[DanBlake]

Valves approach is best- Try to make the multiplayer experience worth paying for.

Unfortunately, The market is being forced by execs to move to a platform that is "internet connection required" for playing single player games and the tools to do this without piracy being a issue are going to be here soon ( onlive ) - Yes, occasionally a source will leak to the public but for the most part this new system is going to be worse across the board for the consumers.

Sometimes 'progress' sucks.

[chris11]

I'd also say that steam's more convenient than piracy. And the drm is usually painless. And you throw in their sales, and games will go for 5 or 10 dollars. To me the convenience alone is worth the money.

[mattmanser]

Not every game can have a multiplayer aspect. And for those games I'd prefer to pay for games that are multiplayer designed from scratch rather than the functionality being bolted on.

I thought Jeff Vogel made rpgs anyway, so no dice for him there.