Xenonauts and piracy

[odizzido]

I'm only referring to a small section of the pirate community really - I've had a few people tell me that they're completely morally justified in pirating my game, that they're fully entitled to a free copy.

The entitlement is what winds me up there, not the fact they haven't paid for the game.

I think everyone is entitled, but only to see if the game will work on their computers. If someone buys your game and can't even play it you say sorry, that must suck for you. Thanks for the money BTW lulz.

You took their money and they got nothing. That is theft.

I imagine, hope, that you guys would at least try to solve the issue, however I've had it where I have purchased a game on steam that didn't even work. When I asked for a refund they just laughed in my face. Yeah. If it were anything other than computer software they would be required by law to give me my money back(infact in more sane counties they are required by law to give refunds). You think I am going to feel bad that people pirate steam games? no.

Edited September 6, 2014 by odizzido

[Didact04]

I am currently running a pirated version of the latest Xenonauts. The game itself came as the release and a patch for a mid-release version came with it. I got the latest patch elsewhere. Currently fiddling with the thing to see why the mods don't (appear) to be working. The UI doesn't have a lot of options for this kind of thing.

I grew up with games and I've been screwed over before. I've bought games that were garbage cuz they looked cool. I really like XCOM and only recently have I become any good at it (not nearly enough for Impossible; I'm far too impatient, get too sloppy too easily). I heard of Xenonauts a while ago but only noticed it within this last couple of months. It looked interesting. I downloaded this pirated copy to see how it handles.

It'd be nice if I could just buy this thing right off the bat but look at the market this thing comes from. Especially now that Steam seems to be letting every piece of software into their place that ever showed up, it seems like every other game you see is either incomplete or a complete joke. What was the name of that one DayZ ripoff that started as WarZ and then changed their name like twice? Purposefully stole the name because of the interest levels at the time and then blatantly halted development when they were content with the free cash. Had no intention of releasing anything.

I don't have a job right now. I'm in college and my family pays for most things. In an ideal world I could just buy this thing, but I've been let down before and I don't intend to be let down again at my own expense. I like this game, and while I'm definitely not any good at it (yet), I'm still fiddling with the way the dice rolls and I think I'm going to end up paying for it...eventually. Earliest will be Christmas, when I get my holiday cash. Money is tight and I just have no means of paying for a new game at any price.

If it was a crap game you can bet I wouldn't have paid for it. But then again, I wouldn't have played it if I had known ahead of time, either. This is what a demo would be for, but to my knowledge there isn't one for this game or many of the other games I happen to like. But I like it and I intend to pay for it when I'm able.

I see Piracy as a utility. I think it's the sort of thing that needs to be there. It's an option for consumers, and particularly in America which is increasingly favoring developers and companies over the buyers, it's an option that is absolutely necessary. It could end up hurting producers, and they might not necessarily deserve it. It's all up to the individual. But I feel that the assumption that piracy is a lost sale is a farse invented by butthurt companies like EA and Microsoft that are so big to be guaranteed business and feel entitled to their own success. People would pay for it if they could, or if they trusted people enough not to screw them over, but they can't and they don't. This is how they protect themselves.

Getting access to the game before the price tag can be abused, but so can anything with any positive effects to it. Piracy has the potential to protect consumers and right now I think they need all the protection that they can get.

I know that a lot of gamers have a healthy respect for Indies in particular that can make some good games, so I'm not worried about how it affects them too much. So it more or less boils down to the fact that if piracy is really hurting your business, you probably deserve it.

...that's just my opinion anyway. Xenonauts is fun, by the way. I wish it relied a bit less on dice rolls, though, especially when the odds are so consistently against you.