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Witcher 2 Torrents Could Net You a Fine
An anonymous reader writes with this quote from Eurogamer:
"Gamers who download upcoming PC exclusive The Witcher 2 illegally could receive a letter demanding they pay a fine or face legal action. If gamers refuse to pay the fine, which will be more than the cost of the game, they could end up in court, developer CD Projekt told Eurogamer. 'Of course we're not happy when people are pirating our games, so we are signing with legal firms and torrent sneaking companies,' CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwiski said. 'In quite a few big countries, when people are downloading it illegally they can expect a letter from a legal firm saying, "Hey, you downloaded it illegally and right now you have to pay a fine." We are totally fair, but if you decide you will not buy it legally there is a chance you'll get a letter. We are talking about it right now.' Interestingly, The Witcher 2 will be released free of digital rights management – but only through the CD Projekt-owned digital download shop GOG.com. That means owners will be able to install it as many times as they like on any number of computers – and it will not requite an internet connection to run."
Luckily, pirates aren't actually stealing the product (but they're still not customers), they're merely copying it. In order for it to be considered theft, someone must be deprived of something that they previously owned. That does not happen when copying data.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
I hope they get wads of ill-gotten fines from allegedly guilty thieves. They'll need it to compensate for the loss of legitimate sales they now won't be getting at gog.com from disgusted people like me. I only learned about the site recently and was moderately impressed. Now I'm disgusted. There were two games I was planning to buy from the site next month; I haven't decided if I'll simply get them somewhere else or just not buy at all. The bad taste in my mouth has made me lose my appetite.
I stole your sister's innocence last night. See how that works? I didn't take anything tangible - I'm not a thief, and it wasn't thievery - but I did steal something. It's an amazing revelation, I know, but stealing is not theft. Theft is stealing, however (except according to law).
Going after people that would never buy your game in the first place is pointless. They want to go after people, so they will be scared, and then buy their game because they are afraid to download it illegally. So yes, they are going after what they consider potential customers. If they didn't consider them potential customers, there would be no logical business case for doing so and they'd never be able to talk their board into providing the funding needed to pay the lawyers.
why?
property is thief.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
And how would you propose fixing this system?
As I already said, I myself do not have a perfect solution to this. However, that does not change the fact that the current system is broken.
What shortcomings are you talking about?
Don't you think it's a shortcoming with the system if artists have to introduce artificial scarcity for products that would otherwise be in an infinite supply just to make a profit so that they can continue participating in said system and continue doing what they love? Don't you think it's a shortcoming when people who logically aren't doing any harm (not giving someone money isn't doing harm) are blamed for not giving someone money (which is a category that nearly everyone in existence fits into)?
If you think the price isn't worth it, then don't pay and don't play/watch/listen to whatever they created.
You could also go another route. You could merely get the media for free whilst not harming anyone.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
Each person who pirates a game benefits himself or herself, but if enough people do this it's no longer tenable to make games and no one has a game to play, for free or otherwise.
Don't you think that it's a shortcoming of a broken system if people can no longer do what they enjoy without attempting to harm people who have done nothing to them or harmed them in any way? Piracy isn't what needs to be fixed. The current system, however, does.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
SO you don't think the government created right to exclusive control over the copying and distribution of copyrighted works is being deprived?
They created that artificial right, yes. But not abiding by the law, as I pointed out above, deprives no one of anything. If that's your only defense, then let me just point out that again, how does it hurt them if someone pirates their work? Violating their 'right' to distribute products that are in an infinite supply whilst not taking anything from them doesn't actually harm them by itself.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
Serious. I can understand they want to protect their games. But when they make a business model out of threatening people who tried a really bad game that has no demo, I say, fuck em. They just want money. More money than their product is worth. I suggest that everybody takes note and never ever buys another product from this developer. If you do buy this game, you are facilitating so called legal theft from a fellow gamer. Don't do it!
Friend, if you're going to call the system broken, it seems like you should propose an alternative.
My inability to think of an alternative system does not change the fact that the current system is, in fact, broken.
I've not myself encountered another way for artists to be sufficiently supported to continue in their art.
But, that still doesn't change the fact that pirates aren't actually harming anyone anymore than someone who simply decides not to give them your money. The system is illogical, and even if there is no other viable solution, that will always remain so.
I'd honestly rather not suggest alternative systems because the debate isn't about what system that we should use, the debate is about how piracy doesn't actually hurt anyone.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
Yea and fuck department stores that use those anti-shoplifting tags.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I have DEPRIVED (HARMED) the developer of that game.
Uh, no, you didn't. You copied the game (as in, you created an extra copy of the game that didn't exist before whilst depriving the developer of nothing). The developer wasn't deprived of the game, he was deprived of nothing.
I really agree with you that the system is broken, but I think there is another issue with downloading: Incentive.
Incentive is irrelevant when you consider the fact that pirates aren't actually taking anything. This is akin to extorting innocent people in order to turn a profit.
Pirating allows the companies to use the "They want it for free" excuse. If there was a boycott, companies would not have that argument and would be forced to fix the issues raised by people who don't buy their stuff.
I do agree with the boycott of the system, but really, there is almost no way to tell who is a pirate and who is not. I mean, sure, you'll be able to look at the amount of seeds that a torrent has, but that's about it. There are far too many websites and places on the internet to tell how many people pirate.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
(although this only because you are following your own moral code, which nobody else seems to agree with).
The fact that they don't agree with me is irrelevant. The entire world could believe in something that is false, but that would not make it true (note that I'm not claiming that I'm right, I'm just claiming that the majority believing something doesn't make it right or wrong).
There IS no alternative, logically, unless you consider something along the lines of selling merchandise.
Wait, really? Did you just say that there is no alternative? Never? There can't ever be an alternative?
Uh, you do know that there is practically an infinite amount of systems that haven't even been thought of yet, right? It's a bit hasty to declare that there will never be another viable system.
However, even if there isn't an alternative, that doesn't make my claim that this system isn't working any less true.
that a creator is not entitled to be rewarded for their work if it has no physical form
I see where a lot of people are getting this idea, but know that I'm not really against the idea of rewarding someone for their effort. I'm just against the notion that piracy is somehow theft.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
A lot of people that say "it doesn't hurt anyone" seem to firmly believe that the "P" word is completely evil. Profit is not evil, profit is what encourages further investments into future projects.
On the other hand, feeling so entitled to maximum profits that you attack anyone who doesn't directly make you money that second is evil - and stupid too if doing so harms your profits in the long term.
Your post was practically incomprehensible and completely unsubstantiated. The only take away I got was inferred guilt for not doing my patriotic duty to improve the economy by incurring debt to purchase something I don't need.
You must be an economist.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
Try to stop me, cocksuckers!
I don't see anyone arguing that piracy is acceptable.
What I do see is people arguing is the fact that the punishment for piracy is ridiculous compared to the actual damages.
You are right, if you can't afford it, sorry, you can't have it. But if that person who can't afford it pirates it from a friend, then no one is actually harmed and nothing is actually lost by anyone that cares.
The software developer is arguing a lost sale, which is simply bunk if the person who pirated didn't have the money to buy it in the first place. The software developer didn't have to pay for bandwidth or disk storage. They were out nothing by the piracy because there were never going to make anything off that person and they didn't lose any money at all by that person getting a DIGITAL COPY ... COPY ... let me say it again FUCKING COPY from SOMEWHERE OTHER THAN THE DEVELOPER.
I'm a developer myself. I'm whole heartedly against piracy in all forms, music included. I buy my software and media or I don't, but I no longer pirate.
I've been put in several situations where I know my software is being pirated and the pirates are using my online services, actually costing me money in the form of bandwidth ... I just kill their online id. If they buy it then, I win, if they don't buy it then, I still don't lose because I'm literally not any worse off than if the person never existed.
Again though, I agree with you to an extent. People today believe they are entitled to whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want, without any compensation or consideration for others.
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