Why Not Digitial Distribution?

[sector24]

S.R. Krol said:
Illwinter should hand deliver the game with a basket of cheese and ale

When can we expect this upgrade in service?

[johan osterman]

Jazzepi said:
...
Lastly, "Why is it so hard to simply accept our answer? How about our customers actually listening to us?" because you're not paying the customer to come to your website. You work for me, however indirectly, because I, and everyone else who patronizes your distro center, pay your bills. You are in the very end beholden to the person that puts the food on your table. Just as the butcher is beholden to his customers. If they start asking for foie gras, and are willing to pay the price he charges for it, then he should start selling it. This isn't a complicated concept, it's simple economics. In the end, the customer really is, always right.

Jazzepi

Customer demand is not a coercion. Just because some customer wishes for some service it does not mean that there is an obligation for a service provider to provide that service. In your butcher example, if the butcher think foie de gras is unethical, or that the logistics to carry it would be to costly the butcher is entirely free to not carry it. Apparently shrapnel feels that providing digital download would not be to their advantage, you might second guess their assesment but you will have to concede that they likely posess both more data and experience in making this assesment than you do, obviously they might still be wrong, but shrapnel is acting according to their percieved best interest, trying to maximise their revenue.

[llamabeast]

I have to agree that I'm definitely against commercial pressure coming anywhere near Dominions. The way in which it is written simply because of a love for the game rather than a mind for profit is wonderful.

The only reason I want more people to buy it is because I want to share the fun! I think of those poor people out there, playing crappy strategy games and not even knowing about the revelation that is just around the corner!

Caduceus, Don_Seba (and indeed S.R.Krol), very sorry if I've worded my posts too strongly. Obviously we're all very happy with both the game and the publishing service. I guess I just wanted to highlight the opportunities for increasing sales.

[S.R. Krol]

Llamabeast: No worries, I don't think any of your posts were too strong.

Jazzepi: *sigh* We keep going around in circles. You're entitled to your opinion, but it's not going to change our opinion. Agree to disagree.

And I don't even know where you get that butcher example from, but tell you what, go into your local supermarket and demand they start selling Ferraris. Sure, they're a supermarket and not an exotic car dealership, but if a customer wants something and they are willing to pay for it, they should always get it, right? Come on.

***

Funny thing about when these digital distribution threads crop up, it's always from folks who own the game already. Since its release I don't think we've gotten a single email from someone saying, "I will ONLY buy the game if it's available as a digital download." It's such a non-issue for the majority of gamers.

Anyway, it's been fun, and let's hope everyone hasn't gotten too worked up. Now let's get back to putting all this energy into playing the game.

[Zeldor]

S.R. Krol:

Make AI better!

[Jazzepi]

S.R. Krol said:
Llamabeast: No worries, I don't think any of your posts were too strong.

Jazzepi: *sigh* We keep going around in circles. You're entitled to your opinion, but it's not going to change our opinion. Agree to disagree.

And I don't even know where you get that butcher example from, but tell you what, go into your local supermarket and demand they start selling Ferraris. Sure, they're a supermarket and not an exotic car dealership, but if a customer wants something and they are willing to pay for it, they should always get it, right? Come on.

***

Funny thing about when these digital distribution threads crop up, it's always from folks who own the game already. Since its release I don't think we've gotten a single email from someone saying, "I will ONLY buy the game if it's available as a digital download." It's such a non-issue for the majority of gamers.

Anyway, it's been fun, and let's hope everyone hasn't gotten too worked up. Now let's get back to putting all this energy into playing the game.

We do keep going around in circles. I give a reasonable example (IE a butcher providing a different type of meat, since he's, you know, a *butcher*), and you distort it into something ridiculous that is completely off topic, IE the example you just gave. I mean, I know it's convenient for you to throw out these whacked out examples like someone trying to buy a Ferrari from a supermarket, but that's just intellectually dishonest.

Here, let me offer you this so that you have an idea of why you should add digital distro.

If I could buy this game through digital distro with the same DRM currently in place, I would have, and it would have added value to the product while cutting the amount of money it cost you to sell the game, thus increasing your profits.

Jazzepi

[Randvek]

Jazzepi: *sigh* We keep going around in circles. You're entitled to your opinion, but it's not going to change our opinion. Agree to disagree.

I'm not sure what circles you're seeing. I'm seeing something like this:
Jazzepi: you should have digital distribution for x, y, and z reasons.
S.R. Krol: we don't want to.

That's not a circle, that's just you plugging your ears saying "la la la la." I'm not saying you're right or wrong, I'm just saying that that answer isn't going to satisfy anybody.

[Velusion]

Jazzepi -

You are wasting your time. They don't really care about getting the game out to more people or increasing sales. The creators said it themselves in this thread (in so many words) and in other places.

While this concept is bizarre to most people (i.e. us) it is their purgatives.

It's the same reasoning that leads to the creators saying they don't want a save game feature and why glaring interface/ai issues exist but we get more expansion nations. It's also the one of the main reason why dominions will never get above the reputation that it is just an eccentric niche game for "hardcore" players.

[Cerlin]

Obviously because its much more fun to make new nations than to fix small, complicated AI problems.

And the reason it will be a niche game is because its too much complexity for a vast majority of our last generation to wrap their mind around. This game is a LOT of work. For me, a huge part of the depth and greatness comes from all the amazing unit descriptions. most people dont have such a creative imagination, that would take "work". TV's just feed your entertainment to you. Im not saying this is any of you, but it is a vast majority of the population.

I have no problem being a gaming elitist.

[Velusion]

Cerlin said:
Obviously because its much more fun to make new nations than to fix small, complicated AI problems.

Of course! But the interface/ai problems are what ultimately detracts from the game - not the lack of playable nations.

Cerlin said:
And the reason it will be a niche game is because its too much complexity for a vast majority of our last generation to wrap their mind around. This game is a LOT of work. For me, a huge part of the depth and greatness comes from all the amazing unit descriptions. most people dont have such a creative imagination, that would take "work". TV's just feed your entertainment to you. Im not saying this is any of you, but it is a vast majority of the population.

I find this argument lacking. There plenty of complex games that are very detailed and complex but still very popular - Civ4, GalCiv2, etc... Dominions is a fine strategy game but it's players are not uber-gamers anymore than Civ4 fans are uber-gamers.