I would argue that getting someone to install a new browser plugin and restarting their browser (in my experience, people are very reluctant to restart their browser) is just as difficult as getting them to download a .exe.

I disagree. Browsers have their own package management. I click on the link for the plugin, say yes to a bunch of dialogs, the browser restarts, and now I have to play.

With a standalone program, more decisions are involved. I have to decide where it installs, and how I want to access that installation.

I recently packaged up a piece of software for distribution, and I would never have a ZIP file to unpack. It HAS to be a standalone setup.exe which installs to Program Files/program so nobody has to make a decision. Access is with an icon in the system menu. And there's an uninstall. It's made with NIS Edit, which is a great program.

There's a default decision, but there's still a decision for me to make: do I override the default? Same with your system icon.

With a browser plugin, there's no option to override, so there's no decision to make.

I sell a downloadable program over the Internet, and so am fairly familiar with the notion of writing installers. (Note that this is a B2C program for highly non-technical users.)

Here's life:

a) Users will click past any screen you put in an installer, even if it comes with pre-checked options for reformatting their C:\ drive and shooting their dog.

b) Every additional screen in the installer costs successful installs, and hence conversions (if you're using free trials).

Accordingly, I don't ask users where to install to. I ask the system where program files is and it goes in the default directory there. Period. I don't ask them what to name the shortcuts in the start menu -- its named after the product. Period. I don't ask whether to drop an icon on the desktop, I do it. If they want to delete it they can hit a delete key as easily as unchecking a box, but it saves 100% of users another screen to process. etc, etc

But in this case they are doing it to play a kickass game for free. People download game demos all the time to play a game. People go to great lengths to play games for free.

Some people.

Id is having a go at these people, plus all the others who can't be bothered to jump through any loop beyond clicking a link and ok-ing the browser plug-in installation.

I agree with you for anyone that doesn't have an established name. However, from twitter:

@quakelive We currently have 8,500 players online and over 290,000 registered accounts.

(in a few short days)

oh, that is a valid point. I was more referring to post-install--e.g., once you install, you will be more likely to play an in-browser game than a standalone game, since you are (most likely) already surfing the web. And if games the caliber of Quake Live can be put into a browser, I say the future is here!