Slashdot Mirror
Sometimes It's OK To Steal My Games
spidweb writes "One Indie developer has written a nuanced article on a how software piracy affects him, approaching the issue from the opposite direction. He lists the ways in which the widespread piracy of PC games helps him. From the article: 'You don't get everything you want in this world. You can get piles of cool stuff for free. Or you can be an honorable, ethical being. You don't get both. Most of the time. Because, when I'm being honest with myself, which happens sometimes, I have to admit that piracy is not an absolute evil. That I do get things out of it, even when I'm the one being ripped off.' The article also tries to find a middle ground between the Piracy-Is-Always-Bad and Piracy-Is-Just-Fine sides of the argument that might enable single-player PC games to continue to exist."
Sorry, if you feel that there's nothing wrong with pirating, your morals are wrong. You're stealing someone's hard work. If you don't pay for it, you don't get to benefit from it. If you feel it's fine because you wouldn't otherwise pay for it (and people lie to themselves about this all the time), and it doesn't hurt the developer to just make a digital copy, then tough luck; you don't get to benefit from their hard work. It obviously isn't worth it for you.
Nobody is entitled to get a free product just because they don't want to pay for it.
content creator
I detest this term, which literally means "happy god". Authors are not gods, and works of authorship do not necessarily bring contentment. In discussions about copyright, the terms "author", "publisher", and "copyright owner" are better defined.
The consumer is entitled to choose whether the terms are acceptable to them, or to avoid the content.
And replace the works under unacceptable terms with which works under acceptable terms?
Your argument is absolutely invalid. Try to think outside the little capitalism box you have your head stuck into.
This is not about how to profit from what. This is about freedom. Information, ideas, art, books. They are FREE, and I can do whatever the hell I want with it. You want to profit from it? Great, I want to profit from the air in the atmosphere. That doesn't change the fact that air is free for all living things.
YOUR NEED to profit from something doesn't affect MY RIGHT to think.
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
Let me get it straight. Your need to earn money is more important than the right of all of the human kind to freely access information?
You are still not understanding. I DO see your need to earn a living, and I think it is an important issue that we must address. That doesn't mean that copyright is a reasonable response to your issue.
Imagine:
There are starving content-producers that need food. Therefore, we'll establish a law that mandates that people should pay content-producers for access to information. Only buyers get access to information.
You consider that case to be totally acceptable.
Second case:
There are starving humans that need food. Therefore, we'll establish a law that mandates that people should pay people below the poverty line for access to air. Only buyers can breath.
Now, that doesn't sound as reasonable, right?
Well, the right to BREATH is as undeniable as the right to access INFORMATION.
Your issue is important, and we must find a way to properly retribute content creators. But denying humanity the undeniable right to information is not an option.
Oh, and just for the record, I do not use ANY software that is not under the GPL, and I don't even play any computer games. I actually don't really commit much copyright infringement at all, except for downloading music (for bands I usually go and see live many times paying expensive tickets) and download movies (that are either too old to have seen in a movie theater, or I have already seen in a movie theater and paid my ticket for).
This is not me justifying my activities. I am just stating what I consider undeniable rights of every human being, and setting priorities straight, and general freedom comes before individual profit.
WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
You need to authenticate with Battle.net ONCE. After that, the game can be played offline as much as you want.
Asking to verify once is the same as having to enter a CD key. Network authentication is the CD key of the future. Get used to it.
Also as previously mentioned by others, Blizzard's network didn't collapse under strain. Me and my network of friends have been playing more or less constantly since release with no issues.