It’s a bit unusual for me to post a mid-week update. I felt the situation deserved it, though, as there have been a couple of very interesting developments.
This weekend, I started noticing a phenomenon: Dehoarder’s play count on Kongregate suddenly started surging. Likewise, it’s Kongregate star rating had increased by 0.2. Intrigued, I pulled up my trusty Google search page, and sure enough, it seems that people are really talking about Dehoarder.
First, there was this video playthrough and review from IndieImpressions. Really awesome stuff!
Next, I found out that CNET Australia’s Michelle Star had also written a review of Dehoarder.
There is also this rather humorous playthrough and commentary that comes to us from the Netherlands by captnduck. I about lol’d my pants when I watched this:
In addition, I also found this German-language review from pixelpunsch.
The reviews started appearing on Friday, and seemed to continue into Saturday. That certainly explained the extra traffic that Dehoarder had been seeing!
This hubbub around Dehoarder is most excellent, and is a bit unexpected, being almost three months on from Dehoarder’s release. Anyhow, I hope all of the new players are enjoying Dehoarder; judging from the jump in rating, it seems that most of them are.
Of course, every yin must have a yang. After Googling Dehoarder to see what was up, I decided to go ahead with a Google review of all of my copyrights and trademarks, which I do from time to time. I was a bit disappointed, though not entirely unsurprised, to find some piracy activity surrounding Vintage Pachinko.
I knew that someday I would have to face this, and I know full well that it cannot be completely stopped, only slowed. I don’t hold to the extreme view that every pirated copy is a lost sale. Many users of pirated software would have otherwise gone without, rather than pay for licensed software. I also know that some brand exposure through pirated goods can have an overall positive effect on a brand. However, I also feel that I deserve to be the benefactor of my labor when I choose to put a price on one of my hard-wrought products, especially when I have been very generous in my free-to-play game lineup.
Also, my understanding of the law is that I must do what I can to defend against all infringement known to me, or else I waive my right to defend against future (and possibly more egregious) infringement. So, I filed my takedown notices with the hosting site, and to their credit, the offending files were removed within two hours. I also reached out to the offender, nothing official or legal, just a friendly request explaining that these actions cause harm, and asking that no further infringement occur.
Whew! That all happened yesterday, both discovering the reviews of Dehoarder, and discovering the piracy of Vintage Pachinko. It was quite unexpected, and watching the videos of Dehoarder was very exciting. Be sure to check them out!
Video Playthrough and Review from IndieImpressions
captnduck Shows Off His Battlestation