I too am pleased to think that someone is able to enjoy a map I make by using it in one of their games. Feedback is always great because it spurs you on to make your next map.

I was looking at the downloads though and I'm a bit confused. I noticed that just a few lines on a page gets downloaded, what's that about? I can understand once an item starts taking shape but when it's still in the infancy stages why would anyone download that? Unless maybe, they are trying to create their own work in progress. Seems a waste though because like Ascension said, if they were to try and create a new map like it they would not have the ability.

I think a lot of what we are talking about here is along the lines of what the music industry went through a few years ago. There is always going to be the leaks. I am reminded of something I read written by one of the guys at Stardock. Stardock put a game out called Galactic Civilizations 2, and it had absolutely NO anti-piracy software. Boy the anti-piracy developers went ape nuts over how foolish this was. They said, Stardock was going to loose their shorts because they were making it possible for folks to easily pirate the game. The Stardock guy said something about knowing your target audience and not stressing about the few who were going to rip the game just because they could. The end result? GalCiv2 was like the best selling game of the year or something. Basically, they rolled the game out, allowed you to register with them and then you got free updates and added content for several months afterwards. You also had a reputation with them and could talk with them on their boards, offer suggestions and the like, yadda yadda.

It was an incredible debate that went on about the value of anti-piracy. One of the Anti-piracy companies had a guy who actually posted the game for a short time for download who was later forced to apologize by his company. What an idiot.
Best seller of the year was a great victory for the good guys though.

I think the target we want are the folks who offer feedback and/or are willing to pay something because not only do they get more of what they want, but it helps all of us continue to put out more stuff. These are the win/win people. Thieves just gradually kill it for everyone.