the problem with drm is that it offers no motivation for users to pay for the game
the pirate copies of games, have no drm, no need for the dvd to be in the drive, and they are much more editable (for example, need for speed underground 2, i you head into the install folder then delete the intro videos (jerks decided to make it so you cant skip many of the intros), the game wont launch
bu if you use a cracked exe, the game works with no problem.
what is the point of drm is it causes the pirated copies to have a higher value than the paid versions
the only people who suffer the horrors of drm are the legit users who pay for the software, but for the people who just download it from their favorite p2p place, they get a game that works properly with no annoying drm limitations
look at when bioshock came out, the drm caused that game to be pirated more than any other game this year
(why you ask?, the paid version is limited in almost every way, but the free/pirate version, has 100% no drm, no limit to how many times you can install it, no hoops to jump through, no activating and even no installing, just extract the file and it runs perfectly )
if the free/priate is offering all this and the paid versions only offer more hoops to jump through and more limitations, then guess which people would rather have
if you was a race car driver, and 2 groups of people offered to sell you a car, group 1 is a legit place , their car looks nice, but has a electronic speed limiter that limits your cars speed to 145MPH (many passenger cars have this)
but the other group (you are unsure of about how legal they are) was offering the same car for 1/5th the price, no speed limiter so you can reach the cars 185MPH top speed
which would you go for?
what incentive does doe drm filled product offer to the user that will make them want the paid copy over the pirate copy
if microsoft made a new operating system to replace vista, but it had the exact same source code and features as vista, just a different name, would you upgrade to the "new" os? (most people would say no because if offers no incentive to upgrade since it is the same thing just a different name)
pirating will not stop unless an incentive can be offered to going legit because right now, pirated games have more features, there easier to install, and theres no limitations.
have you herd of the term, a bakers dozen?
this was created a long time ago and is a perfect example of the need to offer the right incentives for people to buy your products
a long time ago, bakeries were very common and this lead to competition. at first they would just try to make their prices slightly cheaper than the shop near them, but this all changed when a bakery decided to lower prices then offer 13 for the price of 12. this was a instant profit boost because everyone started to buy from that bakery,
the reason why it is called a bakers dozen is because it was a business strategy that put many other bakeries out of business because they spent time lowering prices to the point where they make very little profit from each item sold, and from their point of view, to offer 13 for the price of 12 with already low prices would be crazy, so they packed up and left.
the only way to sell in a competitive environment is to give the consumer a reason to pick your product over someone else's.
when it comes to material items, the key is to offer more for less money,
for software, the pirates are winning because the key it to make software convenient
computers were made to make out lives easier, but computers cant do that if the software on it is too frustrating to use
drm makes software frustrating to use but pirate copies offer much more freedom in the use of the software
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the reason why radiohead is doing this is because they are moving more money from the pay what you think it's worth method
there not going through any middle man so they get 100% of the profit (most artist only get a tiny bit of the money the cd actually gets them )
also there many people who don't like to steal but they also don't like giving giving 2 arms and 4 legs (2 of which they don't have) just to buy 1 item
theres 1 candy I really like, (Hershey cookie and cream) since the price increased by 10 cents, I don't buy it anymore but if it could go down to like 50 cents, I would probably buy like 50 of them (even though 50 of them would cost more, i would still do it because the price is good and they will last me a while; the sad part is that it costs the company less than 1 cent to make 1 bar)
the same goes with many other items and this is also why the "bakers dozen" used to work (until the 13th item was included into the price by slowly increasing the price)
radiohead also know that no one will even think of buying anything from you if you don't offer an incentive.
if you go to NY you will usually see people trying to sell you a demo cd, i usually feel like yelling at them because they want $5-8 for the cd and I'm like, I never even herd of you, for all I know, it could be you humming a tune you herd but barely remember (now if it was free, things would turn out different)
it is a fact that the world runs on business, and anyone who knows anything about business knows that if you want to sell something, you have to make your product better than your competitors, DRM only makes your product worst compared to your competitors as DRM also goes against all natural human emotions and instincts.
All animals want freedom, if you put a dog in a cage, then put that cage in a much larger one then make a opening on the smaller cage, you can bet the dog will go into the larger one as the larger one is less limited compared to the smaller one (and you will get the same results for what ever animal you put in the small cage)
a long time ago in American history, alcohol was banned, days later, buildings called "speakeasy's" were created, these buildings were illegal but they were rarely shutdown because the police drank in them every night
people don't like to be limited, when people are limited, speakeasies are created (in web terms, P2P)
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