First of all I'd like to wish whomever reads this a good morning/afternoon/evening/night, depending on when you read this.
So I happen to live in a third world country, namely Colombia, and as I was growing up it was near impossible to find games (particularly PC) down here. So once the internet made it possible I pirated a couple simply because there was no way of getting my hands on them any other way than when family or friends traveled states side. Digital distribution has changed all that for me cause if I enjoy a game I want to support the developer so they can make more great games.
Now that I've established that I may be morally flexible on the topic of piracy here's my question to you all.
Currently console games can be acquired with ease in my country (pc games are still basically non existent) but the problem is that they are prohibitively expensive. Think 80 to 90 bucks for new releases and 60 to 70 for games 1 to 2 years old.
I find myself in a comfortable economic position which allows me to pay those prices, even if I don't like it.
Seeing that the per capita income here is around 10,000 dollars a year (US is close to 50k if I'm not mistaken) one can understand why most people would modify their consoles to play pirated copies of games (which go for 2 or 3 bucks a piece).
How can developers hope to curb piracy in countries where incomes are considerably lower and game prices are substantially higher? And do you think it okay for those who can't afford it to pirate said games.
So I happen to live in a third world country, namely Colombia, and as I was growing up it was near impossible to find games (particularly PC) down here. So once the internet made it possible I pirated a couple simply because there was no way of getting my hands on them any other way than when family or friends traveled states side. Digital distribution has changed all that for me cause if I enjoy a game I want to support the developer so they can make more great games.
Now that I've established that I may be morally flexible on the topic of piracy here's my question to you all.
Currently console games can be acquired with ease in my country (pc games are still basically non existent) but the problem is that they are prohibitively expensive. Think 80 to 90 bucks for new releases and 60 to 70 for games 1 to 2 years old.
I find myself in a comfortable economic position which allows me to pay those prices, even if I don't like it.
Seeing that the per capita income here is around 10,000 dollars a year (US is close to 50k if I'm not mistaken) one can understand why most people would modify their consoles to play pirated copies of games (which go for 2 or 3 bucks a piece).
How can developers hope to curb piracy in countries where incomes are considerably lower and game prices are substantially higher? And do you think it okay for those who can't afford it to pirate said games.
