
EA's new motto: please pirate our games... er, storefronts - vaksel
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/06/eas-new-motto-please-pirate-our-games-er-storefronts.ars
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Tichy
Wouldn't it be easier to give the game away for free? Lots of MMORPGs have
taken that approach successfully.

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jm4
"Lot's" is not the plural of "lot". The apostrophe indicates possession. The
plural of "lot" would be "lots". I'm not trying to be a dick, but this is a
particularly obvious mistake and one that I see here and elsewhere many times
every day. I'm sure I'll get modded down because no one likes a grammar nazi
and this is completely off-topic, but I'm going to justify my complaint by
pointing out that elementary grammar mistakes do not look good online, in
professional correspondence or in VC applications.

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die_sekte
I think it's time to rethink "lots". If lots of people are using "lot's" as a
plural of "lot", then why shouldn't that be valid? Language, after all, is not
static and if enough people use a new word or a new construction, the language
changes.

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zimbabwe
Wow, you got downvoted hard.

I disagree with you because in this case, it's a matter of semantic
structuring. The language should be free to change, but only when it doesn't
conflict with how the language functions. In this case, "lot's" would kill how
parts of the language is interpreted, and changing it would offer no clear
structuring for the two various "lots" usages.

There are some exceptions - I, for instance, don't mind people who use
abbreviations like "u" since they make sense contextually, and while something
like "lol" is overused I think you could make an argument saying "lol" has
become a usable verb or even a noun in the English language ("lolled" is also
very fun to say out loud).

In your case, however, I've got to disagree, though I don't know why people
saw fit to downvote you that hard. Perhaps it's because you opened with a
definitive-sounding statement before raising arguments in support, though that
seems a bit kneejerk.

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die_sekte
I'm tempted to say that HN is ruled by grammar nazis (or prescriptive
linguists, if you prefer) who don't respond particularly well to the fact that
language evolves which was what I was trying to say.

About the semantic structuring: Valid point, but people (who are ultimately
responsible for language change) tend to ignore such things.

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davidcelis
EA failed. All of the updates and add-ons (Sims 3 store additional content
that costs $$ to buy) were uploaded to torrents as well. They think that
pirates will still have to spend money on the game. They won't.

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steveklabnik
This doesn't mean they've failed. In fact, that happening is inevitable. The
key is in the quote: "I think we've out-serviced the pirates." Finally,
someone pays attention to what Steve Jobs has been saying for years.

It's all in your ways of thinking: The reality of the situation is that
someone will aways be able to pirate what you're selling. Okay. Once we get
over that hurdle, we can start thinking about how to move forward: you have to
compete with free. See, If Company A sells something for $50, and Comapny B
sells it for $5, it's pretty common wisdom that A had better have one hell of
a good value proposition, as they're charging 10x the price. And if they do,
they'll still have customers. Now, let's take those prices and chop off $5 on
both sides: Comapny A sells for $45, and Company B sells for free. The same
wisdom applies: Company A had better be adding lots of value, because they're
charging infinitely more.

Even though EA's stuff _can_ be pirated, it doesn't mean that it will be. If
it's easier and simpler to pull out my wallet than pull up the Pirate Bay, the
company will get my business. iTMS is a great example of this. High quality
audio, reasonable price, no fear of viruses, you can always find what you want
without waiting for more seeders, etc. And that's the key. Yeah, it's not that
hard to torrent things for us, but what about my grandparents? My parents? My
non-technically minded siblings? At some point, your time is worth more than
the cost of the product, and that's when you end up paying for things.

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defunkt
Totally agree... I know many people who pay for music but not movies.

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LogicHoleFlaw
Piracy + microtransactions could be a win for both game publishers and game
players. That industry is wrestling with finding new revenue models because
retail box sales become less viable by the day.

A service offering microtransaction billing and payment services which can be
easily integrated as middleware into new games could make a killing.

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nkassis
I agree, in the end, I wish more games were offered free with extensions to it
available for a fee. In the end those that really like it will more then
outweigh the casual gamers who would pirate the game anyway. Similar to how
the majority of Americans read less than a book a year while avid readers will
read more than 5.

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PebblesRox
I think most avid readers read well over 5 books in a year. When I've been to
the library, I sometimes read two books in one day.

