iPhone pirates

[Jack Norton]

Found an interesting read today and wanted to share:
http://jrtb.com/blog/a-conversation-...-iphone-pirate

I loved this passage from the hacker:

Thousands and thousands of new people saw your app on Appulous so i hope that got your app more publicity. When i crack an app, any app, i do not do it to hurt developers. Without you we wouldn’t even have our community =) I do this so people would know is an app worth their money.

How the app can be worth the money if is given away free? something doesn't sound right here

[GolfHacker]

The human mind is warped and can rationalize anything.

[Bad Sector]

There is a story about how potatoes became popular in Greece:

Greeks never had potatoes in their diet and when the modern country was just been formed it had massive economic issues. I'm not sure about the details, but it was somehow arranged by the prime minister (Ioannis Kapodistrias) and they've got a massive number of potatoes which were free for everyone to get and eat. The potatoes were placed somewhere where everyone could get them freely. However since Greeks never ate potatoes before, nobody took them and the potatoes would rot. So the prime minister decided to trick the people by placing guards where the potatoes were. Those guards were informed to not actually "guard" the potatoes - they were there just for the show. However most people thought that since there are guards in there, the potatoes should be really good. It wasn't long before every single potato was stolen.

(actually after i wrote the above, it seems that the story is actually true and mentioned in a Wikipedia article about Ioannis Kapodistrias)

How does the story relate to this? Simple: for most people something is worth only what you make it look worth. If you give it for free it is worth nothing (since its free). If you ask something for it, then it is worth something even if someone manages to get it for free (for him it is still worth something and its like he got something worthy for free).

[jpoag]

I agree, I've known people who couldn't get rid of furnitur, appliances, etc by putting them at the end of the street.

Slap a For Sale sign on them ( for say 50$) and the next morning it's gone.

There is a story about how potatoes became popular in Greece:

Greeks never had potatoes in their diet and when the modern country was just been formed it had massive economic issues. I'm not sure about the details, but it was somehow arranged by the prime minister (Ioannis Kapodistrias) and they've got a massive number of potatoes which were free for everyone to get and eat. The potatoes were placed somewhere where everyone could get them freely. However since Greeks never ate potatoes before, nobody took them and the potatoes would rot. So the prime minister decided to trick the people by placing guards where the potatoes were. Those guards were informed to not actually "guard" the potatoes - they were there just for the show. However most people thought that since there are guards in there, the potatoes should be really good. It wasn't long before every single potato was stolen.

(actually after i wrote the above, it seems that the story is actually true and mentioned in a Wikipedia article about Ioannis Kapodistrias)

How does the story relate to this? Simple: for most people something is worth only what you make it look worth. If you give it for free it is worth nothing (since its free). If you ask something for it, then it is worth something even if someone manages to get it for free (for him it is still worth something and its like he got something worthy for free).

[Sol_HSA]

Found an interesting read today and wanted to share:
...
How the app can be worth the money if is given away free? something doesn't sound right here

Apart from the weird logic of said cracker, there's this little pet peeve of mine.

Price does not mean worth. I cringe every time I see some advertisement saying that do this and that and you may win something that's worth a zillion dollars. It's not worth a zillion dollars. It costs zillion dollars.

In fact, it's not worth zillion to anyone. The person selling it wants a margin of profit, but has to pay for the widget, so it's not worth zillion to that person. For whoever who buys it, it's worth more than zillion, or they wouldn't go through the trouble of paying zillion dollars for it.

Another simple example: water may be given away for free, but it's still worth a lot to a thirsty man.

Apologies for going "a bit" off topic. =)

[moose6912]

How does the story relate to this? Simple: for most people something is worth only what you make it look worth. If you give it for free it is worth nothing (since its free). If you ask something for it, then it is worth something even if someone manages to get it for free (for him it is still worth something and its like he got something worthy for free).

The story is great, but the concept of something for free being worth nothing seems to be in contrast with what this book says.

http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Ir.../dp/006135323X

[cliffski]

Thats not a bad book.

[Sybixsus]

How the app can be worth the money if is given away free? something doesn't sound right here

Simple. The cracking "business" is all about prestige and bravado. Cracking "teh lat3st" is what scores you merit badges. Cracking Crysis before anyone else is worth maximum brownie points. Cracking middle tier games is worth some brownie points. Most of the big groups won't touch the games they perceive to be the cheapest, nastiest. One or two groups actually specialize in cracking these, and even they come with a warning that "the scene" is about releasing all games, not making a judgement about how crappy these crappy games are. "Enjoy your affordable swedish crap" to quote Futurama.

Ergo, if people won't even crack your game/app, it can't be worth buying. If they fight over who can crack it first, it probably is. Not that many of them will if they've just got it for free, but that's where his logic kinda falls apart.

[moose6912]

Thats not a bad book.

Yup, it has some pretty good insights and I'll bet that you will be trying to use those insights for your marketing

[cliffski]

marketing?
moi?

[moose6912]

Yup, of cos you. Btw, still waiting for Rock Legend 2

[vjvj]

There is a story about how potatoes became popular in Greece:

Greeks never had potatoes in their diet and when the modern country was just been formed it had massive economic issues. I'm not sure about the details, but it was somehow arranged by the prime minister (Ioannis Kapodistrias) and they've got a massive number of potatoes which were free for everyone to get and eat. The potatoes were placed somewhere where everyone could get them freely. However since Greeks never ate potatoes before, nobody took them and the potatoes would rot. So the prime minister decided to trick the people by placing guards where the potatoes were. Those guards were informed to not actually "guard" the potatoes - they were there just for the show. However most people thought that since there are guards in there, the potatoes should be really good. It wasn't long before every single potato was stolen.

(actually after i wrote the above, it seems that the story is actually true and mentioned in a Wikipedia article about Ioannis Kapodistrias)

How does the story relate to this? Simple: for most people something is worth only what you make it look worth. If you give it for free it is worth nothing (since its free). If you ask something for it, then it is worth something even if someone manages to get it for free (for him it is still worth something and its like he got something worthy for free).

LOL that is an awesome story, thanks for sharing.

[Adrian Cummings]

Yes that was very good and cheers for posting!

[undergrowth]

Sierra used to have some of the most difficult to copy games around (Kings Quest III, etc). I believe they would burn a physical hole in the floppy disk, and when you ran the game it would check to make sure that reading that sector on the disk caused a hardware error.

After they finally got rid of the copy protection in later games, their popularity sky rocketed, as people would hear about the games a lot more (from people with pirated copies), and would then buy the games themselves.

The above is a bit more anecdotal than the potato story, but I think there's some truth in the pirate's view.

I would think though, that shareware-style games with one hour demos would put off pirates somewhat, as the pirate then isn't releasing anything you couldn't already get (almost) for free anyway.

[Game Producer]

So... let me guess this right.... these guys buy $300whatnot iPhone and then hack product that costs $1 to see "if it's worth the money"?

Argh!!!

[undergrowth]

To play devil's advocate here..

So... let me guess this right.... these guys buy $300whatnot iPhone and then hack product that costs $1 to see "if it's worth the money"?

Argh!!!

And you're probably using a $1000 computer and a $50/month internet connection, but who would spend 50 cents to read a news article even if it was the top of Digg? Few people do spend any money to get content on the web. Personally, I wouldn't even give the newspaper my email address. Micro-payments never took off on the web for a reason. If you have to consider the cost of every transaction, even if it's 5 cents, then you become paralysed with asking "Should I bother following this link? Should I spend money on this too? Should I support this author? Is he trying to con me?" which is what the pirate claims to be stuck with thinking for every damn item in the app store.

It's also why newspapers have 10 different sections that are not sold separately. You buy them all together so you don't have to think about which ones you want or don't want, you just buy the whole paper, and read what you want to.

The pirate isn't worried if the game is simply "worth" $1, he's worried that he's going to be ripped off, feel crap about being conned into buying a crappy game, be giving money to a con artist, and to top it all off, helping that app move towards #1 in the app store.

From the user point of view, the obvious solution is a subscription service -- where players pay a fixed amount to access any and all games. Of course how to divide up the money would be problematic, and I'm not going to attempt to suggest anything, especially as I doubt Apple are listening.

In summary, even though you disagree with the pirate's actions, you shouldn't be so quick to dismiss his motives. I can't help but think of Valve's Jason Holtman who said recently "Pirates are underserved customers."

Edit: The other solution would be to have time-limited (or crippled) demos, which is what the pirate suggested, and what I suggested above (before bothering to read the article). I also understand this is what many successful iPhone apps do by having a "LITE" version. I'd be interested if any iPhone games that already have free versions are popular on pirate networks.

[Game Producer]

I also understand this is what many successful iPhone apps do by having a "LITE" version. I'd be interested if any iPhone games that already have free versions are popular on pirate networks.

Well, having lite/free "demo" versions sounds quite right... but the net is filled with reviews, ratings & comments... (not sure if iPhone apps have money-back-guarantees too?) so in this case it just sounds bit odd reasoning.

[jcottier]

Edit: The other solution would be to have time-limited (or crippled) demos, which is what the pirate suggested, and what I suggested above (before bothering to read the article).

Come on. This is already the case with all the downloadable games on the net. Most of them have 1 hour free trial. Guess what, they still get pirated. Pirate have no excuses, they know it, we know it... There are no justification other than I DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR THIS. Why for any other goods, people just assume that's bad luck and wish they could afford it. But for downloadable goods, they just assume they are in their right to go away without paying it?


JC

[Nikster]

The pirate isn't worried if the game is simply "worth" $1, he's worried that he's going to be ripped off, feel crap about being conned into buying a crappy game, be giving money to a con artist, and to top it all off, helping that app move towards #1 in the app store.

That's the biggest load of bollocks I've heard since forever, that excuse has been used since the early 80's regarding video games. People pirate because they want something for nothing, it doesn't matter how much you dress it up.

[Pyabo]

So... let me guess this right.... these guys buy $300whatnot iPhone and then hack product that costs $1 to see "if it's worth the money"?

And also complain loudly that a $2.99 is a "total rip-off!!!!"

[PoV]

Edit: The other solution would be to have time-limited (or crippled) demos, which is what the pirate suggested, and what I suggested above (before bothering to read the article). I also understand this is what many successful iPhone apps do by having a "LITE" version. I'd be interested if any iPhone games that already have free versions are popular on pirate networks.

Except the pirates don't make an exception for games with a lite version. It's an empty excuse.

And also complain loudly that a $2.99 is a "total rip-off!!!!"

It totally is. $3 goes a long way in this day and age. You can buy a loaf of bread for that. A *WHOLE* loaf! Feed your family for a week with that.

[Game Producer]

I bet when games are sold for $0 pirates start to complain how they are "wasting their time"...

[jaguard]

There are no justification other than I DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR THIS. Why for any other goods, people just assume that's bad luck and wish they could afford it. But for downloadable goods, they just assume they are in their right to go away without paying it?
JC

People never ever want to pay for anything. They want everything for free, and this is absolutely normal. However, since they can't get a free pirated cheeseburger, they have to pay for it. So the only way to fight piracy is make it hard to pirate. With iphone, it's quite hard - you must jailbreak your device. Not only this, you have to break Mobileinstaller, too. Most users don't have enough experience to do it all right, and that's a very good thing.
I only wish Apple have implemented serial-based encryption, like Nintendo did on Wiiware games (every time you buy a game there, it's unique and encrypted based on your device data, so you can't just copy it), it would have improved protection even more.