Believe it or not, maritime piracy was once not considered illegal, and merchants simply bypassed areas where they were highly likely to be robbed. For a long time, there are Internet users who think the same way, but already about computer piracy. In 2006, the Pirates’ Party was founded in Sweden, which after three years in the elections even managed to get one seat in the European Parliament.
Piracy is not always as bad as it seems at first glance. Sometimes piracy is the only way out in this situation. And this situation is created not only by players, but also by developers and publishers. Let’s take a look at the reasons on the example of computer games.
Reason No 1: piracy rescues old games. Some good games can’t be bought after decades. The publisher’s license is running out, but do you have to pay to renew it? Well, the game is no longer for sale, so we will not renew it. And at this moment the game disappears from all stores, and you can no longer legally buy it. And here you can’t do without piracy.
Reason No 2: too high prices. When a developer set a price for the game, they primarily look at the gamers that are the target audience. And almost always, these gamers are not players from poor countries. In such a situation, the only way out is piracy.
Reason No 3: sometimes piracy is more convenient than a license. Often, developers, in an attempt to protect their game from pirates, go so far as to put protection on a game. FPS drawdowns, decreased performance, crashes, unstable internet connection, inability to enter the game – these are the things that are caused by too strong protection of the game from pirates. There is even a known story when the developers of The Witcher 2 removed DRM protection from their game, spitting on all contractual obligations, because gamers could not normally play the game with protection.
Reason No 4: lack of demo versions. In the past, many decent games had a demo version, after playing it the player made a decision to buy the game. Now all the money is spent on marketing and the rest on development. And here it remains to trust only trailers and developer interviews. But gamers too often were burned by this, remember at least No Man’s Sky. Therefore, the only reliable way to check before buying whether you like the game is piracy.
Reason No 5: piracy makes games more popular. The math is simple, the more people know about your game, the more potential buyers you have. And sometimes pirates become the very driving force that makes the game popular. And then a lot of other players buy the official version of the game.
Do you think these reasons are enough to justify piracy?
Sources:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2009/02/rick-falkvinge-is-the-face
https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/carl/cd-projekt-patch-the-witcher-2-and-remove-drm