gosh, after 3 days of reading this thread, I'm finally to the end. Good read, though.
Starting with the original complaints about the article, it does appear that you are stereotyping the ways people go about buying video games. And, I would seriously not rule out the effects of a demo. I myself am quite happy to download a demo to try a game out. It gives me the best opportunity to try a game out. I don't go by the hype that's on the page, or user reviews, or even the screenshots on the game's page. I want to try the game out myself, and see if I actually like it.
Demoing a game isn't the only consideration I'll give for a game. If someone I know says a game is good, and I know they've played it, I'll want to learn more about the game... but them liking it doesn't mean I'd buy a game straight out, I'd want to learn more about it. But then, this is coming from a guy that rarely buys games (or any toys for that matter).
But anyway, the point is that everyone buys differently, and weights the information they have on the games differently.
Starting with the original complaints about the article, it does appear that you are stereotyping the ways people go about buying video games. And, I would seriously not rule out the effects of a demo. I myself am quite happy to download a demo to try a game out. It gives me the best opportunity to try a game out. I don't go by the hype that's on the page, or user reviews, or even the screenshots on the game's page. I want to try the game out myself, and see if I actually like it.
Demoing a game isn't the only consideration I'll give for a game. If someone I know says a game is good, and I know they've played it, I'll want to learn more about the game... but them liking it doesn't mean I'd buy a game straight out, I'd want to learn more about it. But then, this is coming from a guy that rarely buys games (or any toys for that matter).
But anyway, the point is that everyone buys differently, and weights the information they have on the games differently.