Okay so I've been thinking recently about how PC gamers get a bit of a raw deal in the entertainment industry. I mean we have to fork over the price of a game, I'll say $100 just because that's what it usually is here, and no matter how good the game turns out to be we keep it. Imagine if it were the same for movies; instead of going to a theatre and paying the price of a movie ticket you'd instead pay the price of a new release DVD. Who buys full priced DVDs of movies they haven't seen? Same goes for Console gamers who have the luxury of being able to rent games instead of buying them.
Not so for PC gamers. There's reasons for that, PCs have the option of illegally copying games, there are various measures to try to prevent piracy and what have you and to be honest that's fair enough. But still PC gamers are at a huge disadvantage because of this. We can't try before we buy, we have to buy blind. It's like buying a car you've never driven.
So I was thinking of a solution to this. Now computer game rentals isn't a new idea, it was done in the past when PC gamers were more trustworthy. Now God knows the idea of offering a download of the full game for a limited period of time would be a software pirate's wet dream as getting through time limits or any restrictions would be a piece of cake. Suffice to say that something like that wouldn't work. Because I feel like using analogies today it's like if they let you into a movie theatre with a handycam.
BUT I was watching something a while ago, I'm not sure if any of you remember it I'm sure it was on this site. It was this game world with super-awesome graphics and the most super-awesome thing about it was that it was made with server-side 3D rendering, e.g. it wasn't your computer making the graphics it was another one that you were connected to. Essentially this means that the worst pile-of-shit PC could run Crysis on Ultra-High - something like that anyway.
I was thinking about how they do this and believe me I have very little idea about it but I was thinking what if they did the same kind of thing with full games? Surely it's possible to have your computer at home acting as a portal to the computer that's actually working the game. So if this is possible people wouldn't download a game to "rent" it as with my previous example, they'd simply pay to port into the server that has the game. In this way I think that PC games could be sucessfully "rented", (for want of a better term.)
Basically it's like a home-based internet cafe except I propose that instead of paying for time you'd instead pay to play a game. I'd happily pay $20, (NZD,) to play through Prototype once. I sure as Hell don't want to pay the $110 it's selling for.
So I guess what I'm proposing is a service that allows for people to play PC games without buying them. I think it would work on all levels, firstly PC gamers wouldn't have to pay for a full price game only to find out that it's shit, developers maybe wouldn't make the "sucker money" that they currently do but this would be made up by the fact that more people would be "renting" the games than would ever have bought the game and developers/publishers will make money that way. Games will still be sold as they are just like a console gamer buys a game that he liked after renting it or just like a person buys a DVD of a film he saw at the movies.
I hope I've been clear. This maybe a really shitty idea but I've only had my bottle of Famouse Grouse to bounce ideas off and I haven't quite drunken enough that it's giving me feedback, (yet.) If there's anything that needs clarification please ask, if there's any facts that make this idea completely and utterly retarded please don't hold back. I don't mind being called an idiot and I can always ban you.
Anyway I'm going to bed it's nearly midnight. I'll answer any questions later.
tl;dr: Read it you prick.
Not so for PC gamers. There's reasons for that, PCs have the option of illegally copying games, there are various measures to try to prevent piracy and what have you and to be honest that's fair enough. But still PC gamers are at a huge disadvantage because of this. We can't try before we buy, we have to buy blind. It's like buying a car you've never driven.
So I was thinking of a solution to this. Now computer game rentals isn't a new idea, it was done in the past when PC gamers were more trustworthy. Now God knows the idea of offering a download of the full game for a limited period of time would be a software pirate's wet dream as getting through time limits or any restrictions would be a piece of cake. Suffice to say that something like that wouldn't work. Because I feel like using analogies today it's like if they let you into a movie theatre with a handycam.
BUT I was watching something a while ago, I'm not sure if any of you remember it I'm sure it was on this site. It was this game world with super-awesome graphics and the most super-awesome thing about it was that it was made with server-side 3D rendering, e.g. it wasn't your computer making the graphics it was another one that you were connected to. Essentially this means that the worst pile-of-shit PC could run Crysis on Ultra-High - something like that anyway.
I was thinking about how they do this and believe me I have very little idea about it but I was thinking what if they did the same kind of thing with full games? Surely it's possible to have your computer at home acting as a portal to the computer that's actually working the game. So if this is possible people wouldn't download a game to "rent" it as with my previous example, they'd simply pay to port into the server that has the game. In this way I think that PC games could be sucessfully "rented", (for want of a better term.)
Basically it's like a home-based internet cafe except I propose that instead of paying for time you'd instead pay to play a game. I'd happily pay $20, (NZD,) to play through Prototype once. I sure as Hell don't want to pay the $110 it's selling for.
So I guess what I'm proposing is a service that allows for people to play PC games without buying them. I think it would work on all levels, firstly PC gamers wouldn't have to pay for a full price game only to find out that it's shit, developers maybe wouldn't make the "sucker money" that they currently do but this would be made up by the fact that more people would be "renting" the games than would ever have bought the game and developers/publishers will make money that way. Games will still be sold as they are just like a console gamer buys a game that he liked after renting it or just like a person buys a DVD of a film he saw at the movies.
I hope I've been clear. This maybe a really shitty idea but I've only had my bottle of Famouse Grouse to bounce ideas off and I haven't quite drunken enough that it's giving me feedback, (yet.) If there's anything that needs clarification please ask, if there's any facts that make this idea completely and utterly retarded please don't hold back. I don't mind being called an idiot and I can always ban you.
Anyway I'm going to bed it's nearly midnight. I'll answer any questions later.
tl;dr: Read it you prick.
[Blinking eyes thing]
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/tzyon
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/tzyon
