I'd like to add a post from a thread lost to my memory, a long, long time ago.
This is not my own work, and I only know the guy who wrote it as "-M"
It's not about game piracy only, but rather about piracy as a whole.
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The issue is not that it isn't theft. The issue is that technology has democratized consumption, and the companies at the heart of the issue have failed to react, adapt, and cater to these new consumption methods in an effective way.
Media companies are adamant about retaining their control over the consumption habits of customers, and desire to direct the path of the industry themselves.
The fact of the matter is that piracy, theft or not, DOES serve a functional purpose for consumers aside from simply taking shit they want without paying.
The ability to try before you buy, as it were (which, as evidenced by the consumption patterns of pirates, is a pretty common pattern of behavior), allows customers to identify and expose themselves to more media, and to more knowledgably direct their money towards artists and content creators that they feel have earned it. The democratization of media allows consumers to identify products they don't like, preventing them from wasting money, and allowing them to spend that money on products they do.
Legal Consumption in this manner isn't inherently costing media companies money. More simply it's made consurmers much more avid, efficient consumers of media, and has granted us a much greater ability to direct industry trends.
Under the old model of content distribution, media finding and exploration present HUGE financial obstacles to consumers. This is what generated the pop superstar back in the 50's and 60's. With those obstacles being torn down, the industry has seen a huge surge of indie artists, and unknowns getting significant exposure. The industry is seeing fewer big, easily bankable stars, but the tradeoff is thousands upon thousands of niche markets, scrambling for more.
The industry needs to work at monetizing and catering to this new breath of taste, and they need to bereak down the barries of media exploration. Understand that people want to know what they're spending their money on before that money is spent, and the industry needs to find ways of providing that access to information in a low-investment way.
It's not impossible to rebuild an industry model around consumer need. But the way to curb piracy, and wrap these people into the fold is decidedly not to call them all criminals and sue them into the dark ages.
It's also not to cling vehemently to a distribution model that was born there.
A person who pirates 1000 CDs, but buys 100 of their favorites is doing a great deal more to support the industry than a person who bought 5 or 6 nickelback records, and Big Shiny Tunes 3.
It's also worthy of note - in the old model it's up to the industry to find, identify, and build fanbases for artists. Under the new model, we do that for them.
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(Written by " -M " a long time ago, don't remember where)
