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  • Maybe this should be kept a secret, but...

    ...here in my country, few people actually buy games, ´cause they´re so damn expensive compared to our minimum wage: it´s around 65.000 Escudos, and a new game cost around 8.000 and 9.000 Escudos (Diablo II costs 9.900). A budget game costs 2.000 - 6.000 Escudos. There are computer stores that are copying CD titles at 1.000 Escudos each and are getting away with it, but I think that the state is starting to put people tracking these situations.

    1 EURO = 200 Escudos
    1 Dollar = 222 Escudos

    A CD writer costs about 45.000 Escudos. A writable CD costs 200-500 Escudos. Why the hell should we buy games so expensive? I know that this is not fair to game programmers, but what would you do in this situation?

    I´m going home from work now. Whoever wants to discuss this, I´ll resume tomorrow, OK? I´d like very much to know what you guys and girls think of this.

    Bye.

    ------------------
    Know what I mean?

  • #2
    Your minimum wage is 65.000 escudos per WHAT? Day, month, year? If it's per year or month then HOLY WOW prices are too high.

    If that's per week then the prices aren't so bad.

    - Gurm

    ------------------
    Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.
    The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

    I'm the least you could do
    If only life were as easy as you
    I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
    If only life were as easy as you
    I would still get screwed

    Comment


    • #3
      Sorry, per month.

      ------------------
      Know what I mean?

      Comment


      • #4
        Prices are much the same around here, with games costing on average 10000 HUF, around tenth of an average monthly salary. Of course some people get paid a lot better while some are getting even less.

        [Just noticed you wrote minimum wage. Then your country is better off than we are.]

        Fifteen years ago, buying any kind of software was virtually unheard of, except for a select few companies.

        Nowadays I pretty much purchase what I'm playing but then I don't have as much free time to spend on games as I had when I was a child. Also most games I play last for such a long time that they are more than worth their price. I've just been playing TFC with good old Half-Life, a game which is already nearly two years old. Another fine example is the Quake series.. or even games like StarCraft, which couldn't grab my attention for quite so long but I did play it for the whole summer on its release on Battle.net and plenty of times on a LAN (Quakes come first there.)

        Now I'm not a saint either, I don't feel too bad about trying an illegal copy before purchase. Sometimes I even end up playing a game all the way to the ending and still not buying it, when I find the game only kept me occupied for a week or two and I don't ever want to play it again. This I'm ashamed of but I really could find much better use for that money.

        One important point to note is that although today release times are quite acceptable, only a few years ago we had to wait for months after the US release before a game would show up in the stores. The illegal copies obviously get here just as fast as in the rest of the world. Back in the days of Quake2, I had to wait till the end of January when I could finally buy my legal copy. Well, I didn't wait. I simply played it illegally until then.
        Alec probably knows the feeling when the whole web is full of discussing a recently released game you've been waiting for so long only to find out you can't buy it yet in the local stores even after weeks.

        In the end I don't think this is a question of prices. Sure it's much cheaper to make an illegal copy. It is a question of honesty and respect for the developers. Much like not buying an album after downloading it off an mp3 sharing community.

        -fds

        Comment


        • #5
          Ok, Hear me out before you pass judgement. ok?

          I ALWAYS get the cracked games you can get on the net first. No, not some lame demo... I'm talking about the WHOLE game. Like right now I'm d/l'ing Deus Ex.

          Anyway, IF i like the game and it has potential, THEN i go out and fork over the money for a non-cracked version that works with patches, over the net, etc.

          So I get cracked games and stuff, but only to see if I like them or not. Fair enough?


          Ps. If you're going to ask me where i get my stuff, then forget it. I'm not telling you.
          McRhea

          Comment


          • #6
            Okay, this seems interesting, so here is the Italian Situation at a medium wage:
            New games are about 1/16 of the wage.
            Budget games go from 1/40 to 1/80.

            McRhea: I do the same. Each month I have my new demos from magazines and full games from Twilight and other pushers, to judge a game.
            If I like the game, I buy it. If not, I have so few time to play that I give my copied to friends.
            Sat on a pile of deads, I enjoy my oysters.

            Comment


            • #7
              Games here are around 3 DVDs or 8 movies in price. About the same price as a console game, actually a bit more in some cases. Your typical minimum wage earner locally brings home around 10-12 PC games worth a month.

              The games I see on the shelves are maybe worth a third of what they are listed as to me. My solution is simply not to buy them..

              Comment


              • #8
                easily being able to get hold of pirated versions is the main culprit for software piracy I think. Prices of games are high anywhere, they probably are higher in countries where the everage wage is higher, so that situating is the same everywhere?

                I think the only thing companies can do about software piracy is having smart protection schemes like q3a and diablo 2 have, and have some kind of institution that traces people spreading pirated stuff (selling huge amounts of cds and stuff).

                While it's not fair to pirate, sometimes it is justified to do so. If you're politically correct but to a degree that I think is not hypocrite, you would download / buy pirated versions of stuff to check them out, and if you like them, you should buy the whole version of the app/game. The best thing would be if the pirated version was limited to some degree (no cinematics/music, etc), but not as much as most of the demo versions (that often are limited too much in functionality, while not always). Trial versions are great, only I think the trial period of one month often used is a bit short. If you plan to buy the software, you're going to use it for at least half a year anyway.

                Some stuff can be pirated in my opinion without any problems, even helping the company that designed the software. For example Windows 2000 and stuff like 3D Studio Max and Autocad, as long as they are not used in commercial companies, using those software applications to design software which they sell. I think if home-enthusiats learn to use such a program, the companies would only benefit from it, when for example a company has to upgrade their software, they will likely be influenced if a employee if that company is able to use the software allready, and / or has favourable remarks about the software.

                Problem is that I am a bit too hypocrite myself: I do not own any of the software installed on my pc. I did buy a dozen of games before I was able to get hold of pirated stuff easily. If I am thinking about it, I should really buy some stuff I like:
                - Windows 2000 Pro (why is it so ***DAMNED expensive???)
                - Nero Burning Rom 5.0.1.3 (they have increadibly good copy protection, so I am forced to buy it soon ;-)
                - UltraEdit32
                - Quake3Arena (which I probably would have bought, if someone didn't give me a working key to play over the internet)
                - ACDSee 2.42 (NOT 3.0, which sucks ass)
                - BlackICE

                probably I should use the pirated version of Win2k Pro, because of the price, and I am sure MS doesn't mind (I strongly got that impression during a seminar they had on our university half a year ago). I would use the pirated version of Photoshop anyway, because it licences are not based on people playing with it at home, but for commercial companies.


                And I will/would use a lot of pirated stuff to check out the functionality.


                If I have a bit of money, I may actually go out and buy some of the stuff mentioned above.... I feel like I owe some of the companies to do so.

                Comment


                • #9
                  btw. If I wouldn't be able to get hold of pirated stuff this easily, I also never would be able to check out a lot of the bugs reported to me by other murcers. Those games/applications normally only remain on my harddrive for half an hour, or until I am able to reproduce the bug. Then I immediately delete the stuff, because they just don't fit on my hdd (4.5GB), and/or I am not interested in using them.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    No wonder it cost so much. The companies have to make up for the lost revenues through pirating somehow. Pirating only ends up hurting us consumers in the long run.

                    Joel
                    Libertarian is still the way to go if we truly want a real change.

                    www.lp.org

                    ******************************

                    System Specs: AMD XP2000+ @1.68GHz(12.5x133), ASUS A7V133-C, 512MB PC133, Matrox Parhelia 128MB, SB Live! 5.1.
                    OS: Windows XP Pro.
                    Monitor: Cornerstone c1025 @ 1280x960 @85Hz.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      There's that, also I think another reason for higher PC prices locally is the consoles, a lot of people don't have the latest computer, but they can afford a playstation or U64. There are only a handful of people relatively that have a PC capable of playing the latest PC games properly (as well as they can be expected to work), and they have to be a geek to configure their machines to get them to run at all. The games cost the same, so no advantage there, console games always work, no screwing around. The X Box should be interesting to say the least if it works out.



                      [This message has been edited by Himself (edited 04 August 2000).]

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                      • #12
                        Hey Dzeus, Campusnet rules doesn't it??? ;-)

                        greetings from Aerobed (calslaan 7-2)


                        But, on a more serious note, all the games I have played for more than two weeks I have bought. This means I own almost all Lucasarts games and the entire Command & Conquer series. I am now saving up to buy windows 2k, since this is the first ms operating system i think really deserves my money. Damn it's stable.
                        Rob, a great fan of the Aerobed

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Software piracy must be one of hardest issues
                          the software industry and us, the users, have to deal with. Not only does it pose the moral dilemma of being, well... stealing, but it could also be said that piracy holds back the industry, as is lowers the profits that software companies gain from their products.

                          Here's the tricky part: Although I'll perfectly aware of it, I also know it's quite
                          "easy" to justify piracy when it comes to one person copying the game/program for personal use. I've always felt, that when it comes to applications, if I'm not using them for making money, it's alright to copy them.
                          As for games, before I started working and had to rely on my parents for money, I can honestly say, that I only bought 1 or two game per _year_, at most. Only if I knew a really good game was coming out(Ultima 5 was one of those) would I rush to the store and get it, but that was only because I knew it would be some time, before I'd get from somewhere else.
                          These days I buy maybe 1 or two games per month, depending on whether there's anything worthwhile coming out. In these cases, I've tested the game with a pirated version beforehand, mostly because I don't subscribe to buying something that I might not like that much, afterall.

                          Copying games and selling them is something I won't even start to talk about...


                          ps. Wow! My longest post ever



                          ------------------
                          P3/450, 128, G400DH32 + stuff.
                          P3/450, 128, G400DH32 + stuff.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            My take on piracy:

                            IF you are copying a game instead of buying it, that's depriving the game developer of his or her hard-earned dollars.

                            IF you are copying a game because you are poor and could never morally justify spending money on video games instead of RENT or FOOD, you are depriving nobody of their money.

                            IF you are selling copies of games, you are pond scum.

                            Honestly though - I would never BUY 3D Studio. Why? Because it's thousands of dollars to license, and I don't use it for anything more than noodling around! Now, if I were to start developing games using models I made in 3DS, I would be morally obligated (not to mentional legally obligated) to buy it.

                            But, me having a copy of 3DS Max 3.0 does not deprive Autodesk/Kinetix of thousands of dollars, because under no circumstances would I ever have bought it.

                            I think you will find that a lot of piracy is like that. To be sure, there are the kiddiez who would rather pirate a game than buy it, and have the money to do so - shame on them. But there are a lot of us who DO buy games, and quite a lot of them. I don't even PLAY all the games I buy (but being as I want to stay in touch with the video game industry which is near and dear to my heart professionally...) in a year.

                            Now, often I will do what McRhea said - download a cracked game, play with it for a couple of hours. See if it's engaging and well done. THEN buy it. Yeah, Electronics Boutique accepts returns. But I hate to make them take it back when "I just didn't like it".

                            *sigh*

                            All of this is no REAL justification, right? I can simply rest assured in the moral conviction that, although I have pirated software in the past, I have never taken money from someone's hands as a result.

                            - Gurm

                            ------------------
                            Listen up, you primitive screwheads! See this? This is my BOOMSTICK! Etc. etc.
                            The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

                            I'm the least you could do
                            If only life were as easy as you
                            I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
                            If only life were as easy as you
                            I would still get screwed

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              It's always amazing to me when people try to justify stealing with "Well, I wouldn't have bought it anyway". If it wasn't good enough for you to buy, then why do you need it?

                              Like everyone else, I've used the occasional non-bought game or application, but I never try to sugar coat it. It's stealing. It's wrong. It's depriving someone of their livlihood.

                              If you use pirated software, you're a thief; you're pimping someone out of money.

                              Call a spade a spade. Be grown up enough to realize it.

                              (that was not addressed to any of you specifically, BTW - just a general "you")
                              PIII 550@605
                              IWill Motherboard VD133
                              VIA Chipset
                              512MB PC133 CAS2 Crucial
                              G400 DH 32MB (6.51 Drivers)
                              DirectX 8.0a
                              SB Live! Value
                              8x DVD (Toshiba)
                              6x4x24 CDRW (Sony)
                              Intel Pro/100+ NIC
                              3Com CMX Cable Modem
                              Optiquest V95 19"
                              HP 812C Color Ink Jet
                              Microtek flatbed scanner
                              Intellimouse Explorer
                              Surround Sound w/two subwoofers
                              AND WAY TOO MANY GAMES!!!

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