If you can't afford the original games, you can always play the free games like DOTA...

DOTA is totally free of charge, is downloadable from
http://www.dota-allstars.com

DotA is only a map that requires at least WarCraft III, an unfree game. DotA AllStars requires an additional Frozen Throne expansion pack, another unfree software.

This post has been edited by Parrot: Apr 11 2007, 09:35 PM

Dota not free la
with only map u cant ply the game
u nid WC3 TFT

so what has 'not being raised in well-to-do environment' has to go with buying original games?

just limit yourself to 3 games a year, averages to about RM 1 per day. is that difficult? or do you people just have this psychological tendancies to MUST get every new game released?

and after 10 years, you still say that you have difficulty affording originals?

a lot of people give lame excuses, imagine you can find college students who say they cannot afford to buy original games. fair enough. after graduated and working for 6 - 10 years and you'll probably still say they cannot afford original games even when their salary is like 36k per annum - in which 5% of the total salary is more than enough to acquire at least 10 titles.

now tell me parrot, i don't come from well-to-do environment as well but even during my college days i could actually save up and buy original games. a few titles a year, but nevertheless i enjoyed what i bought.

what about you? are you a working individual? is it that difficult to buy original games / movies?

seriously, if you look at the general Malaysian mentality - people just don't care. they could use a quad-core processor, 4GB RAM and 8800GTX on SLi, using N95 mobile phone and drive a Honda car and still say they can't afford original game.

it all boils down to attitude.

Yeah... most of it is indeed attitude.



I've to admit that before this I do have the tendency of thinking "Why pay so much money for original games and software if we can get it for $10 in most shops"... and I kept telling me "Surely I'll buy Quad Core pirated version if there is one too"... just to justify my choices on pirated games.


But after a long while I think I wouldn't hurt a bit if we buy original games... all it needs is the willingness to do so. Provided the game is the good one ofcourse... I won't pay much for crappy games and would ofcourse prefer pirated in that case. But seriously... the feeling of owning an original games is very different from pirated. You tend to appreciate it more than pirated version...


And now though I'm still a student... I will try to save a couple of bucks and buy a game that I think really worth it... like C&C3 for example... you can afford it actually... just a few change of mindsets I think... at least as long as you can afford 8800GTX... that means you really can afford original games as well...

This post has been edited by Kai Sheng: Apr 11 2007, 10:47 PM

I was ten in 1996. I graduated from college in December 2006, but it's not easy to find a stable job with only an IT degree.

When I do actually begin earning a relatively good salary, I might change my stance, but for now, this is my view of things. I'm actually eager to start buying some original software and even a game console if I receive enough money (Spore, in particular, comes into mind).

I'm just annoyed by the fact that the value of the ringgit is shit, the software's pricing is ridiculous high, the number of software available is limited, limiting the demand for original software in Malaysia. Not much has also been done to clarify the prospects of cheaper original software if software piracy in Malaysia is addressed, so I have every reason to be suspicious that software companies will not fulfill their promises to lower prices even after every software pirate in the country is driven to the sea.

This post has been edited by Parrot: Apr 12 2007, 02:08 AM

my first original games were games from Dynamix like Adventures of Willy Beamish, about RM 30++, a bunch of floppy disks.

then my first original game on CD was the 1st C&C. even then i was like only 16 - 17 i think.

i saved up for it. even the games i acquired through out the years, i save up to buy them. even with my starting pay of RM 1,400 many many many years also i can buy what.

ok so maybe you have commitments here and there. i myself am a gamer, a techie and blablablabla - best way is always to be prudent, only buy good games or games that you like. buy about 1 - 5 games a year is sufficient.

last year my purchases were NFS Carbon, Fifa World Cup 2006, BF 2142, Prince of Persia T2T. i think that's it. i might have missed out something.

this year? Supreme Commander and C&C:3. didn't buy CoH and various others.

oh btw - who said it's not easy to find stable job with IT degree? head to the Jobs & Career section. hehe.

yeah. this part i agree.

our $$$ sucks. we pay 4x more for things usually.

This post has been edited by goldfries: Apr 12 2007, 02:14 AM

Well, my allowance was basically enough for meals and transport during my school and college years. The rest were deposited by my parents to a bank account for a rainy day. I never questioned it, so I usually spent what I was given on things that I needed. Any money that I managed to save from my lunch and transport allowance were used to buy pirated games.

hehe.

pirate, parrot. sounds alike. and usually pirates are depicted to have a parrot with them.

anyway i understand how it feels to want to play game yet the cheapest available source is from pirates.

it games were cheaper i'll have more games to play too.

Not buying pc games anymore since ive got my 360 but im buying ori games instead coz of the Xbox Live experience..Damn syok la Gears Of war..

And yes,im a student too and my parents wont give me money to buy all these..Im saving my own money to buy the games..So i think there's no reason people cant save money to buy ori games..

For me, i can't afford to buy Ori games at all. There are better thigns to spend on then to buy a game. Games unfortunately are created in US and thus you have to factor in the exchange rate to a certain degree.

Compare to any US graduate who works there with a EE degree. your pay per year is like 40-50k? heh even at minimum wage, it's at 1.8k per month. To them, a new original game isl ike 40-50USD. older ones drop to maybe 20-30. that's still very affordable for someone with a 1.8k per month salary, definately for someone with a 40-50k per year salary (that's roughly 3-4k per month)

But for us, it's like 100 - 200? for each original game? nah not worth it.

Need to save for cars, house, property investments.. and such..

In US, I heard they have shops that rent out original games. I wonder if it'll work here.

But I think people would just buy a pirated game rather than spending almost the same amount of money to just rent the game.

We have discussed this few page ago.It wont work with games like NFSC which accounts are tied to the CD keys.

I think it might work...with all LYP and now, even Digital Mall closed down. There's no more pirated games anymore except for a few more places which charge exorbitant price for pirated games...(ex: who wanna pay RM30 for 2 pirated DVD games? I don't! I'll rather spend another RM100 to buy ori!).

But of course, we'll rent it, duped it, crack it, and never ever need to rent the same title again....LOL.

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Added on April 12, 2007, 11:55 amI'm class 4.

4) one is the type that only get ori for games i like, if affordable. Other stuff just pirate and try for 30 minutes and throw. LOL.

I would like to support more ori, but given over standard of living and the 3.x price we have to pay extra for, you won't find me with a truckload of ori titles.

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Added on April 12, 2007, 11:59 amAgreed. It would help if original games comes with money back guarantee like most store in the West. Here it's once touched consider sold. No refund, no guarantee!!!

Crap like SC:Double Agent isn't worth the RM5 for the pirated disc. I'm sure glad only pay RM5 for that!! LOL.

They should have at least a 14-days return policy to encourage more people to buy ori.



This post has been edited by Matrix: Apr 12 2007, 11:59 AM

I dont think that will work.Some people might just buy it and crack it within 14 days.Then,they exchange for another game.

PC games yes. But console games cost much higher...i seriously wonder why!

Being mostly a console gamer, i find it very sad that most of the hot titles are ridiculously expensive like RM250 to RM350 or more. Back then there wasn't any software boutique. Even now, prices of some of the console games are slightly cheaper , but hot titles still expensive!!

Unlike console games, PC games have standard pricing even for hot titles. Crap titles will just drop to a lower price faster.

Well, anyway, i don't have much time to play games nowadays and given up console gaming for good. (still got many backlogs of PS1 and PS2 games still uncompleted...ha-ha).

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Added on April 12, 2007, 12:13 pmOf course you set a limit of exchange ler. If u see the same fella coming back 3 times already, of course cannot ler!!

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Added on April 12, 2007, 12:25 pmGames like FF series are story driven and RPGs are not known to have replayability value. No matter how good the RPG is, nobody wih a life is crazy enuff to re-play another 30hours to 40hours (up to 70 hours!!) for the same story and RPG game again.

RTS games are not meant to last long, however there are skirmishes and mods and maps which is freely downloadable and you can always find a different strategy to beat the game again.

To this day, i'm still playing C&C:Generals and Zero Hours. And i don't even play online....i find it more satisfying to kill dumb AIs...LOL.

Right now still taking my time to complete the C&C 3 campaigns...and i don't think i'll bother to go online....still worth it to buy ori for C&C 3...it'll be another 3 or 4 years before another C&C release, so it'll be money well spent. No doubt, there'll be many mods and maps later from the large user base.

Who says no re-playability value??


This post has been edited by Matrix: Apr 12 2007, 12:25 PM

RM10 = 1 game?
more than that.
this nfsmw pir4te dvd i own got all d series of NFS since nfs 1..
i act played, finished, n play nfs u2 over n over again just from the dvd of nfsmw
take the average pir4te dvd that have like 3 games per cd.. rm3.33 per game.. instead of rm130 per game..
plus ori games u haf to put cd everytime u wanna play..
i played football manager 2005 so much until i bought a FM2006 ori..but i didnt play it much...regret already..turn out i purchase another pirate dvd that have fm2006 as a bonus..sigh why shud i pay rm130 a game when i can pay rm10 for multiple games..
the richer ones can always buy the ori..just let it be
paying for ur food, bills, school fee or w/e crap is more important than spending rm100+ for a game

You know what? From now on, if anyone wants to throw the "Ori is for rich people" argument around, I DEMAND to know what PC they are running and how they afforded it.

Hell, just the video card is enough (One could always argue that the processor and RAM are needed for work, but hardly any job needs a gaming video card) and even that will cost you at least RM 50-100+.

I'm sick and tired of ppl accusing ori users of being flamboyant rich ppl who are just showing off how much money they have. As others have shown, it IS possible to buy ori games even though you don't earn 5k a month.

The value of a game is NOT the price of the delivery medium. This is what pisses me off the most. Complete disregard for Intellectual Property.

Although i'm not 100% agree with ya, but i do agree putting food on the table etc etc, is more important than making rich companies like EA, UBISOFT etc. richer...America, Europe, Japan, Aus etc etc where currency and earning is high...they're already making money from there....so a little donation to the Asian community isn't so bad.

After all, the West has been making slaves from Africa, the Brits squandering money back to their country during the era of the British Empire for a few hundred years( plus minus). Thus, they're where they are today partly thanks to free forced labour of African and Asian countries. A little payback with some free games is therefore not a 100% evil.

Furthermore, if there is ZERO piracy in this country, with police breathing down everyone's neck for a pirated copy of PacMan on their PC, most people would just give up gaming if the high price of ori soft remains as it is.(I don't see anyway the price can drop to RM50/RM60 range). I know i would.

This post has been edited by Matrix: Apr 13 2007, 09:14 AM

Actually when i was buying games in the UK, console games usually came with a no questions asked returns policy. Never abused it and only returned games which were extremely crappy. This didn't apply to pc games though for obvious reasons. Come to think of it, I run all my original pc games using no-cd/dvd cracks because it just makes life easier (which is kinda funny in a way).

OK, I'm running a modern dual core pc with 2gb ram and a 8800gts. I like gaming. A lot. It cost me about RM 6k to build. For me that's more than a month's salary. When I was living and working in the UK, this would have cost me less than half of my month's salary. Similarly, original games as a proportion of my salary would have cost a lot less than they do here. Which would make it easier to justify my position.

Looking back over the last few years or so, I've probably spent about RM 30k on my xbox, pc, dreamcast, gamecube, saturn and GBA I have absolutely no regrets about it. At the same time, I could have also gotten the games for free off bittorrent but I still got original games due to it's affordability.

Now I'm in Malaysia, I had to take a huge paycut to come back to the country I love. I'm finding that while it costs the same in absolute terms, it costs a lot more in relative term. While respecting intellectual property laws are a virtue in itself, isn't it also the case that wastefulness can be considered a sin. Arguing that piracy is evil is in my opinion, not a black and white case.

We all know that the only reason the Malaysian government is cracking down on software piracy is to fulfill it's WTO obligations. It's hardly in the country's best interest to stop piracy as most of the revenue from original games goes overseas anyway. It's the same with countries effectively pirating AIDS medicines where people can't afford to pay for original drugs.

You're right that the value of a game is not the price of the delivery system. It is how much the the customer is willing to pay for it, that's how economics is supposed to work in a free market. If you're feeling flush and willing to pay more for a game then i'm happy that you feel you can afford it.

It's funny how people supporting original games don't mention original music, tv programs and movies as well when talking about respecting IP.

Anyway, I'll be buying original games when i feel it's worth it and downloading/buying ciplaks when i don't think it's worth it to buy the originals.