Recently, the topic of DRM came up in regards to Creeper World 1 and 2. I’ve always thought of myself on the “good” end of the whole DRM spectrum as I do the minimal that I can get away with for the Creeper World games. The games only require the entry of a key that you get when you purchase… no online activation, just a local key check. Its bare bones minimum and something that has been accepted and in use for a great many years now.
But, the controversy all got started when someone I don’t even know posted on the forums. Basically (to paraphrase), they were informing me that I had been warned about including a serial key check and that they had decided to pirate the game because I included one. Read the post here. This in turn got posted to Reddit. And as the wheels of the internet ground and turned on this topic, an interview was requested. You can read this interview here: http://www.examiner.com/pc-games-in-salt-lake-city/creeper-world-2-interview.
Redditor! Hehe JK. Anyways, nice interview and way to tell them.
Virgil,
Total Annihilation is one of my favorites but I think for the foreseeable future I’ll stick to games by companies like yours. I like knowing that we influence our gaming experience.
Cool interview.
You came across as intelligent and articulate.
Which is always nice.
For some reason, I always end up sounding like a right muppet in my interviews…
Niceone, good read.
Don’t let the idiots get you down: both CreeperWorld’s are awesome and simply entering the key is way more convenient then whatever Steam has to offer (broken payment flows, lazy and uninterested support, forced and interfering update downloads and limited access to the raw game files, and moore of all kinds of small annoyances). The only way to improve your way of doing it is to allow us to paste the whole code at once (instead of per segment), it’s that good.
Can’t wait for the CW2 editor :p
Sad thing how this guy doesn’t understand what your form of protection is about, and that he’s talking about it like it would be something intrusive or consumer-unfriendly. For tens of years I activated games with an offline serial key. There’s nothing wrong with that.
Compared to some windows live-torture, where you can’t save games when offline, or ubisoft DRM that requires you to be online to play… I mean, seriously, offline serial key checks are wonderful!
Just don’t bother too much with these self-centered egomaniacs. Those people live in a strange world and don’t represent the loyal pc gamers. Pirates will always exist, that’s pretty much a known fact – still there are many consumers out there who WANT to support developpers. Count on them. They are worth much, much more.
ps: Would be awesome if you joined the next indie bundle. Hope you can get some more awareness this way (:
It’s such an inconvenience having to pay for things… Virgil, can’t you just feed yourself and pay your bills with our undying appreciation? I’ll even go so far as to send you a photo of myself with a big smile and a thumbs-up. If you get hungry, just look at my picture and let my joy sustain you. 🙂
I can understand that if you don’t have credit/debit cards, or another easy method of online transaction; paying is frustrating… Like, having to wait a week for a bank transfer to a paypal account… Or like people ages 10-17ish that have no/limited income on top of the above, and are excluded from most forms of online payment..
But if none of the things mentioned is similar to you’r situation.. i don’t understand. Big smiles and thumbs up aside, how can paying be so inconvenient that, you can go without CW2, AND deny Virgil sales? =(
Also, I don’t have time to be putting in letters and numbers once in a great while… I mean, you also make me check my email just to get the code! What if I don’t have email!? What if I don’t have a computer!!? Are you willing to carve the code in stone and have it sent to me by horseback? I’m not angry; I’m just busy… playing and hacking games…
See, software protection is just a slippery slope.
well, if a person dose not have a computer.. well, they would not be interested in getting a computer game.
And about entering random numbers/letters.. If that is a problem for you, video game licence-thingas are the least of your problems.. If your american, there is the social security number.. also health insurance numbers, Licence plate numbers, phone numbers, bank account/routing numbers, credit card numbers, pins, and god knows what else. I know some people have difficulty entering things like this on touch-phones, or copying them on to forms/web boxes. They are not lazy, they (for 1 reason or another) struggle with it. Anyway, their is an argument for this not being “ok”. however, i do not understand why this game is being targeted? I only had to enter the licence once.. and will not have to do so again till i need to re-install it, or another unforeseeable- unlikely thing happens.
About the e-mail thing.. i can understand an ethic issue about “having” to have an e-mail address on a general level. But this is common across the internet, and i do not understand why this game is targeted. The game maker’s like a small business. the e-mail address thing is a redundancy to make sure you do not lose the licence and add security- in a way that dose not drive up the cost. Wile an added phone-thing would be good for people that do not have e-mail, it would increase the cost.. It’s reasonable to expect someone who has a computer and internet, to have an e-mail. The developer would probably help the odd duck that did not have an e-mail, start one.
I kind of get the general ideology.. But i do not respect your choice to take it out on this independent game maker.. I mean why him???
Hey Wanttosee… Hahah! I hope Virgil has followed so far (I assume if he’s permitted my comments) that I’m speaking facetiously. Nothing I’ve said should be taken seriously, hence why I was speaking entirely in hyperboles. 🙂
I’m with you, I think this guy has a screw loose and just about every comment I made so far here or on the forums was intended to make some one smile (come one now are you telling me that customized suits that are creeper blue with red “You Will Be Undone” lettering isn’t humorous). I think Virgil had a great interview but security is definably not a problem. I am on board with anything that makes a developer comfortable enough to keep making games.
Oh come on. There has to be some way of validation. It doesn’t require another program to monitor it (steam, etc.), it doesn’t require internet connection (Maybe for downloading and receiving the key) and it allows unlimited uses of the key. It took me what, ten seconds to do that?
virgil,we all know that you get a code and we all write it down.but after a year,stuff WILL happen and you will lose it…
Like Virgil wrote, he’s always willing to send you the key again when you supply him your purchase info.
Besides that I think you should store your key in a special file, along with other activation keys, preferably on a backed up system.
Strangely enough people never get mad at the locksmith when they lose the last key to their home…. 😉
btw,
is there a way to donate, if i want to pay more for the game?
you could just go and buy the game again…
yeah i saw this forum post i dont know why he was complaining an offline serial key to me is a good password for activacation. i dont really seem any problem with it
Great interview that will make quite some things clear (apart from key activation).
I think it shows how well you consider your decisions and how much you care about the players/fans of your games and their opinions. If more game companies/developers would act like you, the video gaming industry would be a lot nicer.
People don’t understand that no matter how the game activation works, pirates will crack the game anyway. It all depends on the player, who either donates money to the developer or not.
Indeed, but the difference is how long it takes for them to crack it, and how much they annoy their paying customers (possible turning them into non-paying customers)
I personally Bought CW2 right away, and I am certainly not bothered by the one time inconvenience of having to type a small amount of characters to play the game…(or copy/paste)
oh also great interview
Just wanted to say that even if I’ve found your game on a pirated download, I would have still sent you a PayPal for it.
Both your games are a pleasure to play and I want to support innovators and indie developers who put their soul into creating new and exciting things for the rest of us.
hey everyone i made a facebook fan page about creeper world 2 i will post picture some lvl of the game and other
Now if we can just get rid of that stupid fairy…. XD
can u get this on mac?
I find it intresting how the number of comments of posts has dropped so drasticly after the release. I remember seeing a post with over 300 comments. the post before th release had over 200, the post announcing the release had just over 100, now we’re down to 35. btw: any news on the map editor?
can’t wait for the next update!
I got to know Creeper 2 thanx to piratebay, I downloaded it and enjoyed, after that I went to the site and saw there was CW1 & CW2 in a nice nifty cheap pack and bought it. I think that is something everyone that pirates your game should do. Test it, if like-buy, if not, delete and move on.
But then again, you were already offering free trial, so the pirating would be wrong.
Either way, great game and thank you for the development and time invested.