UPDATE (and nerd alert): a lot of smart people have been questioning the accuracy of our 90% estimate, and with good reason, it’s a very rough estimate and the measurements are flawed. so we did some more digging to see if we might have missed the mark by a significant amount. here’s what we found:
1. based on the number of unique IPs and unique player IDs, we found that on average, there are 1.3 unique IP addresses per player (there is 1 player id for each profile created on any installation that submits scores to our server)
76% of players have contacted the server from 1 IP
13% from 2 IPs
5% from 3 IPs
3% from 4 IPs
1% from 5 IPs
1% from 6 IPs
1% from more than 6
this tells us that the dynamic IP issue is a relatively small factor in this calculation
2. we also looked at how many players IDs were created (rather than used) from each IP address. given that the vast majority of player IDs are associated with only a single IP, this is a fairly accurate measure of how many profiles the average user created. on average, a player has 1.15 profiles per installation.
when we take the total number of player IDs (which is smaller than the number of unique IPs from which leaderboard entries came) and divide it by 1.15 (the average number of profiles per installation) the number of estimated unique installations drops by about 35% as compared to the estimate based on unique IPs. let us further say that the average user installs the game on 1.25 computers with different IPs (i.e. not behind the same router), which i think is a high estimate. that lowers the estimated unique installations by another 20%. after factoring both of these in, the piracy rate would still be 82%, and we should keep in mind that this number doesn’t include those who never opted to submit scores to the leaderboard (it’s an option that’s off by default). so while it’s possible that the actual piracy rate is lower than 90%, it’s unlikely that it’s significantly lower. 2d boy hopes this satisfies the more rigorous number crunchers out there :)
oh, and yes, these numbers are exclusive of the demo… those scores are submitted to a different server entirely.
Amazon Gold Box (http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=cs_top_nav_gb27) today is supposed to have World of Goo PC on it for cheap at 2pm. No idea what time zone, or how cheap it will be, but hopefully I can get it.
I picked it up. $15 with shipping, of course, but still... not a bad deal at all.
I just went through that myself. Though it was harder because I was buying Dr Horrible on DVD, so I had to find some item at $5 to get free shipping.
Ugh, the original Fate would have been perfect! Oh well, I'm sure I'll enjoy my 3 pack of Vincent Price movies.Fate: Undiscovered Realms actually comes packaged ALSO with the original Fate.
Free soundtrack! (http://2dboy.com/WorldOfGooSoundtrack/)
Free soundtrack! (http://2dboy.com/WorldOfGooSoundtrack/)
DRM 'A Waste of Time,' Says World of Goo Developer
by Chris Faylor Mar 23, 2009 5:00pm CST tags: World of Goo, DRM, PC Gaming, GDC 09
World of Goo
Utilizing digital rights management as a means to prevent piracy is "a waste of time," according to 2D Boy co-founder and World of Goo co-creator Ron Caramel.
"Don't bother with DRM," he said during a GDC 09 talk attended by GameSpot. "You just end up giving the DRM provider money. Anything that is of interest gets cracked, and the cracked version ends up having a better user experience than the legit version because you don't have to input in some 32-character serial number."
The topic of digital rights management has become increasingly controversial, as publishers feel they must make some effort to prevent piracy while protesters complain that DRM punishes legitimate buyers with install limits and online activations.
"We don't see the point in having DRM," he added. "Anybody who wants the game is likely to find it on BitTorrent sites. It's going to get cracked even with DRM, it's going to be available very quickly." [/quite]