Fun fact: Bioshock 1 for PC, if you have the CD for it, requires you to download a crack for it in order to play it.

True enough; But the idea of offering a legitimate demo of a game was still nice.

All because the website it looks for for DRM black holed

i do think them offering demos would be better

at the moment

And there's no "official" patch to fix it

there is just a steam 2 hour policy

which requires you to pay them anyway

Steam's 2hr policy is pretty good tbh

or at least have the money on hand

i mean

Way better than nothing

I just raped a little jewish boy, what's poppin in here?

I don't think anyone here is arguing that a company shouldn't be compensated for it's product, n' all; But the consumers are just increasingly getting le shaft from the crossfire between the Yarr-Harr-Fiddly-Dee lads and the companies.

i do think it would be better if devs gave out a demo link on the sale page, maybe a segment of the game or a 2 hour trial on its own

I wish it was a little more permissive for the consumer, but they mandate that all games support it, so that's nice.

i think my old pc still has the postal 2 demo on it

@𝕯𝖊𝖗_𝕶𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖘𝖆𝖗 there is no economic incentive not to pirate digital media

There's no reason for them to release a demo though

A demo can only lose customers

well i spose its like giving people a taste of a drug to get them hooked for free

or it could gain them

You aren't wrong there either; But, it doesn't stop people from buying stupid shit anyway.

in the instance of "oh, well i dont know if thats good"

Somehow Call of Duty continues to be a franchise.

or "oh, ill just pirate it to see if its good"

@𝕯𝖊𝖗_𝕶𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖎𝖘𝖘𝖆𝖗 the creators have to create the incentive to pay for their work by means of impressing the audience; their actual product is infinitely replicatable and therefore has no value derived from scarcity

Absolutely.

its a shame tbh

i remember after playing the p2 demo i wanted it but never got round to buying the game till just this year

i want the devs to get their money *legitimately*, as long as theres something like a 2 hour policy or a demo

Much the same in that an unskilled baker can remove all value from the ingredients in a loaf of bread, a shitty game has no inherent value.

but its hard to prevent piracy

"Hard" try impossible

i mean

its *potentially* possible

No

but the main ways of doing it involve drm

or always online

what they gonna do call the navy