Humble Bundle Weekday Sale - Alan Wake and American Nightmare

I love PC games, how often can you buy unused console games for $1 or $5???
 
theBAYsics said:
just made a purchase. drm-free so no steam keys.
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You get 2 separate steam keys (one for Alan Wake and one for American Nightmare) as long as you pay $1 or more. You also have separate DRM free direct downloads for each accessible.
 
Alan Wake is a good game but the DLC was not that great. American Nightmare is even worse than the DLC and nothing but repetitive gameplay. for 1 buck it is fine though. lol
 
limitedaccess said:
You get 2 separate steam keys (one for Alan Wake and one for American Nightmare) as long as you pay $1 or more. You also have separate DRM free direct downloads for each accessible.
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yea, i didn't see the section to obtain steam keys, just the direct downloads. edited my post.
 
cannondale06 said:
Alan Wake is a good game but the DLC was not that great. American Nightmare is even worse than the DLC and nothing but repetitive gameplay. for 1 buck it is fine though. lol
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Nightmare is really nothing more than an arcadey supplement to the first game. I love both though and paid full price at release; getting them both at that price is borderline criminal.
What that heck, just through another $3 in so I can get the extra stuff, i.e...graphic novel, OST, etc...
 
Dion said:
It's all charity. You aren't buying a game.. You're giving money. Any amount is a good thing.
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Oh, I gave 75% to Remedy, 25% to Humble, and 0% to charity.

I'm pretty sure I bought a game.
 
Most charities are a scam that only give out a small percentage of the money they receive. Give your money to the game devs.
 
Nice, I just paid 0.0158 B$'s (~$2) for my game and it only took a couple min's.
 
ScretHate said:
Most charities are a scam that only give out a small percentage of the money they receive. Give your money to the game devs.
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That may be true in the general sense, but for what it's worth, the EFF and Child's Play are both honest organizations and IMO worthy causes.

Dion said:
It's still charity.
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It's a matter of perspective, but I think viewing it from that angle is somewhat disrespectful: Paying more than the mandatory minimum is only "charity" in the sense that tipping your waitress, bartender, and delivery boy are also charity. The word may be appropriate in a sense, but I also think the connotation that you're "doing them a favor" does something to denigrate the valuable direct services they're providing. Here, I use "services" to include Remedy developing the game/etc. as well as Humble Bundle courting developers, packaging things up with bonuses, and distributing games in such a humble and consumer-friendly manner.

The word "charity" isn't derogatory in and of itself, but it carries the connotation of giving for nothing in return. Applying it to someone who actually gave you something and/or did you a service is like telling them everything they brought to the table means nothing to you. It's an ungrateful slap in the face, like saying, "Well, it's not like you ever did anything for me...but here you go." I know you probably don't mean it in such a pejorative sense, but I'd hate for the developers and Humble Bundle to feel like that's what we think of them.

I just went in for their suggested default of $25 (split up in the default manner), and I'm impressed enough by the quality of the bundle (bonuses, etc.) that I don't feel at all like I did them a favor. (I really wish I had been paying more attention in the past, so I could have gotten some of the older bundles as well.) It feels more like a fair business exchange on mutually friendly, cooperative terms (compared to adversarial power plays like DRM, etc.), with a bit of money set aside for actual charities. Speaking of actual charities, Child's Play definitely qualifies, but I feel uneasy even applying the term to the EFF, since giving to them feels like a partially self-interested investment in the future.
 
Mini-Me said:
It's a matter of perspective, but I think viewing it from that angle is somewhat disrespectful: Paying more than the mandatory minimum is only "charity" in the sense that tipping your waitress, bartender, and delivery boy are also charity. The word may be appropriate in a sense, but I also think the connotation that you're "doing them a favor" does something to denigrate the valuable direct services they're providing. Here, I use "services" to include Remedy developing the game/etc. as well as Humble Bundle courting developers, packaging things up with bonuses, and distributing games in such a humble and consumer-friendly manner.

The word "charity" isn't derogatory in and of itself, but it carries the connotation of giving for nothing in return. Applying it to someone who actually gave you something and/or did you a service is like telling them everything they brought to the table means nothing to you. It's an ungrateful slap in the face, like saying, "Well, it's not like you ever did anything for me...but here you go." I know you probably don't mean it in such a pejorative sense, but I'd hate for the developers and Humble Bundle to feel like that's what we think of them.

I just went in for their suggested default of $25 (split up in the default manner), and I'm impressed enough by the quality of the bundle (bonuses, etc.) that I don't feel at all like I did them a favor. (I really wish I had been paying more attention in the past, so I could have gotten some of the older bundles as well.) It feels more like a fair business exchange on mutually friendly, cooperative terms (compared to adversarial power plays like DRM, etc.), with a bit of money set aside for actual charities. Speaking of actual charities, Child's Play definitely qualifies, but I feel uneasy even applying the term to the EFF, since giving to them feels like a partially self-interested investment in the future.
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You're being disrespectful to the people who donated a little amount by saying that. Any amount from 1 penny to 1000$ should be treated the same. No one has to give any of there money to this fund raiser. The fact that they did gets my respect.
 
I had exactly $1.24 in my PayPal...this is an awesome deal...like for real. Alan Wake is a blast. Best $1 I've ever spent.
 
Dion said:
You're being disrespectful to the people who donated a little amount by saying that. Any amount from 1 penny to 1000$ should be treated the same. No one has to give any of there money to this fund raiser. The fact that they did gets my respect.
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I think you're misunderstanding my point, because what I'm saying has nothing to do with dollar amounts: As you said, anyone who pays anything deserves respect. I wasn't explicit about that before, so hopefully that's cleared up. All I'm saying is that it's important to acknowledge that all of us are getting something in return for the money we're paying. You don't have to call it a sale/purchase, and you might find that terminology inappropriate in this rare situation where the selling side is ceding all of the negotiating power to the buying side. You can call it mutual giving (etc.) if you want instead, but I do think it's important to recognize that both sides are being mutually generous, and "charity" has some unfair connotations of one-sidedness that fail to convey that.

On dollar amounts: Value is subjective and determined by buyers, which is both an economic truth and the foundation of Humble Bundle's business: They allow people to buy games for whatever they're willing to pay, i.e. whatever the games (and bonuses) are worth to them at the time of purchase. Assuming you pay what the game is worth to you, there's nothing wrong with someone paying less or more than someone else, or with someone feeling the game is worth more or less to them than someone else does. Technically speaking, the developers probably can't maximize profit this way: A good portion of people might pay less than they would under other circumstances where they'd be willing to make an immediate purchase, such as if they'd be willing to jump on a $3 sale but paid less. However, the novelty and publicity draws more buyers in than usual, so that helps to compensate. Some people will pay more than they actually believe it's worth too, and difference could be accurately considered a charitable donation. In the end it might not lead to optimal pricing and profit, but it's still a viable and worthwhile business model.

For that matter, it would be pretty inconsistent to call paying for Humble Bundles nothing more than "charity" without applying the same logic to ALL video game purchases, at least on the PC: After all, if you really wanted, you could easily pirate almost any/every game you want for free...but you don't call all of your video game purchases charity just because piracy is an option, right? The option to get games for free, or virtually for free, isn't exactly unique to Humble Bundle: The novel thing here is actually being able to buy things for money without waiting ages for the publisher to finally choose to drop the price to the range you're willing to pay. (Sure, there are complicating factors, because some people just don't consider piracy an option for reasons aside from conscience. For instance, some might consider it too much hassle, and a lot of morally weak people in stages 1-4 of Kohlberg's stages of moral development might choose to "keep in line" for external reasons.) I don't exactly believe in "intellectual property," so I personally consider a lot of my game purchase money to be a "tip" to the developers for valuable services rendered...but a tip is earned, which is what makes it different from charity.

Anyway, value is subjective, and it would be unfair for me to judge someone based on their valuation differing from mine or anyone else's. However, I think it's ungrateful to say that all of these purchases are not purchases at all but nothing more than charity (or that any amount over the minimum is charity, because value is again subjective). Calling it "charity" and charity alone is like telling Humble Bundle and e.g. Remedy that they brought nothing to the table, like, "You didn't really earn this, but I'll give it to you anyway." ;) They're giving people games and bonuses in return for their money, and I think it's important to acknowledge and respect that rather than essentially denying it by pretending the buyers alone are doing all the giving and Humble Bundle/Remedy/etc. are doing all the taking. The transaction isn't so one-sided, because if it were, all of us without exception would be simply donating money without actually downloading the games. ;)

The gaming industry is just filled to the brim with power-hungry corporate arrogance, and far too many companies view their relationship with their customer in terms of adversarial power dynamics (see: Xbox One's anti-consumer misfeatures), but it doesn't have to be that way. Companies like GOG.com and especially Humble Bundle and all participating developers are shining a light in the darkness by boldly defying this status quo: They're handing all of the negotiating power to their customers on a silver platter and offering an unbeatable deal, but they are not being so humble out of a needy desperation. They're doing it because they're good people who want to have a consumer-friendly business model and trust that it's possible.

Ultimately, I think we owe it to them to acknowledge the legitimacy of their business model. When we call them "charity," it evokes the connotation that they're "charity cases" who are relying on handouts and offering nothing in return, or that they're offering something worthless out of some needy desperation. Even if Humble Bundle and Remedy were so humble as to actually call themselves charity cases, I think it's important for us to fairly acknowledge that they are part of this generosity too, and they're not just taking handouts: They are indeed bringing something to the table here, and we're directly benefitting from it just like they're benefitting from our money. It's a win/win scenario.

As I said before, I don't think you actually MEAN to deny Humble Bundle and Remedy's contribution, and I don't mean to devalue anyone else's contribution either for that matter. I just want to give Humble Bundle (etc.) the credit they deserve too, because they earned this money. "Give, and you shall receive," or something to that effect. I don't mean that to deny anyone else's generosity, just to recognize the developers' as well: Everyone involved is doing a good thing here and helping to make the world just a little bit better, and the whole thing is an inspirational model for how relations SHOULD be between gamers and developers.
 
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Dion said:
You're being disrespectful to the people who donated a little amount by saying that. Any amount from 1 penny to 1000$ should be treated the same. No one has to give any of there money to this fund raiser. The fact that they did gets my respect.
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Interesting rationalization. But if developers get all of $0.33 (1/3 of a dollar) too frequently Humble Bundles will start to suck and/or go away. There's always someone that ruins it for everyone.
 
jpm100 said:
Interesting rationalization. But if developers get all of $0.33 (1/3 of a dollar) too frequently Humble Bundles will start to suck and/or go away. There's always someone that ruins it for everyone.
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I don't think that's the case. The devs are going into this knowing they are going to get a very small percentage of the sales. I think that's why you're seeing a game like Alan Wake. It was decently popular, but I think don't think it sold huge. Furthermore, I imagine anyone who was willing to buy the game at full price has done so by now. Rememdy knows the only time their going to see substantial units moved for this game is a Steam sale (or similar, such as this). So, they can take what little money they get, get the game in a ton of peoples hands (hopefully creating hype for the studio and their next project), and help out a charity in the process. Everyone wins.

You won't see any new AAA that are still selling strong on something like this. But popular games from a year or two that only have the "I'll wait until it's under $5" audience left to sell to... something like this is perfect.
 
I generally split it 1/3 to each the developer, charity, and humble whenever I purchase a humblebundle.

I want humble to keep doing this. I want the developers to keep having an incentive to do this. I want the charity to get something as well.
 
Good deal on a game that I've been wanting to play...

I got bought one for myself and gifted one to my little brother. :)

Not bad for $4 ($2 each, which is probably more than most other people donated... :p)
 
Played this on Xbox 360 a while ago. Loved it. Bit on this as well.
 
I already owned both games, but I wanted the soundtracks. Great deal for me! I hope Humble Bundle keeps putting up games that have soundtracks attached. I usually just give the game codes away to guild members.
 
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