It's not hard at all, I'm one of those people. Go out right now and ask a kid if he wants a load of games for free, even though it's not really legal. Tell him it's super easy and there's not much chance he'll get in trouble. It doesn't matter how angelic you think the human race is, chances are that kid will take the free games.
Well many of them are friends or family some others have just flat out told me they pirate so they can spend the money on other things. I posted one of my encounters here: http://forums.toucharcade.com/showpost.php?p=689300&postcount=7 I'm certainly not saying all pirates would buy your game, but I do think a sizeable number of sales are being lost to piracy.
The fact that he is speaking for himself suggests that between the two of you, 50% of you are potential pirates. That's a high number
Just curious, has anyone read about the piracy on World of Goo. 2D Boy removed DRM to make the gameplay better. The piracy rates were extremely high at around 90%, yet they were ok with that. They felt that if their game was good enough that the pirates would purchase it or recommend it to others. Did piracy actually help with sales? 2D Boy thinks so. It really depends on the developers point of view and how polished and well produced the product they put out is. If it is good, the game will benefit some to the game as some pirates wouldn't pay to play it in the first place. If the game is medoicre, well piracy will just hurt sales. *That last statement is not directed at any dev.
I'm not sure where our piracy numbers are, TBH. I know I don't really care that much- I think we made a decent game and with 1.05 already submitted (not approved yet) it is only getting better. I made the game free for 3 days, which ultimately killed our ranking but I got some 25,000 new downloads worldwide. So far, those new downloads haven't been able to lift us from our devastating crash, and neither have the pirated copies. I'm optimistic though- if we see enough people making new maps with the map editor, hopefully that will create a demand to share them. At that point we will figure out a sharing system if demand is sufficient- but the players will have to create that demand themselves by talking about it. I can't create that demand for them.
Currently working on a huge update of SunGPS with lot's of new features - maybe i will do it like you did. Crack detected, wait 3 days and then the pirate will only get an advertising to buy it from the store. But I still fear i could somehow get rejected by Apple for doing this. I've heared the Apps get tested without DRM, so what if for some reasons the iTunes connect review takes more than 3 days on the same device?
That's cool, and I know TA has many cool & conscious people about that Of course, as a dev, I don't pirate. But it's as simple as MidianGTX described :
I don't think the people using the word potential on this board really understand the word. It means possible. And a possibility isn't always probable. It is _possible_ that Steve Jobs will come to my house and give me $2 million dollars. However, it is very improbable. 100% of people with an iPod Touch or iPhone, a computer, and an internet connection are _potential_ pirates. Of those two people above (assuming they both have iPods or iPhones), 100% are potential pirates. They both have the ability to be pirates. Had I known that my computer had become de-authorized I obviously would have. I've already got the games back (thanks for the tip all the same), but the problem is my progress in those games is now gone. Moving past my unpleasant experience, the point is that apps a person has bought can deleted if the authorization mechanism disappears. That is problematic. I'm going to break my word, because I have to know. Did you really mean to write "psychic"? EDIT: I was one of the people who grabbed your game while it was free. After reading the above I'm wondering if you'll do any DLC or something like that. I'm wondering for a few reasons: 1) I'm interested in how this game might evolve 2) I'm curious about your take on DLC as a dev who isn't so concerned about pirates 3) I'm feeling guilty about getting a quality game like this for free
1) With 1.05, the game changes quite a bit. It introduces a lot of new things, without introducing new maps and without new tasks. The changes are entirely new. Beyond that, Flickitty has a lot of different directions to go. 2) I personally don't like DLC and I think a lot of devs abuse it. My (unwritten) contract with gameplayers is that I provide them with a fully intact game that they purchased and they own (a copy). However, I think DLC will unfortunately become a part of Flickitty- but I don't want to nickel and dime the players to death with new content- I'd prefer to present them with an entirely new game and experience. 3) Don't feel guilty, I made it free to determine how much of a demand there was, and how many people we were targeting. But if you really feel guilty about not paying for it, you can help by telling others to give it a try. If you get at least one person to buy it, then you've redeemed yourself
This topic is here too!?? Hehe. Well, I have gotten my answer to these questions a while back. And the answer is: 1. Piracy will exist till forever, whether you like it or not, and there is nothing we can do about it, unless someone invents a new state of software that consists something lower than a binary level. 2. If your app is pirated, it COULD BE a good thing - helps promote your apps. 3. Accept the fact, that a pirate will always be a pirate - they won't buy your app even if it is 0.00001 cent. And a legit customer will always be that, they will buy your app if it is good enough for them and good value for money. 4. Continue to make apps, and stop caring so much about piracy. And that is what Apple/Microsoft/etc etc is doing.
Well the literal English translation of piracy means 'You go now and buy Flickitty, very happy time!' but the definition can vary from region to region. What does it mean up in Canada, MindJuice?
It's when you acquire a product without paying the owner of it (aka 'stealing it')* — Admittedly, a lot of websites won't say if they're distributing products illegally, so you may not realize you're downloading pirated goods. * If the owner is giving away the app for free of their own accord it isn't piracy.
LOL. That's interesting! Up here the meaning is similar. In Canadian it translates to "You go immediately and buy 2 copies of Flickitty! Have a Super Happy Terrific fun time!"
