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Extensive focus groups have told us this is the way to go.
Extensive focus groups have told us this is the way to go.
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I don't thik you understand what a focus group is, it is made up of Consumers not staff.
Sorry you feel that way.
Our policy is to reward people that buy our games with additional benefits like access to specialty user mods forum, rather than punishing them by putting invasive DRM into the game.
This is something our fans yes fans on this forum have said over and over again that they prefer.
Our policy is to reward people that buy our games with additional benefits like access to specialty user mods forum, rather than punishing them by putting invasive DRM into the game.
This is something our fans yes fans on this forum have said over and over again that they prefer.
I don't really understand the issue since most people posting in this thread like you have full access.
Sorry I have to call you out on your use of "unethical" By not allowing people to view user mods BEFORE they buy, you could say we are explicitly doing the opposite of what you claim, we are not making it part of the advertised product.
Since only people that already own the game can create mods or have a use for them, how is people that do not own the game, not being able to view discussions on them, going to lead to less modding activity.
If the game is a good base and is easy to mod with powerful modding tools, this is what leads to users making great mods.
I never claimed you were a pirate, I don't know where your hostility is coming from, You have been told the answer, I have said it, others have said it, you just do not want to hear it because you do not like the policy. I am sorry that you do not like it.
And yet this is exactly what you tell me many people buy the game for. That seams like a contradiction to me.
That is twisting what I said to give it a meaning it does not have.
Giving someone a place to plan and work with others and a platform to distribute that fan work is not the same as using that work, the tool and resource of the forum are the feature not the work itself.
Okay I will spell it out very clear if that is what you wish.
1. The focus group I refer to IS the forum.
2. You basically have a choice between some form of DRM or what we are trying to do which is Limited or No DRM at least on internal titles but rather encourage people to buy and register the game to access extras.
The over whelming response here has been no DRM as a mantra.
Therefore our ongoing process has been to limit access to more and more forums to those that have purchased our games. This trend continues and now encompasses the modification forums.
You clearly understood that it is an anti piracy measure as did everyone else so how exactly did I "hide it" I thought I was pretty clear. Now what we disagree on is that it will hurt User modding.
This will have to be seen, I suppose if I feel it is negatively impacting sales, the policy could be reviewed in the future, nothing is set in stone, this is an evolving thing. In addition we are working on alternative or additional initiative to try and achieve similar results.
Having said all that, now I say take everything I just said with a grain of salt as I am sure marketing has a much nicer way of saying things and a different spin on it.
1. The focus group I refer to IS the forum.
2. You basically have a choice between some form of DRM or what we are trying to do which is Limited or No DRM at least on internal titles but rather encourage people to buy and register the game to access extras.
The over whelming response here has been no DRM as a mantra.
Therefore our ongoing process has been to limit access to more and more forums to those that have purchased our games. This trend continues and now encompasses the modification forums.
You clearly understood that it is an anti piracy measure as did everyone else so how exactly did I "hide it" I thought I was pretty clear. Now what we disagree on is that it will hurt User modding.
This will have to be seen, I suppose if I feel it is negatively impacting sales, the policy could be reviewed in the future, nothing is set in stone, this is an evolving thing. In addition we are working on alternative or additional initiative to try and achieve similar results.
Having said all that, now I say take everything I just said with a grain of salt as I am sure marketing has a much nicer way of saying things and a different spin on it.
err, pirates don't get access.
And that is just one of many things they will not get, there used to be special things in the game box, I still have the great map from the EU2 box for example, the kind of stuff you did not get if you decide to steal the game rather than pay for it. In the digital world you do not have retail box, you need to provide other incentive, as I said we are looking at many ways.
I still think this will have zero impact on modding, maybe I wil be proved wrong, but an activity that you need to own the game to do or even to use, and we in no way restrict for those that do, well ...
As to your first point, you cannot have it both ways people are telling me that sales will be lost because people that do not own the game cannot see user mods, and then you accuse us of advertising those same user mods as a selling point. Other people claim we are exploiting unpaid users to add marketability to our game, and then say sales will be lost because we are not marketing those mods. Can you guys not see the dichotomy there.
And that is just one of many things they will not get, there used to be special things in the game box, I still have the great map from the EU2 box for example, the kind of stuff you did not get if you decide to steal the game rather than pay for it. In the digital world you do not have retail box, you need to provide other incentive, as I said we are looking at many ways.
I still think this will have zero impact on modding, maybe I wil be proved wrong, but an activity that you need to own the game to do or even to use, and we in no way restrict for those that do, well ...
As to your first point, you cannot have it both ways people are telling me that sales will be lost because people that do not own the game cannot see user mods, and then you accuse us of advertising those same user mods as a selling point. Other people claim we are exploiting unpaid users to add marketability to our game, and then say sales will be lost because we are not marketing those mods. Can you guys not see the dichotomy there.
We will have to agree to disagree about both your interpretation and your conclusion .
I have explained, if the explanation is not adequate for you I apologize, but it is the only one I have.
But why should Paradox provide you with access to special sub-forums when you haven't paid us for the game?
We do not get any "Marketing" data from forum registrations, in fact you are not giving us any additional information. Now we do get an aggregate number of how many people register a particular game, but I think I am the only one that even can see that, certainly say marketing does not have that access. Very few people can actually access the server for the forum.
At any rate as mentioned detailed actual sales figures are available whether you register or not, some place like steam even tracks how many hours you play each game.
At any rate as mentioned detailed actual sales figures are available whether you register or not, some place like steam even tracks how many hours you play each game.
If we did that there would be an outcry that we are trying to make money of of fan efforts, just read this thread, we have been accused of that even for the current policy.
It is a case of dammed if you do dammed if you don't.
The nature of the INTERNET is that people see conspiracy every where.
Not sure if they can see how many posts are there, but They can see that the forum exists, and the subtexts tells them to register the game to see and post in the threads.
Actually Preorder and first day sales are critical for a game, in the same way that opening weekend is for a movie. If you put off going to a movie on opening weekend (and it has a slow one), you might not get to see it in a couple of weeks.
Now it is not quit as bad for a game, but close.
If a game has poor first day sales, things like the budgets for patches, expansion packs and dlc get slashed, so you will have none or far fewer.
Conversely, Strong first day sales means expanded and more numerous patches, expansions and dlc.
Day one sales have been a very strong predictor to continuing sales in the game industry.
So those of you who for one reason or another choose not to buy the game on release, but plan to pick it up later and still want a strong community and lots of expansion, are doing yourself a disservice to encourage others to do the same, since they are in a sense ensuring there will be a fully expanded and patched game for you to play.
*Keep in mind I do not run the business or budgeting wings of Paradox, those are just my 2 cents.
Conversely, Strong first day sales means expanded and more numerous patches, expansions and dlc.
Day one sales have been a very strong predictor to continuing sales in the game industry.
So those of you who for one reason or another choose not to buy the game on release, but plan to pick it up later and still want a strong community and lots of expansion, are doing yourself a disservice to encourage others to do the same, since they are in a sense ensuring there will be a fully expanded and patched game for you to play.
*Keep in mind I do not run the business or budgeting wings of Paradox, those are just my 2 cents.
Read the part about predictability.
And for the other gentleman, obviously everyone is not in the board room 24 hours after release setting budgets in stone for he next say 2 years. Like all discussions on intenet forums being expressed in one paragraph I was over simplifying it. The point remains the same.
I definitely will not be going into any details here as I probably have said more than I should on B&B, that is not what Paradox pays me to do.
And for the other gentleman, obviously everyone is not in the board room 24 hours after release setting budgets in stone for he next say 2 years. Like all discussions on intenet forums being expressed in one paragraph I was over simplifying it. The point remains the same.
I definitely will not be going into any details here as I probably have said more than I should on B&B, that is not what Paradox pays me to do.
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