- Joined
- Jan 25, 2012
- Messages
- 10,033
- Reaction score
- 3,905
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Undisclosed
When someone argues a technicality like "it isn't theft because there's no material substance being taken" then yes, I change tactics, too, which includes extreme-isms.Yes. because thinking in extremes like yours isn't?
Your statement is inherently dishonest - the issue is not downloading those for free, but whether or not you, *derp* DID it WITH or WITHOUT permission of the rightsholder. Legally free software, music, videos, etc all exist - varying degrees of quality. People still buy things, people make money off their works regardless. Piracy exists, people still buy things enough where your doom and gloom proposition is itself ludicrous.
You can examine all the free and shareware content you like but you won't find games like I mentioned above or movies like the million-dollar hits that come out of Hollywood. If freeware/shareware games were so good they'd be in the Top 10 lists, but I don't recall seeing any there and I don't expect it anytime in the near future. Those top-notch games/movies/software take a lot of time and money to develop. If piracy becomes rampant (no checks at all, legal. social, or otherwise) and sales decrease enough then the quality of the games/movies/software will decrease as well.
I agree completely that many business models have to change. I'm a consumer just like everyone else and I'm not rich, either. I'd like to see prices come down, too. But I'm not sure I'm willing to pay so much less that the entertainment value is adversely affected in the future. Others may be happy playing 20 different "OK" games but I prefer 3-4 good ones. Ten 'B' movies doesn't make one Top 100 movie.
InRe "Non-sequitur": I've been a pirate (ancient history, now) but my buddies and I never once fooled ourselves into believing we weren't doing something wrong. I'm not so sure about today's pirates - and maybe that's part of the problem?
Edit:
But least you miss the other point I've been making - screwing over everybody to stop piracy isn't the answer, either. And as far as I know even the best of the best geeks can't figure a way to stop it without doing just that.
Last edited: