Piracy is a huge issue facing the modern gaming industry. It’s so big of an issue, in fact, that studios have closed down entirely because of it. Big-time developers and publishers spend millions of dollars creating elaborate DRM schemes in a vain attempt to stop pirates from getting their game for free. Of course, this has never worked and only serves to harm honest, paying customers instead. Yep, piracy affects everybody from the big publishers/developers, to the consumers and pirates, to even the indie developer; whose games are often seen as easy prey…

There’s not a lot an indie developer can do to stop somebody from pirating their game. Most indie devs can’t afford some sort of DRM — although most probably wouldn’t want to anyways — and honestly don’t have the resources to legally stop anybody from hosting their game for free. In fact, indie game piracy has even started to reach iPhone games where some developers are reporting piracy rates anywhere from 80%-95% (via Pocketgamer). Un-freaking-believable.

Earlier this year an indie title was released. I never got the chance to play it (far too busy with school) but what happened to the game was absolutely tragic. Ricochet Infinity, the game I am referring to, had a staggering 92% piracy rate. I know many people out there firmly believe the old adage: “pirates wouldn’t have paid for it anyways,” as if that’s some kind of justification for the open theft of somebody’s creation. But at 92% that kind of saying can get thrown out the window in a heart beat. The math and statistics absolutely do not add up that if there were no such thing as game piracy that some of those “pirates” wouldn’t have bought the game.

On a similar beat Edmund McMillen co-developer of Gish, a popular indie game in 2005, was getting physical emails of people telling him that they stole the game and how awesome it was. All the while he was struggling to make any sort of money. How messed up is that?

My point behind this is that piracy towards indie games is not like piracy towards the mainstream industry. This actually hurts people and can seriously affect one developers ability to create another game in the future. How would you feel if Jonathan Blow couldn’t create another game because Braid was too costly and the piracy was too much to bare? Apply that same statement to any of your favorite indie developers and you have a very real and very serious concern. Indie devs don’t have a cushion to fall back on. This is it; their make it or break it time and piracy is one very large rock that can break it.

Of course there is some hope for those developers who want to fight back against piracy without the back lash and costs of a useless and pointless DRM scheme. Edy Kajang, an indie developer (Blade Thrust Tactics), recently wrote about this in his own blog and I am merely summarizing and adding onto his own points.

1. Create a longer demo.

I can’t tell you how many game demos I have played that were 10-15 minutes long. This is never enough time to fully grasp a game. There is little incentive for me to buy a game — that I was already ‘iffy’ enough with in the first place to download the demo first — when my entire experience with it is less than that off a standard television show (22 minutes).

Edy believes demos should be a few hours long which, in my opinion is perhaps a bit too long, but really any reasonable demo should provide at least an hour’s worth of play time. Does this mean you should give away an hour’s worth of your game’s actual storyline? No, but attaching an arbitrary time limit to a game or cutting off the game so far into the beginning that you may as well attached a time limit does nothing to help gamer’s truly experience what your attempting to convey.

I have seen people admit, openly, that they pirate games simply because they like to try before they buy. I’d be willing to bet that most of those people, even if they do like the game, never end up buying it. Do not give them a reason to take that step just to “try” your game out a bit more. Give a generous demo so there is no excuse. If they are going to pirate your game then it will be on their conscience, even if just a little bit.

2. DLC, DLC, DLC!

Nothing staves off piracy faster than the promise of additional content exclusively through in-game DLC. It’s very hard, if not impossible, for a pirate to plug-in DLC to a game that’s already been pirated. Sure, pirates can always just leak another copy with the DLC included, but at that point most people will have already downloaded the game in the first place and will be hesitant to do it again if not for the simple fact that they are probably lazy.

DLC will also give your game that added boost of player community. If you make a game good enough to justify it your community will grow larger and become more supportive as you create additional content for a game they obviously love so much. Chances are your own community will not be pirating your game…

Finally, create DLC to launch shortly after the game launches. Yes, you may be given a hard time about this, but it also doesn’t have to be paid DLC. What this does is ensure that the people pirating the game will almost instantly have an outdated game. You can also take this one step further and have a set schedule of small, but significant, DLC to be released once a month. The first couple can be free, so as to keep your community happy, and DLC that comes after can be paid to help cover the costs. Either way as the value proposition increases to actually buy your game, pirates will be less likely to… well pirate it.

3. Include something tangible.

This last one may seem like a huge pain in the ass for some developers who were just planning on having Steam, or Impulse digitally distribute their game, but if you include something else WITH the purchase of a full game then you are more than likely to get people to buy it because of that.

It doesn’t have to be something fancy, but something extra that will make people look up and take note. It could be a t-shirt (a definite favorite of your community), the soundtrack (Machinarium did this), or something silly and stupid like a comic book or other such things.

This doesn’t have to eat into profits either as, for most things, you can simply pass the cost onto the consumer. Game originally cost $20? Make it $25 to cover the price of whatever else your giving away with it.  You may think that this will instantly turn away some customers and it might. But if your willing to go the extra mile and truly offer a value to your game I’m sure many will find the extra cost more than justifies it, especially if you don’t mention how much your game would cost without that item… sneaky, I know but I’m sure your community would understand regardless.

Bottom line is that piracy blows. No doubt about it. I am not a developer, but I can openly see the harm it has wrought on both the mainstream and indie development scene. I, especially, despise anybody who pirates anything independent. This is the heart, blood, and soul of whoever created it and pirates have no right to steal that.

However, there are ways to curb piracy. It won’t stop it — at this point I’m not sure anything ever will — but there’s no reason for us to act like limp fish about the whole thing. Take matters into your own hand and come up with a viable option to keep your game from finding it’s way into too many pirate’s hands whether it’s one of these options, or something you come up with all on your own.

Remember, the first strategic move is always yours. Use it to your advantage.