Ace of Spades HQ

October 24, 2011

Valve Co-Founder on IP Piracy
— Gabriel Malor

Since we're looking for content . . . a bit on an issue near and dear to my heart:

Gabe Newell, a co-founder of Valve, a video game company and groundbreaking online game distribution company, shares something that should be obvious, but oddly isn't, at least not to everyone:

"The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. ItÂ’s by giving those people a service thatÂ’s better than what theyÂ’re receiving from the pirates," he said.

Word. When IP owners place barriers between their product and the customer's enjoyment, they incentivize bad behavior. I'm happy to pay for games and music and videos and whatever. But if IP owners make it impossible to get to or even moderately inconvenient to get to the work---say, with delayed releases, paralyzing DRM restrictions, etc.---somebody's going to provide an alternative.

For example:

According to Newell, Russia -- which is often ignored as a market due to its high level of piracy -- is one of Steam's highest grossing countries.
"Russia now outside of Germany is our largest continental European market," said Newell, adding that "the people who are telling you that Russians pirate everything are the people who wait six months to localize their product into Russian.

I've certainly enjoyed Steam's offerings, particularly their ever-growing catalog of older games that I want for nostalgia value.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:03 PM | Comments (84)
Post contains 236 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Overall, I agree.

However, I wish Steam wouldn't keep reading my copy of Halflife 2 as pirated. I keep getting my account suspended because they won't issue me a new serial without paying for a new one, and after a while I'll go "lets install halflife 2" and wham.

Posted by: Ranba Ral at October 24, 2011 04:08 PM (G99e4)

2 In Russia, pirates steam You!

Posted by: CoolCzech at October 24, 2011 04:08 PM (niZvt)

This is 100% correct. I used to pirate most of my games. Now, if I can get a game legitimately through Valve, I don't even consider acquiring it through piracy. iTunes, by reducing the acquisition cost of a song to 99 cents, has done a similar thing to crush my desire to pirate music.

When Valve and Apple make things so convenient and cheap to acquire legitimately, it's just no longer worth the hassle and virus risk of acquiring stuff through dark channels.

Posted by: wooga at October 24, 2011 04:10 PM (vjyZP)

4 Now if Valve could just make it easier to get laid we'd all be set.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 04:12 PM (4CSeG)

5 True fact: I was banned from NeoGaf forums for making a "Gabe Newell is fat" joke.

Posted by: Serious Cat at October 24, 2011 04:15 PM (2YIVk)

6 I still pirate the shit out of single-player games. For multiplayer games, like BF3, I will pay.

Posted by: EC at October 24, 2011 04:15 PM (R15UB)

7 Thing that always makes me giggle is that the service uses DRM that gamers hate on any other service but yet Valve has brought so much to Stream to make people forget about it. Gave, if you want old games, GOG is still the place to go. Only them were able to bring the great Baldur's Gate and Planetscape Torment. Oh and Battlefield 3 has one of the worst campaigns of all-time. Makes me pine for the Bad Company story. Luckily the MP is great

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:16 PM (M8yfa)

8 It's a great idea, but I've had so many technical problems that about the only reason I still have Steam at all is a huge investment in games, which are locked into the Steam product. And their customer service is "second to none," as in no technical support at all would be only slightly worse. I'm buying Skyrim somewhere else. Deus Ex, too.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at October 24, 2011 04:18 PM (bxiXv)

9 Steam's mark on the game industry is secure and I have no doubt they are making boatloads of money, but Newell's reasoning doesn't really match the history of game piracy. Most piracy occurred because it became relatively easy to pirate CD's and upload them to torrent sites.

Steam's entire model relies on a proprietary upload service which is an order of magnitude more difficult to crack. They've succeeded because it's easier for the mass market customer to buy a game from Steam than it is for him to d/l and mess around with a cracked version. People still crack and d/l games but they're people who spend hours playing games, programming, and or cracking already. The bulk of the game market is with casual users, not supernerds.

It's similar to the what Jobs did with music and iTunes; they made it easier for bulk of users to d/l and listen to music than it was to steal it.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 24, 2011 04:19 PM (jczFB)

10 Gave, if you want old games, GOG is still the place to go. Only them were able to bring the great Baldur's Gate and Planetscape Torment. Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 08:16 PM (M8yfa) There are mods to run those at high resolution and modern aspect ratios, too.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at October 24, 2011 04:19 PM (bxiXv)

11 Good luck as Skyrim is steamworks

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:20 PM (M8yfa)

12 One of the reasons the industry is pushing everything toward MMOs is because there's little point in pirating them. I used to play a lot of local co-op games with friends, but the supply has dried up, and almost everything is random-internet-asshole based.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at October 24, 2011 04:21 PM (bxiXv)

13 People still crack and d/l games but they're people who spend hours playing games, programming, and or cracking already.

Exactly. Back in college I had time for that BS. Now I just want to be able to click the damn button and play or listen to music or watch the tv show or whatever.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at October 24, 2011 04:22 PM (XVaFd)

14 heh, i have no idea what this post is about, and understand zip of what others are saying.

Posted by: willow-generic republican at October 24, 2011 04:23 PM (h+qn8)

15 think i landed on some tech thing.

Posted by: willow-generic republican at October 24, 2011 04:24 PM (h+qn8)

16 Posted by: willow-generic republican at October 24, 2011 08:23 PM (h+qn

Just nerding the joint up

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:24 PM (M8yfa)

17 >Oh and Battlefield 3 has one of the worst campaigns of all-time. Makes me pine for the Bad Company story. Luckily the MP is great

They should have just left the campaign out. Battlefield has always been about the MP. Now if they would just unlock the damned thing now that they send out emails saying they bumped the release date to today.

Posted by: DanInMN at October 24, 2011 04:24 PM (pI80w)

18 11 Good luck as Skyrim is steamworks Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 08:20 PM (M8yfa) Point being I will have a physical disc and I won't be depending for delivery and (most) support on the doofuses at Steam. Worst case I will use some hack it for offline play. I object to ripping off game companies but not as much to going around intrusive DRM if you paid for it (see MS Gaming Dead (sorry I meant Live), which likes to keep doing crap like randomly stop games from loading and moving savegames around and claiming it can't find them.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at October 24, 2011 04:24 PM (bxiXv)

19 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: steevy at October 24, 2011 04:25 PM (fyOgS)

20 19 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure. Posted by: steevy at October 24, 2011 08:25 PM (fyOgS) That as well.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at October 24, 2011 04:26 PM (bxiXv)

21 PS You can set up an offline account in MS Live, it's hidden in the text (a link) on the setup-an-account screen. That way you can control your savegames and crap, and it doesn't randomly fail to dial home and flake out on you.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at October 24, 2011 04:28 PM (bxiXv)

22 They should have just left the campaign out.Â Battlefield has always been about the MP.Â Now if they would just unlock the damned thing now that they send out emails saying they bumped the release date to today. Just use use a VPN address to get past the date check, it's how me and everyone else unlocked it early this morning.

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:28 PM (M8yfa)

23 Don't know what the policy is now, but as of a couple years ago, you could not re-sell a Valve/Steam game (because you could not transfer the security passwords, or whatever - don't remember the exact mechanics now).

Really pissed me off, because they didn't make that very clear when selling the product. Ordinarily one of the incidents of property is being able to re-sell it. If you want to change the general rule, you ought to put a red flag on it.

So - won't have anything to do with either of them again. Don't pirate games, either. Frankly, they're not making games now that have any interest for me. Too much first-person-shooter stuff; just not my style.

Posted by: Roger at October 24, 2011 04:29 PM (tAwhy)

24 They should have just left the campaign out. Battlefield has always been about the MP. Now if they would just unlock the damned thing now that they send out emails saying they bumped the release date to today.
Posted by: DanInMN

One day you will become tired enough of getting slaughtered 3 seconds after every g-d spawn to regret those words. MP in the latest gen of FP is a lot like work, defeating the point.

The first BF was hella fun; plenty of space, gimpy WWII weapons. After Desert Warfare, shit's become nerve-racking and exhausting.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 24, 2011 04:31 PM (jczFB)

25 23 Don't know what the policy is now, but as of a couple years ago, you could not re-sell a Valve/Steam game (because you could not transfer the security passwords, or whatever - don't remember the exact mechanics now).Â Really pissed me off, because they didn't make that very clear when selling the product.Â Ordinarily one of the incidents of property is being able to re-sell it.Â If you want to change the general rule, you ought to put a red flag on it. So - won't have anything to do with either of them again.Â Don't pirate games, either.Â Frankly, they're not making games now that have any interest for me.Â Too much first-person-shooter stuff; just not my style. Posted by: Roger at October 24, 2011 08:29 PM (tAwhy) Still can't sell games but you haven't been able to resell pc games in a long ass time ever since online cd key checks

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:31 PM (M8yfa)

26 I don't really understand Newell's point. From a pirate's perspective, what kind of service is going to beat "free"?

Posted by: Kensington at October 24, 2011 04:32 PM (uaEZS)

27 I resent the use of the word "pirate." It's Islamophobic. I may be crying at this moment. I prefer "freedom-fighter."

Posted by: Noted 7th-c. throwback Keith Ellison at October 24, 2011 04:32 PM (I2LwF)

28 Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 24, 2011 08:31 PM (jczFB) Or just play ArmA or something like Red Orchestra

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:33 PM (M8yfa)

29 26 I don't really understand Newell's point. From a pirate's perspective, what kind of service is going to beat "free"?

Posted by: Kensington at October 24, 2011 08:32 PM (uaEZS)

Well, a service can beat "free" if "free" comes with a high risk of having a virus assrape your pc. For most people, who are not very computer literate, that risk is quite high.

Posted by: KG at October 24, 2011 04:34 PM (LD21B)

30 One day you will become tired enough of getting slaughtered 3 seconds after every g-d spawn to regret those words. MP in the latest gen of FP is a lot like work, defeating the point.

The first BF was hella fun; plenty of space, gimpy WWII weapons. After Desert Warfare, shit's become nerve-racking and exhausting.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 24, 2011 08:31 PM (jczFB)

Personally, I'm waiting on Planetside 2. The first one was the best FPS ever.

Posted by: KG at October 24, 2011 04:35 PM (LD21B)

31 I had been very skeptical of STEAM until I Had To buy Torchlight last year. It rocks. Not intrusive. You can play most games offline if you feel like it. Reading forums, I'm surprised to see how many people WON'T buy games that aren't on STEAM. Ref old games. Keep an eye on GOG.COM. They have a great selection old, non-drm stuff patched to work on current computers. Occasionally, great sales too.

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 24, 2011 04:35 PM (mGnwL)

32 I play City of Heroes. It's old, but the people are so nice it's almost like it's not even the internet, let alone a MMO. And superheroes are my favorite fascists.

Posted by: Truman North, TPT at October 24, 2011 04:36 PM (I2LwF)

33 Still can't sell games but you haven't been able to resell pc games in a long ass time ever since online cd key checks

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 08:31 PM (M8yfa)

Well, now that you mention it, guess it's been a long ass time since I bought a used game, but it seems to me you could buy the key along with the game - it was on a sticker on the box, or something? They check 'em against IP addies now?

Posted by: Roger at October 24, 2011 04:37 PM (tAwhy)

34 Or just play ArmA or something like Red Orchestra Posted by: The Dude

True, but like the pampered American I am , I want the best of all worlds for $14.95.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 24, 2011 04:37 PM (jczFB)

35 >After Desert Warfare, shit's become nerve-racking and exhausting.

Desert Combat was epic. Probably the most fun I've had in an FPS

>Personally, I'm waiting on Planetside 2. The first one was the best FPS ever.

Planetside was awesome fun in Beta but shortly after release they made some really silly changes that reduced the size of the fights because their engine couldn't handle it. I kinda lost interest after that. But, I'll definitely be giving PS2 a go.

Posted by: DanInMN at October 24, 2011 04:40 PM (pI80w)

36 OT:

That story at Big Hollywood about Jason Segel and The Muppets is all bullshit.

Nobody loves and respects The Muppets more than Jason.

When Big Hollywood fucks up a movie review or movie story, they really go balls out.

That is all.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 04:41 PM (4CSeG)

37 > 10 Gave, if you want old games, GOG is still the place to go. Only them were able to bring the great Baldur's Gate and Planetscape Torment. Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 08:16 PM (M8yfa) There are mods to run those at high resolution and modern aspect ratios, too. Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith a Yes, and they have detailed patching instructions and links on the GOG forurms for all the old bioware RPGS. It's great!

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 24, 2011 04:41 PM (mGnwL)

38 There's an infographic dealie out there of the flowcharts for watching pirated movies vs. DVDs.

The DVDs have unskippable trailers, FBI warnings, ads, etc. before you can get the menu to select the movie. The pirate version plays immediately.

That right there irritates people already.

Posted by: Lance McCormick at October 24, 2011 04:42 PM (/D8ux)

39 That story at Big Hollywood about Jason Segel and The Muppets is all bullshit. Posted by: sifty

Who's Jason Segel?

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 24, 2011 04:42 PM (jczFB)

40 This is all gamer techno gibberish to me but, I'm certain it's very important.

Posted by: Barbarian at October 24, 2011 04:43 PM (EL+OC)

41 Personally, I'm waiting on Planetside 2. The first one was the best FPS ever.

Planetside was amazingly fun for its time. Then they started monkeying with it and turned it into a hot mess.
Still a terrific concept.

FPS and multiplayer in general is getting unbearable. 14yo kids with foul mouths, the reflexes of ninjas and the social skills of a hippo.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 04:44 PM (4CSeG)

42 > 23 Don't know what the policy is now, but as of a couple years ago, you could not re-sell a Valve/Steam game Really pissed me off, because they didn't make that very clear when selling the product. Ordinarily one of the incidents of property is being able to re-sell it. If you want to change the general rule, you ought to put a red flag on it. Posted by: Roger Yeah, that's annoying. I get around it by only buying games on DEEP sale. I have enough games that I can be very patient when waiting for a sale.

Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 24, 2011 04:44 PM (mGnwL)

43 Love the black isle gems.

Posted by: TomH at October 24, 2011 04:44 PM (DP9tn)

44 Who's Jason Segel?

He's in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and some other stuff. Also on tv show How I Met Your Mother.

Genuinely cool guy in a town full of assholes.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 04:45 PM (4CSeG)

45
Planetside was amazingly fun for its time. Then they started monkeying with it and turned it into a hot mess.
Still a terrific concept.

FPS and multiplayer in general is getting unbearable. 14yo kids with foul mouths, the reflexes of ninjas and the social skills of a hippo.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 08:44 PM (4CSeG)

Yes, they sure did monkey with it, and ofc there's the fear that they will do it again. I really, really hope not, because I'm dying for a massive combined arms game, damnit.

Also, a great thing about PS was that due to the sheer number of players involved, griefers and assholes did not have as big an impact on things as they can in the smaller matches in other FPS's.

Posted by: KG at October 24, 2011 04:46 PM (LD21B)

46 Posted by: TomH at October 24, 2011 08:44 PM (DP9tn). Love the fact that they've finally pretty much completely reformed under Obsidian

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:46 PM (M8yfa)

47 This is all gamer techno gibberish to me but, I'm certain it's very important.
Posted by: Barbarian

It's a multi-billion dollar industry!!!eleventy! You have to acknowledge our pseudo-hobby aka time spend on things embarrassingly unproductive!!~

Posted by: man children ev'rywhere at October 24, 2011 04:48 PM (jczFB)

48 I hope they add a new circle of Hell for griefers and hackers.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 04:49 PM (4CSeG)

49 Meh. Steam won't run on my trusty Mac mini.

Posted by: Anachronda at October 24, 2011 04:49 PM (6fER6)

50 I use to play Counter Strike... all... the.... time.

Posted by: AndrewsDad at October 24, 2011 04:50 PM (C2//T)

51 Griefing is fun though on a smurf account in LoL

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:50 PM (M8yfa)

52 Griefing is fun though on a smurf account in LoL Posted by: The Dude

BAN HIM. NOW!

Posted by: man children ev'rywhere at October 24, 2011 04:51 PM (jczFB)

53 aka time spend on things embarrassingly unproductive!!~

Not everybody can tie flies or carve wooden ducks like productive people.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 04:52 PM (4CSeG)

54 I use to play Counter Strike... all... the.... time.

EC kills AndrewsDad * with a headshot * using MP5navy

Posted by: EC at October 24, 2011 04:53 PM (R15UB)

Posted by: KG at October 24, 2011 08:46 PM (LD21B)

WWII Online was the only good massive Combined Arms game I played... but it got frustrating once they made it so infantry could Frag tanks, and with a 32 enemy limit that you could see (due to bandwidth they said), infantry swarms became ridiculous...

But early on there were some EPIC battles... with Armor, Air, Anti Tank guns, and the German invasion of France...

And of course... the politics of high command with organized units of players in the hundreds....

Posted by: Romeo13 at October 24, 2011 04:55 PM (NtXW4)

56 The new Team Fortress version blew my mind.

I had all the old characters/weapons/attacks down pat.

I tried the new version and I had my butt handed to me on a paper plate.

Like Gabe sorta said, I got no time to be learning all sorts of new BS.

Posted by: TXMarko at October 24, 2011 04:56 PM (2qhB0)

57 When everything works as it should in a combined arms game it is the most fun in gaming. When it falls down, it is time better spent slamming the wiener in the sliding glass door.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 04:57 PM (4CSeG)

58 Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 08:52 PM (4CSeG) Of course as someone who actually has carved ducks, it's not actually productive at least on a cost productive point

Posted by: The Dude at October 24, 2011 04:58 PM (M8yfa)

59 And nowadays everyone just has a sniper rifle and kills me .05 seconds after spawn from seven miles away.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 04:58 PM (4CSeG)

60 Not everybody can tie flies or carve wooden ducks like productive people.
Posted by: sifty

Thanks for the idea, sucker!

Posted by: EA Sports at October 24, 2011 04:59 PM (jczFB)

61 Posted by: Romeo13 at October 24, 2011 08:55 PM (NtXW4)

The things I heard about that game kept me away. But seriously, 32 enemy limit to see? In Planetside you could have hundreds swarming around the base, and see them all.

Posted by: KG at October 24, 2011 05:00 PM (LD21B)

62 Oh, sifty, did you know that the head of development for PS2 is a griefer himself?

Posted by: KG at October 24, 2011 05:00 PM (LD21B)

63 If I tried to carve a duck he's probably take the knife away and cut me with it. I'm a terrible redneck. Can't whittle for shit.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 05:01 PM (4CSeG)

64 Oh, sifty, did you know that the head of development for PS2 is a griefer himself?

Well fuck him too.

Posted by: sifty at October 24, 2011 05:01 PM (4CSeG)

65 I know, I couldn't believe he actually let it out in an interview that he enjoys griefing and spawn camping. Made me nervous, I gotta say.

Posted by: KG at October 24, 2011 05:03 PM (LD21B)

66 HL Death match... hours lost... good times! But there is an Anime/Manga site that is beating free. Seems they release the Japanese Original immediately after it plays in Japan (with subtitles for US audiences) (You pay for immediate) or you get it free in a short period of time. The site gets early release (have to translate) subscribers get early viewing. Everyone sees it soon. And it wins because the product is better than free. They killed the pirate market for stuff this site puts forward. Story was on Ars Techinca a few months ago. I can research if anyone cares, but I thought it interesting that there is something better than free. Oh, it's an American that started the site as well.

Posted by: JNO Aubrey at October 24, 2011 05:04 PM (UP4y6)

67 51 Griefing is fun though on a smurf account in LoL

WTF does that mean? I guess it's all that shit that I hate about multiplayer games. So far, the only multiplayer that I've found fun was Resistance 2 'cause the 30 man teams make it too hard for one person (or a few) to dominate. Now they've gone back to the shitty 8 man teams and if you get a few punks, it's unbearable.

Posted by: jimmuy at October 24, 2011 05:14 PM (hROVJ)

68 I don't know, man. It's tough to compete with free.

Posted by: Arms Merchant at October 24, 2011 05:14 PM (+XVQe)

69 My only complaint with Steam( and Kindle ) is that digitial distribution should be cheaper than the boxed copy and in most cases it isn't. I have the liability that if Steam locks me out I lose all my games but have no benefit ( other than install-now type functionality ).

Posted by: DavidM at October 24, 2011 05:19 PM (u+I8b)

70 I hope you never stop! This is one of the best blogs Ive ever read. Youve got some mad skill here, man. I just hope that you dont lose your style because youre definitely one of the coolest bloggers out there. Please keep it up because the internet needs someone like you spreading the word.

Posted by: The Magical Christmas Horse ePub at October 24, 2011 05:32 PM (kplp3)

71 My only complaint with Steam( and Kindle ) is that digitial distribution should be cheaper than the boxed copy and in most cases it isn't. Posted by: DavidM

If you wait for the sales it's much cheaper. Fallout 3 six months after release: $25.

I have the liability that if Steam locks me out I lose all my games but have no benefit ( other than install-now type functionality ).

Haven't heard of that happening except for those that have copies of other games and torrent loaders on their system.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at October 24, 2011 05:37 PM (jczFB)

72
That is useful information and its quite easy to come a croper if you are not vigilant.

Posted by: 1Q84 epub at October 24, 2011 06:21 PM (1mVin)

73 YouÂ’re a very skilled blogger. I have joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more of your magnificent post. Also, IÂ’ve shared your site in my social networks!

Posted by: The Scorpio Races epub at October 24, 2011 06:41 PM (Z93nW)

For those wondering why piracy is not prefered over paying; it's because piracy takes a lot of time. Well, unless you don't worry about a person who can hack a professional video game finding a way to stuff it with a virus or trojan to infect your machine. Actually, I used to not care, by using a virtual machine; but it still is an effort that can be used in a more productive and paying manner.

I play steam almost exclusively now. I really like it, but have two complaints. I like their update system, but its annoying to have provide down time to let steam update a game. It would be nice if it would update when I'm playing a single player game.

My biggest complaint is lack of a return policy, particularly for older games. I like Railroad Tycoon. I purchased it only to find it won't run on Win7 and steam. It would be nice if that was clearly labeled at purchase, but alas, it's hidden in the forums. Apparently, I can not get my money back since I download the game, but I didn't know it wouldn't work until after it was downloaded. Fortunately, it was a very cheap lesson.

I thought I learned my lesson on BF2. I didn't. Some friends convinced me to buy Bad Company 2. Now I learned my lesson. If I want to play a shooter, I'll play TF2.

Posted by: Leland at October 24, 2011 06:55 PM (i6I1S)

75 Yep! I was agreed, I'll keep in touch to your blog.

Posted by: Destined ePub at October 24, 2011 08:10 PM (MFNBL)

-"Russia now outside of Germany is our largest continental European market," said Newell"-

Russia isn't part of Europe, it's part of Asia. Russians aren't Europeans they're Asians, that's why they do so much pirating and knockoffs.

Posted by: Speller at October 24, 2011 08:43 PM (J74Py)

77 You didn't by chance happen to ask an important question like "Where the hell is Half Life "3 did you?

Posted by: KLH68 at October 24, 2011 09:40 PM (AtCn2)

78 Dead on, gabe. Couldn't have said it better.

Posted by: thirtyandseven at October 24, 2011 10:59 PM (3ss2i)

79 #26

There is more than one definition of free.

Something that costs no money but takes up considerable time before it can be enjoyed is not free, unless you are one of those who places value on the perception of getting away with something.

In the 8-bit and 16-bit eras I pirated stuff like crazy. I had massive collections of stuff for the Atari 800 and Amiga. Ultimately, between buying tons of blank floppies and paying token amounts for stuff I scarcely used after the first glance, I ended spending more than if I'd been forced to only go with legit purchases. And I also might have focused more on the practical side of things and increased my employment prospects. A great regret of mine is back in the early 90s, a friend had spend a bunch of money on a home study CNE course. Back when that was a real career starter. He gave up on it but before then I'd helped him study and found it was pretty easy with my existing knowledge of computer stuff. I could have bought the material off of him for cheap and pursued it myself, gaining a footing in IT years earlier than I did and been in a good position to adapt as the product focus shifted.

But I had a big pile of pirated games to play when I wasn't at my bookstore job.

Nowadays, I have a massive backlog of console games but none are pirated. If you aren't in a hurry to play the latest thing, it all eventually turns up really cheap on blowout sales. My average cost for games is under $15. I've got games for the PS1 I still haven't gotten to yet, never mind the pile for the Xbox 360 and PS3. So, if I don't get around to Arkham City for a few years, that isn't a problem. It will still be new to me.

The biggest problem is mustering the motivation. If I'm working I'm often too tired to play when I get home. If I'm not working I'm too elf-conscious to be seen playing games. I still enjoy them but such is being a grown-up. Not sure when that happened...

Posted by: epobirs at October 24, 2011 11:40 PM (kcfmt)

80 I read an article a while back that Steam is thought to earn more revenue per employee than Google. Here is a decent Forbes article on him: http://preview.tinyurl.com/3nfwtct http://tinyurl.com/3nfwtct Gabe is a bit of a tool, but he is laughing all the way to the bank. Give us Episode 3 you glorious fat bastard!!

Posted by: Yakman at October 25, 2011 03:51 AM (tDFOl)

Yay Steam!

Still CS:S-ing it.

Got a clan 50+ in size.

LBM clan

2 Game Servers

63.209.33.157:27015

209.247.83.56:27015

Still good times for only $20 or less to buy the game.

Today, still worth every penny I spent way back in 1999.

Posted by: Dadof3 at October 25, 2011 05:08 AM (jY6b9)

82 I used to grab the occasional song from Limewire because it was so easy. Now that its gone the easiest thing to do is just go to iTunes, pay the few cents and boom the song is yours. Clean, easy to search and no worries about the quality of the download or viruses, etc.

Posted by: matt at October 25, 2011 06:27 AM (CxaQf)

He's absolutely right. Anybody remember Lotus 1-2-3? It absolutely dominated the spreadsheet industry, with over 90% of the market, and was copied shamelessly. The beginning of the end was when they implemented copy protection, and their market share went down precipitously after that. Now, no one who wasn't around back then even knows what 1-2-3 was.

I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Lotus leaving the field by implementing copy protection made room for some innovative replacements (Quattro, anyone? And yes, even Excel) and sealed their doom.

Not that I personally like Steam, but he's right on this point.

Posted by: West at October 25, 2011 06:40 AM (1Rgee)

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Posted by: doumaduo at October 27, 2011 05:57 AM (7Mpa3)

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