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I copied my message from the Boomi and 1C forums. It's probably not the best place for such a post, but here it is. If you're not interested in reading it, please at least look at the last paragraph.
Introduction:
It's interesting that the fight against computer piracy has been going on since time immemorial. There are two sides to the conflict: developers, who are furious and have heart attacks at the mere mention of pirates, and the pirates themselves, who are diligently cracking everything they come across in order to increase their capital, or maybe just because they enjoy watching the first ones suffer. The developers are shooting down the pirates as best they can, and sometimes they even start appealing to the non-existent conscience of gamers, saying something like, "Oh, oh, oh, buying pirated discs is bad!" The latter, however, seem to be multiplying like rabbits, and despite all the developers' efforts, they continue to crack all new types of protection.
The main point...
I've been waiting for the sixth installment of Heroes for a long time, and finally, the day has come - the game has been released. To make things clear, I'll say two things right away: 1) I went to Pirate Bay and downloaded the latest cracked version of Heroes, which works perfectly; 2) my salary is a six-digit number in wooden currency, and I have no problem buying the game, no matter how much it costs; 3) I only accept collector's editions - if I'm going to buy it.
Now, to the main point. I downloaded the game because going somewhere and looking for it is too time-consuming - I often do this (yes, you can throw tomatoes). The game I downloaded was patched - a repack, with no bugs or glitches - everything is perfect. I played through one and a half missions and decided to browse the forums. And I came across a message from a girl - it said in short: don't pay money to pirates, if you like the game, pay the developers so that they continue to release such wonderful games. I decided that this was fair, and I decided to spend my time searching for and ordering a boxed copy. The most interesting part is next.
...and the problem:
After an hour and a half of searching, I realized that I had just wasted an hour and a half of my life. On all the forums (not just this one), there were complaints - some people couldn't activate their keys, some couldn't launch the game, and some didn't receive their boxed copy. There were no collector's editions anywhere - only digital editions. Excuse me, but who came up with the idea of releasing a collector's edition digitally? It's the same as ordering a virtual meal at a restaurant. Are you kidding me?
Conclusion:
I would really like this message to be seen by those who worked on this game - developed it, distributed it, etc., but the chances of that are slim - they probably won't come here, and they'll ban me before I finish this controversial post. But still - for you guys, noble lords in angelic robes, pirates are demons in human skin, and those who download games from them are lost people, poor students, or just greedy people.
But that's not the case.
After your "wonderful" release of the game, when a person spends money and instead of the game receives a lot of trouble, AND YOU STILL WANT people not to download games from torrents, which can be downloaded in an hour, installed in 10 minutes, and then you can play without any fuss and hassle with keys. The problem is not with the pirates, who want to fill their wallets, and not with the poor guys who can't afford a game that costs a pittance, THE PROBLEM IS WITH YOU - the developers, retailers, localizers, and distributors. I, like most people, am not interested in who messed up and how. We pay money and want to get a quality product for it. Well, think about it - why spend money when you can get the same thing for free, and most importantly, much easier? As soon as you learn not to make these mistakes, piracy will die out on its own - well, at least a large part of it. Maybe you should focus more on inventing new ways to protect the game, and on delivering the product to the end user quickly and efficiently?
Postscript:
All of the above does not mean that I will not buy the game - not at all. If someone gives me a link where I can order a Collector's Edition in Moscow without any problems, so that they bring me a box with the game right now, I will buy it immediately, regardless of the cost. And for now, I'll continue to play the pirated version.
Sincerely, Violett.
