Pirate servers often offered 4x leveling speed, and the ability to go up to level 120.
Many features didn't work, etc etc, you had to upgrade to a specific version of (unmentionable MMO), and all sorts of things.
In the end, it was pretty lame, since you essentially playing (unmentionable MMO) as a single player rpg, without the benefit of having enough people on. Like playing on a dead server in the middle of the night, with no one else on.
It did wonders to show me the flaws of (unmentionable MMO)s leveling game.
Not to mention, these servers are run by people who get community support for the servers, so some people were paying MORE than $15 a month for this. (and the ones who paid were usually given GM powers).
I'm with Spitfires on this though, that maybe it's my getting older, but I'm much less inclined to pirate now, than I was when I was in my late teens/early 20s. Or perhaps its because I have money to spend.
Thing is, as far as I can tell, pirates aren't really removing THAT much revenue from the game companies (or music industry, or movie industry).
When I had anything, I wouldn't have bought it (I didn't have the money). I experienced something for free. But once I HAD money, if I liked something, I would buy it, and would never think to pirate it.
I need to find the story, but one author, put his story (in DRM free pdf format) for free on torrent, and several thousand people downloaded it. He became popular enough, that his books started selling.
The thing is, if you have a good product, it will generate buzz. Piracy is a buzz that you are not paying for, as it is a "free gift" to all the people who would NEVER have paid for your product anyways (this would be considered pricing the item for each individual, in this case, free), which in turn can cause those who DO pay for things to be more apt to purchase something, as they are interested in the product, since so many people are talking about it.
At the same time, (unmentionable MMO) private servers do not serve that function at all. But would those people really be paying for (unmentionable MMO)? I know for the month that I played on a private server all those years ago, that I wouldn't have paid for (unmentionable MMO) then. But if the server wasn't complete crap, would I have come back to (unmentionable MMO)?
As far as I can tell, I came back to (unmentionable MMO) to play with friends, and not necessarily to play the game. Now, most of the friends I'd be interested in playing with no longer play, so that made things easier for me.
So I know it was anecdotal, but that is my "evidence" of the effect of piracy.
Shouldn't it be the company making a product who gets to decide what marketing strategy to pursue, and whether they want to have a free trial, or boost their reputation by handing out freebies?
ReplyDeleteWhat if the companies marketing strategy is a different one, and they'd like to promote an image of exclusivity? Swamp a city with ultra-cheap fake designer handbags, and the value of the original will drop, even though maybe none of the buyers of the fakes would have bought the real thing.
Yes, it should be up to the companies to decide whether or not to be giving freebies or not, except that they don't know who would have paid for the item or not. So as a conscious effort, this type of promotion could cost more, than it would sell.
ReplyDeleteAs for the exclusivity, we have a similar issue of tiered pricing (Banana Republic, the Gap, etc) where a company has different faces, selling the same thing at different prices depending on location.
If they found a way to duplicate this online, then it would allow them to bring in more revenue.
The biggest loss of sales though is from teenagers. They have no income on their own (for the most part), so if they can't get their parents to buy something, they will pirate it, which is money the company loses (even though the teenager themselves would never have bought it, due to lack of funds).
But that teen, may like what they pirate, and tell their friends about it, which results in their friend buying the game (because of having money, or having parents who would buy it for him).
Of course, this concept itself is rather ephemeral, and it might be that additional people will simply pirate what the first did.
In the end, people should support companies with their wallets. I was simply observing my own behavior as I was growing up, and extrapolating the possible damages and affect from there.
It is a terribly interesting subject.