29 réponses à ce sujet

[Burdokva]

Yes, I had to vent it. Before anyone jumps at at me, please, read what I have to say and judge for yourselves (and if possible, excuse my less than stellar English).


 
A few days ago I preordered Mass Effect 2's Collectors Edition for the PC. I'm a huge fan of the original, I love BioWare's work and I respect people who work hard. With a bit of luck and timing I ordered one of the last few CE copies that have been shipped to my country (Bulgaria) - since it's a preorder, I checked if there are any bonuses. None, apparently. I didn't get a reply on a thread here to know if I'm wrong, though it's pretty busy, so I understand.

I'm sure people could/would be offended by this and they could/would pirate it. Eastern Europeans aren't inherently prone to piracy you know, it's the economics - but couple it with obviously lesser treatment than all other regions, and you'll inevitably boost that effect. So instead of the few dozen CE copies that got imported and sold within a week (just as it happened DA I couldn't get a CE copy locally), next time maybe you'll get poorer sales on an already small market. Seriously, it doesn't bother me so much that it's something of a national discrimination that I don't get something Westerners do when they preorder; I'm used to this treatment of the local market, so 'meh'. 

What does bother me is that someone might just torrent ME2 and get the preorder bonuses I didn't. Essentially, a pirate has more content than a legal user. Yes, piracy is bad and hurts the developers the most. Does that make me feel better?!...  Is it EA's fault for this bonus system localization? I just hope that won't happen with future DLCs for the "Cerberus Network Card" and I'll end up in the dry... 

Again, I respect BioWare. I'm sure ME2 will be great and, if luck would have it, I'll buy (even preorder) ME3's CE in a few years. Hopefully, by then I won't feel like second-class citizen of the global community. 

Best of luck from a loyal fan who admires your work! 
 

[epoch_]

no, it doesn't.

[Phonzo]

/confused...



are you implying people will pirate a game so they can get all the pre-order bonuses?....

[challenger18]

Greed, selfishness and disregard for the time, money and effort it takes to make products promotes piracy.

[LuPoM]

I don't see how they promote piracy.. they're just temporary things to start the game with which will be replaced sooner or later..
You can't get all those "bonuses", they're just promotional things for the stores to invite you to spend by them.. nothing more nothing less (talking about the preorder armors and the collector's edition armor).

Talking specifically about the Collector's Edition.. if you've bought it ONLY for the Collector's Armor, I don't know what's going on in your head.. I've preordered the Collector's Edition for the Art Booklet, for the #1 copy of Redemption, for the Bonus Disk, etc.. not for the in-game armor which is just another small bonus! (same goes for DA:O collector's.. a small bunch of in-game items vs all the other content in the case? I would have bought it even without the in-game items!)

The rest of the DLCs available through The Cerberus Network are free, so why that would promote piracy too? Considering that you get free access to The Cerberus Network if you buy the game new!

Try to watch it from this perspective

Modifié par LuPoM, 22 janvier 2010 - 09:19 .

[natejoseph09]

If dlc's free how does it promote piracy?

[Burdokva]

Oh, no, I bought the game for itself. And as I don't play many games, I want the CE's shiny package. From the old forum though, I remember there was a thread about armor bonuses for every EU country. As far as understand, this is location, not store based (for smaller countries, not the USA or Canada)? I could be wrong, though.



In any case, see it from this perspective - if you folks suddenly found out your preorder bonuses were void and then you see them over the net for cracked copies, wouldn't you be ****** off (sorry for the language)?

[Bolthame]

Disgruntled rebuttal, it's just a piece of armour, of which there will be many superior to it through the course of the game.

Honest question, does one piece of armour really make so much difference that you feel discriminated against as a Bulgarian?

Disappointed sigh, different forums, same attitude...

Modifié par Bolthame, 22 janvier 2010 - 09:44 .

[Willie_on_Wheels]

A pirate gets a lot more of everything than a non-pirate. What's your point?

[GnusmasTHX]

Willie_on_Wheels wrote...

A pirate gets a lot more of everything than a non-pirate. What's your point?

[Popkhorne]

What sort of special items are we talking about?

Besides armor, that is.

Modifié par Popkhorne, 22 janvier 2010 - 09:55 .

[RogueAI]

You guys do know that pirates will find a way to implement all this extra content anyways...

[Br0th3rGr1mm]

Even if the theory holds water (it doesn't) how does pirating the game gain you the pre-order or region specific DLC? Are you saying that just being upset because your region was denied the ability to gain the DLC gives you the right to steal the entire game?



That's some massive justification going on right there....

[JzzyMcButter]

Bolthame wrote...

Disgruntled rebuttal, it's just a piece of armour, of which there will be many superior to it through the course of the game.

Honest question, does one piece of armour really make so much difference that you feel discriminated against as a Bulgarian?

Disappointed sigh, different forums, same attitude...

^ what he said...

...nice elcor btw

[Daerog]

Greed promotes piracy in the case for video games.

Greed or being in a state of extreme desperation for basic needs promotes other forms of piracy.

It's just DLC, you still get your game, better to live with actual morals than resort to piracy (unless you are not getting your basic needs for survival, but games don't count).

[Turk Shinra]

All he is saying is that he finds it unfair that people who pirate the game will get a "fuller" experience than himself, who pre-ordered the game legally. I really don't see it as too far fetched of an idea that someone would pirate the game as they feel that is the only way to obtain all the content that everyone else is being given, so I don't know why you all are attacking him on this...



Anyway, given that were the case and their argument for pirating, would they not still buy the game and just torrent the DLC packs (they'll be cracked given time)? I personally don't condone piracy but they need a far better excuse than not getting DLC to go and pirate the whole game.

[SethSteiner]

Of course, in the end you can find every DLC in a nice package in the internet. It was the same with Dragon Age. In the past you got a T-Shirt or something like this, something physical but now with all this digital content, yes I think there are many people who will feel mucked and just download the content which is deprived to them. I think the download of DLCs is gonna be pushed through this but I can`t imagine that people in eastern europe now stop buying ME2. If someone wants to buy the game, he still will PreOrder or not because they can get the content in the same way the pirates get their content.

[Aestivalis]

Agreed with Turk, people are attacking the OP for something he didn't do. Failing to read is quite fail.



It's a shame that Bulgaria doesn't get any preorder bonuses, but it must be because the market is relatively small there that Bioware didn't see the need to create an incentive. Business can be a harsh practice, I'm afraid.

[mackster2289]

I don't really understand why you wouldn't get the preorder bonuses and its not really fair that you won't, but I don't think this will have much effect on piracy. A person who wouldn't pirate a game won't change their mind simply for a bonus item, just like a person who pirates games won't change their mind because of a bonus item.

[Spectre_Moncy]

Pre-order items will not last you long in ME2 bwahaha. You will get in-game items which are alot better than promo items.



Man, cheer up. It's just a game. It's not worth getting upset over.

[Unit-Alpha]

Oh, come on OP, you don't need to vent by attacking free DLC to most of Bioware's customers.

[DarkSpiral]

While I understand the OP's point, I don't think I agree with him. Partially, as some have already pointed out because of the scope of the CE items. They just aren't that big of a deal.



And the DLC (the 1-Day DLC, at any rate) isn't aimed at combating piracy anyway. The point of the free DLC is to discourage used game sales. Any other DLC that comes down the pipe *could* be pirated, I imagine. Or modded in to the game, as has happened to DA, but I'm not sure I consider that a encouragement to piracy. People that look at that as a valid excuse to steal were already going to steal anyway.

[Koomazaz]

I completely agree with the OP. I will legally purchase a copy of Mass Effect 2 once it comes out. I am and have always been a completionist. I want to own every game, every novel, every comic book, and every soundtrack in a franchise. Also, I want to at least have the ability to use every bit of official content created for the game, DLC or otherwise. It ticks me off when publishers (like EA) force developers (like Bioware) to remove content from the game and then don't even allow everyone to have it. Some people may not think DLC bonuses are that big of a deal. That's your opinion. To myself and many others, they are. They are a part of the game. When I pay $50/$60 for a game, I am paying for the experience that game offers. Those little bits of armor (and awesome black hole-creating guns) are part of that experience, no matter how insignificant a part they may be to some people. To me, DLC is a big deal, and I firmly believe everyone should be able to experience it.



Just to clarify, I'm not promoting piracy in any way. As I said, I will be purchasing this game very shortly after it comes out. I just think that making certain content exclusive totally sucks.



If you disagree, so be it. This is my opinion, and you have yours.

[Cactot]

Bolthame wrote...

Disgruntled rebuttal, it's just a piece of armour, of which there will be many superior to it through the course of the game.

Honest question, does one piece of armour really make so much difference that you feel discriminated against as a Bulgarian?

Disappointed sigh, different forums, same attitude...

While I am not sure that it will have a significant positive correlation to the liklihood it will be pirated, I do not understand how people can not understand how it would ****** him off to recieve an inferior product for $60+ compared to what someone who pirates it gets. 

While this example is pretty minor in the bigger scheme of things, but EA has a lousy track record for this sort of thing.  Just look at Spore with the unremovable malware known as SecuROM (and draconian activation limits), which it ended up getting sued over.  An even better example of the "honest guy getting screwed" is the clusterfunk that was known as "starforce" copy protection, which had a more deleterious effect on your computer than 90% of viruses you could acquire (yes i know, Ubi was the one with starforce, not EA).  

Both of these are cases where people who pirated the product had a VASTLY superior product to those who paid for it legally.   It is pathetic when people trust a pirated game to be less harmful to their computer than the official copy by a big name publisher.  Thankfully, bioware/ea thought better of it for ME2, as that would have been one of the only things that would keep me from buying Mass Effect 2.

I have made the mistake of buying games with the aformentioned copy protection before (and ended up having to format my computer because of it), and after that nightmare I will never purchase another Ubisoft product again (hell I wont even install the free copy of Assassins Creed that came with my video card).  So while I may not agree with his assessment of the effects this will have, I certianly feel his plight.  I hope more companies will see the success of Stardock self publishing their games with no copy protection, and the kind of customer loyalty they generate, and then follow suit.  (plus it increases the revenue that the developer gets, and cuts out the worthless middle man).

[Burdokva]

It may not sound a big deal, but I remember how a few months many people were angry about a certain item - Terminus armor and Blackstorm cannon - being GameStop US exclusive. So, it is 'OK' to be angry about personal preference (where to order it from and what to recieve), but when you're completely overlooked somehow it's not and it's insignificant?

The simple DLC item is not the problem, but the feeling that you're treated as sub-par even when you buy something and get cut content.

It's pretty easy to disagree when you're not on the receiving end.

EDIT: Thanks to the folks who read it and understood that I actually bought the game and that I do not regret it! I feel like I'm treading through thin ice here...

Modifié par Burdokva, 23 janvier 2010 - 08:23 .