158: Piracy and the Underground Economy

[tthor]

very good points...

ive personally dont think ive ever played pirated games, but i have used pirated videos(like tv shows and licensed animes) and music

the music, its just all ive ever been exposed to. my sister always downloaded music off limewire. i dont have a car, i dont have a credit card, and i dont have any music stores anywhere near here. so, when i think of buying music, why wait hours-days to go to the store to pay for a cd with several song i dont care for just so i can get one song i want, when i can get that same song i want for free instantly without even having to get up

and the videos, its more of a lack of accessibility that drives me to piracy. like my favorite show, i absolutely love it, but i dont have cable,so i cant watch it. my choices are either watch it on the internet, or dont watch it at all...

 

[Exavier126]

This is a very interesting perspective. I've heard that companies like Microsoft have started making low price versions of Windows for sale in Asia in an effort to combat piracy. I still think piracy in "developed" nations is still despicable, as often then not we have the money to pay for the games, but we don't want to pay for them. I don't believe that that anti-piracy measures that have been implemented by most of the industry are good though, as the hurt the consumer, making them less loyal to the product. So far Stardock's method (as seen with Sins of a Solar Empire) seems the most fair, allow anyone to play the game offline, but require that the enter a code for online play, that way no consumer is really hurt (as long as they don't try to run mutliple copies online). I really hope that companies go this direction, but we as consumers have to push it. Consumer outrage over Mass Effect and Spore's copy protection did force EA into relaxing the protection, it was a small victory considering that the protection is still pretty absurd, but it does show that we can change their minds.

 

[mooncalf]

The principle is that you can't pat someone on the head - by enjoying a game - and kick them in the balls - by giving them nothing for what enjoyment you've taken at their expense - at the same time, then wonder why they dislike you. Such abysmal behaviour shouldn't be defended, find another answer or do without your ->Unnecessary Luxury Item<-.

 

[shMerker]

mooncalf, it may not be the most productive thing to state an earlier expressed opinion without adding anything onto it. Do you take issue with anything, specifically, that's been said in response to the already expressed sentiment that "piracy is wrong and people who can't afford games should just learn to do without," or did you just want to make some noise?

 

[jono793]

Ryan Sumo; a pragmatist after my own heart.

It's only through this sort of article that any practical solution reducing the impact of piracy is going to be achieved. For far too long the figurative well has been poisoned by the warblings of pseudo-revolutionary bootleggers(and to a lesser extent, the tearful artistic indignation of developers). Its refreshing to see a measured analysis. Although it doesn't address exactly who is doing the pirating (All honest vendors looking out for their families? What about the shills turning a quick buck? organised criminal elements? Teenagers at their computers?), and the issue of internet file-sharing (pay for knock-off DVD's? Idiot, I can download that for free!).

The solution you proffer is innovative, but without additional laws to protect the legal trade (and the will to enforce them) it doesn't seem workable. If piracy like this is to be under-cut with cheap games, those copies will need to be ready for sale fairly close to the initial release date. That means the company will still it's overheads; R&D; production; distribution; etc. to worry about. In contrast, you've got small adaptable piracy outfits running off a home PC and a stack of CD/DVD-R's. Their expenses are therefore bugger all, so they can easily match, or beat, the price of any legal copy on the market.

 

[teknoarcanist]

Well here's another way to look at it: cracking down on piracy DOES NOT WORK. Ask the RIAA. Lemme tell you, me and all my college buddies are shaking in my booties with all the lawsuits they're bringing against random students -__-; Software (and piracy/theft of the normal sort) has been around since time immemorial. You cannot eliminate it, so stop butting your head against the wall and get with the program.

 

[sammyfreak]

Good article.
It reminds me of the goldfarmers in WoW. Even if they vow to stomp them out Blizzard earns millions on them. How many players quit their subscription because of goldfarmers? One or two. How much money do they goldfarmers pay into the system with subscription fees and the buying of the game? Add into the equation that Blizzard bans alot of them so they need to buy new copies of the game over and over and you got something very profitable.

I make sure to tell my friends there that whenever they ban somebody a chinese person's livelyhood is harmed.

 

[friedkamote]

This is my argument in the most simple and pure form:

Piracy exists because people can't afford legit games. An underground economy has sprung up to sell people illegit games for prices they can afford. That economy supports the livelihoods of people in that region. Clamping down on this economy and rounding up the pirates will amount to naught, because people still can't afford legit games, and like an earlier commenter said, they'll probably just go out and play football/soccer (which may not be a bad thing, to be honest with you).

Lastly, I'll throw out another number at you guys, to put things into perspective. Taking the ratio of $60 (current gen game) to $3400 (annual Filipino income) and applying it to the annual American income of $46,000, you get the number 782. Imagine paying $782 dollars for a game, plus shipping costs and taxes that the vendor passes on to you.

Your estimates are flawed because you fail to take into account the relative value of monetary amounts. A meal from a jolly jeep costs 53 pesos or around $1.20. So let's divide $1.20 by $3,400 then multiply it by $46,000. Using your ratio, $16.23 for lunch in the United States would be cheap. The $5 price point you propose means nothing to the middle and upper-classes who purchase pirated games and DVDs in the Philippines. It's a throw-away amount, the equivalent of around two Big Macs or two cups of coffee at Starbucks whereas $60 in the United States is in no way small change.

The people who buy pirated goods in the Philippines do so out of ignorance of the amount of work that goes into producing a game, lack of availability, or because they want to be able to stretch their peso. Game prices could be further reduced in the Philippines, but not to the point where it's a throw-away amount where you can buy a whole bunch of games you don't plan on playing anyway.

There are a lot of people who buy legit games over there. Data Blitz has been in business since 1995 and you should check out TipidPC's listings for console games. If you want to just try out a game, borrow it from a friend or rent it from GameHopper.com.ph. Saying you don't buy legit games because they're expensive is a lousy excuse.

Btw, it's naive to think that those pirate stalls in Green Hills pay much in the way of taxes. The guys they send out to look for customers probably don't even have taxpayer identification numbers or SSS numbers.

 

[CMH]

Using your ratio, $16.23 for lunch in the United States would be cheap.

I'm going to assume you usually pay $1.20 for lunch in the states.

The idea behind those ratios aren't about setting a $5 price point, but the fact that $60 is an exhorbitant amount in a country that pays $1.20 for lunch.


A kid that'll go without lunch for a week for a game in the states, would have to go without lunch for a couple of months to buy a game in the Philippines... Sounds to me that some sort of adjustment is needed to the pricing of food....

 

[Ryan Sumo]

Your estimates are flawed because you fail to take into account the relative value of monetary amounts. A meal from a jolly jeep costs 53 pesos or around $1.20. So let's divide $1.20 by $3,400 then multiply it by $46,000. Using your ratio, $16.23 for lunch in the United States would be cheap. The $5 price point you propose means nothing to the middle and upper-classes who purchase pirated games and DVDs in the Philippines. It's a throw-away amount, the equivalent of around two Big Macs or two cups of coffee at Starbucks whereas $60 in the United States is in no way small change.

Of course my estimates are flawed, I'm a fricking game artist for chrissakes, not an economist. My numbers weren't meant to be taken as gospel, but to provide a sense of perspective. It still remains true that to the Filipino that earns $3400 a year, buying a 60 dollar game would feel the same as an American (who earned $46000) who would pay $782 to buy a game.

The people who buy pirated goods in the Philippines do so out of ignorance of the amount of work that goes into producing a game...

I have to say that you're naive for thinking that if people knew about all the work that goes into games, they'd buy originals. In general, people don't give squat about the development that goes into games. As long as it works when they play it, they're happy. If it looks like shit when they play it, they'll shit all over the game and never take into account the blood, sweat and tears that went into it. I repeat. Most people don't give a fuck. They don't care who makes their games and who makes their movies, they just want to be entertained.

This game I'm making, if a publisher ever decides to pick it up and release it? I know it'll be pirated. What am I gonna do, accost everyone who I see buys a pirated copy and tell them I worked like a dog on that game and they ought to be ashamed of themselves? The masses don't give two shits how hard anyone works for their craft. All they see is the final product. Get over it.

...lack of availability, or because they want to be able to stretch their peso...Saying you don't buy legit games because they're expensive is a lousy excuse.

Wait, so buying pirated is ok if it's not available or if people want to stretch their peso...but not just because the games are expensive? Foot in mouth aside, the point is moot because this isn't a space for "anti" or "pro" piracy. It's a space about discussing possible solutions to a problem that has existed for decades.

And one last thing. I actually do get some of my games from TipidPC. But if you read enough game industry literature, you'll know that developers and publishers hate the second hand market just as much as the pirates because it also eats into their bottom line. But used and rented games are another issue entirely.

 

[friedkamote]

I'm going to assume you usually pay $1.20 for lunch in the states.

The idea behind those ratios aren't about setting a $5 price point, but the fact that $60 is an exhorbitant amount in a country that pays $1.20 for lunch.

A kid that'll go without lunch for a week for a game in the states, would have to go without lunch for a couple of months to buy a game in the Philippines... Sounds to me that some sort of adjustment is needed to the pricing of food....

No, you don't pay $1.20 for a cheap lunch in the U.S. A cheap lunch costs anywhere from $3.50 to $6 in NYC, so a "kid" would have to go without lunch for 17 days to purchase a game, and a kid in the Philippines would have to do that for 27 days (2,200 pesos / 80 pesos for lunch at most private schools). Most game buyers today aren't kids, they're often people in their 20s and up who already have jobs.

Of course my estimates are flawed, I'm a fricking game artist for chrissakes, not an economist. My numbers weren't meant to be taken as gospel, but to provide a sense of perspective. It still remains true that to the Filipino that earns $3400 a year, buying a 60 dollar game would feel the same as an American (who earned $46000) who would pay $782 to buy a game.

How many of the people who buy pirated games in the Philippines and earn 12,600 pesos a month live on their own? If you're earning 12,600 pesos a month, and you're living with your folks you're probably only spending on lunch and transportation, everything else goes to your little luxuries, or (rarely) to savings. So out of that 12,600 pesos, you have around 8,000 pesos to spend on all sorts of stuff. A lot of original titles cost 2,200 pesos, and if you're a PC gamer the range is 900 to 2,000 pesos. That's three or more games a month if you're willing to forgo a few cups of overpriced coffee or going out partying.

A 20-something gamer in the U.S. who earns $46,000 a year ($3,800 a month) has to worry about living expenses and their student loans. How many of these 20-something game buyers in the Philippines have to pay back loans for their college education? No, 2,200 pesos (around $49) for a game in the Philippines isn't the same thing as $782 in the US.

I have to say that you're naive for thinking that if people knew about all the work that goes into games, they'd buy originals. In general, people don't give squat about the development that goes into games. As long as it works when they play it, they're happy. If it looks like shit when they play it, they'll shit all over the game and never take into account the blood, sweat and tears that went into it. I repeat. Most people don't give a fuck. They don't care who makes their games and who makes their movies, they just want to be entertained.

This game I'm making, if a publisher ever decides to pick it up and release it? I know it'll be pirated. What am I gonna do, accost everyone who I see buys a pirated copy and tell them I worked like a dog on that game and they ought to be ashamed of themselves? The masses don't give two shits how hard anyone works for their craft. All they see is the final product. Get over it.

I didn't say that the people would automatically buy the games just because they knew how much work went into it. What I was trying to say was that people tend to assume that the only costs involved are actual publication of the CD and are thus able to justify to themselves that they should pay a lower price.

Wait, so buying pirated is ok if it's not available or if people want to stretch their peso...but not just because the games are expensive? Foot in mouth aside, the point is moot because this isn't a space for "anti" or "pro" piracy.

Do I have to spell out that "stretch their peso" has to do with something being "expensive"?

It's a space about discussing possible solutions to a problem that has existed for decades.

Your article was surely an eye-opener for many westerners and it explained that people in Asia DO pay for pirated games, but you shouldn't have made it sound like the people purchasing these games actually have to shoulder all their own expenses on the meager salary you listed. Others have already said it, piracy in Asia isn't hurting publishers as much as the piracy in developed countries among people who would rather just download. Your proposal would be great for people in the Philippines who buy on impulse, but would be suicide for the developers and publishers because grey imports would erode their sales in developed markets. Region coding is useless because if games cost 1/10th the price in one region, then you're better off purchasing your console from that region. There can be no win-win if you end up making much less money from a larger customer base of legitimate users.

The only anti-piracy measures I've seen that have worked in the Philippines are free-to-play games and making duplication expensive (PS3). MMOs have been profitable, but the pay-to-play ones aren't immune to "piracy" in the form of private servers.

And one last thing. I actually do get some of my games from TipidPC. But if you read enough game industry literature, you'll know that developers and publishers hate the second hand market just as much as the pirates because it also eats into their bottom line. But used and rented games are another issue entirely.

A lot of the games being sold on TipidPC are listed as "Sealed" and "New" so I wasn't talking about getting games second-hand/used.

 

[Ryan Sumo]

How many of the people who buy pirated games in the Philippines and earn 12,600 pesos a month live on their own? If you're earning 12,600 pesos a month, and you're living with your folks you're probably only spending on lunch and transportation, everything else goes to your little luxuries, or (rarely) to savings. So out of that 12,600 pesos, you have around 8,000 pesos to spend on all sorts of stuff. A lot of original titles cost 2,200 pesos, and if you're a PC gamer the range is 900 to 2,000 pesos.

Your article was surely an eye-opener for many westerners and it explained that people in Asia DO pay for pirated games, but you shouldn't have made it sound like the people purchasing these games actually have to shoulder all their own expenses on the meager salary you listed.

Friedkamote, I think your problem here is that you're using yourself as the basis for the average gamer (yes, I am making the assumption that you are a gamer who lives with your parents and doesn't pay the rent or utilities and basically only has to provide for his own luxuries, ie games), or person who buys games. This just isn't the case. While there may be quite a few people who fit that persona, don't forget that a lot of games are still being bought by parents whose kids want to play the latest games. Many of these parents already think that the console itself is a huge purchase, so they breath a sigh of relief when they find out that the games are really cheap, never knowing that they're actually pirated.

That's just one segment of the market. There are plenty of other stories. I have gamer friends who help support their families because their parents are getting old or no longer earning as much as they used to. And there are people who really do live on their own and provide for themselves, contrary to what you believe to be the standard.

That's three or more games a month if you're willing to forgo a few cups of overpriced coffee or going out partying.

This one statement bothered me especially. Let's assume you're right and most gamers in the Philippines fit your description. Do gamers in the US have to sacrifice "overpriced coffee and partying" just to buy their games? If so, then your argument is justified. If not, then I don't see why Filipino gamers should be forced to make that choice. Oh wait, I know why!

Perhaps gamers in developing nations should spend some time getting an education and bettering themselves instead of playing video games. All the time wasted playing video games you could have probably learned something useful in the meantime and picked themselves up out of poverty.

It's because gamers in developing nations don't deserve such luxuries!

...but would be suicide for the developers and publishers because grey imports would erode their sales in developed markets. Region coding is useless because if games cost 1/10th the price in one region, then you're better off purchasing your console from that region. There can be no win-win if you end up making much less money from a larger customer base of legitimate users.

Effective region coding would be harder, but it wouldn't be useless. Companies like Sony have already started flexing their muscle when it comes to grey market importers like lik-sang and play-asia, so they could make it very hard for people to import if they really wanted to. A win-win situation is possible. Extremely difficult, but possible. I still maintain that they'd have more to gain from doing that than from eradicating piracy. You're of a different opinion, and that's fine.

If you're comfortable paying that much for a game, then great, developers and publishers love you. But obviously most people don't think it's a fair price, so they choose pirated games. If other goods can be price adjusted to fit the capabilities of a market, then why can't games?

 

[friedkamote]

Friedkamote, I think your problem here is that you're using yourself as the basis for the average gamer (yes, I am making the assumption that you are a gamer who lives with your parents and doesn't pay the rent or utilities and basically only has to provide for his own luxuries, ie games), or person who buys games. This just isn't the case.

I'm a 31-year old family man who's been living overseas for the past 8 years. We visit the Philippines every year, so I'm not out of touch with the realities over there. I still insist that fresh graduates who buy games and earn only 12,600 pesos a month are unlikely to be living on their own. Since we're making assumptions anyway, I'm guessing that you come from a middle- to upper-class family and went to private schools all or at least most of your life. You are university-educated, maybe received an allowance while you were there, currently in your 20s and probably making anywhere from 20k to 30k if you've been working for a while. You're probably a more common example of the Filipino gamer who buys a bunch of pirated games and buys a few legit.

While there may be quite a few people who fit that persona, don't forget that a lot of games are still being bought by parents whose kids want to play the latest games. Many of these parents already think that the console itself is a huge purchase, so they breath a sigh of relief when they find out that the games are really cheap, never knowing that they're actually pirated.

The parents who can afford to provide their kids with modern PCs and/or consoles (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) are unlikely to be making less than 80,000 pesos a month together or $26,000 per year. If they're earning less than that then the console may have been a gift from a relative who works overseas, or they may have access to a PS2 instead.

That's just one segment of the market. There are plenty of other stories. I have gamer friends who help support their families because their parents are getting old or no longer earning as much as they used to. And there are people who really do live on their own and provide for themselves, contrary to what you believe to be the standard.

I'm not denying that those people exist. I have a friend who earns only 18,000 pesos a month and he helps out at home, and he still only purchases original games for his Wii. He doesn't purchase that many games, but he does play the ones that he gets. People like him and those you mention are the exception rather than the rule.

That's three or more games a month if you're willing to forgo a few cups of overpriced coffee or going out partying.

This one statement bothered me especially. Let's assume you're right and most gamers in the Philippines fit your description. Do gamers in the US have to sacrifice "overpriced coffee and partying" just to buy their games? If so, then your argument is justified. If not, then I don't see why Filipino gamers should be forced to make that choice.

Yeah, they would have to give up a few items to purchase a $60 game. I don't know if you've ever lived in a developed country for any extended period, but $60 isn't small change.

Oh wait, I know why!

Perhaps gamers in developing nations should spend some time getting an education and bettering themselves instead of playing video games. All the time wasted playing video games you could have probably learned something useful in the meantime and picked themselves up out of poverty.

It's because gamers in developing nations don't deserve such luxuries!

I wouldn't mind seeing lower prices for games in Asia, but not to the point where it's a throw-away amount that endangers the publisher's revenue stream from developed countries.If we look at the relative prices of lunch in the U.S. compared to in the Philippines, games at $20 (around 800 pesos) don't seem too bad. Games for the PS3 and Xbox 360 are already priced at around $49 in the Philippines. I don't know what kind of effect on the grey market reducing the price to $20 will have, but it won't be as bad as a $5 price for sure.

Effective region coding would be harder, but it wouldn't be useless. Companies like Sony have already started flexing their muscle when it comes to grey market importers like lik-sang and play-asia, so they could make it very hard for people to import if they really wanted to. A win-win situation is possible. Extremely difficult, but possible. I still maintain that they'd have more to gain from doing that than from eradicating piracy. You're of a different opinion, and that's fine.

I really can't see them being able to apply any effective form of region control, but they're certainly welcome to try.

Are you aware that the majority of gamers in the Philippines play from internet cafes and often do not have access to a gaming PC or one of the three modern consoles at home and are thus unlikely to buy games for those platforms? The PS2 and PS1 are probably more common, but I have not seen original PS1 games being sold during my last two visits.

If you're comfortable paying that much for a game, then great, developers and publishers love you. But obviously most people don't think it's a fair price, so they choose pirated games. If other goods can be price adjusted to fit the capabilities of a market, then why can't games?

I think you may be overestimating which items are price-adjusted. Mobile phones, computer hardware, consoles, automobiles are all priced close to their prices in developed countries. The items that are priced lower are often locally produced items or necessities such as food and clothing.

 

[Retoru]

Do you also advocate not cracking down on organized crime(Mafia, Yakuza, Triad, etc)? It's the same rationale you're using with piracy. Thousands of hoods involved in organized crime use the money from their "job" to raise their families. So, by cracking down on this crime we're just depriving hard-working individuals of a means to support their families.

You also stated "If you had $300 a month to spend on rent, food and all of your other expenses, how high would a $60 game be on your list?" in your article. To be honest, that doesn't work as a justification. That's no different than saying it's alright to steal a Porsche simply because you can't afford it, yet you want that luxury in your life. If you can't afford something then you can't have it, it's that simple really.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against piracy, data should be freely available to all. What I have a problem with is people trying to rationalize their criminal activity. If you're going to pirate things then do it, but don't make some weak argument to attempt to justify it or make it look like you're only trying to "survive". Games aren't essential to survival, so you'll "survive" without pirating them.

I'll openly admit that I pirate things from time to time. I don't do it to "survive", I don't do it because games are too expensive(I can easily afford them), and I don't do it to "protect myself from a possible bad game", I do it simply because I don't feel like paying for it and it's easy to do. Man up and admit that you pirate software simply because you don't want to pay to support your habit, then I might actually respect you.

 

[Syntax Error]

I was raised in the same environment as Ryan, so I was a little indifferent about piracy (not that I pirate games myself, because I don't). However, I do understand that Piracy, even with the intention of raising a family is still piracy, and is therefore a crime.

About the link Erin provided, if what Insomniac did back then was very effective (stalling pirates from releasing cracks for about two months), I wonder why other developers did not follow suit, especially now. A lot has happened in during the seven odd years since that article was published. Surely by now, there are a lot of workarounds on the problems suggested on the last part of that article.

 

[zBeeble]

It might be worthwhile to note that Steam often offers older games at $5 to $10. I often pick them up. Not only do they run well on modern hardware, but they also often have been patched and less buggy than new releases. A recent example was Bioshok was on for $4.95 on Steam around Christmas.

Even here in North America, $60 is a lot for a game.

 

[Coalhada]

Great article, indeed. Showing the other point of view on this matter is just as important as is showing the game publishers' point of view.

I live in Brazil, and here, too, sales on the 'pirate' market far surpass the original game's sales. So people in other countries may have a small notion of what happens here, know this: minimum wage here is around 450 brazilian reais (which is roughly 200 US dollars). However, games here have the overwhelming price of, at the time of release, 299 reais (roughly 135 US dollars). Now, even medium-upper class people in Brazil believe this to be incredibly expensive, considering that the medium-upper class have an average income of 5000 - 10000 brazilian reais (rough estimation).

So, I believe that console games are absolutely over-priced in my country. Publishers claim that they won't cut deals with the government because of the high piracy activity and the loss in profit it causes. But there's no way that the government alone can end the piracy - it's too big of an 'organization' and, one way or the other, it generates jobs, which gives people the means to sustain themselves and our country's economy. So, we remain in a stalemate between game publishers and the government - with a few breakthroughs like Microsoft's initiative to officialy sell the X360 here (yeah, all other consoles are IMPORTED, which means that their prices suffer from the government heavy taxing over 'non-essential' products) and the coming of Ubisoft to Sao Paulo, being the first game developer/publisher to officially come and set an office in brazillian territory.

I really wish that people would buy original games: it would estimulate developers to make incredible games (and I believe that we're in a time that desperately calls for original ideas that are well developed and executed). But my wishing isn't enough to make people change their minds (alas, I'm not that powerful xD). Only through games having competitive prices and attracting people's interest (such as online multiplayer or extra content) that Brazil will have a decent chance of reducing (because I don't believe it will end) the piracy to acceptable levels.

P.S.: All of the above also applies to music, movies, softwares and technology (hardware) as well.

Laters, Coalhada.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

This topic makes me happy. As a piracy middleman (I don't really support the idea of ripping off the latest PC game and sending it to 2 million people, but think ROMs of old GBA games are fine, since they're no longer being manufactured new) I'm often the subject of ridicule and derision on The Escapist by members of the Smug Satisfaction Anti-Piracy Elitists Brotherhood (they must be some sort of cult, because they all use the exact same arguments, like "piracy=stealing 100% of the time.") It's nice to see a well-crafted response that considers the economies of countries less fortunate (not sure how long I can keep saying THAT, the way the economy is going) than ours.

I've long known that countries in South America and the Middle East have a thriving electronic black market, and it would be interesting to know exactly how much of an impact piracy has on the success of those countries, commercially.

I also agree with the people saying video game companies need to try to cut out the middlemen. By lowering the average price of games (or simply not shafting certain countries, like Australia) developers and distributors could probably see a bigger profit. I mean, once the difference between legal and illegal is 5 or 10 dollars (American), it is my opinion that most people would pay that little bit extra for respectability. "Supporting the developer" sounds like a good idea on paper, but it's hard to do if you live in a Third World Country and the price of every legit game is $60.

And yeah, maybe game companies should be working on deals with pirates. Actually, I just had a thought!

If piracy groups could ally with big companies, maybe the game publishers could put the DRM/Download Limit garbage on the PIRATED copies. The legit publisher could maybe pay a fee for the pirates to allow this, with strong fines and criminal incarceration as the penalty for removing DRM from a pirated copy. Sure, small pirates would always duck this law, but the big guys in piracy would be getting paid twice for their games (once by the customer, once by the publisher to put the DRM in), so they'd probably be fine with it. This, combined with a new, lower MSRP for retail games would work to make legit copies more attractive (but without digging too much into the profits of pirates, keeping everyone happy.) If, say, the pirates sold their game for $1, they could pocket an extra $1 or $.50 per copy to put the DRM in. Then the customer would have a choice: pay $1 for a pirated copy with a download limit and DRM, or buy the legit copy (with none of that) for $5 or $10.

People will always pirate, the trick seems to be making piracy less attractive to the people who love games but can't afford the sometimes ridiculous prices (especially if they live in Australia.) In retrospect, this plan probably wouldn't work because of the selfishness of people on both sides of this industry, but I thought it was worth a mention.

 

[Talo_AML]

So basically what this guy is saying is that its OK to steal from other people as long as your poor.

Tell me if I'm wrong.

 

[PhunkyPhazon]

Good article, and rang very true for me. Game companies act like they would see a huge increase of profit if piracy was completely wiped out, but they really wouldn't. Most people who pirate a game aren't doing it simply because they want the easy solution. There are multiple reasons such as wanting to try a game that didn't have a demo; or for PC gamers wanting to make sure a game will work on their system before they make the purchase.

Example: Not long ago I was thinking of getting GTAIV on Windows. However, that game is not for those with lower specs. My computer is a bit of a mixture, it has a great processor and lots of memory, but the video card is pretty low end. (Only 128MB) Most current games are playable enough despite this, but you can never really be sure. So my options were to either take a gamble and spend $50 for something that may not work, or to pirate it first in order to test it out. If it worked, I would get right onto Steam and buy it. Obviously, I took the second choice.

And it's a good thing I did, it was completely unplayable. I was driving around non-existent areas that popped in at a snails pace, if they popped in at all. The roads, the buildings...all invisible. If I had just bought this, I would have wasted $50. So now I know to just buy it on the PS3 once I get one. I got to keep my $50, and Rockstar will still be getting my money anyways. Win-win.

So basically what this guy is saying is that its OK to steal from other people as long as your poor.

Tell me if I'm wrong.

What the article is saying is that a.) This is hardly stealing to begin with; b.) In poorer areas this is so commonplace that a lot of people don't even know it's piracy or that it's even illegal; c.) Those that DO know in those areas are going to do it anyways, as it's the only way for them to play games at all and d.) This issue would best be solved if the opposition worked with each other rather than against.