>> Ur a tight fisted bastard who won''t part with his money to appreciate a team''s hard work. >>
Very possible but so are you if you try to accuse someone of something that is obviously false. It might actually hurt the business if you go around being dishonest, exaggerating the damages that illegal copying cause to the developers.
Lately the organizations who work to combat piracy have started to be more realistic when they calculate losses because not even the politicians believed the ridiculous figures they posted at first. Those figures were based on the idea that every copy caused a company to lose an amount of money equal to the store value of the copied product.
I know you hate pirates but lying about them is not going to make people sympathetic to your cause. It just shows people that you are either 1) immoral and just as bad as the pirates or 2) ignorant and that your advice can''t be trusted.
Henry
illegal software copies
Author
Hi,
I started this post and haven''t said much after that. I''ve been through high school and right now going through college and I hear the term "burn me a copy too" way too many times. Yes, it''s true that many people burn copies of games that they don''t plan on buying anyway. But this doesn''t mean that the developers/publishers don''t lose out on a lot. Many of my friends have several CDs filled with cracked games in which they play quite frequently (Starcraft,Quake3) and they can afford to pay for it. This can''t be too different anywhere else.
And judging by the popularity of CD burners since their release, I think it''s safe to say that many people copy games from their friends rather than pay for it.
I started this post and haven''t said much after that. I''ve been through high school and right now going through college and I hear the term "burn me a copy too" way too many times. Yes, it''s true that many people burn copies of games that they don''t plan on buying anyway. But this doesn''t mean that the developers/publishers don''t lose out on a lot. Many of my friends have several CDs filled with cracked games in which they play quite frequently (Starcraft,Quake3) and they can afford to pay for it. This can''t be too different anywhere else.
And judging by the popularity of CD burners since their release, I think it''s safe to say that many people copy games from their friends rather than pay for it.
I''m buying a CD burner for my next puter,
to burn demo CD''s of my Hard-Disk recorded music
1. Piracy = Bad;
2. The amount of money lost per copy of the game pirated = the profit margin on the game. I know that you think "But, I wouldn''t have bought the game anyway!". If you wouldn''t have bought it, you do not have the right to have it. Therefore, if you have an illegal copy, you have robbed the creators of the profit they would have made from selling that copy to you.
3. Pirating for Educational Purposes. That''s such a dodgy subject. "I''ve only got this pirated copy of Quake3 because I was trying to figure out if I wanted to buy the game...for the last 6 months.". For some products it may seem valid - but even Visual Studio and 3D Studio have student versions that are cheaper. Granted, they may still be too expensive for you, but that means that you should look for alternatives to learn from. A while back there were the beta versions of Rhino3D that were freely available.
For all you poor(ish) students, it may seem unfair, but your school may offer you cheap licenses, or the opportunity to work on LEGAL software in their labs. This is a better option than pirating the software.
Another little caveat: Most microsoft licenses specify that a single license, entitles you to use the same software on ONE PC at work, AND on one PC at home. So, you can get around the issue by using your work software at home.
#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
to burn demo CD''s of my Hard-Disk recorded music
1. Piracy = Bad;
2. The amount of money lost per copy of the game pirated = the profit margin on the game. I know that you think "But, I wouldn''t have bought the game anyway!". If you wouldn''t have bought it, you do not have the right to have it. Therefore, if you have an illegal copy, you have robbed the creators of the profit they would have made from selling that copy to you.
3. Pirating for Educational Purposes. That''s such a dodgy subject. "I''ve only got this pirated copy of Quake3 because I was trying to figure out if I wanted to buy the game...for the last 6 months.". For some products it may seem valid - but even Visual Studio and 3D Studio have student versions that are cheaper. Granted, they may still be too expensive for you, but that means that you should look for alternatives to learn from. A while back there were the beta versions of Rhino3D that were freely available.
For all you poor(ish) students, it may seem unfair, but your school may offer you cheap licenses, or the opportunity to work on LEGAL software in their labs. This is a better option than pirating the software.
Another little caveat: Most microsoft licenses specify that a single license, entitles you to use the same software on ONE PC at work, AND on one PC at home. So, you can get around the issue by using your work software at home.
#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
>> The amount of money lost per copy of the game pirated = the profit margin on the game. I know that you think "But, I wouldn''t have bought the game anyway!". If you wouldn''t have bought it, you do not have the right to have it. Therefore, if you have an illegal copy, you have robbed the creators of the profit they would have made from selling that copy to you. >>
Ah yes, why don''t you blame the downfall of the African economy on the software pirates too, it''s about as true. If someone copies a CD with 15 cracked games just because he want to get to one of them, why would he buy the other 14 if he never opens them? And as I''ve said before, even if he were to play all of them, one might PROVE that it doesn''t mean a loss for the industry if his economy is not good enough to allow him to purchase all of them. Your theory that everyone would buy every game they copy is simply economically impossible! Can you present any kind of evidence for it? Any kind of example that describes exactely how a kid with a normal economy could afford software for $20000 each year (not an unreasonable figure for the store price of copied software)?
True, it''s hard to know exactely in each individual case who would or would not buy which game instead of copying it, but if you look at copying at large then it becomes clear that far from every copy is associated with an economic loss for the software developers.
Henry
Ah yes, why don''t you blame the downfall of the African economy on the software pirates too, it''s about as true. If someone copies a CD with 15 cracked games just because he want to get to one of them, why would he buy the other 14 if he never opens them? And as I''ve said before, even if he were to play all of them, one might PROVE that it doesn''t mean a loss for the industry if his economy is not good enough to allow him to purchase all of them. Your theory that everyone would buy every game they copy is simply economically impossible! Can you present any kind of evidence for it? Any kind of example that describes exactely how a kid with a normal economy could afford software for $20000 each year (not an unreasonable figure for the store price of copied software)?
True, it''s hard to know exactely in each individual case who would or would not buy which game instead of copying it, but if you look at copying at large then it becomes clear that far from every copy is associated with an economic loss for the software developers.
Henry
I see henry is ignoring my earlier comment.
What is this project you are working on, give us a URL, and we can send you happy smiling emails when we spot it on a warez newsgroup, because we can all tell this will only cheer you up...
How can you defend piracy so blatantly. If i was to find you had a CD with one of my games on it that you hadnt paid for I would do my best to find out who you were and have you prosecuted.
Piracy is theft, and thieves belong in jail. calling it ''warez'' dosent change a thing.
And register a proper name!
http://www.positech.co.uk
What is this project you are working on, give us a URL, and we can send you happy smiling emails when we spot it on a warez newsgroup, because we can all tell this will only cheer you up...
How can you defend piracy so blatantly. If i was to find you had a CD with one of my games on it that you hadnt paid for I would do my best to find out who you were and have you prosecuted.
Piracy is theft, and thieves belong in jail. calling it ''warez'' dosent change a thing.
And register a proper name!
http://www.positech.co.uk
>> How can you defend piracy so blatantly. If i was to find you had a CD with one of my games on it that you hadnt paid for I would do my best to find out who you were and have you prosecuted. >>
Just as you should not accuse someone for murder because that person commits a theft, you should not believe that all illegal copying makes developers lose money. Note that I''m not saying that copying is or should be legal, I''m just saying that there isn''t always an economic loss involved.
Look at it this way. Do you think you would sell more or less copies of a product if you sold it for $1 instead of $30? You would probably sell a lot more, right? Then, is it reasonable to believe that everyone who copies a game without paying for it would go and buy it for $30 if they could not copy it? You figure it out...
As long as you don''t get your facts straight about piracy, how can you hope to effectively do something about it? The product I''m developing will be released under a different business model that takes the free flow of information into account, so yes, you will be able to get a free copy of it (I won''t release it under this handle though for reasons stated in another thread).
Henry
Just as you should not accuse someone for murder because that person commits a theft, you should not believe that all illegal copying makes developers lose money. Note that I''m not saying that copying is or should be legal, I''m just saying that there isn''t always an economic loss involved.
Look at it this way. Do you think you would sell more or less copies of a product if you sold it for $1 instead of $30? You would probably sell a lot more, right? Then, is it reasonable to believe that everyone who copies a game without paying for it would go and buy it for $30 if they could not copy it? You figure it out...
As long as you don''t get your facts straight about piracy, how can you hope to effectively do something about it? The product I''m developing will be released under a different business model that takes the free flow of information into account, so yes, you will be able to get a free copy of it (I won''t release it under this handle though for reasons stated in another thread).
Henry
quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
If someone copies a CD with 15 cracked games just because he want to get to one of them, why would he buy the other 14 if he never opens them? And as I've said before, even if he were to play all of them, one might PROVE that it doesn't mean a loss for the industry if his economy is not good enough to allow him to purchase all of them. Your theory that everyone would buy every game they copy is simply economically impossible!
That was not my point - I am NOT saying the copying user WOULD go out and buy all those games, only that he does not have the right to play those games without buying them. In intellectual property terms, therefore, every copy is a loss to developer : someone has a copy of the game that was not paid for.
I'll try to make an analogy using the cars example ( I know it's contrived, but bear with me ):
Imagine, that it would only cost about $15 to produce a single Porsche, in pure raw material terms. They sell for $30.000 though, because of the research costs, fixed costs, and development time involved.
Now, you invent this machine that can make perfect copies of the car. This would cost you? $15 in raw material, plus the cost to build the machine.
Now, you are driving around in a Porsche, and you say "I didn't cause Porsche to lose money, 'cause I would have never bought one at $30.000." You're right of course, you really WOULDN'T have bought it at $30.000. However, you are driving around $29.985 of intellectual property and brainpower that you gave NO compensation for at all.
Doesn't that feel even slightly wrong to you?
If it doesn't, then I give up. I guess some people just can't get their minds around intellectual property.
#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
Edited by - MadKeithV on May 30, 2000 9:47:51 AM
>> Doesn''t that feel even slightly wrong to you? >>
What I feel is wrong with illegal copying is that it takes away a part of the creator''s profits, it''s not the fact that someone else gets something for free. Copyright law was instated to protect the profits of the creator, not to give the creator dictatorial control over who could use his or her work. All damage claims in intellectual property cases are based on the actual amount of revenue that is lost. That''s why it''s important to look at the ACTUAL damages that illegal copying cause to the developers.
Henry
What I feel is wrong with illegal copying is that it takes away a part of the creator''s profits, it''s not the fact that someone else gets something for free. Copyright law was instated to protect the profits of the creator, not to give the creator dictatorial control over who could use his or her work. All damage claims in intellectual property cases are based on the actual amount of revenue that is lost. That''s why it''s important to look at the ACTUAL damages that illegal copying cause to the developers.
Henry
Hi all.
A better and more likely analogy than a car would be a house, you get a copy of the blue prints *WITH OUT* paying a cent to the engineer (individual or company) who made it, and then build a house out of that blue print.
How do you like the idea if you were that engineer eh?
Topgoro
A better and more likely analogy than a car would be a house, you get a copy of the blue prints *WITH OUT* paying a cent to the engineer (individual or company) who made it, and then build a house out of that blue print.
How do you like the idea if you were that engineer eh?
Topgoro
*sigh* Thanks for seeing my point Topgoro.
Sometimes it''s frustrating to see people argue completely different points to the one I''m trying to make..
#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
Sometimes it''s frustrating to see people argue completely different points to the one I''m trying to make..
#pragma DWIM // Do What I Mean!
~ Mad Keith ~
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
