"Whenever you find yourself starting a sentence with, "I don't want people to pirate my game, so I am going to ..." you are very close to making a big mistake."
There's one way to end that sentence that isn't a mistake:
I don't want people to pirate my game, so I am going to... Make it such a good game that they want to pay for it.
It actually works! Some pirates aren't convertible because they are complete jerks, or don't have money, or any number of other reasons that make conversion impossible. But quite a few are actually decent people who have needs that aren't being met. They -will- pay for a product that has value and meets their needs.
This article is a good example of failing to meet those needs. His piracy prevention tactics actually make it easier to pirate the game than buy it!
True story: I have a friend who bought some software and liked it. Then he reinstalled Windows and it wouldn't install. He contacted tech support and tried for 2 weeks to get them to fix the problem. He gave up, pirated it, and then emailed them telling him that he pirated it instead. Yes, a product he already owned. The next day they sent him a new registration code that fixed the problem. Ridiculous.
"Whenever you find yourself starting a sentence with, "I don't want people to pirate my game, so I am going to ..." you are very close to making a big mistake."
There's one way to end that sentence that isn't a mistake:
I don't want people to pirate my game, so I am going to... Make it such a good game that they want to pay for it.
It actually works! Some pirates aren't convertible because they are complete jerks, or don't have money, or any number of other reasons that make conversion impossible. But quite a few are actually decent people who have needs that aren't being met. They -will- pay for a product that has value and meets their needs.
This article is a good example of failing to meet those needs. His piracy prevention tactics actually make it easier to pirate the game than buy it!
True story: I have a friend who bought some software and liked it. Then he reinstalled Windows and it wouldn't install. He contacted tech support and tried for 2 weeks to get them to fix the problem. He gave up, pirated it, and then emailed them telling him that he pirated it instead. Yes, a product he already owned. The next day they sent him a new registration code that fixed the problem. Ridiculous.