You want to know why? Pirates give indie game dev an earful

Piracy is a popular excuse for poor-selling PC games, and while the issue is discussed in the gaming press and between developers nearly endlessly, not much changes. The developers and publishers still use annoying forms of DRM, the pirates still crack the games within hours, and people who aren't interested in the status quo are rarely listened to. Cliff Harris, an independent game developer with Positech Games, actually did something about it: he asked the pirates directly why they do what they do. The story gained much attention, and while the answers he received weren't very surprising, at least they opened a dialog. Perhaps the most noteworthy thing is the number of responses. "It seems a lot of people have waited a long time to tell a game developer the answer to this question," Harris wrote on his blog. 

Here's why 

The answers seemed to fall into one of six categories:

1. The information wants to/free anarchists think copyright shouldn't exist.
2. Games are too expensive.
3. The quality of gaming is too uneven.
4. DRM is hurting the legitimate customers.
5. Going to the shops is annoying.
6. Because piracy is easy to do with low risk for getting caught..

Most of these issues are well-known complaints and/or justifications for piracy. What everyone wants to learn is how to turn these pirates into gamers who are willing to pay for their entertainment. The easiest way, according to these respondents? Remove DRM, or at least dial it way down. "This was expected, but whereas many pirates who debate the issue online are often abusive and aggressive on the topic, most of the DRM complaints were reasonable and well put," Harris explained. "People don't like DRM; we knew that, but the extent to which DRM is turning away people who have no other complaints is possibly misunderstood. If you wanted to change ONE thing to get more pirates to buy games, scrapping DRM is it. These gamers are the low-hanging fruit of this whole debate." 

This is worth saying again, and hopefully more publishers listen. In many cases DRM ensures that pirates get the superior version of the game, while people who purchased the boxed game have to put up with annoying piracy counter-measures. This issue became even more surreal last month when Ubisoft used an actual crack from the piracy scene to "fix" an issue customers were having with Rainbow Six Vegas 2. The truth is that as long as DRM hurts gamers while pirates enjoy more stable releases, there will always be an incentive to steal. 

The challenge for developers and publishers is to now listen to these reasons, and find a way to address the more reasonable complaints (I don't suspect #1 will resonate much with developers). If there is a spike in sales shown, then maybe things like lower prices and the convenience of digital distribution will catch on. You can't end piracy, but if you make the act of buying and playing games less painful, you might be able to minimize its impact. 

Real movement 

For Chris Harris, the revelations were worth the time it took to read the masses of e-mails and comments, and the action taken has been swift. "I've read enough otherwise honest people complain about DRM to see that its probably hurting more than it helps. I had planned on using the same system for Kudos 2, but I've changed my mind on that. I have also removed it from Democracy 2 today. I now use no DRM at all."

This experiment will also result in a lower price for his games—after an internal struggle. "Enough people out there see price as a factor to change my mind. I halved the price of Kudos 1 a few days ago, to $9.95. I'll keep an eye on how it does. I'm also strongly inclined to price Kudos 2 lower than I originally planned to."

Harris doesn't have much hope for the industry at large. "Doubtless there will be more FPS games requiring mainframes to run them, more games with Securom, games with no demos, or games with all glitz and no gameplay. I wish this wasn't the case, and that the devs could listen more to their potential customers, and that the pirates could listen more to the devs rather than abusing them. I don't think that's going to happen." 

If enough people give this story coverage, if Harris' games see a bump in sales, if it gets a few people thinking about these issues... it's still possible to see positive change. If nothing else, the smaller games like those Harris creates can perhaps benefit from this conversation. "I'll never make millions from [games], but I think now I know more about why pirates do what they do, I'll be in a better position to keep doing what I wanted, which is making games for the PC."