Editing Shareware (section)

== Games ==
{{Main|Game demo}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2016}}

In the early 1990s, shareware distribution was a popular method of publishing games for smaller developers, including then-fledgling companies Apogee Software (also known as [[3D Realms]]), Epic MegaGames (now [[Epic Games]]), [[Ambrosia Software]] and [[id Software]]. It gave consumers the chance to play the game before investing money in it, and it gave them exposure that some products would be unable to get in the retail space.

With the [[Kroz]] series, Apogee introduced the "episodic" shareware model that became the most popular incentive for buying a game.<ref name="gimme">{{cite web |last1=Hague |first1=James |title=Gimme Your Money: A Half-Baked History of Shareware |url=https://www.loonygames.com/content/1.24/feat/ |website=Loonygames |date=1999-02-08 |access-date=2020-02-23 |archive-date=2020-02-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223155158/https://www.loonygames.com/content/1.24/feat/ |url-status=live }}</ref> While the shareware game would be a truly complete game, there would be additional "episodes" of the game that were not shareware and could only be legally obtained by paying for the shareware episode. In some cases these episodes were neatly integrated and would feel like a longer version of the game, and in other cases the later episodes would be stand-alone games. Sometimes the additional content was completely integrated with the unregistered game, such as in Ambrosia's [[Escape Velocity (video game)|''Escape Velocity'']] series, in which a character representing the developer's pet [[parrot]], equipped with an undefeatable ship, would periodically harass and destroy the player after they reached a certain level representing the end of the trial period.

Racks of games on single 5&nbsp;1/4-inch and later 3.5-inch [[floppy disk]]s were common in retail stores. However, [[computer show]]s{{citation needed|date=April 2014}} and [[bulletin board system]]s (BBS) such as [[Software Creations BBS]] were the primary distributors of low-cost software. Free software from a BBS was the motivating force for consumers to purchase a computer equipped with a modem, so as to acquire software at no cost. The success of shareware games, including id Software hits ''[[Commander Keen]]'' and ''[[Doom (1993 video game)|Doom]]'', depended in part on the BBS community's willingness to redistribute them from one BBS to another across North America. The reasons for redistribution included allowing modem users who could not afford long-distance calls the opportunity to view the games.{{Sfn|Driscoll|2022|pp=117–120}}

The important distinguishing feature between a shareware game and a game demo is that the shareware game is (at least in theory) a complete working software program albeit with reduced content compared to the full game, while a game demo omits significant functionality as well as content. Shareware games commonly offered both single player and multiplayer modes plus a significant fraction of the full game content such as the first of three episodes, while some even offered the entire product as shareware while unlocking additional content for registered users. By contrast a game demo may offer as little as one single-player level or consist solely of a multiplayer map, this makes them easier to prepare than a shareware game.