I spotted a pirated copy :(

[scragar]

I decided to glance over at mininova to see if the latest episode of naruto is out(hey, I buy the DVDs when they come out in the UK, I want to watch the eps now though, rather than in a few years, leave me alone), and when I scrolled down(sometimes naruto winds up under movies or TV shows rather than anime) I spotted DoP as a torrent with a crack

I'm quite upset to see this, especially when the demo is a better game than many full games I've played(final fantasy 12 anyone? What happened to that series BTW? up until 7 it got better, then around the 7 or 8 mark it started to decline, now I would rather play final fantasy 1 or 2(although admittedly they were good games) over 12 - anyway, no more off topic, I promise), your game isn't exactly popular by the looks of these forums(although I'm assuming lots of people like me(up until I got the error anyway) never saw the need to register), so those downloading the game are most likely going to be people who just want to try the game, in which case why don't they use the demo?

Anyway, I just thought I'd post it here, I check mininova about once a day, and I have never seen a pirate copy of this game before, it's somewhat disappointing(PS: given the exe is it possible for you to ID the buyer so you can sue them or something shadow? There has to be some way to get back at them).

[fab]

It doesn't mean much really. You'd wish it was actually a compliment, like, if they cracked it it must mean it's desirable. Nope, it's just inevitable. If you look at the NDS scene for example you can see they "dump" EVERY god damn title on the NDS even completely uninspired titles like "Imagine: Baby Sitter" or "My Horse Friend Sequel #32"... that the kind of people looking for those games would never know even how to download a torrent file, and most gamers scouring these forums would never want to play.

As for the game being popular or not, I have played Diablo II for several YEARS (on and off) and I'm really enjoying this title while my Diablo II comeback after the D3 news was short lived. I'm sure this game can be quite popular.

Shadow seems to be working on a sequel, or another title, so the sales seems to be fine.

The very first look at the graphics can be a turn off though. I don't mean that in a bad way as after more playing I've started to really enjoy the graphics and found that there is some nice models out there. It's just the lighting is very inequal. Some times it looks very cool, sometimes it seems to flatten out everything. My first impression was that it was dense and difficult to make out the characters and various models from the environment. I showed it to a friend who was unconvinced, too bad for him. x_x.

Screw LineAge and WoW, I'm playing DoP!

[krozman]

You know you've "made it" when people find the time to pirate your game on the internet. It's not necessarily funny, but it's just the way things are and it's the proper perspective to have so you don't go crazy.

[LordLabyrinth]

I think people will pirate solitaire if it didn't come free with Windows.

[Delilah Rehm]

Someday, we'll be able to afford an attorney whose sole job will be to send out take down notices.

[Delve]

Don't expect much to come of that. It'd be a waste of development dollars IMO. A lot of them won't give two cents for take down notices, and it only takes on copy in the wild for the pirates to 'succeed'.

[Gragt]

Reminds me of all the discussions about it on the Codex...

Anyway the general concensus seems to be that people who pirate the game wouldn't have bought it in the first place so they can't be considered as lost sales. If anything piracy, as others pointed, can be positive in that it makes the game and the developper better known. Some people will gladly pay for a good game once they discovered it, even if it means pirating the full game instead of downloading the demo, while others simply won't pay for it. The error of many publishers is to fill the game with DRM that penalize the registered user more than the pirate.

So while I believe DoP is a game that is worth being bought and I'm a bit sad to see it being offered on P2P networks, I do not see it as a bad sign. I guess it made enough money to warrant a sequel which in itself doesn't seem too bad.

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Gragt

So while I believe DoP is a game that is worth being bought and I'm a bit sad to see it being offered on P2P networks, I do not see it as a bad sign. I guess it made enough money to warrant a sequel which in itself doesn't seem too bad.

Don't get me in trouble calling Kivi's Underworld a sequel. It's a very different game than Depths of Peril.

[Gragt]

Heh ok then, my bad. Glad if you can do something different.

[LordLabyrinth]

Originally Posted by Shadow

Don't get me in trouble calling Kivi's Underworld a sequel. It's a very different game than Depths of Peril.

Who would get you in trouble? I thought you were the CEO, the President, the janitor, and everything in between.