Ironworks Gaming Forum - View Single Post - Software piracy: is there a justification?

fable · 01-10-2002, 11:43 AM

I thought about placing this topic under Polls, but really didn't want yes/no answers as much as civil discussion of the issue. It's arisen over in the Wizardry 8 forum, and there have actually been a couple of people defending the idea of piracy--on grounds that I found rather feeble, personally.

My own feelings are that pirating software is a stupid, short-sighted act that cheats the developers. It lessens the chances of further games in the same line, because it shrinks the visible market for the product which accountants use to determine where company profits will go in the future. It's not like the stolen game can be simply "written off" as theft by a store; the merchandiser doesn't see a copy getting stolen when it's pirated. And when lots of pirated copies are out there (and this happens unfortunately), it makes a good, popular game look much less appealing to publishers thanks to poorer than expected sales.

[ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: fable ]

01-10-2002, 11:43 AM	#1
fable Quintesson Join Date: March 17, 2001 Location: Where I am. Posts: 1,089	I thought about placing this topic under Polls, but really didn't want yes/no answers as much as civil discussion of the issue. It's arisen over in the Wizardry 8 forum, and there have actually been a couple of people defending the idea of piracy--on grounds that I found rather feeble, personally. My own feelings are that pirating software is a stupid, short-sighted act that cheats the developers. It lessens the chances of further games in the same line, because it shrinks the visible market for the product which accountants use to determine where company profits will go in the future. It's not like the stolen game can be simply "written off" as theft by a store; the merchandiser doesn't see a copy getting stolen when it's pirated. And when lots of pirated copies are out there (and this happens unfortunately), it makes a good, popular game look much less appealing to publishers thanks to poorer than expected sales. [ 01-10-2002: Message edited by: fable ]