[jpdbaugh]

I often find demos to be misleading of what the final product will be like. Games are expensive, at least for me, and demoing the final product is the only way I will know for sure that I am not going to waste $60 if I decide to buy something.

[_delirium]

The 90s shareware approach was almost ideal for me from that perspective. I could play 1/3 of Doom and then decide if I wanted to buy the remaining 2/3 or not.

[jpdbaugh]

I am not really sure why this died? Ten minute demos are just not enough time to judge a game.

[chc]

It's the same thinking that leads to antipiracy misfeatures. They don't want to give away any more for free than they have to, even if it winds up hurting the game itself.