Demos - Good Business?

[Bodhesatva]

I agree there are dangers, but I suspect that game developers will begin to hone the art of demo-making. Which is to say, as time goes on, they will become better and better at using the demo as an advertisement, and will expertly avoid "demoing" any portions of their game that might still be rough or is generally less exciting.

Think of movie trailers, as a possible parallel. Even in my life time, I've seen movie trailers evolve, as film distributors learned how best to use those thirty seconds to make their movie appeal to the consumer. There's always, always the danger that you will turn someone off of your product -- I agree with you on that -- but I think that danger will lessen with time and experience.