This is it in a nutshell . . . as long as we buy it . . . they will use it . . . =)

On the other side, if we don't buy it, they will start to cry and complain about the pirates and start looking for even worse DRM methods :)

I'm good with that, something has to change in our buying behavior before they get it just as with the music industry. Once sales plummet we would hear the "pirates did it" but it wouldn't last long since they would understand we don't buy their DRM laden crap any longer . . . =)

I was AMAZED at the difference in the way Assassins 2 Vs Starcraft II was viewed by gamers. Both had unacceptable DRM (IMHO) but it was pushed aside in the case of Starcraft as the game was too good not to buy. I rarely hear / read anything about Starcraft now as we are awaiting the next big game to plop down our [ Enter price here]. We will need to work together to defeat the use of DRM not giving any game a pass.

I just don't see it. The fact of the matter is that PC game sales are already low to the point of barely being worth a publisher's time. Even lower sales than that is not going to make them respect the PC more, offer us DRM free games or whatever else. It's going to make them even more disinterested in singleplayer offline PC games.

In the same direction. I always wondered how PC sales can be so far less than console games sales and then, if you compare prices of good games, the console version is always (at least here) 30% more expansive??

So many people are not only embracing DRM (e.g. the Steam DRM), but at the same time many of them also willing to pay more and not using the more price efficient PC plattform. It's all a big miracle to me, but since I have no big ambitions regarding politics, I just want to find a viable way for myself - meaning that I will probably be one of the last to jump on the DRM train when all others have already done it.

Actually I have DRM, but it's the mild SecuRom sort used on old style without activation limits or online checks and with only a simple disk check. Something where I feel not comfortable with but kind of just bearable.

Oh, please don't tell me you're actually comparing the importance of a game to a human life.

In a way yes.

Entertainment can keep a person alive.

Don't disregard what someone else considers important because you don't think that it is. You are not the center of the universe.

According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs entertainment is important to the needs of an individual but not integral.

This is off topic but could you please check your GoG PM when you get a chance Phc7006 Thankyou.

Please continue people.
And sorry for butting in.
Im sure I studied Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for about 3 minutes in college.

No disrespect or anything, but that's pretty pathetic.

It'll make publishers intent on using onerous DRM disinterested in the PC market. And I really don't see a problem with that. There will still be a large potential market on the PC, and some of the existing large publishers pulling out of that market ultimately presents an opportunity for more enterprising companies to enter the market and make good money by actually giving the market what it wants. My prediction would be that if the current major publishers pulled out of the PC market you'd see an absolute renaissance in PC gaming, both on the indie side of things as well as with medium-sized publishers that are currently being overshadowed by the major publishers.

There is, and likely always will be a good market for games on the PC. However, this market will not be the same as the market in other areas of gaming- what makes good money for the console market won't necessarily make good money for the PC market; what makes good money in the mobile market won't necessarily make good money in the console market, and so on. The ubiquity of digital distribution, more and more games available for lower and lower prices, decreasing hardware costs, reasonably priced laptops being suitable for gaming... all of these things are changing the shape of the PC gaming market, and what used to be profitable may not be profitable for much longer (with things that used to be less profitable also becoming more profitable). Ultimately what we're seeing is the market changing in response to the purchasing choices of the people who make up the market, and this is a good thing.

Yeah well I like a lot of games from EA, Ubisoft and the rest... them "pulling out" would be devastating to me. I love indies as much as the next old school gamer and I look forward to what they do in the next decade but that doesn't mean I am willing to write off the other stuff.

Also I think those companies "pulling out" would send a terrible signal that might lead tp indies focusing more on smartphones and facebook, rather than actual PC games.

I like shooters, Western RPGs and adventure games in the offline singleplayer variety. I don't want services, MMOs, facebook titles, Minecraft or any of that other bullshit. I like indie games in those genres but I also like big publisher spectacles. I'm the kind of guy who can play Dead Space 2 this year and then follow that up with something like Eschalon and think both are awesome.

Variety is a good thing, losing games, publishers and franchises is not. The only thing lower sales of big publisher games is going to do is cause even less of them to come out on the PC, which would fucking suck, period.

You will be willing to write off the other stuff, it's just a question of how much bullshit you're willing to put up with before that point. Everyone has different levels of what they're willing to tolerate, but everyone also has limits of what they're willing to put up with before the value proposition is simply no longer worthwhile. The impression I get is that you're already on the borderline with regards to whether those games are worth it, but you're holding out in the belief that by putting up with such things through your purchasing habits you can help pull things to a more reasonable level. I wonder just how much longer that belief is capable of lasting.

You seem to be under the impression that losing major publishers and their franchises would create a void and that would be that. What is far more likely is that that void would quickly be filled by other devs and publishers who recognize the absence of the large publishers as the opportunity that it is. In nature a forest fire burns away the dead wood and debris that has accumulated, making room for new growth. The PC games industry is long overdue for a similar event.

The only thing I am putting up with is DRM, because it is pointless. If it ever becomes non-pointless then I will not buy those games and I have said that before. On the actual gameplay front though? I'm pretty happy. Actually 2011 looks like one of the best years EVER for PC gaming, in my opinion. The list of coming titles on amazon and other sites is like a holy fucking grail.

I am sure many indies would make some awesome CRPGs and point and click games but I don't think we would suddenly get a bunch of new developers in here making stuff like Mass Effect and Skyrim, and again I like those games... I want those games to keep coming out on the PC.