names, our accomplishments, hell everything about us will have been forgotten. Not even our offspring will recall us. Such is life.

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

Don't get your hopes too high. I'm pretty sure there are a few Archivists around, so your post will *not* be forgotten so soon.

So, I recall you saying something in favour of Copy Protection around Dec 8 2002, at 1500 UTC or so...

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

Remember reading what in a month? Huh? Did I miss something that I was suppose to read last month? WTF?? This isn't fair I tell you.

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

I'm not so sure. I plan on living another 100 years or so. 118 isn't too much to ask for, is it? As long as I still have all my brain cells intact...

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

If you keep reading this forum you won't have them intact for long. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

All these doomsayers say is doom..... Doommm... DOOOM!

Hell, some of these companies would have you believe desktops have been doomed since nineteen-twenty-odd-six.

As for you Atrocities, I think knowing that in a 100 years will mean there won't even be proof that we existed should drive us to even higher hieghts, so that we may live forever.

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

I'm sorry, but this thread boarders on a piracy discussion and I have some strong feelings,.. "The problem is not with the Software Industry. (ie Developers, Publishers, Distributors) The problem Is now and 'Always' has been due to flooding the market with the 'Hardware' needed to do the copying and making 'duplications for backup purposes'. The fact that for $60 (cdn) The price of many games (some are even higher now) I can buy a CD Burner and a pack of 25 Blank CD's is the MAIN REASON Piracy has become rampid.

I equate the selling of 'Extremely' low cost duplication technology in the same vein as selling radar detectors.. (ie You can Sell/Buy them legally but it is against the law to use them.)

Note: My solution may seem drastic, but it is the 'Only' solution that will ever have a chance to slow the progress of Piracy. Make the 'Duplication Hardware' more expensive, 'AND' make the cost of blank CD's much higher. (ie $250/burner and at least $5-$10 per CD (like 49.95 for a 10 pack) and to further encourage the sales of 'official' copies lower the selling price of the originals.)

Some of you will think this idea is outrageous but I for one believe that persons and or companies could afford to pay the extra money to backup their legitimate data. There could even be a tax credit for businesses who buy the hardware and blank CD's just like some other business expenses are eligable for tax credits.

Note: this would not affect the cost of 'Mass-Duplication machines/CD's just the ones available through retail. In fact this could be solved by placing a hefty retail tax in the 'recording media and hardware'. Priced for pre-recorded media that cannot be overwritten would not be affected. One of the main reasons that DVD took off so fast (replacing VHS) in Video store rentals is that the stores had to pay a hefty tax on the purchase of 'videos' they rented. (I have a friend who is a manager at Blockbuster and he told me the VHS versions of the movies often cost him $100-$130 per unit. When the DVD's came out,.. (because the DVD is not a 'recordable' Media) only Cost him $30-$50. Needless to say he is making much more money now, and that has in turn allowd many new promotions and 'Rent for 5 days type things without affecting the bottom line.

To sum up, As long as it costs 50 cents to make a copy of a game that sells for $19-$89 there will be piracy. No If And Or's about it. Pirates are not idiots, they just take advantage of how things work. When the system favors piracy to an extreme (like software piracy) then it thrives.

Nuf said, Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

P.S. Software 'Protections' do not prohibit piracy, They like a challenge. Only by making it more costly and or less profitable will piracy finally be slowed to a crawl and let the PC Software industry florish again.

Sorry for the rant,.. but every discussion I see about piracy makes me think the world is full of idiots. It's like people argue about which ongions to put in Apple pie, when there is no ongions in apple pie. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

My first CD burner cost me $200.00 US and it worked like crap. The CD's cost about $2.00 each and they most always were bad.


DVD burner - $50.00
A pack of DVD disks - $10.00
Pack of jewel cases - $10.00
10 assorted newer PC Games - $550.00

Feeling one gets from making multiple copies of non copy protected games and then selling hundreds of boot leg copies to tourist at the flea market ... Pricless.

And they do........... I can get a complete version of Vista Beta for around $12.00 US. (Or at least I think that is what the guy said it cost... I could not understand him, he spoke very bad english.)

Calling the police and reporting this activity is pointless as they never come. They have far more important things to do such as setting up speed traps, protecting the local Krispy Cream, and flirting with the hookers to be bother by something as simple as an illegal boot leg operations. The feds are even less interested the local PD so again, no one gives a rats *** and no one can do anything to stop it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

The police NEVER come and the sales continue.

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

*SJ makes a note to not bother looking for a good price on pens & paper from DG's store.

I for one like to be able to restore my system from a disk image on CD.
And putting stuff on 700mb CDs is a huge bonus when my Lappy's hard disk totals 2 Gb.

Re: Don\'t Worry About Copy Write Protection!
 

As the rest of that guy's post said, which was in response to Starforce's mods posting a link to a warez site on their fourms, they didn't place copy protection on their game because they thought it was useless. The people who pirate the game is not going to buy the game if they can't pirate it. And often, people find ways to get around copy-protection. So copy-protection only serves to annoy, not to discourage piracy effectively.