I'm more long term thinking. I'll buy a game if I'm able to demo it. Rarely do I do so just buy looking at the images and reading the package, but I do that also. I enjoy the YouTube idea because you're able to see many running and being played. I'd prefer to have hands on, but the video is helpful.
Again, I don't merely consider replay value through the first month or 3 of owning it, but years later. Bubba'N'Stix, Project X, Black Gold, Directory Opus 4 & 5, were bought from word of mouth and friends owning...and me using. I adore DOpus 5 a whole lot more than 4. I enjoy puzzle / adventure games but that doesn't mean all are going to be worth the money.
I concur, make the prices lower...for me, I'm thinking globally. If you keep the prices lower all around then people are more likely to buy and less to pirate. Piracy is going to happen, No If's and's or But's about it...it will never end, I've seen many, and heard many arguments towards/against it. Some aren't good reasons, others are. I've done some because I couldn't get a Demo version, so after using...and noticed I really liked it..I bought.
I've heard for years that poor argument that piracy is bad. But when I read this "piracy is a market failure" I absolutely concur! Plenty of people are "poor", and not always able to buy right away. When you consider there are many things we buy, we also prioritize what we want --- and we forget, haha.
I've donated to a lot of Shareware and Giftware, and donations. Some of those are better than commercial products. The Amiga has some of the best games and programs made, and I own a sweet treasure. But a lot of stuff also came from Amiga auctions and such. I enjoy those bins where prices are cheaper, some years later you find some "OHHHH YEAH!!" stuff. Hahaha!
There are Not ANY games worth 60$!! No...!! There are enough people whom are interested in whatever genre or "class" of game or utility program that high-end prices are just not wise. Apple comes to mind here, haha. Just because you CAN change a stinkers amount of money for something doesn't mean you should! The old mindset that "The more it costs the better it is." is about 50/50 in my experiences, mostly it keeps the wise away; usually the ones that HAVE tons of cash. I don't care anything about "greed" being a reason, if you want your stuff to sell really well, lower the price as well as SHIPPING and market it well. Please, kick MS and Apple from the top as well as Samsung (I use DuckDuckGo.com not Google)!! Hehe!
That's how you lower piracy and sell stuff and keep it in circulation. I'd love to see the Amiga come back into full market again (in some form like X5000), but with a company that knows how to do it well, and with the passion of the original team/family. Remove the politics as much as possible and you have a good solution.
My coins worth.
