Piracy

Solar2D General Questions/Discussion
#1

So I was looking at my calculator app that I published and noticed that,  if I do a google search for the calculator you can find it freely downloadable on many, many sights.  Some look like they are directly sponsored by China.  Is why everyone is putting ads in everything.  Not because it is a better way to make money.  It is because if they don’t they don’t make any money at all.  It is sad that this is the state of things for Indie app developers.  I see that Corona has some licensing logic that can be employed for  the play store, but not for Amazon.  I will have to look into this some more.  I hate ads.  They basically ruin the game experience in my opinion but maybe that is what we are stuck with if there is no other choice. 

If I implement the play store security can they still just scrape the app from Amazon and post it for download everywhere?  

I admit I haven’t looked into ad software,  does it work in all the GEOs?   

L 

#2

Ads in other GEOs

Yes, they work but this may not be a complete solution to the problem.  I’ll let someone else answer this

Piracy General Notes

Amazon has its own copy protection scheme that you can choose to use or not use when you publish to the store.  

That said, you should become accustomed to this.  No matter what you do, Pirates have the advantage here.   They will and can copy pretty much any game anywhere and the re-distribute the binary.

The reason they have the advantage is not because individually they are brilliant, but as we have our community and tools, Pirates (to put them in a broad category) also have tools and communities to fall back on and leverage to do their work.  

Also, as you have noticed piracy is more prevalent in certain places than others.  In some places, this is an actual business.  i.e. Find and copy other peoples games and then make a buck distributing them via local sites that offer some kind of monetization for free downloads.

So, after that rather depressing response, what can you do?

Note: I have not resolved this for my own limited catalog (1, 2), because there is real effort involved for most of the following solutions that is not worth the return (i.e. not enough ROI for me):

  1. IAP DLC - Provide some of your content and experience as downloadable content that must be purchased and downloaded from a valid store (iTunes Connect and/or Google Play).

(related read)

  1. Regular Updates - Simply be sure to update your game/app regularly.  This makes it valuable for people to buy a licensed copy and thus get the latest version.

  2. Server dependency - Add a server to the mix that allows you to identify and ignore/disable invalid copies of your game/app.  This is pretty complicated, but if you have a community and or some kind of data exchange between the servers and the apps, it might be worth it.  This could be something as simple as requiring users to register or log into a server and blacklisting certain locales and IP ranges.  Warning: This can have severe negative repercussions if done wrong.

(related read; same as link above)

  1. Pirated Version Detection w/ Response - I’ve seen this in some PC games.  The concept is, if you can detect that the user is running a pirated copy, tweak the game/app to have an undesired behavior.  It doesn’t necessarily need to be disruptive, but it can be enough to be annoying.  Drawbacks: Hard to do, and may actually garner negative reviews from pirated copies.

  2. Work with a publisher - Publishers have more power to handle this problem than you as an indie do.  So, if it makes sense money and effort wise, consider going with a publisher.

  3. More ideas… - I’m sure the community here has more ideas and I hope to hear them.

  4. Live with it - This is the path most of us choose.  Simply acknowledge it and continue on.  I’ve personally experienced piracy (people actually sell my hard work; this particular book took me several years to wring) and understand where you’re coming from.  The problem is, as I alluded to above, we as indies simply lack the time and resources to fight this.

Lastly, if you come to a conclusion on this or better yet find a great solution, please share with us.  Trust me, everyone here wants a solution too.

PS - I did just submit a DMCA against the last link (the pirated copy of my book), so it may not be there long.  If you click it and it is gone, that is why.

#3

Freemium is the way forward.  Sure you will get some fake purchases (rooted and/or jailbroken devices) but those users would NEVER of purchased anyway so your not really losing anything.

Let’s assume your paid app is $0.99 - although I am unsure why someone would pay for a calculator that comes built into every device? But I guess yours offers something the basic ones don’t?

Change it to free and then have a $0.99 IAP to unlock the premium features in your calculator you will get more downloads a day (a lot will be junk downloads) and you hope a small percentage of those downloads pay to unlock premium features.  

You could maybe time limit the app to say 50 opens and then have an “unlock for unlimited usage”.  That will give the user enough time to understand the value in your app and if it is valuable to them they will pay a nominal amount.

And I agree with you… ads are awful

#4

This isn’t an indictment on the Chinese as a whole, but it is…  I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m not bashing the entire Chinese civilization.  But as a society it has been my experience that the Chinese have no real concept or understanding of the value of intellectual property, copyrights patents etc…  That’s the nicest way to say it.  The alternative is to say that they don’t care.

I refuse to do any business with any organization that puts me in a position to “hand over” my IP to a firm that does business in China by proxy, association or as a contractor or a Chinese business directly.  I’ve seen it happen so many times personally where hardware, products, printed circuit board designs get essentially stolen.  

If you hand over your designs, software, CAD drawings whatever, you are essentially saying “HERE, rob me blind…”  Even a reputable firm doesn’t eliminate the threat of theft as the agents of the organization may be the real culprits instead of the corporation/firm/company itself.

Eight coders holed up in a raggedy apartment pulling 20 hour shifts, taking just long enough to handle the barest minimums of required to sustain life.  During those 20 hours it’s frantic coding to essentially mirror your software, decompile, deconstruct, and twist it into their own.  You did the hard work… they milk it for every penny they can using your idea.  

This video from IndieYourFace is essentially the exact same experience you are having.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4rNbCTG3BU

#5

Small note/suggestion for folks who don’t want to go through the pain ‘IndieYouFace’ discusses in video above.

For names on the Apple store, you can secure them and sit on them for a year before using them.

Just create a certificate and a partially filled store page, and you’re good to go.  

Similar deal with GooglePlay.

#6

Ads in other GEOs

Yes, they work but this may not be a complete solution to the problem.  I’ll let someone else answer this

Piracy General Notes

Amazon has its own copy protection scheme that you can choose to use or not use when you publish to the store.  

That said, you should become accustomed to this.  No matter what you do, Pirates have the advantage here.   They will and can copy pretty much any game anywhere and the re-distribute the binary.

The reason they have the advantage is not because individually they are brilliant, but as we have our community and tools, Pirates (to put them in a broad category) also have tools and communities to fall back on and leverage to do their work.  

Also, as you have noticed piracy is more prevalent in certain places than others.  In some places, this is an actual business.  i.e. Find and copy other peoples games and then make a buck distributing them via local sites that offer some kind of monetization for free downloads.

So, after that rather depressing response, what can you do?

Note: I have not resolved this for my own limited catalog (1, 2), because there is real effort involved for most of the following solutions that is not worth the return (i.e. not enough ROI for me):

  1. IAP DLC - Provide some of your content and experience as downloadable content that must be purchased and downloaded from a valid store (iTunes Connect and/or Google Play).

(related read)

  1. Regular Updates - Simply be sure to update your game/app regularly.  This makes it valuable for people to buy a licensed copy and thus get the latest version.

  2. Server dependency - Add a server to the mix that allows you to identify and ignore/disable invalid copies of your game/app.  This is pretty complicated, but if you have a community and or some kind of data exchange between the servers and the apps, it might be worth it.  This could be something as simple as requiring users to register or log into a server and blacklisting certain locales and IP ranges.  Warning: This can have severe negative repercussions if done wrong.

(related read; same as link above)

  1. Pirated Version Detection w/ Response - I’ve seen this in some PC games.  The concept is, if you can detect that the user is running a pirated copy, tweak the game/app to have an undesired behavior.  It doesn’t necessarily need to be disruptive, but it can be enough to be annoying.  Drawbacks: Hard to do, and may actually garner negative reviews from pirated copies.

  2. Work with a publisher - Publishers have more power to handle this problem than you as an indie do.  So, if it makes sense money and effort wise, consider going with a publisher.

  3. More ideas… - I’m sure the community here has more ideas and I hope to hear them.

  4. Live with it - This is the path most of us choose.  Simply acknowledge it and continue on.  I’ve personally experienced piracy (people actually sell my hard work; this particular book took me several years to wring) and understand where you’re coming from.  The problem is, as I alluded to above, we as indies simply lack the time and resources to fight this.

Lastly, if you come to a conclusion on this or better yet find a great solution, please share with us.  Trust me, everyone here wants a solution too.

PS - I did just submit a DMCA against the last link (the pirated copy of my book), so it may not be there long.  If you click it and it is gone, that is why.

#7

Freemium is the way forward.  Sure you will get some fake purchases (rooted and/or jailbroken devices) but those users would NEVER of purchased anyway so your not really losing anything.

Let’s assume your paid app is $0.99 - although I am unsure why someone would pay for a calculator that comes built into every device? But I guess yours offers something the basic ones don’t?

Change it to free and then have a $0.99 IAP to unlock the premium features in your calculator you will get more downloads a day (a lot will be junk downloads) and you hope a small percentage of those downloads pay to unlock premium features.  

You could maybe time limit the app to say 50 opens and then have an “unlock for unlimited usage”.  That will give the user enough time to understand the value in your app and if it is valuable to them they will pay a nominal amount.

And I agree with you… ads are awful

#8

This isn’t an indictment on the Chinese as a whole, but it is…  I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m not bashing the entire Chinese civilization.  But as a society it has been my experience that the Chinese have no real concept or understanding of the value of intellectual property, copyrights patents etc…  That’s the nicest way to say it.  The alternative is to say that they don’t care.

I refuse to do any business with any organization that puts me in a position to “hand over” my IP to a firm that does business in China by proxy, association or as a contractor or a Chinese business directly.  I’ve seen it happen so many times personally where hardware, products, printed circuit board designs get essentially stolen.  

If you hand over your designs, software, CAD drawings whatever, you are essentially saying “HERE, rob me blind…”  Even a reputable firm doesn’t eliminate the threat of theft as the agents of the organization may be the real culprits instead of the corporation/firm/company itself.

Eight coders holed up in a raggedy apartment pulling 20 hour shifts, taking just long enough to handle the barest minimums of required to sustain life.  During those 20 hours it’s frantic coding to essentially mirror your software, decompile, deconstruct, and twist it into their own.  You did the hard work… they milk it for every penny they can using your idea.  

This video from IndieYourFace is essentially the exact same experience you are having.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4rNbCTG3BU

#9

Small note/suggestion for folks who don’t want to go through the pain ‘IndieYouFace’ discusses in video above.

For names on the Apple store, you can secure them and sit on them for a year before using them.

Just create a certificate and a partially filled store page, and you’re good to go.  

Similar deal with GooglePlay.