Many people are using a registration services which let the customer download a full version of the game after paying. Many games place the "uninstall XYZ" menuitem in the start->XYZ menu. What if a customer uninstalls the game accidentally after he payed for it? Can he download it again? How do you manage this case.
Or what if he has to reinstall Windows after 2 months and wants the game again? Can these cases be handled using registration services?

Originally posted by lakibuk
What if a customer uninstalls the game accidentally after he payed for it? Can he download it again? How do you manage this case.
Or what if he has to reinstall Windows after 2 months and wants the game again? Can these cases be handled using registration services? [/B]

Well, the user can just reinstall it. He did download the installer, didn't he? Uninstalling the game dosn't remove the installer exe!

I know alot of people (including me) that wont
even considering downloading the game if it doesnt
have an uninstaller

Two solutions come to mind:

1. Send him some sort of user/password by e-mail when he purchases the full version. Let him log to a secure download area of your website, and download the full version. You could generate user/password in real-time at the completion of the order (ShareIt calls a PHP script on my website after each completed order). If he looses this user/pass then you could let him retrieve it with a Forgot your user/pass?.

2. Let him download the full game but require a registration code to unlock the full version. He gets the registration code by e-mail upon purchase.

I'll make a note about uninstallers. I've seen some companies do this and I think it's a good idea. Why I don't implement these things myself is another story :-) -- Basically when the uninstaller runs and is finished have it pop up a web page with a form where you can submit some info. The web page basically says "Sorry you're uninstalling, but help us make our products better for next time and fill in this short survey" - The survey basically tries to assess why the person uninstalled the game. It could be something simple like a dropdown that has

Too Hard
Won't run
Too Easy
Didn't understnad how to play

and whatever other options you think might be good with a submit button. A lot of people, if it's just one field or a dropdown will take a second and fill it in. After a couple of weeks you might notice that 80% of people uninstalled it because it was too hard and then you can rework the demo by making it easier etc...

On an unrelated note I tend to get very angry if an uninstaller is not included and I become reticent about downloading or installing apps from the same company. I think it's a must have for a professional application of any kind.

- Steve

>>Let him log to a secure download area of your website, and download the full version.

That's how Shareit does it. But their link to the full version download is only temporary. I think 2 weeks or something.

----
>>Well, the user can just reinstall it. He did download the installer, didn't he? Uninstalling the game dosn't remove the installer exe!

Can he? What if he selects "open file" instead of "save file" when downloading the full version? I do this very often when downloading demos for example.

Originally posted by lakibuk
[B]>>Let him log to a secure download area of your website, and download the full version.

That's how Shareit does it. But their link to the full version download is only temporary. I think 2 weeks or something.


You dont let ShareIt host your full version. You host it at your site and protect it with a user/password screen. On completion of an order, let ShareIt call a PHP script at your site where you generate the user/password using some algorithm and send that to the user by e-mail along with the download link. The user logs onto your site with this user/pass, you check that this user/pass is valid and let him download the file. This method lets you log details like how many times the file is being downloaded, where its downloaded from (the IPs) and drop the user/pass if you suspect piracy.