Jim Sterling said:
Piracy - Trying To Kill It Makes It Stronger
Piracy will never be destroyed entirely. It's a fact of life that some people just like to help themselves to freebies. However, not all pirates are in it for the discount, and some are actively driven to piracy by the very companies attempting to kill it. When you make your product harder to obtain and enjoy, all you do is breed an environment where pirates can thrive.
Watch Video
I'm really enjoying this take on piracy, because it's a demonstration of how to do it
right (talk about piracy, that is).
Is there anger? Sure! And it's right to be angry! The difference here is that the anger is directed to the appropriate place and for the appropriate reasons. Publishers are not adopting new business models, because they're too comfortable in the "old ways." They're not following the example of Steam... unless you count Origin, which is "Steam 2 (Late)."
You don't earn customer loyalty by having them sign up for a proprietary account and enter their e-mail addresses twice. You earn customer loyalty by
being better than the alternatives.
So yeah, there's plenty to be angry about. But what I appreciate the most is that this series is not simultaneously
excusing piracy. Piracy is understandable, but it is
not excusable. I would rather someone ignore the pirates completely than try to defend the practice.
Piracy is like acne. It's part of growing up, and the more you pick at it, the worse it gets.
But no one likes acne. We learn to deal with it, to work around it, and most of us eventually grow out of it. But no one is walking around saying, "Acne really has a point, you know. It's just trying to help..."
The discussion is also not about companies completely
giving up the fight, and I appreciate that. That's the clarion-call of the wannabe pirate: "Just stop doing anything to prevent piracy (so I can pirate more easily)!" Thankfully, that's not what I've been hearing from Jim's take on things.
I'm 100% alright with confining the discussion to what publishers can do to make piracy less appealing
by making legitimate purchase MORE appealing. And I'm alright not trying to talk pirates out of it, too, because they're not listening. I'm just glad to hear a view on piracy that is distinctly anti-publisher without
also feeling the need to be pro-pirate.