I started this poll because frankly its a question I have had a hard time dealing with.
On one hand I dont want to hurt the possiblitys for remakes or patches. But on the other hand I understand the nature of our business and know that the chances for those remakes and patches are near impossible. Couple that with the knowledge that people who still have orginial disks and boxes for older games where disks no longer work have no method for replacing them other than buying the game again. Considering some companies gave blanket lifetime warantees on disks plus support its a little grating to see that promise not fullfilled.
To be honest I have downloaded abandonware in the past but I am re-considering this behavior. If you think about it a lot of folks are coming to this and other boards to score some free downloads. If those same folks were on these boards and talking and particpating and pining for copies instead, perhaps this demand would generate interest from those same companies that currently wont give the different communities the time of day. Take the Sierra games for example, they have a much bigger audience than our Tex series and I see almost constant questions on those boards asking "where I can I get x game for free?". If those same folks were bidding on EBAY for good copies of those games would the demand rise enough to give our Modern Sierra something to think about? Its not like you have to spend a whole lot to get your hands on one of these games. You can get UAKM for usually under 15 with shipping, even the Space Quest series if purchased individually usually cost under 10 bucks and that is one of the most popular ones.
I am not preaching as much as I am asking? I frankly wonder if this behavior is hurting us? Do I think people are "bad" for downloading games.... Not really, but I just wonder if abandonware is something that unknown to us is hurting us in the eyes of developers.
On one hand I dont want to hurt the possiblitys for remakes or patches. But on the other hand I understand the nature of our business and know that the chances for those remakes and patches are near impossible. Couple that with the knowledge that people who still have orginial disks and boxes for older games where disks no longer work have no method for replacing them other than buying the game again. Considering some companies gave blanket lifetime warantees on disks plus support its a little grating to see that promise not fullfilled.
To be honest I have downloaded abandonware in the past but I am re-considering this behavior. If you think about it a lot of folks are coming to this and other boards to score some free downloads. If those same folks were on these boards and talking and particpating and pining for copies instead, perhaps this demand would generate interest from those same companies that currently wont give the different communities the time of day. Take the Sierra games for example, they have a much bigger audience than our Tex series and I see almost constant questions on those boards asking "where I can I get x game for free?". If those same folks were bidding on EBAY for good copies of those games would the demand rise enough to give our Modern Sierra something to think about? Its not like you have to spend a whole lot to get your hands on one of these games. You can get UAKM for usually under 15 with shipping, even the Space Quest series if purchased individually usually cost under 10 bucks and that is one of the most popular ones.
I am not preaching as much as I am asking? I frankly wonder if this behavior is hurting us? Do I think people are "bad" for downloading games.... Not really, but I just wonder if abandonware is something that unknown to us is hurting us in the eyes of developers.