Jeff-Vogel

  • Subscribe to our RSS feed.
  • Twitter
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit
  • Facebook
  • Digg

Thursday, 19 August 2010

Being Nice Is Good Business.

Posted on 09:36 by Unknown
One of the fundamental truths of writing single-player PC games now is that it's so easy to pirate anything that people will only buy your game if they want to. Which means that being honest and forthright and likable is a key business strategy.

For the fifteen years we've been selling games, we've had a suite of generous, customer-friendly policies. However, we haven't been clear and forthright about them. Some of them are only known to people who ask us for support privately. The others can only be found by hunting our web site. This is dumb. If you're going to the trouble to be nice, make sure everyone knows about it! So I wrote this little manifesto that will be prominently linked to on our site.


In you're an Indie developer and like one of our turns of phrase, please feel free to borrow it.


Our Spiderweb Software Promises To You

Spiderweb Software is a small company. We read all our e-mail, we love our customers, and if you are sad, we are sad. We're literally a Mom & Pop company, and we believe in the personal touch. So here are our three promises to you ...

1. No Obnoxious DRM!

Pirates exist. Sad, but true. But we won't let hatred of people who rip off our games drive us to annoy our paying customers.

When you order from us, you get a number you can enter into the demo to turn it into the full game. And that's it. No online authentication. No need to keep a disk in the drive.

If your computer dies and you need a new registration key? We're sorry to hear that, and your replacement is free. Register on the Mac and switch to Windows? A new key is free. Your child wants to play the game on his or her own machine? That's awesome, and an additional key is free.

2. Money-Back Guarantee!

If you don't like our game, we don't want your money.

We have a no-questions-asked One Year Money-back Guarantee. Game stops working? You wake up one morning and realize that it sucks? You decide that you hate us personally, and our adorable children too? Money back within one year.

You might think, "Hmmm. I wonder if people ever buy the game, play it through, and demand a refund." The answer is: No. This has never happened. You know why? Because our customers are awesome people.

3. Big, Free Demos!

Spiderweb Software has the biggest demos in the business. What's more, the demo is actually the full game. You just need to enter a key to unlock the whole story.

That means that you get a chance to play a bunch of game and make sure that 1. It works, 2. You are having fun, and 3. The retro graphics don't enrage you. If the demo works for you and is fun, you can buy the full game and be confident that it will still work and still be fun. And if it doesn't? Have we mentioned our Money-Back Guarantee?

We love that almost all of our customers played a demo first. It means we're earning our pay honestly. Because, again, If you don't like our game, we don't want your money.


Hopefully, we will come across and friendly and honest when this goes up on our web site. And the truth is, we at Spiderweb are pretty friendly, honest people. But make no mistake. At the heart of it, the reason we are putting this up is pure self-interest. Since being nice is a core part of our business plan, when we are nice, we will do it in a loud way.
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Posted in advice, business stuff, indie, spiderweb software | No comments
Newer Post Older Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Popular Posts

  • Katawa Shoujo, Sex Stuff in Games, and Choosing What You Are Allowed To See
    What I expected: Weirdo smut. What I got: A little box full of therapy. This is one of those blog posts it's really hard to hit the Publ...
  • Some Morbid Reading For Your Day
    As the years passed, I have seen a lot of Indie developers rocket past me, just because they are more talented and courageous than I am. Stu...
  • Why We Need Video Game Critics, Even If the Whole Topic Is Boring
    Video games need more of this ... We've reached the point where video games have a huge place in our culture, and yet most of them are ....
  • Avernum Out For Windows, For What It's Worth.
    A few weeks ago, Spiderweb Software finally released our newest role-playing game, Avernum: Escape From the Pit , for Windows. It's als...
  • Avadon Developer Diary #2 - What Sort Of Game Will This Be?
    Here is another long overdue developer diary for our next game, Avadon: The Black Fortress . These articles are about the ongoing process of...
  • The Outgoing Goblin's Guide to Gaming Etiquette
    (This is a slightly updated article I wrote for the late, lamented Dragon magazine back in the day. It is a humorous summary of all I learne...
  • Watch Me Talk About Something!
    Casual Connect is an annual convention in Seattle dedicated to the discussion of casual computer games, the design and marketing o...
  • A New Article on IGN RPG Vault.
    My latest View From the Bottom article, the first in a long time, is now up on IGN RPG Vault. It's called "We're All Charity Ca...
  • So Here's How Many Games I Sell.
    I get a lot of questions from young, aspiring Indie developers, and the most common query is: How many copies of a game does Spiderweb Softw...
  • "Whom" Is Dumb.
    This will be one of those blog posts where I go and court controversy. No, it won't be about software piracy. Something worse. I'm g...

Categories

  • 10000 hours
  • addiction
  • adolescent power fantasy
  • advice
  • android
  • apple
  • avadon
  • avernum
  • back in the day
  • bees
  • bioware
  • blatant pr
  • books
  • boring
  • both artsy AND fartsy
  • braid
  • business stuff
  • cowardice
  • criticism
  • death
  • design
  • destroying my employability in the game industry
  • developer diary
  • diablo
  • dragon age
  • drm
  • dry boring stuff
  • dungeons and dragons
  • ego-massage
  • entertaining atrocities
  • everyone will hate this
  • fad
  • fart
  • flamebait
  • flumph
  • games
  • geneforge
  • gold rush
  • grand theft auto
  • grumpy gamer
  • guitar hero
  • high-functioning alcoholics
  • humble bundle
  • humor
  • i act like i am smart
  • i am a parent if you can believe that
  • i am completely freaking out
  • i am very old
  • i hate art
  • i suck at pr
  • i've wasted my life
  • indie
  • internet hate machine
  • interview
  • introduction
  • introvision
  • ipad
  • iphone
  • jetpacks
  • l2pn00b
  • linking to things i like
  • loser
  • losing lots of money
  • mass effect
  • microsoft
  • minecraft
  • mourning
  • movie
  • nerd
  • nerdjoy
  • nerdrage
  • nethergate
  • nobel prize in awesomeness
  • not about games
  • not wrong to expect to be paid for your work
  • omigodomigodomigod
  • penny arcade
  • physical activity
  • piracy
  • ponies
  • pricing
  • pubic hair and semen
  • queen of fun
  • ranting
  • review
  • rock band
  • rpgs
  • saints row
  • sale
  • sales
  • sales figures
  • shameless self-promotion
  • shareware
  • skyrim
  • something for the ladies
  • spiderweb software
  • squid
  • ssssssss BOOM
  • star trek
  • steam
  • still alive
  • stories are for losers and squares
  • tasty meat
  • tech support
  • teh casualz
  • testing
  • that guy
  • the culture war
  • think of the children
  • tldr
  • travel journal
  • union
  • VEGAS
  • view from the bottom
  • watchmen
  • what cruddy graphics
  • whistling past graveyard
  • whomwhomwhom
  • why did my computer just melt
  • work i didn't get paid for
  • world of goo
  • xbox
  • you made my virtual pet starve you jerk
  • zombies

Blog Archive

  • ►  2013 (18)
    • ►  December (2)
    • ►  November (4)
    • ►  October (6)
    • ►  September (6)
  • ►  2012 (23)
    • ►  October (2)
    • ►  September (3)
    • ►  August (3)
    • ►  July (2)
    • ►  June (1)
    • ►  May (4)
    • ►  April (2)
    • ►  March (1)
    • ►  February (3)
    • ►  January (2)
  • ►  2011 (34)
    • ►  December (3)
    • ►  November (2)
    • ►  October (3)
    • ►  September (1)
    • ►  August (5)
    • ►  July (1)
    • ►  June (4)
    • ►  May (3)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (5)
    • ►  February (2)
    • ►  January (2)
  • ▼  2010 (39)
    • ►  December (2)
    • ►  November (3)
    • ►  October (1)
    • ►  September (4)
    • ▼  August (3)
      • Yes, Buying Used Games Doesn't Make You a Bad Person.
      • Being Nice Is Good Business.
      • Avadon Developer Diary #2 - What Sort Of Game Will...
    • ►  July (4)
    • ►  June (3)
    • ►  May (5)
    • ►  April (3)
    • ►  March (4)
    • ►  February (3)
    • ►  January (4)
  • ►  2009 (53)
    • ►  December (4)
    • ►  November (3)
    • ►  October (6)
    • ►  September (4)
    • ►  August (4)
    • ►  July (4)
    • ►  June (5)
    • ►  May (7)
    • ►  April (8)
    • ►  March (8)
Powered by Blogger.

About Me

Unknown
View my complete profile