Call me a glutton for punishment, but I have to take on another hot topic. There is a parasite leeching off the game industry, and while some may say no harm no foul or that it's a victimless crime, there is real damage being done. Here we delve into the murky dreary and falsely idolized waters of piracy, focusing mainly on games, but dabbling in other places too. (Cue sweeping Pirates of the Caribbean theme)
Piracy of games seems to be growing into a common practice, what at first was accessible to only the determined is now made easily available to the masses via torrent sites which shall go unnamed. I'll give you the cut and dry right up front so as not to beat around the bush: I think pirating games, movies and the like is wrong. Take that with a grain of salt, this is coming from a guy who won't even theater hop. Back to the subject at hand though, no matter how you try to present it pirating is stealing plain and simple.
Now then, there are two sides to this argument: the developers crying foul over lost profits and the pirates complaining about game prices and Distribution Rights Management. I'm going to tackle the Dev's side first.
The affect of piracy on Developers is similar to that of a problem the National Parks Service has. People go into these beautiful parks and they want to take something back with them, say, a rock. The problem is if everyone takes a rock eventually there will be nothing left. Many people justify this by saying that it's just one rock, what's the harm? It's the same for pirating, many people believe they are just one person downloading a game or movie and that it could hardly have any affect, but it does. Now, companies aren't going bankrupt over this, but it takes a toll.
Its such an odd relationship between Devs, publishers, and the people they make games for. It's like a parasite that slowly sucks the life out of a creature while complaining the entire time that the animal isn't accommodating enough or that its blood isn't quite the parasites taste. If you didn't catch that, the pirates are the parasite, see what I did there?
People are just so self entitled now. I've heard the argument that a person wouldn't buy a game in the first place, so the dev is not loosing a sale when they download it. Or if the games sucks then it's not worth the money. Look, we live in a very informed age when it comes to our purchases. You can find multiple reviews for almost anything on the internet, even sweet shirts. The point is with a video game you can almost always tell if it's something you're going to enjoy.
This gives birth to the opinion that if a game is well received critically but you download it and dislike it then you are justified. Honestly how self centered do you have to be to think that if the game isn't exactly what you want that you are somehow entitled to steal it. The game developers aren't making it for you alone, they have a broad audience to think about because they need to make money to continue making games. You pay for permission to play the game, and you can make a good decision, I believe in you. The internet has removed all pleas of ignorance from your case. You are either an informed customer, or an ignorant (though usually informed) thief. It's almost funny that the internet, the thing pirates thrive on, has destroyed all reasons to pirate. All the information you need to make a responsible purchase is right there in front of you.
Internet! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems
There is also the argument that piracy is required for old games, and that publishers don't get money for out of print games. This one is a bit less black and white then pirating new games. Again, the internet that you love so much has destroyed your argument. While there are games that do not exist anywhere but pirate sites, certain websites like D2D and GOG have really aided with this. You can go there and legitimately download old and out of print titles.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is gaming and movies attract, on large, immature facets of our culture. People would rather spend hours justifying their selfish actions then doing the honorable thing. What's worse is now there is a thriving culture that believes pirates are a modern day Robin Hood, standing up against the evil companies that would dare protect their investments with Distribution Rights Management. Here's the thing, if you disagree strongly with a companies DRM then don't buy the game. By downloading it illegally you're only making it worse for everyone because they will implement more severe DRM next time.
I'll leave you with one last story, something to reflect on for those still rooting for the pirates. A while back several Indie developers got together and made the awesome package known as the Humble Indie Bundle. This was a collection of 5 (later 6) amazing games. The best part was you could name your own price and on top of that give either half or all the money to charity! It was a fantastic idea and had no DRM. Unfortunately though, due to its lack of DRM the bundle was pirated. Think about that for just a moment. A pack of six games that you could literally pay just one cent for, to charity no less, was pirated.
So please stop pirating (if you are, if you aren't; Good job!) before you ruin gaming for everyone either through excessive DRM or the collapse of the industry. The sad thing is, this article probably won't do anything to sway your opinion more then likely. If you've been able to steal a persons hard work and still sleep at night there's nothing I can say to change that. Does that make you a bad person… Well let's just say in Fallout 3 you'd be getting negative Karma, and in InFamous you'd be shooting red lightning, and in Bioshock you'd be killing little girls, you monster.
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