Cant you just use paypal and transfer money from your bank to your paypal account and buy sins? thats how i did it...

never said it was a waste of time.. i think u need to edit what u said after my second post then if u actually want to believe that.. id say a bit more if i wasnt off to bed. till tomorrow night then.

Please email bclair(at)stardock(dot)com with the serial so we can deal with it.  The serials that the warez groups have been including don't work, so that's not as large a concern.

Thank you for being honest.

*snort*

"Just a downloader"?

It's still piracy, whether you cracked the copy protection or not.

Software piracy, like anything else, is only a grey area for those who lack sufficient moral awareness to see that it's wrong.

I don't really care. Once again you haven't read what I said. I'll keep the message short so you can comprehend it.
Just one thing, for the record: I never said you said it was a waste of time; I only said

And you said:

And if you can't read THAT properly, then you're obviously a moron. Note the if-then construction, so I'm not actually calling you a moron atm. It's only if you fail to read this, that you become a moron. Get it? Or do I need to spell that out for you too?
Thanks for keeping it civil, by the way.

Stardock indeed has a very healthy attitude towards piracy, something the rest of this industry should learn from. You just gave a very good example of the reason why. Yet after reading all your problems with COH, I don't really see what the point is of complaining on their forums. I would just raise my shoulders, download the cracked SP exe that was probably released within less than two days after that patch and stop buying games from THQ. No trouble, no locked threads or lots of emailing and another 50 euros saved.

Anyone remember the launch of Bioshock? That was an even greater mess, with the game requiring a connection to a special online database to install and only three allowed installations per serial. And still for some reason this industry doesn't understand why people prefer the easy pirating way instead of the troublefilled customer route.

ROFL!!
I suppose it happens

You can go on and preach about moral and legal issues, but as long as EVERY EULA contains the phrases "NO WARRANTIES" "NO RIGHTS" "AS IS", i just reserve the right to try a software before i buy it.. face it.. quality is rare these days and you just dont see demos for games released (probably for a reason).

excerpt from BF2142 EULA:

So if its broken when you buy it, though luck.. you should have tried first.. oh wait, you cant.. ah well. (okay, BFs case is special as they do have a demo, but its the exception from the rule. most games have no demos out there)


So if something impossible happens, like a DRM.. say *cough* starforce *cough* decides to fry your hard drives.. then they cannot be held responsible for the damage.. good enough. Guess why im a software developer myself. Asking ridiculous ammounts of money for developing software on which i can then deny any responsibility in case it does not work or screws up the system it is running on is just a dream.. who wouldnt want to do it.

Oh wait, i actually take responsibility for my work and actually guarantee a continous bug-free operation and support in case something goes wrong included in the price. Guess what.. im working in the business sector where the customers are not 10yo kids i can screw over any way i want. Too bad for me.. no wonder i always planned on making a living from writing computer games.. where did i go wrong, oh please God tell me where.

Bottomline: As long as software developers can have the luxury to sell games / software on an "AS IS" basis, you shouldnt be suprised that piracy is thriving and that people are indeed using pirated software to make sure they are not screwed over by the publishers/developers.

Not everyone using pirated software is doing it to 'steal' from the developers.. but instead to protect their own interests.. In fact, i know quite a few people who buy games regularly - after they've made sure the games are worth buying. Its kind of like going a round around the block with the car you are planning to buy to see how it works/feels. Sure you can try and drive away into the sunset - like never buying the game just using the pirated copy -, but i do believe that most 'normal' people will just return the car and buy it if they are interested, or leave it if they are not.

So again.. hats off to those developers who actually take responsibility for their work and provide dedicated, continous support. Too bad the entertainment sector of software development is so full of useless, low quality junk.

Just to clarify, SoaSE's license agreement is no different in wording than the one above, but their software works, has great replay value and they provide support for it, unlike some other companies. It still hurts my eyes to see any contract where the manufacturer denies all responsibility for the work they do. I guess it must be because of the stupid american legal system where you can be sued for accidentally coughing at the wrong person that they write this kind of nonsense.

I guess i just live too far away from that world to understand.

Perhaps indeed.
Worth inquiring, Vic? ...or rather not, just to be on the safe side? jk mate

Nemo84,

Sadly, sometimes the nocd "patches" don't come out so soon. And regardless, it's the point of things. Just like I come here to tell Stardock how good I think they're doing, I also feel it's worthwhile to tell other companies how BADLY I think they're doing. THQ and Relic should know, as a customer, the frustration I felt with their new copy protection system.

And yes, I also got caught in the Bioshock mess. I thought there was a problem with my connection (since the company refused to actually tell anybody WHY the game wasn't working), but nope: a day later on-line registration worked just fine.

-HM

Yeah, it's basically just legal CYA boilerplate. We do support our products as best we can, but you never know when someone will decide that a crash or BSOD is worth a lawsuit...

just mail blair an envelope with $40 inside and a note that says

"Payment for pirated CD serial #XXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXX-XXXX-XXXXXX"

oh, and make sure you cut the letters out of magazines so it looks like a ransom note