DonFerrari said:
I don't have a problem with pirates, just with people that live in a fantasy world that rules bend for them. |
Eh it depends.
Some piracy actually does help gaming. That's why studies generlaly show piracy to be a non-factor... there are "positive" aspects, "negative" aspects and "nuetral" ones.
Which someones piracy is... is rather dependent individually.
A couple of postive ways piracy can work include.
1) It builds value. Someone who may think videogames aren't worth buying, may in fact pirate a couple games, and it may build their interest... and in turn build their value assessment of videogames. Which in turn would likely lead to them buying said games... as most people are conditioned to perfer to buy something for a fair price, rather then steal.
2) It keeps interest alive. As a kid, say your parents buy you a bunch of videogames, but now your in college and starting out in life, and you can't afford that stuff anymore, as it is, chances are by the time you have a good job, you aren't interested in videogames anymore. Your hobbies have changed to cheaper things. Like watching sports on tv... etc. Piracy may bridge said gap.
Of course the positive and negative cases of piracy in general are the exceptions, with the "No effects to the market" group generally being dominant.
The more interesting arguement is the philosophical one... which isn't nearly as clear cut as you'd expect. Afterall, the general response to piracy is "If you can't afford it, you should do without." A statement that is based prety much exclusivly on the "frivoulous" nature we perceive games with.
If Food or Medcine could be duplicated for free... people certaintly wouldn't be yelling at people to do without because they don't have the money. The truth is... it may in actuallity be the current economic model of videogames and in truth, most entertainment that is at fault currently.
Various games and services have found ways around such problems... but they are few and far between at the moment, because buisnesses usually refuse to adapt until absolutely forced to.