Miguel_Zorro said:
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On this point I'll say this - 41% of software worldwide is pirated.
That aside, what the piracy rate by nation shows is that in places where it is affordable, where people have the means to make the purchase, they uverwhelmingly prefer to buy the product. Ideally everyone would buy the product, but when a person does not have the means it is of no consequence whatsoever to the developers if they pirate. It's hard to lose a sale that could not have ever happened.
Whether you believe morally that they should not pirate is completely irrelevant. That will neither stop them nor empower the developers. The fact of the matter is that it has no real impact on the developers if a sale couldn't have happened regardless, and it is wasteful to put efforts into stopping piracy if it doesn't. Anti-piracy measures haven't worked yet, and to make matters worse these attempts at stopping piracy frequently end up harming the legitimate customer instead.
Frankly, I can't understand why you'd so vehemently support people that would inconvenience you in exchange for not stopping people from getting a free ride one bit. Even if you think the freeloards should be stopped, at best anti-piracy measures only keep a game out of their hands for a few weeks, and at worst they have led to hardware damage and security issues (StarForce) that could have cost customers hundreds or even thousands in damages.
As a consumer, to me, that's disheartening. I just say "why bother?" They can't stop it, they HAVE hurt loyal customers while trying, and in the end they've just flushed millions down the drain for absolutely nt gain. A loss, in fact, since the DRM issues are exactly why Spore and other games have ended up being so heavily pirated. If they wanted to not lose millions of dollars they should've have stuck to copy protection and cut their loses.
You do not have the right to never be offended.
Essay Pro