What Happens When a Developer Catches You Pirating Its Game

Articles like this one is why I love reading Patrick's stories on Giant Bomb. It's an interesting conversation and definitely a better approach at talking to the player, it seems (at least from his tweets) that he's learned his lesson.

I don't do it anymore, but I used to pirate CDs that weren't out yet because I was so excited I couldn't wait. I would still buy the album though, even if it was disappointing.

@pimblycharles said:

@hammondoftexas said:

Didn't Alan Wake put an eye patch on your character if you pirated it?

I haven't heard of this one, so I did a bit of research, and turns out they did. (source)

Own it on 360 and PC, but I may just pirate it now to have that model. Unless theres an unlock or cheat to put it in

So does this mean that Saikyo isn't the greatest discipline in the world?! My life is ruined!

This comment makes me angry.

This kind of thing is a really bad idea unless the developer makes it painfully obvious that the cause is that the game knows it is pirated. Otherwise it will only make the people who "TryBeforeBuy" start spreading word of mouth that the game is broken/buggy witch will not only make that person definitely not pay for it but also other potential buyers. Which is just bad business.

@patrickklepek I really liked the layout of this article. Having your text (which stands alone as an article) interspersed with the embedded tweets gave the whole piece a really nice flow. Simple and effective!

@patrickklepek Thank you for outlining the basics and benefits of healthy communication. I am not being sarcastic, I really appreciate the frank and unpatronizing way in which you talk to people about talking to people. You're also showing all of us that open and honest communication is functional, instead of just promoting the idea that it should, which in my experience is much better.

Dan Hibiki, this sort of shit is why you're a joke character.

@somedelicook said:

@pimblycharles said:

@hammondoftexas said:

Didn't Alan Wake put an eye patch on your character if you pirated it?

I haven't heard of this one, so I did a bit of research, and turns out they did. (source)

Own it on 360 and PC, but I may just pirate it now to have that model. Unless theres an unlock or cheat to put it in

It's one of my favourite games of all time, why would they have something as funny/cool as that just for pirates?! Or does the game additionally not work, too?

I don't think that was actually an anti-piracy measure and was just more of a Kojima thing. I mean the game read my memory card and asked me to stick my controller in port 2, you know. Even in 1998 you could still hop online and find various resources about video game codes and strategy guides.

Even In 1998 IGN and Gamespot was a thing I used for codes and tips.

Actually, it was one of many callbacks to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which used a very similar trick.

Yeah you're probably right, actually. I expect Kojima just thought it was a funny thing to do. It did stop my aunt and uncle from playing their pirated copy though haha.

he already bought it on ps3 so why doesn't he just play it there?

Of course. I had actually read up on that at some point and totally forgotten. Thanks for the reminder.

@assinass said:

@somedelicook said:

@pimblycharles said:

@hammondoftexas said:

Didn't Alan Wake put an eye patch on your character if you pirated it?

I haven't heard of this one, so I did a bit of research, and turns out they did. (source)

Own it on 360 and PC, but I may just pirate it now to have that model. Unless theres an unlock or cheat to put it in

It's one of my favourite games of all time, why would they have something as funny/cool as that just for pirates?! Or does the game additionally not work, too?

The game worked fine except for the eye-patch thing. I didn't pirate it, no, but the story made the rounds.

They were criticized for giving pirates what people saw as 'bonus content', but I thought it was funny and did no real harm. No one is going to download Alan Wake and maybe get drafted into a fat botnet via a dodgy crack just to wear an eyepatch in a game they otherwise were going to purchase. At least, I hope not.

Woulda been cool if the eyepatch was just lying around in the game and you could pick it up and put it on, but eh.

@kaiunderneath: @video_game_king: I actually thought it was quite funny when the psx digital version came out on psn and all of a sudden a new generation of gamers had the "wtf does Meryl mean by back of the box" epiphany. It sucks for them cause there was no back of the box.

@i_stay_puft: I was totally just looking that up on Google. Hilarious.

Stuff like this gives me hope for the internet.

I agree that it'd be crazy for someone to pirate Alan Wake just for the eye patch. It's so cheap on PC and Remedy goes above and beyond for their PC users. Just look at all the crazy stuff they allow you to do with the engine in game and constantly being vocal, honest and enthusiastic to their fans on their forums.

It is a little silly that it feels like people who purchased it are missing out on something, but are we really? It's just one little customization, though a really funny one at that.

I wonder if this was intentional by Lab Zero Games to reach out to people who pirated the game in a personal, yet reasonable manner to hopefully convince some to purchase it. That would be really clever.

It's nice that the developer had a pretty cool head about it.

Excellent work as always, Patrick!

I don't get why developers don't just program anti-piracy measures into games like Batman Arkham Asylum or Game Dev Story. Seems like it would be preferred to DRM and might actually get some funny stories and publicity out of it. That and the thieves won't be able to finish the game.

How can they program in weird things like this but not program the game to just lock up to prevent piracy all together?

I think stopping a good number of amateurs would be better than the hassle that legitimate customers have to deal with. I think the only time DRM is effective is when there is an online component to a game. Single player DRM typically results in annoyance. This article provides a good example of someone who couldn't tell it was the pirated copy delivering that message. If the stolen versions of a game had a defect that was built in well enough (Serious Sam 3) it could dupe thieves for a while.

I imagine many other developers would be a good bit less polite about. Those guys must have saint like patience. Good read, thanks Patrick.

@sjschmidt93: We could, but it would get cracked anyway. So we decided we'd just be weird and put a message in to let people know that we know.

Hah! Fun read.

I liked the format of this article; does well for keeping you engaged.

That is why reviews and YouTube exist. That's not really an excuse.

What? You mean if I just put this Xbox disc into my Nintendo, Gears of War won't just work? :(

It's a shame I don't really like Skullgirls. I almost want to buy it now, though, because the people over at Lab Zero Games just seem like such good people. On top of that, they seem to have a good sense of humor outside of game as well, and they have an interesting idea about combating piracy.

Again, not a valid reason. Demos can also vary wildly from the actual released product. It is very likely that a demo is some old build of a game the developers made for some convention or preview.

Problem with these schemes is they can trigger for the wrong reason. I for example had that Arkham Asylum grapple point issue until they patched the game. Think I had problem with ghostbusters as well. The candlesticks in that hotel would be near impossible to kill. Until I put the game disc into my other optical drive.

More than once I've had securom games like dead space 2 think it is a new machine after updating my graphics drivers.

Fade worked in a way similar to how some C64 games did it.. where they would have deliberate blank spaces on the disc that would be ignored while copying, but the game could detect if they weren't there. I recommend people read up on old copy protection methods, they're are some really clever ones.

I love the idea of a game having a subtly degraded experience when it's pirated. However didn't that backfire one some dev a few years ago when their game came out and it quickly spread around that it was a buggy mess... they later came out and said that was only on pirated versions but the damage to the public perception of the game was already done.

Also great article Patrick.

Great story Patrick! Its the kind of smaller feel good piece i wish we had more of, restores a little bit of faith in humanity. Kudos to the Skullgirls twitter guy/girl, they had a bit of fun with Hibiki and the chances are he will buy the game now. Its a good game, more people should buy it ^_^

I hope games are sold in cheap price in asian and african countries. it's sad the prices of games in asia and africa is same as prices in developed nations like US and UK and it's also unfair. the only organization that sell games in cheap prices in asia is EA games.

Dan seems like he's trying to ass kiss since they called him out.

what kind of idiot contacts devs for support of a game he didn't even buy... that just seems even more sleazy than simply pirating.

hey guys i'm going to fuck you by not buying it and also help me with my questions for free too. total douche.

I just wonder if that guy eventually bought the game. Somehow I doubt it.

I think he just thought it was some weird rare easter egg.

Kinda like how people would see 'Call Apogee and say Aardwolf!' in a ridiculously secret area of Wolf3D and think "Huh, I wonder what this bizarre message is all about? I should contact the company and find out!"

Or maybe all those weird hidden images in the Trials games that would pop up if you did some obtuse trick in an area that nobody would try.

"What is the square root of a fish?" seems weird enough to be a 'Huh, I've found a weird secret thing!' moment, rather than an 'I should contact tech support!' moment.

I think the idea is that piracy will never really be stopped, and people will pirate things regardless. By doing something that doesn't restrict the game completely, it means that people can still play the game and realise it's worth buying, whilst simultaneously having a message saying "Hey, we know what you're doing, and we're going to make you look bad for not buying it. Have some decency."

If the game just locked up on a pirated version, the only two things that'd happen are:

1 - The kind of pirate who downloads all the latest releases regardless of their interest (which seem to be a lot of them) would say "Well fuck this" and delete it, not play it, and just move on to the next game, without even considering buying it.

2 - If a legitimate customer somehow trips the copy protection, they'd still be able to play the game, and be able to prove to the developers that they bought it, so the developers can find out why it triggered and patch it. The customer would then still be able to play it in the meantime while it gets fixed. It'd also save some hassle in the future when the copy protection becomes outdated, so they wouldn't have to manually remove it. (That's why everyone hates Games for Windows Live after all. No protection lasts forever, and it can screw over players of older games when the protection no longer works, or becomes inaccessible online.)

The problem with 'intentionally screwing over the player' types of copy protection (like Batman not being able to glide, and randomly inserting other weird game-breaking bugs) is that pirates get it, say "This port is buggy as hell!" and then never buy it, whilst telling everyone they know "Yeah, don't get that PC port, it's awful."

@tekzero:

this is the way, and i think its one of the reasons steam is so sucsesfull. steam sales and very easy to use and fast.

i am buying way more games since i discoverd steam and also bought almost all, if not all of the games that i pirated and liked.

I first spotted the demo for Torchlight on Steam in late October of 2009, so I torrented it. Then, I ended up visiting the Runic forums.

After getting to know the devs a little (they were pretty active on the forum back then), and reading up on all the stuff that had happened with Flagship I realized that Max Schaefer & his crew were a bunch of good people. It made me realize that I was taking something they were hinging their futures on. Something they had worked hard for.

I don't judge people who download because I know that not everyone who torrents games is a bad person but for me...I felt so guilty. They had welcomed me with open arms, and I went and took their game...so I apologized on their forum. They were gracious, and very forgiving.

I ended up getting to know some of the devs, and helped promote their first game. By the time Torchlight II came along I was a pretty major part of the community. I even have some in game items named after me & my guild. While what I did was inexcusable the fact is that I was going through a lot of bad stuff at the time.

Over the years my friendship with the folks from Runic as well as the friendships I've gained because of Torchlight & Torchlight II have helped me become a much happier person. This is why I suggest folks support developers of games they enjoy as much as they can. If you are gonna download at least do the right thing & buy it at some point or recommend it to friends who will.

lol. I pirated a few games back in the day, only because i was broke though. It's much better to just buy stuff on steam, even just wait for a steam sale. Sitting around waiting for cracks, shady download sites, and possible viruses just isn't worth it.

Anyway, i think this is much better than any DRM system to affect piracy, maybe not prevent but at least make it more frustrating for pirates rather than legit buyers.

That was how I felt about it. I wonder if any pirates saw it and, realizing they were being addressed personally and in a lighthearted way, felt enough shame to consider buying it. These sorts of things are like the anti-DRM: we know you pirated it, and we're going to tell you we know, but we're not going to disable anything.

Maybe, maybe not, either way it was cool. Also it got the game in the news, so definitely a marketing win either way.

Dude got caught red handed, proceeded to make dumb excuses for pirating, and then tried hard to change the subject. Great example of shooting yourself in the foot with someone else's gun.

Everything about that guy's Twitter page is incredibly pathetic and now he's asking the people who gifted him the game to also buy him the DLC.

At least Skullgirls got some nice publicity from this, that game and the devs don't get as much recognition as they deserve (especially after the whole Konami fiasco).

I would assume it was a case of seeing whether his computer could run it or not. Only reason I can think of.