SEIV is being Pirated

[Saxon]

Two quick things I would like to say in regards to the Last post.

First, I live in Kenya and I had to mail order my copy of SE4. I see no reason that living in Australia should make one any less ethically bound to pay for the game than living anywhere in the world. There are plenty of things I would like to have and can not get, but that is part of living where I live. Having to wait a week for something to come in the mail is not a big hardship, certainly not one which would justify defrauding someone of cash and credit for a game they spend serious time creating.

Second, “everyone pirates games” is a clearly false statement that your friends have given you. Economics is pretty simple, if people don’t buy games, they won’t get made. Sure, a few shareware games are out there (SE1-3), but most good games are commercial. Therefore, people buy games, in fact, most people buy games. Your friend’s argument is false and poor reasoning. It goes back to what Mom used to say, “If everyone else jumped off the cliff, would you?” Mom is from Queensland, so I have always assumed this was an Australian proverb.

While I agree with you, the reasons people pirate games are diverse, I would disagree with you on the black and white issue. It is pretty clear that pirating a game is wrong and the justifications are not ethically strong enough to justify it. From where I sit, pirating a game to save a week of waiting for entertainment is ethically wrong. Pirating a game to save my Mom’s life is wrong, but ethically justifiable. People pirate games to save a few bucks and to have a bit more fun, not to save lives.

[mobil]

Distribution is clearly very important to avoid piracy. I live in Norway, and sometimes games come to Norway several months after release in US or the rest of Europe (Birth of the Federation and Imperium Galactica II are examples of this).

When ppl await games like Master of Orion III (to be released next spring), it is very important to have a worldwide release in order to make piracy less interesting. My concience tells me not to download from the net, but I cannot buy the game either until someone decides its time for a Norwegian release.

One alternative is to order the game from the net, but that is only an option if I can download the game directly and pay with visa card. If i have to order a cd then i will have to go through a huge expensive paper mill. I have tried this once when i ordered a football kit and a football video from England. I had to pay VAT (norwegian VAT on top of the English one ofcourse), postal handling fee, import tax and finally VAT on the import tax. All in all £40 for importing £70 of goods.

I dont like piracy, and i buy all games that I think are great (from reviews, testing at friends or testing demos/illegal Versions). Still I admit that I could not stand waiting 3 months for Birth of the Federation and I played an illegal Version and discovered that it was crap. Therefore i never bough the game when it finally arrived. The same has happened bout three times with other games.

What I am trying to say here is that the game distribution is important because games have a very short life before something better comes by. "Everyone" reads the same reviews on the net, and ppl expect to find the games in the store soon after a game has gone gold. Dont expect ppl to read about the hottest new game for months before they can try it themselves.

This might not be a big issue for ppl living in US og UK, but for me its a huge annoyance.

[tesco samoa]

Thanks BeeDee10


For correcting that post. I was going into to correct it. But I will leave it as it stands now.

Have a good day.



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[tesco samoa]

What does everyone think of music??? Along the same lines???

I am a member of the emusic club so I just download albums from that site and other stuff for back catalogue music that is unavailable anywhere.

I do not shop at music stores. 100% to 300% mark up is just too much for me.


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[Instar]

One thing that irks me is that here, you can prosecute it. In other countries, its not enforced at all. China even condones it really, they steal all the software and stuff. Ticks me off, it does

[LazarusLong42]

The worst thing about pirating is there is more to it than the simplest ethical dilemma possible. Take this for instance:

Joe Blow in Nowhereton, Outback, AU, buys SE4 through Shrapnel... it'll arrive in two weeks. Is it now ethical for him to download the full Version from a warez site or wherever? Technically, as soon as the credit card transaction is processed, he is the holder of an SE4 license.

Discuss. Can anyone give me a good reason why it is unethical for Joe to download the full Version elsewhere while waiting for the CD which has already been paid for?

(N.B. I don't support pirating. I do, however, support interesting ethical/philosophical problems )

LL

[Richard]

Because by downloading it he adds one more vote to why the warez site handler should stay in business and probably makes him some money via banners.

Plus if you have to go through some of the sites voting mechanisms you help him that way.

Any download is a vote to the legitimacy of warez.

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Sarge is coming...

Richard Arnesen
Director of Covert Ops
Shrapnel Games
http://www.shrapnelgames.com