Downloadable retail needed?

[Cainehill]

Archonsod said:
Theft is the act of taking something from someone unlawfully. When I take something from someone, he loses it. That's not the case with unathorised copying.

How about the developer who doesn't get paid because the game isn't selling? Or his kids & wife who lose their home because he lost his job? Like it or not, the second you pirate the game, your making yourself implicit in those kind of effects.

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For Dog's sake, please bother yourself to _read_ something regarding copyright. If nothing else, the bit where copyright (and patents) were implemented to _encourage_ invention and creativity, not to stifle them.

Then note : if I _steal_ your car, you can't use it. You can't sell it. If I could _copy_ your car, you could still use it. You could still sell it. If I were the type to _pay_ for your car (or a song, book, game, that turns out to be a POS), I would have paid for it even after copying it. If I'm _not_ the type to pay for it, I wouldn't buy/pay for it anyway.

(Yes, over-simplification - if there is _free_ beer, and it is good beer, a large number of college age (and other) idiots are going to slurp it down, no matter what, even if there's _better_ beer that costs a nickel a glass. But we're not typing beer.)

In addition : pay attention to authors, game developers, and musical artists, many of whom say the _industry_ is the pirates/thieves. I've seen this from all three categories, but can only refer you to Courtney Love's "diatribe" on music piracy, in which she castigated BMG, Sony, etc, and _NOT_ the pirates.