Who said anything about forcing anyone's hand? I'm just putting the idea out there. Either someone takes it and runs with it or they don't. If not, I may have to do it myself. That happens. Blizzard didn't want to support the 360 controller so I learned how to code an AHK script that maps keys to clicks on the screen (that was the easy part, the hard part was then creating one that uses no key remaps so it would work with Xpadder). I now have a 4 key, 8 direction script with isometrically aligned diagonals and off-recentering so you continue to face the same direction on release. And then the superior PS3 version hit. But it wasn't completely pointless. It works great with Diablo II and Torchlight 2, with some slight modifications. Now, if only AHK scripts were marketable. I will do it if I get frustrated enough. It's just going to take me longer starting from scratch. I'm planning to send Gateway an e-mail as well. Maybe they'll fix it, and maybe not. But I won't know if I don't ask.
You've never heard of the Quake Shareware CD, and it's obvious. You haven't even heard of shareware. It's not the same thing as freeware. It's gives you, say, the first episode of an FPS, and then expects you to buy the rest. Not quite the full game, but much more than you get from the typical demo. The original Doom and Heretic were marketed this way, ergo they have more than one episode (the first episode being included in the shareware release, the rest being commercial only). Doom II and Hexen were not marketed this way, being post-name-brand-establishment sequels, and therefore only have one episode. It's not surprising you haven't heard of shareware though. This infamous CD I'm referring to practically ended it. It practically died alongside DOS (just like the golden age of PC gaming).
Quake was a new game back when this occurred. And it was not the shareware version I was running The Quake Shareware CD announced a new method of marketing software from id Software. A bad one for the consumer. You called them, got a one time use code, and it decrypted the game. Once. They didn't send you a CD, they didn't keep a record, your hard drive crashes, you need to spend another $40. Just bad marketing. They also severely underestimated the capacity of the cracking scene. You see, it wasn't just the full version of Quake that was encrypted on that CD, it was their entire software catalog! They should have known better. The crack was swift in coming, and morally justified in light of the consumer's need to protect their purchase. Not that I ripped off their entire catalog. I couldn't. Prior to that, I had purchased almost everything they made. I still have my original Doom, Doom 2, Heretic, and Hexen CDs right here. In fact, I've got original CDs here of Quake II and all of the expansions. id Software just pissed me off with their screw-the-customer attitude on the first one, so I never bought it.
The point is, I offered to let my friend borrow the most infamous cracked CD in history, and a copy of the crack. He instead opted to go out and buy the retail Quake CD the next day. Craziest thing I had ever seen at the time. I have since realized that humanity is basically good. If we were basically evil like most religions claim, Gotham wouldn't be fiction, it would be a reality series. Anyway it proves my point. Most people will do the right thing. Some sooner than others. Those that won't, well, like I said, you're never going to force freeloaders to spend money. You stop people from getting your game for free, they just move onto the next one. And then all their non-freeloading friends buy THAT game instead of yours. Unless they're the gambling type that buys something unseen. Most people learn about what's new from their tech friends, most of which are fair users.
Who said anything about the MP3 format? MP3s didn't even exist when Metallica was getting started. Back then we had these things called tapes. And yes, bootleg tapes are what made them. Their stuff got circulated so much by the underground scene that people were listening to tapes that were more hiss than music, and loving it. Personally, I thought "Death Magnetic" was good once I got a non-brickwalled copy (Rick did almost ruin it though, he should leave the sound engineering to professionals that aren't suffering from hearing loss, like he apparently is). But to each their own. Just using an example of how even professional musicians admit that people spreading their work helped them. But fine, how about Trent Reznor. He all out encourages people to download his music, because most of his profit comes from live performances. Now there's someone that knows their business. Trent knows that anything that gets his music played in front of more people is good for his popularity, and will ultimately make him more money.
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