"Rats!"
 

This is a small, funny coffee-break game for windows from 1994. The author still sells it through his webpage. When you considering the age of the game and all the coffee-break titles (with much better graphics) that you can play/download everywhere for free now a days, I think it's bold to expect people to pay 15 $ for this one. That's a bad strategy. A games-pack including most of the authors games can also be bought from his page, but Rats! is not included in this collection. It's not even a very profiled game on the page, just take a look around, it's barely mentioned. It came clear to me why. In the site-forum the author says "I've taken Rats out of the full (game) package as it was the least popular game". Least popular, then why sell it for such a steep price? If the author had released such a loony title as freeware (or at least lowered the price considerably, to a couple of bucks tops), I think it would have given him more notice, meaning his other games would have been checked out and sold more. I don't see the harm in doing that since Rats! sell poorly anyway (which isn't really that weird considering the asking price). I've been thinking about contacting the author about this but I doubt one man's opinion counts, so I'm thinking maybe a signed petition/a lot of emails from different people might convince him to reconsider. What do you think?

Mmm not sure, but wouldn't that "free download" link there sort of make the game like.. umm, free? ;) Unless, of course, the free version s just a demo but I couldn't find anything that said that.

Another thing: I don't think bombing his inbox with tons of emails will make him cheery enough to start giving any full game away for free. If anything, people could sign a list to go with a single mail.

I agree also, the whole petition/bombard his inbox approach, pretty much never works, I mean it sometimes works I suppose, but more often than not its just that a petition and its hard to really verify a lot of the signatures, as some people can simply pick a different name to sign it over and over.

Who knows maybe he'll change his mind, it may be one of the least popular games, but apparently maybe people are still paying the 15 bucks for the game, and as long as that happens, then I can see why he may not want to give the game away for free just yet.

"Rats!" is not included in the free-games download.

Yes, I agree that sending a lot of mail ain't a very good idea, so just one with a petition will be the best way to move forward :)

Not included? Strange. I clicked the "download the free game" link and it worked.

It does say on that page you can buy the FULL version of Rats for $15.
Maybe the free version is just a demo, or restricted version? :wondering:

Yes, that is quite possible. I was wondering about that, but other games he offered both for free and $15, it clearly said the free one was a demo. Not so here.

I've downloaded the version from the page and it's just a 3 level demo..

Ah Rats... Perhaps it would be enough if one questioned his logic in an email.

I won't buy Morrowind - better buy Rats instead. Duh!

It's a good game though...But not worth 15$ especially since it is so old...

Abandonia could make a deal with him to host the game and link to his site. I am sure he owuld get more publicity that way :)

Gregor, I like you're idea about Abandonia contacting the author to ask for a full version to be posted here as freeware, functioning as an ad for his other games and his site. That might just make a difference! So, anyone up for such a thing?