Comments on: A Blizzard in July http://tleaves.com/2008/07/02/a-blizzard-in-july/ Creativity x Technology Sat, 17 Mar 2012 05:09:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Philcha http://tleaves.com/2008/07/02/a-blizzard-in-july/comment-page-1/#comment-4951 Philcha Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:18:11 +0000 http://tleaves.com/2008/07/02/a-blizzard-in-july/#comment-4951 Stardock, makers of the "Galactic Civilizations" series, claim never to have used copy protection - and their first game was published in the mid-1990s (the original, OS/2 version of "Galactic Civilizations"). Stardock, makers of the “Galactic Civilizations” series, claim never to have used copy protection – and their first game was published in the mid-1990s (the original, OS/2 version of “Galactic Civilizations”).

]]> By: emordino http://tleaves.com/2008/07/02/a-blizzard-in-july/comment-page-1/#comment-4952 emordino Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:16:02 +0000 http://tleaves.com/2008/07/02/a-blizzard-in-july/#comment-4952 Blizzard have always made fun, polished games that don't punish you for playing and it's nice to see that their business model reflects this. I've played but never owned Diablo and Starcraft, so I think I shall buy them tonight - as far as I'm concerned, anyone who makes an effort to be consumer-friendly deserves my money. Blizzard have always made fun, polished games that don’t punish you for playing and it’s nice to see that their business model reflects this. I’ve played but never owned Diablo and Starcraft, so I think I shall buy them tonight – as far as I’m concerned, anyone who makes an effort to be consumer-friendly deserves my money.

]]> By: qubodup http://tleaves.com/2008/07/02/a-blizzard-in-july/comment-page-1/#comment-4953 qubodup Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:07:24 +0000 http://tleaves.com/2008/07/02/a-blizzard-in-july/#comment-4953 Nice observation. Blizzard is a special case though. All their later games are designed to be played via internet, where it's impossible to use a key twice. Other games don't have the luxury of knowing that 30% (no source, random numer) or more of the customers will be wanting to play on-line. (Also these 30% are the ones critical regarding unpaid versions, because they are likely to be more web-savy and thus 'pirate'-savy) Blizzard's copyright protection is a key. And they protect the key via a centralized system. They don't have to force the users to connect though, the games are so great that the users want to do it by themselves. So the solution to all other game makers is "make better games" and "make games that are fun to play on-line" and then "make games that are-key protected and use a centralized server system to not allow one key twice" ... Nice observation.

Blizzard is a special case though. All their later games are designed to be played via internet, where it’s impossible to use a key twice.

Other games don’t have the luxury of knowing that 30% (no source, random numer) or more of the customers will be wanting to play on-line. (Also these 30% are the ones critical regarding unpaid versions, because they are likely to be more web-savy and thus ‘pirate’-savy)

Blizzard’s copyright protection is a key. And they protect the key via a centralized system.

They don’t have to force the users to connect though, the games are so great that the users want to do it by themselves.

So the solution to all other game makers is “make better games” and “make games that are fun to play on-line” and then “make games that are-key protected and use a centralized server system to not allow one key twice”
…

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