What is Digg?Warning: The Content in this Article May be Inaccurate
Readers have reported that this story contains information that may not be accurate.160 Comments
- Ace2005, on 10/12/2007, -18/+117The Lower something is rated the more people that read it, how else would it have gotten -80diggs? something with +80 diggs would never stand out but hidden ones do, maybe there should be different colours for different levels
- DaPhantom, on 10/12/2007, -3/+71Here's the developers reply on their main page:
Some site is claiming that we want Galactic Civilizations II to be pirated. That's total rubbish. Of course we DO NOT want our game to be pirated. We're a small company, every lost sale hurts us.
However, we simply don't think that the way to stop piracy is through invasive copy protection such as CD checks or strict DRM. For that reason, Galactic Civilizations II doesn't include any CD copy protection. We provide a serial # that users can choose to enter when they install and use that unique serial # to download free and frequent updates.
Our license allows you to install the game onto as many machines that you own that you want as long as only one copy is being used at once. How many sales are lost because people want to have a game on their laptop and desktop and don't want to drag CDs around so choose not to buy the game?
Our company also makes utility software. We've been around a long time -- 14 years now. Our software gets pirated. We don't like it but piracy is a fact of life. The question isn't about eliminating it, it's about reducing it and trying to make sure that people who would buy your product buy it instead of steal it.
Our primary weapon to fight piracy is through rewarding customers through convenient, frequent, free updates.
If you make it easy for users to buy and make full use of your product or service legitimately then we believe that you'll gain more users from that convenience than you'll lose from piracy.
We realize that some people or companies might feel threatened at any evidence that implies that draconian DRM schemes or CD copy protection may not make that big of a difference in sales.
For example, we were quite disturbed to discover that the company that makes Starforce provided a working URL to a list of pirated GalCiv II torrents. I'm not sure whether what they did was illegal or not, but it's troubling nevertheless and was totally unnecessary.
All software is pirated, there's no way around it. We've been making software for over 10 years. We don't like our software being pirated. Like I said, every lost sales has an impact on us. But there are other ways to reduce it than through draconian copy protection systems.
Incidentally, the site that Starforce linked to "prove" how much our software was being pirated we visited, followed the instructions on the site to get our game removed and the links were removed within a couple of hours. We'll continue to follow-up with them. - brianpeiris, on 10/12/2007, -6/+64Taken from their wiki (http://galciv.wikicities.com/wiki/Galactic_Civilizations_Wiki):
Our license allows you to have it on as many machines that you own as long as no more than one copy is being played at a time per license.
You don't even have to enter in the serial number when you install
Updates require the serial number.
They seem like a cool company. - talor, on 10/12/2007, -6/+56I will buy this game JUST to support this bold move.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+42What the hell? It's actually a criticially acclaimed game! How is that possible that I've never heard of this thing before?
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/galacticcivilizations2/review.html - theragu40, on 10/12/2007, -6/+43Finally a company that gets it. When companies say they are "losing money" from piracy, that's only very partially true. I think a lot of piracy with games happens when people don't know if they are going to like a game, and a friend has it or they can find it online, so they want to try out the full version. This has happened a few times with me. I don't support piracy of games, don't get me wrong. However, sometimes I will play a burned copy of a game only to purchase it later if I like it. If I had not played the burned copy, I never would have played it at all. In essence, my having played a "pirated" version gained the company money. Now finally it seems as though a company is understanding that people who are pirating the games are people who would not have bought the game anyway. Hopefully some of the other companies decide to reach this level of clarity also (though that is probably just wishful thinking on my part).
- oringo, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22Here's what I think they are really doing:
Step 1. Make a decent multiplay strategy game
Step 2. Release the single-player verision with the promise of no DRM, but requires a real serial to update
Step 3. Wait for the game to become popular and gamers get hooked
Step 4. Release the multiplayer update and profit. Now all the pirater during step 3 will be glad to pay $40 a pop to get the upgrade. - agjimenez, on 10/12/2007, -5/+21I'm pretty sure they don't WANT you to pirate it. But they aren't going to try to prevent it. Try it, like it, buy it!
- ziffel, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20"They seem like a cool company."
Stardock is a very cool company. I've bought many of their products, including the amazing Multiplicity. That's why I think it's important that if you play GC2 and like it and decide to keep it, you should pay them for it. Reward the companies that don't treat their customers like criminals! (like that Starforce *****) - DigeratiPrime, on 10/12/2007, -8/+23i bought UT2004 for $20 at gamestop and I was extremely pleased with it.
There is no 'cd check' - no need for a crack - and i can install it on all my computers at home and play lan games.
It also seems to work on some servers online, ive had 3 computers here with the same key play online on the same server without problems. - craigm01, on 10/12/2007, -5/+18Check out the Poweruser.tv podcast over at neowin.net . The owner of the stardock company "Brad Wardell" (sp?) is on that podcast. They have talked about this before on the podcast, it's not that he wants the game pirateted. It's more to the point he does not want his paying customers screwed by wacky DRM problems. (think starforce)
- pinsomniac, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16Exactly. I had to look at the link twice over to make sure that I wasn't missing anything.
This is more so a story of what seems to be a relatively unknown product being very successful upon launch due to word-of-mouth. The only mention of piracy in the article itself is in the context of DRM, and they believe that their refusal to use copy protection (which I applaud) may lead to a reduction on piracy.
Sorry, but the headline is misleading. Stardock does not want, condone, or otherwise encourage the act of piracy. - xxsiriusxburnxx, on 10/12/2007, -24/+35Only criticism on this is that Warez is not the future, warez is sites and groups who claim to have what you want only to bombard you with adds and spyware to make there 10 cents a click. The future is just like this title the future is just plain "pirating" theres my 2 cents, no adds no spam no spyware haha
- Portwineboy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15I own this game and think Stardock is an excellent publisher. They make a number of great products for UI customization on Windows. Check them out, support them. Please don't pirate this game. The headline of this digg is absolutely incorrect. Stardock does not want you to pirate this game, they want you to buy it. They just don't want to piss you off with DRM.
- cirmot, on 10/12/2007, -5/+13I agree. I find more often than not that I buy a program, game, book, etc. after I've gotten it for free via warez, the company or whatever - that is if I like it. I just hate to shell out dollars for something that sucks. The try before you buy concept is OK, but I hate demos. Sometimes two weeks, a month or whatever just isn't enough...I want to try it on my terms and make that decision. I applaud this company!
- mindlessxd, on 10/12/2007, -7/+14I wouldn't mind buying the software that I pirate, as long as it's reasonably priced and worth the money.
- Pile, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11As a Shareware author who made a lot of money writing my own software in the 90s, my success was due in large part to piracy. I knew I had a lot of customers who were using the software against my policy (it was a 30-day trial version but it wasn't crippled in any way). In fact, I ended up getting "Editor's Choice" in PC Magazine for my software. It would suck to have non-paid users call up for support, but I have to admit if it weren't for lots of people using the software, I wouldn't have made as much money as I did.
This is even more true nowadays than it used to be in the BBS years. The same goes for musicians. It used to be if you had a good product, people would hear about it and seek you out, but now the distribution chains are controlled by mega-corporations who have deals with larger software companies to not carry competitive products. Piracy in many ways, is a viable distribution and marketing method for smaller companies. Just like giving away your music online is a practical approach towards marketing for new bands who have a snowball's chance in hell of getting airplay on the corporate-controlled radio stations.
Most of you reading this probably already know that the "#1" piece of software in most categories is not actually the best product any longer. This is why. - Crazy_8, on 10/12/2007, -8/+15Yes...UT2k4 is very nice about it. I have it installed on 3 different computers, they can LAN game on the same CD-Key, and even all go online at the same time, but not to the same server. Don't try it with HaloPC though, they even check CD-keys on LAN games. Very anal. UT2k4 > Halo
- xNaquada, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8http://digg.com/gaming/Galactic_Civililizations_does_NOT_want_people_to_pirate_their_game_
report this as inaccurate or delete. - chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -8/+12Is hell freezing over? What next, is the MPAA going to give out free DVDs?
Here's one geek: dazed and confused. - Miktar, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8I'd post this to my site, but it's being dugg to death.
What had happened about the Digg story
The headline for the digg should have been, "GalCiv 2 wants to be
pirated". In essence, it's right. The game, which by the companys
own admission, has been doing well despite piracy. In fact,
they attribute some of the retail success, to the effective
word-of-mouth advertising piracy brings.
So, by that idea, more piracy means more retail sales.
But a badly written title for a digg story sure has a way of
spiralling out of control fast. In my defence, I'd go change the
title if I could, but digg doesn't let you edit. If it did, and
if I had caught my mistake earlier, I could have avoided my site
getting dugg to death.
But hey, perhaps some of you who came here looking to see what
stupid thing I wrote, might stick around just to see - perhaps
I'll write something stupid again.
To StarDock, my apologies. I only meant love for the game you've
so masterfully crafted. If it is any consolation, I'm sure the
digg story has netted you a few more loving patrons - at least, I
hope it has.
Peace.
And thanks to others out there who think the same thing I do. - Darkshine, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7This article is misleading. The developers do NOT want people to pirate their game.
http://digg.com/gaming/Galactic_Civililizations_does_NOT_want_people_to_pirate_their_game_ - jasqwerty, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6HAHAHA WRONG!
http://galciv2.com/
"Digg is reporting that a website is implying that we want Galactic Civilizations II to be pirated. Absolutely not! Of course we DO NOT want our game to be pirated. We're a small company, every lost sale hurts us."
And as for the pirated item = lost sale, these people seem to believe it's true, because it logically makes more sense. If you can't afford it, then you can't have it, an argument to the contrary is purely communist in nature. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7*****!
Read the real story http://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=161&AID=106741
marked as inaccurate - Moocat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8I bought this game the day it came out, it's very good, what MOO 3 should have been and more. Graphics are updated, gameplay is as easy or as hard as you want and the computer doesn't cheat! Anyway, it's a good viral marketting move if they want to get the word out about their game since they are a relatively lowkey company. That way, their next game might hit it big.
- CardinalFang, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Just because there's no copy protection doesn't mean you're allowed to pirate it.
- TheTrueSora, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8I agree, Stardock is probably my favorite non-OSS company. All their skinning software works great, and they don't treat their customers as if everyone will pirate their stuff.
- Portfolioso, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5This is bull. Just because someone doesn't put DRM on a CD doesn't mean they WANT people to pirate it.
Whether or not there is DRM, programs/games will be pirated anyway, so it doesn't matter. Unless the company released an official statement, saying "pirate our game" people need to shut up and stop posting lies on digg to get their story to the front page.
Ban this user from digg... - billflu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Undigg this story and digg this one:
http://www.digg.com/gaming/Galactic_Civililizations_does_NOT_want_people_to_pirate_their_game_ - bakerstreet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3why is this sack of crap still available? What a load. This NEEDS TO BE REMOVED, not just shuffled under the rug. It isn't just a misrepresentation, it is a LIE. The quote is even made up, and has been admitted as such by the author.
- Saoshyant, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Read other people's comments before posting yours. The title is mis-leading.
- Izzie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Digg is reporting that a website is implying that we want Galactic Civilizations II to be pirated. Absolutely not! Of course we DO NOT want our game to be pirated. We're a small company, every lost sale hurts us.
http://forums.galciv2.com/index.aspx?forumid=161&aid=106741&c=1 - Goracle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Reported innacurate...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Their NEXT game might hit it big? Did you even read the article? THIS game is currently the #1 best selling game (out of both PC and consoles) in America right now. The whole point of the article was that they're saying that the game is so massively successful despite the fact that they have no copy protection schemes.
- smorik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2digg needs a "lame title" report option
- CerebroJD, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Totally lame. I work with stardock, and they DO NOT want the game pirated.
- xNaquada, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I kid you not, I was deciding wether to get this game, and I actually bought this after I learnt that there is no stupid copy protection.
Copy protection is quite useless now-adays when you think about it. The only real protection there is, is a Cdkeybased-Multiplayer game....and even then there are private servers.
But to copyprotect a single player game is useless.
This game truly is awesome (Check gamespot/gamespy/ign/firing squad) scored 90% or more on all, and is more addictive than CIV 4 (maybe because I love sci-fi)
Gotta digg this game, but I wont digg this "diggpost" because I dont think the original author made sense. Still I thought it would be good to post my 2 cents in here.... if oyur considering buying this game, you will NOT be disappointed... theres already been 2 patches which both fix stuff, AND add content
Stardock is building a very positive rep image in my mind for supporting games (think blizzard like (Starcraft), NOT EA like (ZH,generals, bfme) - NuttySquirrel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Somebody read something wrong into this...
- Ravenlock, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2As mentioned by others... no.
- warwer2000, on 10/10/2007, -0/+0I pirate games all the time and iI don't mind buying them but games these days are so expensive that in order to keep my game library in shape I have to crack them.
- bakerstreet, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Big thumbs down to Miktar for falsifying a quote and fabricating a story. If Digg wants to be more than the suckfest it is becoming it needs to make users accountable with then knowingly lie and cause Digg a loss of credibility.
Why is this still here? The only thing true is "Optional CD-key and no copy-protection." Digg isn't what it is cracked up to be. - TheFoundry, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4I agree with what most people are saying here. As a programmer myself I wouldn't really care if people pirate my stuff (although ALL of my stuff is open source =P) because more people are using it. I know the don't really want you to pirate it, but still more people are playing and there is a possibility that they could offer a $20 multiplayer addon via paypal or something similar.
- Lehk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Fully overcome piracy?..... i take it EMPORiO never released a copy of HL2 and i never played that warezed release in order to not have STEAM spyware installed on my system....
anyways back to the real world where STEAM does nothing to thwart piracy and is a distribution tool so Valve doesn't have to take it in the rear from publishers anymore. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3reported as innacurate
- jhuebel, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5I really want to digg this, to promote GC2. But the title is wrong.
- r0bm, on 10/12/2007, -6/+6@theragu40: "However, sometimes I will play a burned copy of a game only to purchase it later if I like it. If I had not played the burned copy, I never would have played it at all. In essence, my having played a "pirated" version gained the company money. Now finally it seems as though a company is understanding that people who are pirating the games are people who would not have bought the game anyway."
Now if only we had a better name for this marketing concept besides piracy...hmmm...How 'bout calling it shareware. - esangaline, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2What an irresponsible titling of a digg.
I guess I see what you're saying about it being misinterpretted, but that all caps "WANTS" sure makes it look like you were just fishing for some diggs and it came back to bite you... - bakerstreet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2The quote is the real problem. Was it totally made up? I can appreciate the apology, but if the "we want people to pirate this game" quote was a fabrication, it goes way beyond the usual slipshod digging and becomes something much worse.
There is other software that allows you to install it on more than one machine for your personal use. There's no reason to associate this kind of distribution to piracy at all. Unless you can cite to me where developers said they wanted it to be pirated, I refuse to believe Brad or anyone else at SD actually said it. - Marz8, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4slipdisc just beat me to it. Also go to their main page:
http://www.galciv2.com/
It's their top post. Also the link no longer works. - gent00, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is incorrect!
John
http://www.onlineflashgames.org -
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