KingsGambit
Caldari Knights
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Posted - 2009.11.27 20:34:00 -
[1]
Although the author did give fair warning about the length of the article, I still found it quite a long read. I did persevere however, and while I did at times wish he would get to the point, I realise that it's the very fact he goes into such depth that lends various conclusions the weight behind them. The article is very well written, goes into a great amount of depth on the issues and uses credible sources and verifiable fact to back up statements. Before I comment further tho: Originally by: Brujo Loco
We need cheaper games, 50/60 usd$ is too much, and I'm a working man that earns enough for a living with some basic luxuries.
If that were the case, how can you explain the statistics the author posts showing the console games (generally more expensive than the PC version) outsells its PC counterpart by almost five to one? Or how even a game for < $20 like World of Goo can be pirated to Hell and back? Originally by: Herzog Wolfhammer
stuff
What nonsense. Originally by: Ak'athra J'ador
stuff
What nonsense.
Moving on, the only thing I found missing from the article is to my mind, one of the biggest reasons for piracy. While I think cost is the unarguably the foremost cause (particularly in poorer countries where average salaries are relatively low and software remains highly priced), "convenience" is another important one.
I was on the fringe of the scene for a time and am tech savvy, so it's no surprise I've pirated more than a fair share. I've always known it to be wrong and in the UT days, I can honestly say it was down to cost primarily. Now i have much more disposable income I can afford to buy what I like and usually do. Particularly since I was introduced to steam by someone on this very forum (was a TF2 free weekend), I've finally found a great solution. It's *easier* and more convenient to buy something on steam than it is to pirate it. Convenience would also explain iTunes success, as finally there was a method as easy or easier than pirating a song, to get a song or album you wanted in a decent quality instantly.
While I have only about 2 full price steam games and the rest interesting offers, I love how easy it is to use. No CDs, no cracks, no installers, just right click and go. When I first installed my legitimately purchased BioShock, the install limit annoyed me. But I never had any issues with it then or since. I've reinstalled it at least twice following comp upgrades and new OS installs and I believe I now have 50 activations altogether. If I were to ever hit that limit, I could just use a crack and I doubt 2k games will care by then that a legitimate purchaser continued to play the game after 50 activations!
I still buy top games on disc and always have...the X series, BioShock, anything BioWare (in the case of JE and ME on both Xbox AND PC), the Thief and hitman series' and more. But for the other, random games I admit that I would download them. But while it's fairly obvious that devs are focusing more on consoles now, it really didn't occur to me that it was as dire a situation as it is. What good is my GTX 285 if there are no Crysis', Doom IIIs or BioShocks to play on it? 
But ultimately, for me it comes down to convenience. Right now, I can google for a TV episode or movie, start downloading it seconds later and within an hour, can be sat in my living room watching it thru an XBox media center on the large screen, over the network. Differing regional release dates for games and movies as the author suggests, should be scrapped, the Internet has connected us like never before. I will continue to buy good stuff but it's going to be very hard to change the piracy culture now. I think once industries work out on-demand, high quality digital distribution methods for music (itunes), games (steam) and movies (?) to an easier standard than the torrent, I think they'll benefit greatly as in some cases they already are.
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KingsGambit
Caldari Knights
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Posted - 2009.11.27 20:37:00 -
[2]
Final point about steam...as the author is discussing it, I realised that it never even occured to me that Steam prices might be as high or higher than retail *intentionally*. That's always been a bugbear of mine with the service, wondering why it should cost more to download a digital copy than to have a physical product packed by a man in a warehouse and mailed thru the post.
And the bit about theft vs copyright infringement and the 'victimless crime'...it is sadly true and while it doesn't/cannot justify piracy, I think it can explain why so many of us might consider piracy acceptable. If you're hurting noone, is it so bad? 
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