So, I’ve been thinking a lot about game piracy lately, and how a system could be created that would minimize or eliminate the need for DRM or other systems that restrict a user’s ability to play and share a game. Here’s one of my ideas…
Perhaps, once a game is sold it should really be sold. Not licensed to the user, but given to them to do whatever they wanted to with it. The obvious problem with this plan is that you can’t make money off of selling just one copy. However, in this system you’re not selling copies anymore – you’re selling the game itself, at a much higher price.
Obviously, you can’t get a single person to buy a game for $300,000, so you would hold the game “hostage” – not selling it until you raised enough money.
Again, there are disadvantages to this system. You’re giving up the opportunity to make more money than you originally hold the game hostage for, not to mention that people who pay for the game don’t get it right away. I think that perhaps the advantages of letting people indulge in their giving nature and not inhibiting gameplay with DRM might be worth it, though.
I intend to experiment with this plan with a personal game project (which may or may not show up on this blog soon – stay tuned), and although I know this idea needs work, I would ask that you give it some thought before hitting the “back” button in your web browser.
[...] 11, 2008 by clean3d As you may have guessed from my previous post, I have some concerns about the way videogame manufacturers are currently marketing their products, [...]
[...] way out of Swamp DRM Posted by clean3d under Game making My last blog post on “hostage gaming” was very sketchy and rough. Talking to several people about this plan and thinking about it [...]