I'm sorry to hear this. May I suggest to use Notepad first before copy+paste them to the posting page, next time?

Anyway, I understand a bit about the matter, but not enough to claim knowledgeable of the actual mechanisms involved. I would like to learn from that "wall of texts" of yours, if you don't mind. Perhaps, after calming down a bit?

Yes, that would be the smart thing to do. Actually I had this same problem on YouTube but it was even worse there. Imagine spending more than an hour (!) on a well-researched rebuttal in a debate and suddenly, BAM, everything is gone.

Anyway, it’s as I said. If you google for comments of big shots in the gaming industry on this topic you will find that a lot of them openly express their concerns regarding the second-hand market. Some of them go even as far as admitting that they are actually a lot more concerned about second-hand sales than about filesharing.
And this makes sense because as we all (including the publishers) know you cannot prevent illegal downloads. Maybe on day 1 (which is merely an unintentional side-benefit of some forms of DRM most of the time) but after that? No chance. Second-hand sales on the other hand are a red flag in the same way for publishers because they don’t profit from those either.

So why do they still say that DRM is about fighting filesharing? Well, I suppose that is because some kind of “anti-piracy crusade” sounds more reasonable than pure greed and profit maximization. After all, the one is actually outlawed while the other is well-established and legal. The effects are obvious. Who wants to buy a used, contemporary game nowadays when you can’t be sure whether there are any activations left? Few to no one, I reckon. Besides, filesharer make for a great scapegoat. Those corporate scumbags can simply point to them and say “Don’t complain, this is their fault” while continuing to force increasingly draconic DRM bullshit down our throats.

Oh and by the way, please stop using the term “piracy”. This is such a despicable word for filesharing. I bet that some asshole spindoctors from the music industry came up with this. I mean seriously ...? Comparing the copying of data with hold-up murder? Are you fucking kidding me?

World War 3, will be fought between companies and pirates(of course I mean the.. file sharing users)...

I see. Filesharing instead of piracy. And that "corporate scumbags" sounds like music to my ears, honestly.

However, objectively speaking, what about from the eyes of the developers, then? Especially those of the small and independent ones? Do you you think they'd share the same view as this? I mean, I can see on YouTube than even the likes of Neil Gaiman and Joss Stone do not mind much about "filesharing", as they thought that it is akin to some sort of free advertising for their products. But I'd suppose not all developers and artists share this view, no?

Elaborate, please....? I'm rather slow here. :p
Seriously.

I was just making a statement that the companies that fight against pirates only cripple themselves in obsessively trying to stop piracy (even though a lot of it really is trying to eliminate the secondhand market) since they're basically destroying their own product in the effort.

Obviously that means if the war against pirates became literal, their tanks would be slow and otherwise burdened by rights-management, like their games are now :)

LOL, I can very well relate to the logic, and actually laugh here. This is a good one. Certainly they are also aware of this? Is it pure idiocy, then? Or because they simply do not see any other alternative at the moment--despite being moot as well, considering the existence and success of GoG and CDPR business model.

Six levels deep in fact ;>

Or call them illegal downloads (which is objective, too). Just avoid such awful shibboleths.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that I just defended illegal downloads. All I meant to point out is the bullshit that surrounds DRM. While I think you can argue that downloading commercial software for free is in fact morally wrong the fact remains that there is little to nothing that you can do about it without going to extreme lenghts. Sure, especially small studios depend on what little money they can get but let’s be honest. If their games are massively downloaded then publishers will notice this and take care of them. The ethical tenability of the action is irrelevant when it comes to the approach you take to combat it.

Please understand that I am not opposing. Merely trying to understand and see from various objective POV.

I hate DRM just as much as the next guy, but I see it's a moot point regarding filesharing. So, based on your thought, I would conclude that we simply let it be, then? Until people no longer see the point of doing so and/or condone it?

Is this realistically feasible? I suppose it could--perhaps if DRM schemes stop being part of the reasons to do so.

The word "piracy" is fine. Languages evolve. If it conjures up bloodthirsty savages murdering people for somebody, then that's their own imagination run wild. If anything, it's watered down and almost romantic. Unless they have daily dealings with the remaining modern seafaring pirates, I suppose.

Why blur the lines between filesharing and piracy? The former doesn't necessary include the latter. "Illegal downloads" is pretty lame, and just more fuel for the "nothing was removed from inventory crowd" since who says it's actually illegal where you are? Here, the worst for personal use is an angry DMCA letter forwarded from your ISP, who last I knew shouldn't even be able to disclose your identity because of our privacy laws. Maybe they threaten to terminate your account if you get too many of those. Doesn't make it peachy keen, though. Often it seems more like a matter of convenience for people, regardless of whether they can afford it, so companies definitely need to wake up there. Seriously? More like they'll go bust or get closed down. Why would a studio in their right mind subsidize pirates? And if they're an indie, they're probably backing themselves - seems like more are turning towards letting people buy versions in development while they work on the rest of the game now, so hopefully they know if it's profitable. That Project Zomboid link just goes to show how tenuous the whole thing can be though.

Anyway, DRM is teh evil and all, but what always boggles me is how desperately some people want to pretend they're not pirating but entitled to everything for free. Whatever the reason, fine - just what's with the self-delusion.

So, the bottom line is...fighting piracy *and* DRM both? Judging from the discussion here, it all comes down to people power, then--or people consciousness/awareness, to be precise. Demands create markets.

I wonder what possible measure is there in terms of achieving that? Besides the obvious, that is.

Of course, there's always this argument:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2653-Piracy

The vids of Neil Gaiman and Gabe Newell make good points, too, but here's a slightly different view.

Ooookay.... despite some points are interesting and arguably agreeable, after reading the comments below the video, the answers can be pretty much summed up like this:

1. Distribute games free of DRM to build and maintain the customers' trusts and care. Make them feel connected, respected and heard.

2. Set prices based on region. This is the key trick, I think. Fact is fact: $60 in US is NOT the same as $60 in Panama, for instance. Much less in Asia.

3. Provide demos that are *really* and *actually* representing the end product.

What do you think?

Granted that none of the options / solutions above are easily implemented, or even cheap. But hey, at the very least this would greatly reduces the excuses for people resorting to piracy, and for the [big] publishers to stop bullshitting their customers under the pretext of piracy--aka, used games business.

Thus, it actually still comes down to the people. The best the industry can do is to provide the mechanisms by which they'd learn, appreciate, and choose. Fairly and honorably.

Utopia? Not so much. It can be done. Starting with faith. And action.

I think.