Ewyx said:
Just out of curiosity, how are these piracy statistics measured?
Quite easy actually. You just do the calculations like this.
Piracy == 95% of downloads.
Doesn't matter what you are talking about. It's the same number everyone uses. Yet when a game or a console (like the PS3) basically curb stomp Piracy for a period of time, their sales don't jump 95%.
They don't jump more than a percent or two and that's usually a very dramatic case.
The failure in understanding is assuming A) that piracy = lost sale and that B) every download of a game is a case of piracy.
I know it boggles the mind, I don't personally pirate, but I imagine that the process I acquire PSP games for my modded PSP certainly assist those that do. I buy the game, then I grab a torrent of it, then I drop it on my PSP. Why? Because it's modded so that I can have all my games on a 32 gig memory stick. Also I can play PSX games that way as well.
I recently learned how to just rip the games once I have them so now I don't even need to do that. Of course, if the PSP didn't force me to update (unnecessarily) with every new game I'd probably just play most of the games without doing either (since I rarely like one so much I want to take it with me on long trips).
Regardless, this is just one example of how "Oh shit someone downloaded my game! Lost Sale!" is patently false, as I purchased their game before I did. For anyone feeling like quoting this and saying "Bullshit." I really don't care if you believe me, if I did I'd have pm'd you and asked for your trust in me.
But yeah. Piracy tends to be the excuse. But in the end, in the case of this game for instance, I had never even heard of it. I'm pretty sure that hurt it more than Piracy.
Cody211282 said:
I never believed that, all pirates are cheap bastereds trying to find an excuse for stealing.
Mmmm Fundamentalism! Your deliciousness comes in all flavors I see.
I'm not arguing with you, but generally speaking when you say "All X" when discussing any living thing (and many nonliving things) you are wrong. In some cases so wrong that if wrongness was an illness you'd have a terminal case of it.
I can name a few folks who pirate and are certainly greedy assholes who should be tazed in the scrotum daily. But I know from a past life (my teen years) and far more friends that this is hardly the case. There is at least a thousand dollars in video games within this house alone that prove your statement false.
Plus it ignores the fact that if all material in existence could be replicated in the same fashion as digital goods our views of theft would be greatly different. "That asshole stole my hamburger...well I guess I'll instantly replicate a new one."
What is being stolen is not a product, it is time, the time the developers put into the product (Money is just a reimbursement for time lost to productivity for instance). If we criminalize the theft of time then we best begin filing suits against everyone who hold us up in unnecessary traffic or slows the line at the DMV.
I'm not saying we shouldn't do the above, nor am I saying Piracy is "awesome and should be supported". Just feel that blanket statements don't keep anyone warm and tend to make the blanket maker look foolish. Like I imagine some of my overstretched statements have made me look foolish.
Think of all things in the context that they would be judged if their unique qualities were not unique. That way you get an honest view of the topic at hand.
Not that you asked. So meh.
PS. Since we are discussing Indie developers, check out Minecraft. Best 9.99 euros you'll spend for a long time I'm sure
. (Or Dwarf Fortress which is free, but donations are soooo worth it.)
