🚀 go-pugleaf

Where do you get off? I know everyone is entitled to an opinion but I
think Blizzard did an excellent job. I was an average fan of the first
Warcraft but when my friend and I discovered the modem play it was great.
Now, not only are graphics and sound effects better in War Craft 2, but
you only have to 1 game to play with a freind over the modem. GREAAAAAT,
no more $120.00 for 2 games so we can both play. If Blizzard adopted your
idea, more people would pirate the game, and in turn that would not only
affect the price of other products but it would also affect the quality of
Blizzards output in the future. In short, I think you should be thankful
for the progress Blizzard has made in network and modem play with their
"spawning technology" and quit advocating for something almost akin to
getting Drugs to be legal, an uphill battle that only helps the
drug-users.
Chris M.

Well, your second message removes the reason for you wanting a crack!

In your first message you state that there are only a few CDROMs in 
the building and you have to wait for the users of these PCs to go 
home. I assume this is after hours. Since this is when you wish to 
play the game, what is the problem?

As you may guess from my user name, we are a games developer and we 
have had similar responses to yours for our copy protection. 

You claim that it doesn't stop piracy. Correct, but it makes it more 
difficult, thereby reducing it. It also means that it will be some 
time after the release before the cracked versions appear. This gives 
those people who wish to remain within the law ample opportunity to 
purchase the game without being tempted by pirated copies.

Finally, when you get your cracked version, don't start demanding 
patches because of occasional glitches and crashes. You deserve no 
technical support or after sales support on a hacked version. This 
comment is not without basis. I have seen requests on the internet 
for a patch from ourselves to fix problems caused by the hackers who 
cracked one of our games.

You say that you are a software developer. I would be interested to 
know which kind of software. If is is industrial or application 
software then it has no bearing whatsover on this much different 
games software market. Piracy within different areas of the software 
industry does not normally cross over between the markets.

I thin that Blizzard should be congratulated for allowing 3 players 
to play from 1 CD. Not many publishers would so this.

Eurocom_Enterta...@msn.com (Mark Hetherington) wrote:

>Well, your second message removes the reason for you wanting a crack!

>In your first message you state that there are only a few CDROMs in 
>the building and you have to wait for the users of these PCs to go 
>home. I assume this is after hours. Since this is when you wish to 
>play the game, what is the problem?

Well, to put numbers to my comments, specifically, we have two
machines with CD-ROMs, and the five of us (at most) who wish to play
the game do not have CD-ROMs.  So if we're able to get one of the CD
equipped machines, three can play.  Unfortunately, it's not often we
can get both CD machines as their owners may stay late or drag their
machines home to do work.  And we occassionaly like to partake in a
game during our lunch break (although these large networked games can
easily last more than an hour, so we usually have to save and then
re-start later on..)

>You claim that it doesn't stop piracy. Correct, but it makes it more 
>difficult, thereby reducing it. It also means that it will be some 
>time after the release before the cracked versions appear. This gives 
>those people who wish to remain within the law ample opportunity to 
>purchase the game without being tempted by pirated copies.

I agree to a certain extent.  However, anyone with a reasonable amount
of computer knowledge and a modem can track down the cracked versions.
I think that if someone is of the mindset, "Hey, why shell out $50 for
this game when I can get it free?", they are not going to run out to
the store to buy a game just because the cracked version has yet to
appear.  There's so much software floating around that they'll have
plenty to keep them busy until then.. 

On the other hand, many of those who DO have access to the illicit
'warez' still choose to do the right thing and purchase the software
they use.  I may peruse the warez newsgroups from time to time and
download a game that I'm interested in and if I like it then I'll go
out and purchase it!  When demos aren't available from the publishers,
the warez groups offer a viable substitute, as I'm less inclined to
buy a game that I haven't had a chance to test-drive, *especially*
(these days) if the publisher hasn't released a demo.

>You say that you are a software developer. I would be interested to 
>know which kind of software. If is is industrial or application 
>software then it has no bearing whatsover on this much different 
>games software market. Piracy within different areas of the software 
>industry does not normally cross over between the markets.

No, I'm not a games developer (although I someday hope to make the
crossover, as that is truly where I wish to be).  My company develops
(among other things) Windows-based electronic forms packages, most of
which is not subject to gradiose piracy.  Even if the software I
develop is not directly affected by piracy, I am very much aware of
the monumental effort it takes to develop a large piece of software
and why games publishers must loathe the entire piracy situation and
their desire to quell it.

Once I do make the transition into the games realm, yes, the piracy
issue will hit home.  But I believe that putting out an outstanding
product at a reasonable price is probably the single most important
weapon a software developer can wield against piracy..

 ..Al

__      _________________________________________________
  \    /  Albert Yarusso, a...@warpsoft.com
   \/\/arpSoft, Framingham, MA  508-875-6867