Trying to trick people into using and hoping they'll blindly click through it is close enough for me.

Just wanted to be exact. Don't get me wrong, I was part of the shitstorm back then, but we should stay fair.

Sorry, I must've missed that bit.....these things sadly happen when one is like me reading many replies at once and juggling so much on their plate....my apologies for missing that bit. :)

Also the theatre isn't out anything(as you said, unless the house is full) as you're only taking up a seat and only taking the experience/memory home with you.

Sorry, but I have to disagree a bit here....I think some people(those who CAN do so) shouldn't be lazy and do the work and not expect to make blind or bad decision after decision and expect the product/service makers to eat the cost each time.

I agree some exceptions can and should be made for rare one(or two) off incidents, but if a person keeps buying products they dislike from a store/site I feel the site/store should be able to say "enough is enough, we won't subsidize your poor judgement anymore" at some point.

Fair enough, but it still has to list whether the footage is from in-game or pre-rendered in many areas by law(iirc).....and as I said there is the good old let's play/waiting combo: One can wait till let's plays are made that show off the game and for people to review such and then make their decision.

I get that, but while we should hold product makers to account for their bad deeds and mistakes, we shouldn't let bad customers(actual bad ones...scammers/etc) off the hook either.

As I said the seller should be liable but to a point....they shouldn't have to pay for those that choose to make poor decisions they might regret later time and again, but they should do what they can to prevent that from happening as well(clear and truthful ads, demos, etc).

I was wondering if they could have a two-hour policy similar to Steam for GOG games downloaded and installed through only Galaxy. (I think this is basically what you're saying or similar.) GOG would have to have some form of DRM for those two hours, and part of the community would hate that and it might be bad PR.

Let's see

buy a game download it's offline installers

Get a refund

keep the game

Whoops, where did GOG go?

Nice one Borov

Well, demo's are making a slow comeback, I think that would be the proper way.

It's a great way to test a game but unfortunately demos are also additional work and therefore costs for the devs so I would not expect so many games to get a demo in the future even though some have.
That's the problem in a nutshell.

I wasn't referring to those who make a habit of returning things ... pretty obvious what should be done in that scenario.

It seems to me you don't accept that customers can be tricked into buying and it isn't necessarily their fault. I firmly believe there is only so much they should have to do, and after that it is about trust.

At the end of the day we are humans not robots and do occasionally make genuine mistakes or misunderstandings.

I never said anything about letting bad customers get away with anything.
But just like using DRM for the odd few bad eggs, sellers should do the right thing by the majority of customers.
As in many aspects of life we have very little control over, we all just have to accept that not everything is going to turn out perfect.

Never said they should support foolish buyers, but at the same time, like the NO DRM argument, don't penalize everyone as your method to solve that.

That, and I've been told (by business people who know their shit) that demos don't generally have a positive impact on sales / revenue which is presumably the main reason publishers mostly pulled out of this practice.

Touché!

you need a real catchy demo to make a difference.
if it's just the start of the game then usually you haven't opened up all the really exciting stuff. the tutorials are hardly ever exciting. but if you dump someone into the middle of a game then a- spoilers and b- they've got no experience usually built up by playing the beginning half of the game, and so are likely to feel frustrated and unable to wield the skills required yet.

i've definitely played a few demos where i either get the "that didn't show me anything really" or "that was enough of the game that i don;t feel like i need to buy the full thing".

I have played some demos that made me buy the full game, but they've been rare. usually what sells me is a good review or some other unique catch. amazing artwork, a story setting that i really enjoy, some interesting gameplay hook. i'm happy picking up a 6/10 if i feel it's a niche i enjoy.

Yeah, the thing is that it's not only hard to make a good demo - it's super easy to make a demo that makes most players who try it less likely to buy the full game (even though they would actually enjoy the full game).

I don't know, man. Maybe for weak games. To name just two counter-examples: the demo for Starcraft was nice and actually acted as a prologue to the game. It ought to be provided with the game nowadays, it was that good. Turn-based games can limit the number of turns, like what the Chaos Overlords demo did. Both got me hooked and made me buy the game, which I did. Actually, I cannot recall a single case of actually enjoying a demo that did not lead to purchasing the game. Sometimes, that might have never happened if not for the demo, like with Chaos Overlords. If you have fun, then you want more fun.

On the other hand, if the demo tells you that the game is not for you, or that the gameplay is so shallow that you are already bored with it, then purchasing the game would be a mistake. Unless you are a scam professional, you do not want to fool your customers, if you want them to return to your shop.

And yes, there is some video of an indie developer that does not make demos and wants that no one else makes demos as well, and his argument is terrible: that the player will already get enough from the demo and will not want to play the game. Seriously? Only if the game is not that good. Not if you make something solid that will bring the players back to their computers again and again, wanting more.

A good demo for a good game is the rabbit that jumps within a hole in the ground and draws Alice in.

Sadly such policies might encourage some(not all) to do such things(abusing such systems....as it'd be considered acceptable/ok to do to some degree then) more easily instead of trying to exercise the proper common sense/know how when buying(the bare minimum I mean).

Also as a decent number(not everyone, but in general) are somewhat entitled and see one thing being done as reason more can/should be done(by businesses) it will likely not be enough for some and they will push for more(like if Gog offered store credit only, some would want cash or credit, for example).

The problem with that(if anything) is that such stances(when expressed) sometimes encourage some to not bother trying at all and just shirk all or most responsibility onto the business/other person.

Most online who buy things are adults and(like you said) they should be expected to do the bare minimum of research/due diligence when buying things. YES, businesses shouldn't trick them and should be held to account if they do, but if some don't want to bother doing such and want the store to essentially subsidize their laziness/dislike of doing such work then I have little pity for those people and think they shouldn't be catered much to(actual good egg customers, yes, but not the ones who don't even try or feel the need to) beyond what's the law and what they usually do for everyone else.

Agreed, and stores/companies should try to help those people if they exercised their due diligence and it's not their fault they got the cr*p end of the stick on a purchase/etc.

I was just musing on a semi-related tangent...sorry for that.

Also agreed 100% on the rest.

They shouldn't penalize people, but then I don't see not having a not like refund option(at least to give cash refunds) as them penalizing anyone much, or being overly unfair.
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BTW thanks for weighing in and replying civilly...it is appreciated and your posts are often fun to reply to and read.
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Remember the Uplink Demo for Half Life 1? That was nice & was part of the game made separately for the demo...it was very nice overall & it didn't spoil anything, wasn't too hard, and set up what the game was all about.