An often ignored aspect of the "piracy" issue, at least on the side of strict intellectual copyright laws, is the matter of quality.  The traditional concept of "pirated" media is that they're cheap, low-quality versions.  Poor quality and a hassle.  Well, perhaps once true, this hardly the case anymore, and the shared versions over the Internet are a significant problem for traditional media because the quality is in fact better.


When you have a better product, it's easier to charge more.  If you have the same product, you can still get the sale based out of guilt and implicit morality.  When your product is worse than what's free, you're a lost cause.


Put in a DVD and you are treated to a series of advertisements showing off the publisher of the content.  Choose to play the content, and you then get the honour of sitting through the warning reminding you that you can get a free version without all this crap, except you shouldn't.  Try and play it in your DVD drive, hopefully the CSS decryption software can manage to work its way past that anti-copying DRM that clearly works so well.


This extends to videogames as well.  How long does it take just to get to the title screen?  Is it entirely necessary to tell me everytime I put in the game to whom the developer outsourced the cinematics?  You've already gotten my money for this product; don't make me less likely to do the same in the future.


The FBI warning is ironically an advertisement unto itself for why it's beneficial to act against it.
Posted by Ellyoda Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:49:49 (comments: 8)
 
Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:19:09
Epic Games seems to understand how annoying all those splash screens are. With Gears 2 they send you straight to the game menu.

I remember this becoming prevelant in the DC era where every game started to have shout-outs to all the engines and middle-ware makers.

Still not a reason to pirate games though, it's not the hard-working (or slacking) devs fault.

At my old work we had these pissant vendors who were always trying to write co-branding discounts into our contracts (so we'd have to carry "Powered by Pissant.com") on our equipment etc...
 
Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:16:58
It's a matter of how companies combat piracy.  There's a market not simply because it's possible to get the content without directly paying for it.

Legitimate or not, it's a competitor.  If they're going to get anywhere in increasing the legitimate market-share, they need to put together at the bare minimum as good of a product, or else they've lost before they've started.
 
Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:24:03

I would steal a car and a handbag if I needed to.

But I'd make sure i was stealing the car and handbag of the CEO of MGM or Warner Bros. or whoever has those ads before dvds.

 
Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:10:23
The only way they have found to combat piracy is what publishers do in China - which is ID large users and negotiate discounted license fees. Short of not charging for their product they are not going to get people to stop stealing.
 
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:59:50
The only way to combat piracy is to provide a product people feel is worth money.

Adding rootkits to CDs - failed attempt to combat piracy
Creating an online marketplace - successful attempt to combat piracy

It's not a matter of eliminating people sharing content, it's a matter of eliminating lost revenue.  Obviously filesharing is not going to disappear under any scenario, but you're suggesting a false dichotomy.

What I'm saying is that even if they gave it away for free on the Internet, the illegitimate version would still be preferable.
 
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:01:18
What I hate about DVD piracy? There is so much piracy that every DVD has this anti piracy commercial on that lasts for ages with pumping techno music. And you cant skip it. 
 
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:19:14
   "The only way to combat piracy is to provide a product people feel is worth money."

I'm sorry, but that's a joke. There are people who will pay no money for products even if they are priced low. MP3's are a buck and people torrent -- and that's for products they like (or they wouldn't bother to torrent).
 
Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:19:41
As I said, you're suggesting a false dichotomy.  There are and will always be those who take advantage of the ease of obtaining illegitimate copies of digital media; that does not mean that there are no ways to actually limit the amount of actual revenue lost from it.
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