On a pre-topic note, PUSHING 3000 VIEWS!
I'm a little frustrated today, for lack of a better word, so let me take this opportunity to talk to people who frustrate the hell outta me. Hello, Pirates.
No, not you pirates in Somalia, though we should probably have a talk sometime too. No, I'm talking about people who illegally download video games, movies, music, and the like.
A lot of people played CD Projekt RED's the Witcher 2. In fact, I'd say that besides doing well commercially, it was also an unbelievably pretty game with interesting branching dialogue. How well did it do commercially? 6 million units are out there, right now, being played. Pretty good, right?
Well it would be, but sadly only 1 million of those units was purchased. That is right, according to CD Projekt RED's counts, for every legitimate copy of the game sold, there were five that were stolen online.
That is completely ridiculous.
Don't forget about CD Projekt RED, because we'll come back to them in a little bit, but let's {I'll} try to break down some of the most common arguments used by pirates. Here we go!
It's Not Like I'm Stealing From Anyone: Okay, hands tied, it is true that when you illegally download copies of things, you aren't preventing other people from getting their hands on them legally, like stealing a physical copy would. But it is still stealing; the producers of that media spent a helluva lot of money getting that particular media built, and you should be paying for it.
It's Not Worth Paying For: This one is really stupid. If it isn't worth paying for, it isn't worth playing/watching/listening to. If the media is good enough for you to want to experience it, you should pay for it.
I Can't Afford To Buy These Things: This one is harder to address, because of extenuating circumstances. I'll take it medium by medium. Video games are simple in this regard. If you can afford a $300 console or decent gaming PC, I see no reason you can't pay $20 for a good game from a couple years back every couple months. Music- Go listen to youtube, or any other site like that. And don't complain about ads on VEVO and the like. You are getting a free gift, and you complain that you have to take off the wrapping. The simplest way I can put this one is that I can't afford a blimp. Does that mean I'm entitled to steal one? No, it just means I shouldn't buy a blimp.
It's Only One Copy: Gotta say, this one is my favorite. And I'm sure every single one of the Witcher 2 illegal downloaders thought the exact same thing.
Now, CD Projekt RED looked at their sales numbers, and were a little bit bummed. Understandably so. So what did they do? They used their magical technology (which they have not yet revealed to the public) to identify, track down, and confront people who downloaded their game illegally. And once they find them, they offer an ultimatum: Give us a huge sum of cash or watch us sue you in court.
Not surprisingly, all of the people confronted so far payed up.
Some people don't like the idea of going after pirates like this and making them pay insane sums. Why not just charge them full retail for the game?
That's simple. If Jonny Appleseed has a choice to illegally download The Witcher 2 for free, with only a small chance of having to pay $60, or be forced to pay $60 at the start, what would he choose?
Charging these pirates sums of upwards of thousands of dollars is how you get them to stop. You hit the pirates in their weak spot: Their wallet.
Piracy is one of the few issues I see as black and white. Would you steal in real life? Probably not. You feel as though the anonymity of the Internet protects you, and it does. But if your only judge of whether or not something should be done is whether or not you get punished for it, then you have some serious moral issues.
Thanks for reading and considering,
-J.Valett
I must express my dissapointment in that after several deep and thought out posts we again see one that is reflective of a poorly researched attempt on the topic.
ReplyDeleteLet's start first with describing what piracy is, because it isn't as simple as "illegally downloading". First and foremost let's start with the simple scenario. You have purchased a game. Because you were afraid of damaging the disk, you copy the game into your computer. Therefore now you are in possession of two copies of the same game. Is this piracy? Opinions split here but the majority of people claim that since you purchased the content, and not the disc, you should now be able to do whatever you wish with the content, as long as it doesn't infringe on copyright law. Now let's take it a step further. Let's say you take one copy and out it on your laptop, and the other one on your home computer. Again this is done for convenicance purposes, and isn't infringement. Let's say your friend comes over and you want to play against each other. You run the game, at the same time, and play the game. Is this piracy? Well, you brought the content, and you are playing the content you have brought with your friend. So finally imagine that instead if your friend, you share the game with the world...yet it isn't any different.
You paid for one copy. So copying the file to your hard drive is piracy, as now there are two copies when you paid for one. After all, sites like piratebay.org are just people who buy the game once and copy the files and post them on the internet. If the game doesn't have local co-op, that sucks. Write the developer. But giving them another copy, even to play in your own home, is piracy, If you don't want to damage the disc so bad and have hard drive space, go digital download or a game with Steamworks.
ReplyDeleteActually, it is argued to be legal to "back-up" your game, by making a copy and storing it.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, every person who's ever "imported" a CD into itunes has done exactly that, and Apple maintains that this is completely legal.
So, what makes this case any different? Apple has made it legal, why can't you simply back up your game on your computer?