Disturbing Facts - Page 4

Spoo · #31 March 23rd, 2002, 03:01 AM

I think things should stay as they are. Would it really be in our best interests to disable our copying and filesharing technologies? Those people who want to pirate will continue to do so; It might require cracking software protection or modifying hardware, but I'm sure they'll figure it out. If software companies come up with a near unbreakable copy protection, great for them. They should. However, hardware should not be crippled. Suppose all future CD burners refuse to burn CD's half the time. Will I go out and buy one? Nope. I'll use my outdated old one, and it'll be a pain in the ***.

PvK · #32 March 23rd, 2002, 03:29 AM

Well, the SE4 forum does seem like a good place to mention the following concept. Supose you have two civilizations (who don't know of each other). They both develop computer technology like we have today, and both produce lots of useful and entertaining programs and media.

The difference is, that one civilization freely allows sharing all these programs and media. Authorship fraud is not allowed, and authors are rewarded for their work based on the amount of use and praise registered by the customers, through taxes and an official praise registration center.

The other civilization is more like ours. Corporations own and control most development, try to control and enforce duplication and even usage rights, and claim as much of the profits for their stockholders as possible.

Which civilization is going to be more productive and happy? I would say, definitely the first one.

My question is, how to change the basic assumptions. Maybe start with a non-profit organization that would take a membership fee and disburse it to authors whose products were used and praised.

How is this different from a conventional publisher? Well, customers would pay a subscription, and then be able to freely download all of that publisher's products. Electronic duplication and distribution slashes that overhead, and with enough titles, it can become very tempting to Subscribe. In theory, the cost of a subscription could be kept low and affordable, because the multiplied value of being able to use all of the products would mean that many more people would Subscribe than would otherwise buy individual products. The problems are that it probably requires a certain critical mass to succeed, both in terms of amount/quantity of content, and amount of Subscribers.

PvK

Phoenix-D · #33 March 23rd, 2002, 06:06 AM

Right now I'm not exactly too keen on either side. Piracy is bad, but some of the people trying to prevent it are worse.

Check this.

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51274,00.html

Now, the security requiement would be open source. That's good. But it would have to be incorperated into EVERY program and device capable of tranfering files. That means even PBW and SE4 would have to put this code in. Hell, even low-level programs like a cheapie Ping program would have to have it.

Another telling point: one Disney exce has gone so far as to say there's *no such thing as free use*. No biggie, you might think. Wrong. See, if there's no free use, you can't even write a review without their permission. And will they let a negative review go? Not likely.

Phoenix-D

Arak Koba · #34 March 23rd, 2002, 08:48 PM

quote:
Originally posted by PvK:
Well, the SE4 forum does seem like a good place to mention the following concept. Supose you have two civilizations ...They both develop computer technology like we have today, and both produce lots ...
The difference is, that one civilization freely allows sharing all these programs and media. ...
. Well, customers would pay a subscription, and then be able to freely download all of that publisher's products. PvK

You just described Communism versus Capitalism.

disabled · #35 March 24th, 2002, 03:11 AM

All this crap about restricting the use of technology down to the point where solitare will have an armed guard standing next to it, well..

It will discourage companies, publishers, and even little developers from even trying to do anything.

What's next, pay-per-click web?

Honestly, Let's not seek the Democratic solution or the Republican Solution. Let's all find the RIGHT solution.

Lupusman · #36 March 24th, 2002, 03:42 AM

Just for people's info, I just searched through Kazaa for any Space Empires game, and found nothing. Found Stars! though, crappy game . .

And just to tell Shrapnel, if you are going by patch downloads, I myself got the Lastest patch no less than five different times.

Richard · #37 March 24th, 2002, 03:54 AM

No we don't go by patch downloads, we have very accurate ways of finding out what the piracy rates are for our games. And they are pretty bad. But they are pretty bad for everyone...

quote:
Originally posted by Lupusman:
Just for people's info, I just searched through Kazaa for any Space Empires game, and found nothing. Found Stars! though, crappy game . .

And just to tell Shrapnel, if you are going by patch downloads, I myself got the Lastest patch no less than five different times.

PvK · #38 March 24th, 2002, 05:03 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Arak Koba:

You just described Communism versus Capitalism.

Not at all. Not even Socialism versus Capitalism. Half of what I described is very close to what some of these mega media corps are going for: selling subscriptions to a whole range of media (e.g. cable TV). They're just still hung up about copyright enforcement. The bad part is that they probably are opposed to the other part of what I was talking about, which is compensating mostly the people that actually create the content, and doing it on the basis of customer satisfaction.

PvK

disabled · #39 March 24th, 2002, 06:18 AM

A drastic option I touched on earlier: Secretly put a destructive line of code into the program that will...

1.) Corrupt the Game master files.
2.) Corrupt all related game files.
3.) Place several (DOZEN) references in the registry blocking another install of the program.
4.) Encrypt the Registry Install blocks.
5.) Force User Registration of the program with Machine Code, CD Code, etc. This info should also be encrypted.

Just a few more pennies.

tesco samoa · #40 March 24th, 2002, 07:34 PM

The problem with Locking down hardware and software is that they punish the Users... All anti-pircy techniques will be broken. Who is punished then. The people who pay for the product.

Wheels and manual look up do not work. They're a pain. And once you lose that stuff it is a pain to replace.

And who owns the Registry? The user or companies.

I like to know what is going in there so if you encrypt it I think I would skip the product.

Piracy is a problem, but is also a reality. It will happen. Do you design games for a casual user who is going to play it a few times or do you design games for the people who play them over and over. Look at those people and you will see they purchase the programs because they want that product to continue having a life.

Question I would like to ask the software companies is why do they not go after a levy like the RIAA did in Canada on all blank media that is sold. They may as well beat the Movie Companies to the punch.

Content is king. and this copyright/piracy battle is going to screw us all in the long run.

Because the Content Companies are only looking out in 'our best interests'