@juleshughan tweeted an interesting Guardian post titled In the digital era free is easy, so how do you persuade people to pay?, and it got me thinking about why I pay for some forms of digital media, and why I refuse to for others.
The article is a good read, and speaks of motivations, which is something I’ve been very interested in lately, but this list, or whatever the post will turn into, is a lot more, colloquial, I guess.
<time jump> I’ve ranted too much [yes, I’m jumping in time], so I’m going to just list my rationale / motivations—generalised—below, and if you’re still interested, you can read about why it was basically World of Warcraft that got me paying for digital media. </time jump>
Note: The following rationale may likely be highly irrational to some.
The short of it
Games
- Features [the social, multiplayer aspect in 99% of cases] not accessible through pirated copies
- Ease of purchasing and the convenience of digital delivery
- Supporting Indie developers
Music
- Supporting something I’m passionate about
- It’s cheap
- Convenience
Television
Good luck trying to get me to pay for television.
Movies
Can’t justify it, and I’m more than doing my bit to support the movie industry by paying $20+ each week at the cinemas.
<time jump 2> Ok, I’m jumping in time again, but I realised I’d forgotten about mobile, and it feels a little different in my mind.
I would more than happily pay for an app I use regularly, but at this point in time, all my favourite, and most used apps, are free. In saying that, I do feel like, for whatever reason, I would hesitate / consider buying an app a lot more than I should, for the relatively small amount they cost. This Oatmeal comic sums it up </time jump 2>
And now, a wordier version…
c0up 