This is the right attitude towards piracy. Pirate it first, then pay if you feel it was worth it.
Literally never heard of it but the dev thinks if I get it for free I will want to give him money. It shows a level of confidence in the product that encourages me want to check it out.
It’s well-deserved confidence. The game alone would have been intriguing with just the sheer amount of choice that’s available, but the fact that it’s all excellently voiced is icing on the truly delicious cake. It’s one of those games that probably will only keep your attention for one or two full playthroughs, but those playthroughs will definitely be different for every person. If you want to give it a shot during the Summer Sale, you can finish at least the first part of a playthrough well under the refund time for Steam, in case it’s not your kind of game.
It was good enough that I didn’t even wait for a sale. I pirated it, then found it worthy of my immediate purchase the moment I had the spare funds. And on top of that, my entire exposure to it was word of mouth from a friend. You can’t go wrong just trying it!
I saw some previous news coverage of the Devs saying they’d rather players pirate it than have it spoiled for them, and I went in blind and bought it full price. I don’t generally play this kind of game but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Their other game is on par or even better. Check that out if you dig Slay the Princess.
Also if the alternative was “no money, still can’t buy the game” then they are losing no money in the process anyway.
That doesn’t entitle someone to their time and effort, though.
But it doesn’t cost their time and effort. Time and effort has already been spent, and as a result, the media exists. Someone playing a copy of the game has no effect on the developer (except maybe advertising).
It’s not about cost. Their time and talent have value. They should be rewarded for that time and talent.
Yes they should. Unfortunately, we live in a very unequal world, so a lot of people don’t have any way to reward artists for their work. In those cases, the most they can give is attention and word-of-mouth advertising. Often, thats better than buying it, considering how frequently you have corporate owners who force the artists out and/or destroy the game shortly after its published. At least in those cases, the artist gets something rather than it all going to an already-rich investor.
If I believed that even half of the people that pirated these games couldn’t afford them, I’d agree with you. The reality is that most digital piracy is perpetuated by people who are well-off and have lots of tech, access to broadband internet, and high-end gaming computers.
The reality is that most digital piracy is perpetuated by people who are well-off and have lots of tech, access to broadband internet, and high-end gaming computers.
Yes, piracy is for rich people who should just be buying games. Thats why we only see it in places like Western Europe and North America, whereas places like Brazil and Russia just buy all their games. Thats why in these places, they have N64s in every house to support companies making great games like Rareware, unlike filfthy pirates in the rich countries. If the rich first-worlders would stop being greedy and just pony up a few hundred in microtransactions a month during this economic crisis, then publishers wouldn’t have to remove games from your library as often.
I don’t fully disagree with you. I personally don’t pirate things (I can afford to just pay up front, and if I don’t want to support a dev, I just fully don’t play the game, I don’t want to accidentally be lumped into any metrics that might show support), but the game dev themselves said “No skin off our back”.
If I steal your car, you no longer have a car. If I steal your game, you’ve lost absolutely nothing. Code is infinitely reproducible. You’re only out the sale.
This dev made art, and they care more about sharing the art they created with more people, than they do about getting every last transaction paid for.
It’s usually the publisher that has strong opinions about this, because they didn’t make the art nor do they care about people seeing it. they only care about getting the money, but again, if you can’t afford it, they were never going to get your money anyway. It’s technically a victimless crime. No skin off anyone’s back.
The issue is when enough people who CAN afford to pay use the “no skin off their back” logic to not pay, and a good game winds up not being profitable (or profitable enough to the publisher) and a studio suffers as a result.
That’s not where I’m coming from. The “you’ve lost nothing” excuse is just an excuse. These people put their time, money, and talent into their games and people who are entitled and can afford to buy them don’t. My company made a game before and people played it for weeks and pirated it. Some of our top players by time were people who pirated the game. You can’t tell me that the game isn’t worth paying for if you’re spending that much time playing it. Some devs can get to the point of where Slay the Princess is and the actual sales can sustain the company and so the minimal pirating just encourages word of mouth sales. Most game devs don’t have that luxury. They’re trying to make a living and sustain themselves and entitled shits are leeching off their time and effort.
If you enjoy something, pay for it. Otherwise, you’re voting with your wallet for the wrong things.
Demos are almost completely gone, so make your own demos :) but still feel free to actually pirate from ea, Ubisoft, Sony, etc
Despite some of my objections, I almost feel like you have to pirate Ubisoft games. Their launcher ruins nearly every single Ubisoft game I’ve played and makes the games crashy, unplayable messes even when the games themselves are enjoyable.
Yeah there are a few games that you can try the demo on Steam but you’d think that’d be a more common thing. With full digital, it’s even easier then the old shareware methods
That’s exactly how I did it. A friend of mine got me interested in the premise, but I just couldn’t afford to buy it. So I pirated it… And the moment I had the spare funds, this was one of the games I pirated that I instantly bought among a few others like Dead Cells and Halls of Torment. The devs of Slay the Princess know they have something good enough to convince folks to buy it even when they have it for free, no strings attached. And they’re right.
Then you’re one of the good ones.
Unfortunately most do not have the decency to pay for something after already receiving it.
“I already beat the game, why would I pay for it?” This must be especially common for big AAA games too.
I know it exists, but I’m so happy to buy a game I’ve played and finish. Pyre, Transistor, A story beside and so many others. Just as a “Thank you”.
P. S. : of you people didn’t know about it, check A Story Beside. One of the games I’ll never forget.
Well most of those people wouldn’t have bought it anyway
Yes, and, also unfortunately, people here will bend over backwards to justify it.
Devs like that really make me want to buy the game, I wasn’t too interested because I’m not a fan of the genre but I will now look into it
Also check out Ultrakill If you haven’t, awesome devs with the same mentality
It certainly needs to be played, one way or another.
It’s a great game. The devs seem really chill on their discord server. I highly suggest people try this game out even if visual novels aren’t your usual genre of games.
I walked into this game not knowing much, and the simple premise hooked me. Played it and loved the time I spent with it. Absolute gem of a game. Story was good overall, the voice acting was fantastic, and the gameplay loop was short enough to allow me time to play it in short bursts when I had time.
I watched Mark’s video the other day. The game is awesome.
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