Hi-

Meaning to be polite here, but you say your key should have been sent 'AGES ago', when that is just not the case. Read here:

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/?forumid=402&aid=174664

Especially the part where they say all orders should be processed by 8pm EST. I believe they BEGAN sending out keys sometime this morning, and have alot to get through. So its really not AGES ago at all, they appear to be on track. Also, by staggering out the keys, I'm sure it'll help those downloading the game. If they somehow were able to send out keys instantly to all preorders this morning, I'm sure people would be here complaining about how they are unable to downloading because the servers full.

Stardock is anti-DRM and should be supported for it. Downloading ANY pirated game, no matter how good your intentions are (like you own a legal copy), only bolster the pirated market, which hurts sales for games, which means less profit, which leads to less games being made on the PC.

By this time tomorrow you will be playing and enjoying the game and probably be asking yourself, "Why did I put up such a stink?"

ps. I mean no offense to you and understand your impatience.

Jorune

This isn't surprising and this is coming from someone who years ago had access to a bunch of 0 day/minute ftp dumps where products would be posted almost the minute it went gold weeks before retail release. I really do not know how the scene works now as i haven't been involved in it for about 10 years, ever since i hit reality after high school and had to actually work for a living personally i realized the scene was more trouble than it was worth to save what 50 bucks here and there.

While i'm not surprised about it hitting the piracy scene before shelves i do not support that anymore. I pay for my games, even the ones i never opened

Well I have a great Idea Since My bank transaction system is kinda screwed up I guess i'll go Download the torerent while I'll sleep and maybe tomorrow My bank will be kind enought to process my transaction (and since its still very peacefull after the Chrismas shoping spree I'll have a lot of time to beat the crap out of it until the transactions are processed) Hopefully when i get back home I'll have my SN AND i'll have a fully downloaded setup file to apply it to I just hope it wont have problems if i'll buy SoaSE with tokens

Sorry i totaly disagree with this , i've purchased it and recieve it another way not official means.. That company still has my money , i have not payed the pirates to give me this game. I'm still supporting the company they have my money , getting it from them physically or someone else does not make a difference again they still have my money!

Once i get my key i'll be able to officially update it and play online

Honestly, pirating games will not hurt this game at all? Why. Simple. A pirate gets the game and plays it(unpatched). 1 of 2 things happens. 1st- He doesn't like it. This most likely means he would not have bought the game anyway. 2nd scenario- He likes it and wants to update it. Then he has to buy the game. Win Win. Now for an EA game with cd protection. Once the cd protection is broken(cracked), then people can download the game and patch it. This includes both people who would have bought the game otherwise and those who would not have.

I understand your point, but when you download a pirated game, THAT in itself is bolstering the pirate community. If nobody appreciated what the pirate does, he wouldn't do it. When you download, you are showing your appreciation.

As an example, Stardock is working on the beta for the new Gal Civ II expansion. They released one small portion of their modtools for the expansion and said that as long as it isn't pirated, they would release more.

Quote from galciv2.com:

This week we're going to release Beta 4C of GalCiv II: Twilight of the Arnor.
It's the first beta with some AI updates and will include one of the editors.

We've been wanting to include the editors but have been afraid they might end up on some torrent site. So we'll be releasing one of the editors and as long as we don't find them on torrent sites, we'll keep adding more editors to the beta.


So even WITH a BETA of a game, there is a fear of piracy by the developers. Why they would fear a pirated beta (with bugs and not working files, etc), I have no idea. But it just goes to show you that perhaps pirated games hurt them more than we think and or realize. ANd people in on the beta are hurt because they cannot get their hands on the modtools. And ANY need for a pirated game (again, no matter how 'honorable' you feel it is), just hurts the industry.

Another poster mentioned that his friend had no money so he would d/l a pirated version and use it as a 'demo' (with the idea that if he liked it, his friends would probably band together and buy it for his b-day). He mentioned that its amazing how some people think the pirate issue is black and white when its not. Well I would say it's even more amazing how people justify illegal activity for their own means.

Jorune

Pirating things can help with advertising, and helps bring new artists/movies into the open air.

Legally: Pirating is illegal and shouldn't be done.
Socially: Depends on the person. Most people don't give a crap, they probably wouldn't have bought the music anyway (for movies though, I'd rather have people rent it or something)

But an opinion is an opinion, and with the glorious internet My Opinion Is Always More Factual and Better Than Yours.

Finally i got my damn key , time to leech

It's also amazing how people jump to conclusions, such as immediately assuming it -is- illegal where my friend is at.

You're also assuming pirates would stop if people stopped downloading. This isn't the case. The groups that release pirated games do it as a competition among themselves, between the groups. Mostly they aren't meant to hit the P2P networks.

I'm glad you know where your moral compass is pointing. I'm sure it will guide you well through life, unless you're actually a hypocrite whom sometimes speeds while driving, or jaywalks. Law infractions that actually risk -hurting- someone.

i checked limewire and sins isnt on that yet, so yay!!1

In fact, I don't see why not to release games via torrent - especially these games which don't have any DRM.
Look at the "real" picture (as I see it, if I am wrong, then someone *who really know and who is not just repeating several lines, strike back )
1) Most programs / video / music - everything you can convert into ones and zeroes - will be released over internet in unofficial (read pirated) way. You can slow it a while, few days, a week - and then it's over. There are too many talented people out there who *will* broke through the protection. And the protection itself can cause troubles. Look at Sony DRM.
2) All CD/DVD copy protections have one bug which is rarely discussed - sometimes these protections "find out" you have pirated CD/DVD, even if it is clearly original medium, and absolutely new, just bought. Probability is low - but then, there are *milions* (OK, several grades more) CDs/DVDs released, so the actual volume is pretty big.
3) Why should I have to insert my CD/DVD every time I want to start a game? How many programs have same policy? Photoshop? Windows? Yeah, you may laugh as much as you want, it's sily to have Windows CD/DVD in drive every time you start a system, isn't it? Why games are so different?
They have keys. Similar system as Stardock use and I am glad for that. I really believe it's the way it should be. It gives you more freedom. When I buy a game I don't want to keep the DVDs in the drive every time I decide to play it. I want freedom of movement, to use software I bought (or licence for a software, as it is sometimes) where I want / need it.
4) Copy protections are often nasty (look at the end of the reply to see how I know - in person) and can even damage your PC (at least StarForce can). And they are not cheap. Do you think they give you their protection software for free because your game is sooo gooood? It's another expensive software. Developing games is serious business, and most times very expensive. No real need to add another expense which will make your target community like you *less*.
5) Bandwidth issue.
Yes - bandwidth is not free. You may have read in news on this very page that StarDock *bought* additional bandwidth for this month. OK, so you are releasing a game without CD/DVD protection *and* without DRM. In fact, releasing through p2p network like torrent can be cheaper! Of course, people still download from you - but they download from each other too, so in total, you spend less GB of traffic. Remember, all these people still need serial key and you are not distributing it.
Think about it - the first thing "pirates" will do is that they will search p2p networks like torrent, emula, direct connect, name it. What if the first and most relevant link they find is *official* and not cracked game? Do you think they will all download a crack later? Sure, some of them - even most of them - but the rest will buy a key. A key. A key that is, compared to whole program, very short and can be distributed with very little expense on company's side. If you want an example, look at Anarchy Online - the only way how you can download it from official site is through torrent. Yes, AO is free, but you can start paying monthly fee for added content.
The only question is, how many *more* people will buy your game when you allow people do download it over p2p. Look at it as very cheap advertisement.

Closing comments:
Author participated in developing several games, so he is *not* noob in this field.
As a matter of fact, when he got, among payment, DVD with one of the games he was working on, it contained StarForce "Copy protection" - right after installation of this product, his DVD burner stopped reading ALL DVDs, even under another operating system, in another PC, and after attempt to "fix" the DVD burner with latest firmware, it stopped reading even CDs. Author wants to thank those nice people from the company he bought DVD burner from for replacing DVD burner with new model.

Author works in software company and is paid for it, so he does not encourage piracy, he knows how hard it can be to develop good software.

We have a zero tolerance policy on piracy.

Any public admission of downloading or supporting of illegal distribution of our copyrighted software will result in an immediate ban.

We stated clearly yestereday that processing wouldn't be complete up until 8pm EST.  As it stands, we finished 3 hours early. 

Topic closed.