24 replies to this topic

[DeathDude]

It's not as black and white as you make it seem. There are ways to get rid of these sorts of things and really it's around the net so others have ideas to help out in these cases. Yes it's not right that some companies go this route to gain profit or even silentally install, but saying you shouldn't punish the game itself for something like this, at least the developer is acknowledging too that for the next version it will be optional.

[taikara]

I happen to agree with EoF on some points here.

If the toolbar is so objectionable to him that he won't even install it, then for him, the game is worth a rating of 1 - unplayable. Really, it's just his opinion, and he is entitled to his just as anyone else is entitled to theirs.

Furthermore, by being vocal about his opinion, he is probably doing a good thing in discouraging game makers from requiring add-ons for their game installations. It's something I don't want to see becoming prevalent, either.

The unfortunate other side to this coin is that people are a whole lot less likely to donate "real" money to this maker than they are to install an add-on that can generate revenue for him without requiring them to "actually" pay for it.

It's a little different than the gas example, as the maker deserves to be rewarded (gas companies do not, and as EoF said, it's impossible to avoid having to pay for increasing gas prices in some way or another, unless you are able to walk or bike everywhere you need to go), but the number of people willing to pay money for the game is disproportionate to the people who aren't. People take the work involved for granted, and therefore, there is little reward - and some freeware makers live on near nothing to be able to devote time to these labors of love.

So, there are two ways to prevent this sort of add-on from being required in freeware games. One is to strongly protest the practice (which requires a lot of people to be effective, and a majority of people tend to be apathetic, which is why it can be gotten away with), and the other is to donate to the maker when the option is available if you enjoy the game (which is more effective with less people, but just as unlikely, again due to apathy).

[Juni Ori]

Someone brought up the issue with Steam. It's actually even better example! It totally ruins the gameplay and thus I would definitely give any game running under it 1! And in this case I understand EoF and agree with Tai. But my vote would've been anyways 1, I hate Mario and games like these.

[DeathDude]

Well totally agree that Steam was a bad idea for Valve to use, but it was done for piracy which actually doing some research and c-dilla is exactly the same sort of idea, to protect copies of civ. Now the way it was installed under civ is a bad idea, and for HL 2 not sure how it works but hopefully it's upfront.

Now I don't like the idea of the toolbar either, but at least next version it will be optional if you want to support the developer that route, so least some progress was made in that avenue.

[BeefontheBone]

I've never understood people's issues with Steam - it's a straightforward, easy way to both pay for and play games with little hassle. I suppose it'd be irritating if you have technical issues with it, but otherwise I've been very impressed with it.

[Juni Ori]

All I've ever experienced with it, is technical issues...

[DeathDude]

Have heard it varies from system to system some have no problems other have many, guess it depends but it does have some good ideas behind it Steam does.

[Blood-Pigggy]

BeefontheBone, on Jun 23 2006, 06:19 PM, said:

I've never understood people's issues with Steam - it's a straightforward, easy way to both pay for and play games with little hassle. I suppose it'd be irritating if you have technical issues with it, but otherwise I've been very impressed with it.

Yeah, I never have a problem with it at all.
It's really easy too, you don't have to manually install everything.

[Sean]

It's a nice program, should be optional though.

Edit: Steam, I mean.

That toolbar sucks but we're here to review games not the extras that come with them.

[DeathDude]

It comes with the game so it's fair game, especially since it's forced installation with this version, so it's definitely something that has to be mentioned in regards to reviewing, to alert users who may not like this sort of thing.