It is rare I feel the need to praise a game company, especially lately.  But Stardock games has won a special place in my heart.

Over the past few years, I've moved a lot, had a fire, and in general lost most of my possessions (I am in a PhD program).  I don't have internet access (except in my office).

Stardock games is one of the few companies that actually TRUSTS their customers.  When I lost all my game discs, my computer, etc, and finally got another one, I was able to reinstall all my stardock games from impulse!  That is just so awesome!  In contrast, I have all but ONE of the Civ IV discs and now can't play that game.  I bought all their expansion packs, have like 6 discs, but because I am missing the one I need, I'm out of luck!  That level of distrust is one thing that drove me not to buy games for a while. 

I think game developers should realize, like stardock, that if you make a great product, I will gladly pay for it.  A great game is cheap at 50 bucks, a bad one is a rip off at 10.  Also, gamers are older and we have money now - we're not going to pirate them!  I stopped buying most games because it seems you pay $60 for some games, and you don't really own it.  You still get the feeling you are guilty until proven innocent. 

Because Stardock trusts its customers, I will never hesitate to buy a stardock game.  I bought Spore when it came out, and when I got home I realized it needed an internet connection to install!  It was a SINGLE PLAYER GAME!  That incident single handedly made me swear off EA games.

Keep it up Stardock, the level of trust you have with your customers is hard to come by in this day and age.