Kids Game Takes Aim At Music Pirates

Thanks to the San Jose Mercury News for reprinting a report about an educational videogame company who've decided to theme their next title around music piracy. According to the piece, the developers, MGI, who are not being funded by the RIAA or any other music industry groups, "...had set out to create a game about the yo-ho-ho kind of pirates. But when [MGI] started researching the topic of piracy, they were overwhelmed with information about music copyrights." An official press release on the MGI site reveals: "Loosely based on the Treasure Island story, this new PC game will... caricature music piracy, embodied especially in the figure of Captain Bootleg." The nefarious Captain Bootleg has run off with the 'Music Treasure', and "...a young boy named Ma, top agent of the Funny Bureau of Investigations ('FBI'), who... carries a laptop, must find the Island and recover the Music Treasure."

Comments

Re:Explain to Kids

[musikit]

i give them props for creatively trying to teach kids not to steal music. but did they have to make it about stealing music? couldn't they just have made it about stealing in general? couldn't they educate about copyrights in general?

again i give them props but don't limit your scope to RIAA enlarge it to a bigger lesson.

Re:Explain to Kids

[uncoveror]

Comparing unauthorized copying to rape, murder, and robbery on the high seas is terribly sensational. This "game" is a piece of RIAA/MPAA propaganda whether they will admit to it or not. Don't buy CDs.

Re:Explain to Kids

[musikit]

but if we don't but CDs it just makes it easier for them to replace CDs with a more DRM limiting technology.

Re:Explain to Kids

[KDan]

If you don't buy CD to hurt the RIAA and you buy DRM music instead you're a few sandwiches short of a picnic...

Daniel

Music copying similar to monetary counterfeiting

[Alphanos]

I think that the best crime to compare music 'piracy' to is probably monetary counterfeit. In the case of copying music, you can create exact copies of the original, you get/create something for nothing, and on a small scale it doesn't decrease the value of the original.

However, just as widespread monetary counterfeit would lead to economic problems if it could not be halted in some way, widespread copying of music has caused a devaluation of the legal copies of the music. If music copying reaches a certain critical mass, it could greatly reduce the number of bands producing new music as they would be unable to support themselves, thus leading to a kind of music recessation. It'll be some time before we discover one way or the other whether such problems will occur as a result of music copying.

Now I'm not trying to support the RIAA, and I realize that the big music companies rip off artists with the way they do business. However, I think everyone here knows that that isn't really a great reason in favour of copying the artists' music:P. It's a wise idea to consider the long-term consequences of our actions; forgetting to do so is how we get ourselves into messes like global warming.

Re:Explain to Kids

[Spleener12]

Don't duplicate that Britney Spears CD. Instead, lock it up in the cellar, where it'll be safe from the pirates.

Better yet, burn it. That'll make music go up in value even more.

What will this teach kids?

[jonathan_the_ninja]

It will teach kids that whoever conceived the idea for this game had an idiotic idea and/or is an idiot. Honestly, do they think that because they played a game where they cracked down on music "piracy" that it's going to influence them not to use Kazaa, or WinMX for sharing mp3s? I personally doubt it. Just like when they play Doom it's going to teach them to take their Dad's shotgun and kill mister former sergeant down the road (an army veteran) because of their Doom experience.

Re:Explain to Kids

[Rick the Red]

When you keep duplicating it, it no longer has the precious value of a unique piece of art,

You're right -- ever since I saw a copy of the Mona Lisa, I've had little desire to travel to France just to view the original.

leading to lack of appreciation for it.

I disagree. If I ever do get to France for some other purpose, and kill some free time with a side trip to see the Mona Lisa, I doubt I would not appreciate the original just because I've seen so many copies.

Besides, Leonardo wasn't French, so why is his master work in Paris? The French looted it from the Italians, who should demand it back.