Mass Effect 3 Leaked Online

Dan_D said:
I get what you are saying to some degree, but software licensing / purchases just don't work that way. Really it comes down to the fact that software is just too easy to copy / steal and that's the reason no one takes it back. Ever.
Click to expand...

Which I think everyone in this thread will at least claim to understand, but I think many of us feel that this is used as an excuse to release crappy games. Honestly, I dont endorse piracy, but I am definitely distrustful of the products released these days especially when games are becoming shorter and shorter and cost more and more.

I have 3 games that I cant play right now because for some reason they bug out on me. One of which (Supreme Commander) is one of my all time favorites. It isnt like I have some exotic system, I run very mainstream software and hardware. Based on the googling I've done and asking around on forums, it seems like the expansion pack is the only fix. I havent, but believe me I'd sooner pirate the x-pack than pay more money just to have the game I already paid for fixed. Who would be in the wrong in that instance? Me for pirating? Or the company for basically forcing me to buy the expansion?

Not taking sides here, just throwing out a few points for consideration.
 
Dan_D said:
I get what you are saying to some degree, but software licensing / purchases just don't work that way. Really it comes down to the fact that software is just too easy to copy / steal and that's the reason no one takes it back. Ever.
Click to expand...
This is a valid concern, but software is already too easy to copy/steal whether you first go through a retail purchase or not. In fact, if anything, then software is often available for free (illegally) before it is available to paying customers.

How much abuse would returns really create? Any business software that matters has at the very least a 30d trial period, sometimes 60 or even 180 days.

Nordstrom has since its inception taken any item back for any reason. There's an urban legend that someone returned a set of 4 tires to Nordstrom and they took it back, even though they don't even sell tires. More recently Zappos has had great commercial success with accepting returns and paying for return shipping. Now JCP does the same thing.

Clearly the ability to return a purchase drives business and increases customer satisfaction. You can go to Sears right now, buy some Craftsman tools, use them for whatever job you are doing, and return them and no one will give you grief over it.

It's not quite that simple for software but it could be a fairly simple process. The inability to return software doesn't prevent piracy, it encourages it.
 
MavericK96 said:
Also, in regards to the "making a determination as to the likelihood that it will perform to your expectations" comment, let's go back to the car example (though it didn't really apply to the piracy argument). Would you buy a car without test-driving it first? Would you expect a person to just look at the outside of the car and make a "determination as to the likelihood" of it not being a piece of crap?
Click to expand...

That's why there are demos. For some reason, it appears some people believe demos are insufficient to determine whether you like the product.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top