Ok, firstly before anyone calls me on it, now I'm being a hypocrite for discussing this issue after calling doing so beating a dead horse and calling Splitshadow out on it. So, Splitshadow - feel free to mock me as you will.
They, the industry that created the term, are trying to ditch the word piracy. That is P I R A C Y and the P I R A T E S that are associated with term piracy. As in the word, the words. WORD. That does not mean they are saying it's legal. Piracy and pirates has become a sexy term. It not like a phisher or a spammer or people that are generally hated by almost everyone. Pirates is too "cool" of a word to be used (not my opinion, just the fact). So let me try this one more time. You are obviously not aware of the fact that after a decade of failing at the mentality that you promote so well, the new tactic on the block is to rename the pirates. It is so refreshing to see you talk about something you know so little about. I guess this would make sense though since you like to lecture people and not discuss anything, because this isn't worth discussing right?
I understand completely what you meant in my previous reply, as I understand it now. The re-labeling of Pirates to - for the sake of ease let's call them douchebags - douchebags removes the 'Pirates are cool' mentality and attempts to prevent the social trend of pirates. Nice idea, however it won't work.
Let me link this to a campaign the New South Wales Government ran in Australia against young drivers behaving badly in cars with irresponsible drivers. 'Hoon' drivers, as we call them here in Australia, were mocked in the campaign by young attractive women who made jokes about them doing burn outs and the like as a way of compensating for their small penises. The campaign worked like a charm. Male drivers, the main culprits of irresponsible drivers on Australian roads, were mocked for irresponsible driving by society.
This type of re-educational campaign to make pirates uncool won't work. Why? The anonmity provided by the internet. You and I can mock one another for whatever reasons we want, however when we walk away, we suffer no lasting consequences from this discussion. You can label Pirates as douchebags or any other such term, and it doesn't change what a pirate is or what a pirate does, because a pirate is merely
a person on the internet. Proving who a pirate is to make them open to the kind of mockery in the campaign I listed would constitute a violation of their privacy under current laws, and changing those laws would make it so what you do on the internet is viewable by your Government.
Again, I understand your point - but it simply won't work and is by its own logical extension a lose-lose. Trying a different tactic is all well and good, but you can't make pirates uncool in a world where being uncool is, well, cool.
You've come close to the solution in your inferals, however: society. We can't make people accountable on the internet, but we can offer that thet do voluntarily if we offer the right incentives. Modern Warfare 2 sold millions upon millions of copies on the first day in a world that should see every game pirated to hell and back if you listen to the large publishers like EA. Why did it do so? Because of the multiplayer component. People wanted to be recognised for their success in its multiplayer component on an offical level and so purchased the game to gain access to the offical channels. The Xbox Live gamer scores are a step in the right direction: provide socially viewable rewards. Having multiplayer accounts, such as your Xbox, Steam, Impulse, etc., linkable only hightens the incentives. Now, let me be clear - this won't increases purchases, it'll merely decrease piracy. People will hire games for a gamerscore, because they can't pirate them and have it be 'offical'.
So let's recap. Your type of thinking, piracy is theft and that's that, has been at play for a better part of a decade. Let's see how did that work out for everyone? Let's see. Piracy is on the way out the door... no. Suing one out of tens of thousands every once awhile is creating a real sense of fear and .... errr wait, no. DRM is getting more effective and not punishing people who actually pay for their games... err this is a hit or miss but generally nope, customers are not being rewarded for their purchases and games are still cracked.
I have never said nor made mention to anything you've written here. Just for the record, I hate DRM on any level - even CD checks.
There is a social norm at work here. An acceptance and a rejection of how software copyright is handled today. I really don't care if you agree with me or not, but I am not going to let you sit back and try to label anyone who discusses piracy as more than just theft as a pirate themselves and a waste of time.
I don't label anyone who
discusses piracy as more than just theft as a pirate. I label anyone who tries to argue the reasons of piracy as being more than anyone wanting something for free, or provides any form of justifaction for piracy, a pirate. There is no justifaction for piracy, and anyone who tries to justify it is a pirate.
And next time you have a question about what someone wrote, try using a question. Then again you would have to get off that high horse of yours and actually discuss something instead of lecture which might be a difficult task for you.
Haha, I lecture from atop of steed 'Logic' as I always have, and will continue to travel teh interwebs lecturing people with large walls of text until the next Elder Scrolls game is released at which point I will hibernate for several years, emerging paler than ever with even longer walls of text and even more informative lectures!
Now, I must be off - I believe someone just made an error on the offical Xbox Forums! Hi-ho Logic! Away!
