Ron Carmel, co-founder of 2D Boy, shared strong advice with indie developers today concerning involvement with publishers and DRM.

"The most important thing to ask yourself is why you need publishers," Carmel said.

Most burgeoning developers need a publisher for funding or distribution, but after wrestling with contracts for months, Carmel learned a simple fact.

"Our conclusion with publishers is... don’t do it," Carmel said.

With Steam, WiiWare, the XBLA, and PSN, digital distribution allows indie devs to get their product to gamers.

"Go with digital distribution," Carmel said. "You don’t need publishers for this."

Carmel also advised to "go with the big boys first," as far as digitial distribution goes - focusing on Steam and WiiWare. He also warned that these services are swamped with requests, so getting the game through might require creative nagging.

"They get hundreds of requests," Carmel said. "If they’re ignoring you, it’s not because they hate you, it’s not because they hate your game."

Carmel also definitively addressed another hot-button topic.

"Don’t bother with DRM. It’s a waste of time," Carmel said.

Echoing the sentiments of Valve’s Gabe Newell, Carmel believes DRM only inhibits a customer’s experience with a product.

"Any game for which there is interest gets cracked," Carmel said. "The cracked version has a better user experience than the legit version."

While some developers may be concerned thieves will circulate their games and steal all their profits, Carmel advised that exposure is the most important thing for a new game.

"Don’t worry about it leaking," Carmel said. "Don’t worry about blowing your wad too early."

The lack of DRM in World of Goo didn’t even impact the game’s piracy or sales rates, comparatively speaking.

"We see no difference between World of Goo and other games," Carmel said.

Having spent some time screaming at SecuROM for calling me a thief after droppiing $50+ on a new PC game, I certainly appreciate Carmel’s point of view. The PC space doesn’t need any more barriers to entry than it already has.