Service guarantees the right to vote. Would you like to know more?

haha guess you guys should have read this before you released DG!

To me, this kind of policy is a 180 of what I though I loved about Stardock.  I have never, ever worried about being banned from a game b/c of forum comments outside maybe an MMO.  And this coming from the company I thought was so customer-centric is surprising.  Why wouldn't you just ban from the forum, hopefully warning first?  For my liking, I've seen too much defensive talk from Stardock employees...it would seem to stifle honest discussion.

Stardock as a company and as a group of people go out of its/their way to listen to our customers.  We treat them as we would wantto be treated (and often more-so). There is a big difference between criticising, and complaining, and attacking.  Many people don't see the distinction.

The fact is that we are in a barter system.  Users trade money for service (app, game, support).  At certain points though . . sometimes the expectations of one side become onerous.  At those points, it's time to cut your losses and move on.  For whichever side feels abused.

Honest discussion is always a good thing.

In practice, I agreee with what you're saying.  I've just never seen a company with employees so consistently eager to publiclicly state their willingness to put the hammer down on customers...no matter how much they deserve it.  There is just something unusual about a company who at least doesn't fake the "customer is always right" motto.  I would like to state that I love Demigod and don't want an insta-refund.

With Stalin you would just have the right to serve and die, not to vote...

It's not really a barter system when currency is involved. And while some customers can step over the the line, the typical response is not normally to cut your losses, not even for smaller businesses. You cut off a rude teen from your service for life, you're loosing decades of business. And if you are not willing to deal with teens for customers, you might want to label all the games as Adult Only. It's not reasonable to expect teenagers to act like middle aged programmers (and I think its obvious there are a fair amonut of teens on this board). They need to be taught lessons, sure, but they're not going to magically mature overnight. And make no mistake, adults can step over the line too, but when you cut one of them off, you're not just loosing their business, you're going to loose the business of a lot of the people they talk to. By word of mouth, the spread of Demigods trouble was a lot quicker than what the reviews could ever do, and by word of mouth, the improving state of the game is also spreading but right alongside it is this rather new idea of corporal punishment and instant refunds.

Honestly, no one likes to be told they're doing a lousy job, especially when it's not true. That's why there are often barriers between a lot of departments and the actual customers. Barriers, being people who are trained to grow a thick skin, let someone rant, try to calm them down and then address the issue. Hey, no one says Stardock has to treat the customer as always right, and they certainly have a right to defend their employees and run the business as they want to, but there is a reason that motto exists and we're talking business here... it's not just because businesses want to spread roses and sunshines all over the place, they do it because it makes sound business sense to do it. I think if Stardock wants to be mainstream (more than they have been), they're going to have to be prepared to put up with the mainstream.

I would actually like a refund on my purchase of Demigod seeing as how bug ridden and broken the multiplayer is which is the main aspect of the game. I've been really let down after being so impressed with SINS and Galactic Civ II

i have to agree generally with Zubaz and his position. its a bit hipocrital for me to say, since i recently had a run in with Blair Fraiser because, when asking for some more regular/detailed updates (as in news updates) for Sins, he snapped at us and said, look, we could always do what other companies do, give you the silent treatment until we can shove a half assed product on you

and all we were asking for was a 5 min post somewhere central and easily located to say whats been going on this week.

but, i have to say in this case, far out, so SD is selling a game with DRM, who cares?

DRM is a necesary evil, considering the dickheads (excuse my french) who pirate games. i mean, most if not all DVD's come with anti-copying protection, you dont complain about that?

i know its different, and the Secu-ROM controversies are something to be worried about, personally, i wouldnt buy a game with that sort of intrusive stuff either.

but seriously, so SD sells someone elses games, get over it, just dont buy the game. im pretty sure the sales page tells you up front what sort of protection a particular game has

but, no matter what, it is definitly no reason to go bashing SD employees for trying to make money. i mean, far out, the hubris you have as a consumer to tell a company how and how not to make money... unbelieveable

Yeah the way Stardock et all speak out against DRM and copy protection and then turn around and sell games with it on them you know what that makes Stardock? Benedict Arnolds of the software industry in my eyes. You can't take a stand against one thing and then support that one thing by distributing their products. I think that's worse than being a liar, they become a traitor. I'm glad to know this about Stardock now. I'll be sure and change my sigs and tell everyone their sleezy methods now. It was bad enough we have to be ONLINE to DOWNLOAD a PATACH for their games (might as well buy from STEAM or GAMERS GATE NOW), but, now this also! lol Reminds me of the story of the SPIDER & the FLY.

Considering I see a number of games available on Impulse that have LESS DRM than the retail copies (Prototype being the latest) and VERY few that use SecuROM whatsoever, I have to say that this really just comes off as whining. Seriously, a TRAITOR? Could you possibly be more melodramatic?

Question.  I just bought Sins of A Solar Empire and Galactic Civ.  2 from Ebay.  Both came with Keys but when I try to register them, Impulse will not accept them.  Thus, I cannot update the games, download maps, etc.  Though there is nothing on the box or in the manual about this, I get the impression that if a prior user registered the key, I am out of luck.  Is that correct?

If so, why would the company do that?

Doesn't that run contrary to the "Bill of Rights" I see on this forum?  The parts about the free transfer of the hard copy of the game and the right to patchs?

I didn't Pirate these game.  I paid for them.

Maybe I'm wrong and there is a way to fix this.  I have submitted the same question to Stardock and they have not yet responded.  In fairness, they probably haven't had time to respond yet.

The point of this is primarily to get my game updated so I can play it.  So if anyone has a suggestion, let me know.

If this comes across as a "grief",  whatever that is, I apologize.

Orastus.  You bought the physical media on ebay.  You can play that all you want.  If you want to update, you will have to buy a license from Stardock.  Contact [email protected] for further information.

psychoravin, Stardock is leading by example.  We are walking like we talk and encouraging others to do the same.  Baby steps.

Even if the updates, which really are patches, fix issues in the original game Stardock put on the market?

Isn't the real reason that you don't want your games legally sold a second time.  That's one less potential customer for you, right?

Ok, fair enough.  By the way, I bought Galactic Civ. 1 from you.  I am your customer.  Go check Impulse. 

Thanks for the "customer service".

Stardock is not alone in this stance. The entire gaming industry seems to be an industry that thinks its entitled to proceeds from the secondary market and if not, to just want to shut it down. In their defense, parts of Goo addresses this issue although I still think its silly as their entertainment counterparts aren't even trying this scheme yet (movies and music).

It is also the real reason I think DRM (all versions, including Impulse and Steam although not all DRM is created equal) continues to exist despite the fact it might stop pirates for no more than a handful of days(if even that). Having said that, I never buy games to resell and I stopped buying used games a long time ago once serial key started getting attached to accounts and being "used up". Since we're talking about it, I think I might put in a used movie in my dvd player and use it hassle free and go get one of my used books to browse over, also, hassle free.

Huh, I was just coming in here to verify this very thing.  I saw a few games that I knew had evil drm on them for sale on impulse and I had to stop and wonder if stardock had negotiated drm-free versions of the games for sale over impulse.. but I guess not.  But I still think what Stardock is trying to do is GREAT and impulse is good too.  I just wish I could know for sure that if I'm buying a game off of impulse that it doesn't have any further DRM crap on it.  Like a sticker or embelem like PC Gamer mag has.

And judging from the posts here, I can see where all the rage quitters on Demigod come from..

But then again, when I found out Far Cry 2 was drm-ed to hell, I was pretty pissed off too, so.. carry on.

I know its hard for some Demigod players to grasp, but there are other games Stardock publishes and/or develops than Demigod and the entire forum isn't devoted to them. Then again, there seem to be a number of Demigod players who can't figure out where their part of the forum is and spam it all over the place.