Why Not Digitial Distribution?

[getter77]

Serious question: What about the folks at Shrapnel having a sit down of sorts with the folks at GoG www.gog.com and seeing how things would pan out to, eventually, try a digitial distro route solely with the out of print and long out of print titles Shrapnel still has a claim to? GoG, in my experience, has been an entirely different entity to Steam, Gamersgate, Impulse, etc. Really, where else could the classics fit in with their contemporaries of the times? They support freeware as well along these ends.

[S.R. Krol]

Originally Posted by getter77

Serious question: What about the folks at Shrapnel having a sit down of sorts with the folks at GoG www.gog.com and seeing how things would pan out to, eventually, try a digitial distro route solely with the out of print and long out of print titles Shrapnel still has a claim to?

Because our games never go out of print. Games which we do not offer anymore are because our contracts with the developers have ended. The fact that games don't have an artificially imposed life cycle is one of the reasons that indie publishing is superior to AAA publishing, and was one of the reasons you started seeing a rise in the indie world in the late '90s. Some folks got tired of a two week window to sell a game, followed by the bargain bin, ending with it vanishing.

[Gandalf Parker]

Altho...
some do have previous versions. Such as Dom1 and Dom2.
Im not sure if that would be worthwhile but it was a thought.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ummmm.... have you ever visited Shrapnels site?
Shrapnel does do digital distro with some of its titles.

[S.R. Krol]

Okay, yeah hadn't thought about that, but given a choice between the latest and greatest and an earlier incarnation, would anyone really want to go backwards?

[Gandalf Parker]

It would be an answer for those who complain loudly about not having DD for Dom3. People overseas or just in a hurry. Particularly if it was offered at a lower price than it was originally sold for.

Or offering purchases of serial keys for those older versions.

I dont know if anything would come of it but at least then we could say "well you CAN get Dom2"

[getter77]

Originally Posted by S.R. Krol

Okay, yeah hadn't thought about that, but given a choice between the latest and greatest and an earlier incarnation, would anyone really want to go backwards?

Yeah, that was primarily what I meant. Like, I ran into one guy online that had actually heard of Dominions III before due to having owned and played Dominions II. By his reckoning, he preferred II due to feeling III had too many options and thought it might be a better starting point for me to track down a copy of II rather than jump headfirst into III. Of course, by the time he'd mentioned this, I'd already ordered Dom III and Scalywag off of here without so much as touching the demos...but it does give food for thought.

I've seen some spots, even that piracy idiot, cite the high price as a barrier of entry as to just how out there a game Dom III can apparently be. So, if say Dom 1+2, or something, were offered at a cheaper price by the likes of GoG, then they could get an "appetizer" as opposed to a demo "taste" and then perhaps be less dissuaded by the high pricetag and grab Dominions III.

For newcomers, aside from the weird ones like me, they might have a better disposition towards the lot of it by playing the games in the order they existed so as to have a better sense of how far it has come and where it is seemingly heading.

Mainly I was intending to interject an entirely different player, GoG, compared to Steam and the like upon which it can get divisive to the notion of digital distro in general. Had I discovered Shrapnel, Dominions, etc some years back I wouldn't be quite so late to the party that is Dom III---and I reckon it is likely that there are other folk like me out there that have been missing out these past several years. Besides, a new game is a new game to somebody the first time they encounter it when you get right down to it---"age" only becomes relevant after the fact.

Otherwise, it never hurts to have games you already provide a free download for in another place where a prospective audience could come across it unawares and then perhaps find their way here. Can't Google it if you've not seen or heard about it, and there's something to be said to preaching to the choir if the latest and greatest along with the classics doesn't make the rounds in foreign venues to show newcomers what's up.

[Omnirizon]

why did banned user's post get snipped just at the point where he was going to explain what reality is?

[sector24]

I don't know what he said, but immediately after Carrie Fisher said something to Peter Cushing before he locked her away in the dungeon.

[Ballbarian]

Originally Posted by Omnirizon

why did banned user's post get snipped just at the point where he was going to explain what reality is?

Because reality would begin to unravel and you might discover that we are all just human batteries that power the internet.

(Or probably what Edi said. He is usually right. )