Comments on: China’s Gamers http://thumbgods.com/archives/2009/03/30/chinas-gamers Game reviews, beta news and indie games. Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:51:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: Meg http://thumbgods.com/archives/2009/03/30/chinas-gamers/comment-page-1#comment-24244 Meg Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:38:25 +0000 http://thumbgods.com/?p=1102#comment-24244 That wasn't where I was going w/ the Chinese piracy at all. I think software/music/movie piracy in China has a lot more to do with Chinese culture and the Chinese mind. It's still kind of percolating in my head, but I think it's tied to a culture of bargaining, the guanxi network, the "developing country" mindset and the concern for the group over the individual. Your thoughts? I meant more than the game is sold once to a net cafe and then played by multiple users(or multiple times to multiple PCs in a cafe, but the sale is still tied to a box w/ multiple users). Developers would be selling fewer disks, but making more account-dependent or playtime-dependent money for each disk sold. But I'm sure that pirated copies do have a lot to do with it, devs must know that pirated copies will be used all the time! That wasn’t where I was going w/ the Chinese piracy at all. I think software/music/movie piracy in China has a lot more to do with Chinese culture and the Chinese mind. It’s still kind of percolating in my head, but I think it’s tied to a culture of bargaining, the guanxi network, the “developing country” mindset and the concern for the group over the individual. Your thoughts?

I meant more than the game is sold once to a net cafe and then played by multiple users(or multiple times to multiple PCs in a cafe, but the sale is still tied to a box w/ multiple users). Developers would be selling fewer disks, but making more account-dependent or playtime-dependent money for each disk sold. But I’m sure that pirated copies do have a lot to do with it, devs must know that pirated copies will be used all the time!

]]> By: Dan Taylor http://thumbgods.com/archives/2009/03/30/chinas-gamers/comment-page-1#comment-24237 Dan Taylor Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:59:19 +0000 http://thumbgods.com/?p=1102#comment-24237 Nice writeup! Re: software piracy and China, would it be a fair assessment to say that this piracy was one of the driving factors behind creating the free-to-play model? Who's going to pirate something that's already free? Nice writeup! Re: software piracy and China, would it be a fair assessment to say that this piracy was one of the driving factors behind creating the free-to-play model? Who’s going to pirate something that’s already free?

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