Dgaider said:
If thinking that our company is greedy for wanting some money in return for you playing a game that cost us a great deal to make... hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.
Me, I wouldn't want to be a thief. But maybe that's just me.
Yes, your company (and you, for spewing this garbage) are just that -- greedy. Have you gone out of business? No, you've continued to thrive. The games industry has continued to thrive. And guess what, pirates have been there the entire time (but then, I'm sure you know that better than anyone -- bright young malchik such as yourself growing up with a particular fondness of computer games, don't tell me you've never exchanged cassettes/floppies/diskettes/CDs/DVDs with your friends). No dearie, what this is
really about is you thinking you
should by all rights drive a Ferrari (what
do you drive, snookums?) instead of making a decent living. That is nothing if not greed.
It's
stupid for all the obvious reasons, too. You've pissed off a whole bunch of your paying customers, the people who actually like you and your games enough to go pay the sum
you want them to pay. Meanwhile, the pirates are laughing. It's the 29th and it's been cracked already. No DRM problems, no ball-ache -- download, burn (optional), copy an executable. Done. How does this help you achieve your goal of having those dastardly pirates pay for your game, exactly?
Your morally charged accusation of
thievery on the other hand is just amusing. You want me to pay in return for playing your game? Fine, I'll throw a buck or five your way. That's what I think it's worth. I might reconsider after playing it (I have before), I might not. Oh, you think I should pay you what
you want me to pay? Well, that's different then, isn't it. I'll just play it for free, thank you very much. I can, you see, I've always been able to. Software is not a scarce good, I can make a gazillion copies and you wouldn't know the difference -- public libraries are founded on that principle.
As long as people keep spending their hard-earned money on video games, you will continue making video games. Pirates may outnumber paying customers tenfold, and it still wouldn't mean you should have sold ten ten times more copies. All it means is that eleven times as many people got to play your game. Rejoice in that, and keep on making games a little while longer. You won't of course, exactly because you are a greedy little piggy.
I own a rather large game collection (including several Bioware titles), larger than most people's in fact. I am also an avid pirate. If I would actually want to pay for every single book, game, movie, tv show, or music I have read, played, watched, or listened to, then I'm afraid I would need a few mortgages on a house I don't own. The same would go for a lot, if not most people. You and your ilk would deny such (that is, I posit, most) people these experiences, based on nothing but your own personal greed. Hey, that's cool. Whatever makes your boat float, man. You should however get off your high horse and see yourself for what you really are.
Oh, and by the way, in before Categorical Imperative.
