Minecraft creator: "Piracy is not theft"

Featured 62 Comments 30 Votes 4910 Views 04/03/2011 Back to News

Speaking at GDC's Indie Games Summit, Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson has told attendees that the argument that piracy is theft is incorrect.

"Piracy is not theft," he argued. "If you steal a car, the original is lost. If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world.

"There is no such thing as a 'lost sale'. Is a bad review a lost sale? What about a missed ship date?"

Edge is reporting that Persson suggested that developers see pirates not as inherently evil, but as potential customers.

"Treat game development as a service," he said. "Make a game last longer than a week. You can't pirate an online account."

Interesting comments by Persson. What say you of his opinion on piracy?

Link to us http://pc.mmgn.com/News/Minecraft-creator-Piracy-is-no

News Article by: Beta 242263Kudos 04/03/2011

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Minecraft creator: "Piracy is not theft" Comments

Kudos: 242,263

Beta

"There is no such thing as a 'lost sale'. Is a bad review a lost sale? What about a missed ship date?"

Wow...Just...wow...

The guy is comparing a bad review, a thing of opinion and a critique of a product in an OPEN market, to stealing a product that cost money to make? Those things cannot be used in comparison, as they don't encourage a person to break the law or obtain a product illegally.

They might equate to a lost sale, but you can't monitor public opinion unless you're in North Korea. People have a right to critique a product if it has a price, in order to detail its worth based on the price. If a bad review is written, the product doesn't deserve to be bought, so therefore, the lost sale is dependent on the developer's skills (if the consumer believes the review). Piracy equates to the theft of a product. It doesn't matter if there's more of them. I assume this guy is a commie?

Stupid, ridiculous argument.

04/03/2011

Le Melbourne

Kudos: 13,120

PS3K

This is pathetic @_@

04/03/2011

Sydney

Kudos: 9,733

Volcano Bakemeat

I'm going with Tano on this one.

04/03/2011

Do people actually read these?

Kudos: 12,617

abujaffer

He's got a point.... just not about whether or not piracy is stealing. It's legally categorized as stealing; therefore, it's illegal. I don't see why he's even debating it. [Facepalm]

04/03/2011

3D world... where everything, even flat stuff, are in 3D.

Kudos: 89,914

King

i sense troll just so he gets attention [monkey]

04/03/2011

You need some brain cells. Suck them out of Malaka.

Kudos: 22,417

Marge

he's swedish and so very adorable, so he is excused

04/03/2011

Your Mother's Closet

Kudos: 20,523

MoeMan

strange... he must be a pirate at heart (evil)

04/03/2011

CNN Reporter; What do you feel when you shoot a terrorist? Marine Sniper; Recoil

Kudos: 70,000

Matrix6

I guess he'd agree to counterfeit money as well....there'd just be more of it in the world?!? @_@

04/03/2011

Yo habría sido completo, total y perdidamente enamorada de ti...

Kudos: 62,292

Harry

To an extend I agree with him (in that piracy is not always lost sales), but some of his argument is baffling and more clarification would be awesome. [MOG]

04/03/2011

Lemonaids.

Kudos: 26,862

Lekkers

Marge said: he's swedish and so very adorable, so he is excused

this.

04/03/2011

iLy AlL My MmGn BeBz. <3 KeRo, MiLkToN, ViLe, RaRo. BebZ 4 LyF

Kudos: 19,173

Pact

Gabe Newell has an excellent point; "Developers shouldn't view piracy of they product as stealing, but as a failure to produce good service."
There is a reason why Steam makes more money than apple and google, because they know what they are doing.

www.youtube.com/...

04/03/2011

The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands, To fight the horde, sing and cry: Valhalla, I am coming!

Kudos: 12,461

DaNoSaUr

I don't agree with Notch, but I still love him (*)

04/03/2011

Canberra

Kudos: 2,270

imdownhere

I do believe it is a form of theft but what i don't like is the penalty impossed. If you stole a car you would be sentenced and more often than not it would be a slap on the wrist term. However, if you were caught with a pirated copy of the worst game or dvd you could possibly immagine (justin Beiber movie or if he made a game, god i hate that kid), then you could face a fine of a massive amount compared to the price of the original product and a severe sentence which far outweighs the crime. In NZ it's $10,000 per unit but not exceeding $150,000 and 5 years in prison. For software it's straight to the $150,000 fine plus prison.

If i stole a car and totaled it, then i would just get a prison term, which could end up being 6 months to a year.

04/03/2011

Wellington NZ

Kudos: 24,744

BBking

You got it wrong, yet again Gaetano...

04/03/2011

Sydney, NSW. Hills District

Kudos: 242,263

Beta

Pact said: Gabe Newell has an excellent point; "Developers shouldn't view piracy of they product as stealing, but as a failure to produce good service."
There is a reason why Steam makes more money than apple and google, because they know what they are doing.
www.youtube.com/...

But it's still stealing. A bad product does not justify stealing a product you should be paying for. The quality doesn't dictate whether or not you should be paying for it. The production costs do.

04/03/2011

Le Melbourne

Kudos: 24,744

BBking

Just to let you know, I wasn't saying you were wrong or your opinion is wrong but that you just took what he said and turned it into something he didn't say. Conservatives love doing that for some reason...?

If you make 10 CDs, 1 person buys it, you still can sell another 9 even if that 1 copy is copied. A potential customer, similar to if someone doesn't buy for other reasons like a bad review.

If 1 copy of bought and 5 are stolen you can only sell 4 more.

I'm also not saying he's right. Weather it's copied or stolen off a truck, it's still a loss is sales.

But I do have an opinion that you don't have to buy everything you was to try.

@imdownhere also made a good point of penalties imposed.

Pact said: There is a reason why Steam makes more money than apple and google, because they know what they are doing.
www.youtube.com/...

[WTF] Google know what they are doing and encourage open source... :E

04/03/2011

Sydney, NSW. Hills District

Kudos: 9,963

LMA0

Markus 'Notch' Persson does sound a communist.

04/03/2011

Outer West Sydney aka The Ghetto

Kudos: 39,134

Dusty Lids

Pact said: Gabe Newell has an excellent point; "Developers shouldn't view piracy of they product as stealing, but as a failure to produce good service."
There is a reason why Steam makes more money than apple and google, because they know what they are doing.
www.youtube.com/...

if you think im going to buy a game from steam for $90 and have no choice about returning you must think im nuts.

Ill just wait for christmas sales.

04/03/2011

Melbourne

Kudos: 3,145

Prime

Sorry Gaetano got to disagree with you on this one. I am AGAINST piracy for the record, but it is NOT stealing.

There is a big difference between what is now known as "piracy" and stealing. Stealing does constitute a direct loss of sales for a company. Stealing entails physically going to a store, taking something off a shelf, and walking out of the store without paying for it. In doing so, the thief takes tangible goods out of the store. It cost the company something to manufacture the packaging, to burn the CD, and to ship it to the store. Furthermore, the removal of that item from the store's shelf means that another potential customer may come in and find the shelf empty, in which case that potential customer will be unable to buy the product. The result of this is that the customer may end up buying a different product simply because the store was sold out of the original item. In this case, the thief has a direct, tangible effect on the revenues of a company.

Piracy is a totally different thing. With piracy, the pirate sits in his chair at his computer, looks on file sharing services for a copy of the full version of the software, and usually waits a few hours for it to download. It's true that the pirate is getting goods without paying for them, and that it's a morally unacceptable action. But that doesn't mean that he cost the company any money.

See, when a pirate downloads a full version of a piece of software, the pirate isn't leeching bandwidth from the company's servers. The pirate has to download the software from some other person who has already purchased it. So bandwidth costs because of the pirate are zero for the company. Furthermore, the pirate isn't depriving any other potential customer of the game: he has not physically removed a copy of the software from a store shelf. There's no loss of sale for the company there, either. Finally, the software company paid absolutely nothing for the packaging or manufacturing of the product. Given the nature of computer software, it was downloaded from someone else's computer; so no manufacturing was needed.

It could be argued that piracy amounts to lost sales because a pirate would be motivated to buy the software if he couldn't download it. However, given that pirates go out of their way to search the internet for pirated copies and to wait for the software to finish downloading, it's still highly unlikely that they would have ever bought the software, whatever the circumstances. Pirates don't want to go to the store, and they don't want to pay money for software. So this can't be legitimately construed as a loss of revenue.

04/03/2011

The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely - Carl Jung.

Kudos: 50,592

Kurogane

Piracy is stealing.

That's why they call it piracy. Because, well, pirates steal.

LOL GETIT?!

Umm and the government told me it's stealing too! [monkey]

04/03/2011

SSBB (NTSC) FC: 1850-3764-4050; QLD

Kudos: 7,057

Boganhobo

I have to agree with him. If I didnt pirate myself and friends copies of minecraft we wouldnt have all decided to purchase it.

As much as you all despise piracy, it does help the industry in certain aspects.

Generally I will only download games I have no intention of purchasing or have a very slight interest in.

Harry said: To an extend I agree with him (in that piracy is not always lost sales), but some of his argument is baffling and more clarification would be awesome.

^this

04/03/2011

PSN: FAMGUYFREAK2112

Kudos: 7,377

Skelerax

Everything is stealing, the very concept of a central banking system is a design of legalized theft, so as we live under the heel of that everyday, why exactly should we be so concerned as to who's taking what from whom?

04/03/2011

I eat babies, your babies.

Kudos: 42,206

Milky

I see what he is trying to say. Say I download an album and I love it, I am then more inclined to buy future releases from the band and see them live. Not to mention I'll likely share my love for this new band to my friends. Hence increasing the chances of this band getting money.

This is the exact reason why independent bands, films and game developers are becoming increasingly successful. You no longer need studio support or a record label to be popular.

04/03/2011

come on, i only want a cuddle!

Kudos: 240

Alcatraz

I agree with notch on this one.

04/03/2011

Atlantis.

Kudos: 3,681

teknikal

i dont believe thats true. the majority of a band's fanbase may never pay for a ticket to see them live. and with the advent of downloading, never buy an album either. yet they're still 'fans', who would've otherwise bought the albums - this is the concept of lost sales.

the comparison of a review is false. a review helps a person determine whether or not they're a fan. piracy eliminates sales that wouldve been gained from those fans.
two different 'layers'

04/03/2011

Gold Coast, Queensland

Kudos: 9,963

LMA0

The word 'piracy' which means the unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material. Piracy isn't physical 'theft' but actually taking a product without authorization of the copyright holder so it's like taking sumone's legal rights to be publisher or to publish/manufacture. If sumone doesn't have permission from the copyright holder to manufacture, copying, sell or give away their products its against law. Buying or downloading a pirated software isn't technically 'theft' but it's the person who's making the illegal unauthorised copies is stealing the copyright holders legal rights to manufacture legally and any of the unauthorised copies is considered contraband. Well that's my meaning of piracy I hope it made sense but probably not but communist don't believe in piracy n counterfeit thats why China n North Korea have the highest counterfeit making factories. A increase software piracy is coming from Russia due to their laws that its legal to download software copies for home use.

04/03/2011

Outer West Sydney aka The Ghetto

Kudos: 3,681

teknikal

the great captain jack sparrow used to make unauthorized reproduction of copyrighted and patented booty

04/03/2011

Gold Coast, Queensland

Kudos: 1,411

Rusty12

I must admit sometimes I download games, just to try them out, and if they are good I will buy them. It's kind of like playing a demo for me, but this way you get a better feel for the game, because it's the WHOLE game :).

I used to on PC, but not on Xbox because you need it flashed or something.

I reckon every game, should let you play 2-3 levels of a game, that way they might actually sell more copies this way as well, because if you want the game enough you will buy it to finish it.

04/03/2011

Brisbane

Kudos: 244

Evl_Priest

Stealing is when your BMX gets stolen from outside the milk bar while your inside getting yourself a bag of mixed lollies and a paper for your dad ,I see piracy as just borrowing.

04/03/2011

Kudos: 9,963

LMA0

piracy its not stealing but its against the law.

04/03/2011

Outer West Sydney aka The Ghetto

Kudos: 78,268

renagadez

go live in your minecraft world you jackass

04/03/2011

Sydney, New South Wales

Kudos: 55,117

Dénor

[Shifty]

04/03/2011

There's always money in the banana stand.

Kudos: 14,481

Sandallman

Valid points, which lead to an invalid argument.

04/03/2011

behind you....

Kudos: 3,728

Cryman

you would not steal a handbag

04/03/2011

Just before the Story Bridge

Kudos: 18,281

abuu91

Sounds like this is being taken out of context.

I see the point Notch is trying to make is that one pirated copy of software does not mean a lost sale. Stealing something over a digital media is different to taking something physically as a digital copy is simply an intellectual property, lacking a hard tangible value.

Stealing a car means you do not need to buy a car. If you wanted to know what a car is like before you buy one then you take it for a test drive. What happens when there is no demo to test drive?

Stealing a game simply means you have a copy of that product which you did not pay for. Piracy can be looked at as a method in which to sample something. Notch would be well aware that people play with pirated copies of Minecraft, but this also encourages a sale. There are a good deal of limits on a pirated copy. The 'pirate' samples the game, determines whether they like it or not and then proceed with a purchase. It can be looked at in the light of being a personally taken review of a product rather than hearing the personal opinion of another person. If the person does not like the game then they do not buy it. It's therefore not a sale lost nor a sale gained. Bad reviews and development delays will lose a sale on a product in exactly the same way.

That's my interpretation.

04/03/2011

Kiama, NSW

Kudos: 73,177

Pilkingbod

renagadez said: go live in your minecraft world you jackass

04/03/2011

Melting pot of friendship

Kudos: 38,788

Desi

Why is everyone so hostile to Notch's basic argument?

"Piracy is not theft," he argued. "If you steal a car, the original is lost. If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world.
[...]
"Make a game last longer than a week. You can't pirate an online account."

This is an opinion I've always held.

I think it's fair to say that if someone pirates your game, then they never intended to pay money for it in the first place. For whatever reason that person may have — and there are many reasons — they do not yet consider your product worthy of paying for. This argument applies equally to the analogy of stealing a car: if someone steals your car from off the street, it's pretty unlikely that they at all considered walking up to you and asking if they could buy it.

One can argue that this is because very few games offer demos now. You can also say that it's because games are so buggy, and devs and publishers so unreliable, that people want to be sure that a game works properly (or conversely, they're 'refunding' the cost of a previous game that was badly made). And of course there are people, like kids, who have no money but still want to play. These are the pirates who wouldn't pay for the game at all, because they have no money in the first place.

The point is not to stop piracy, which is truly futile, but to adapt to it. Developers and publishers need to win back audiences by properly developing and supporting the games they make, instead of leaving them bug-ridden and half-finished. They need to earn back the trust of the gaming community, instead of cranking out buggy clones of the same five-year-old thing. And most importantly, like Notch said, they need to make it worthwhile to purchase a game.

Notch said: Instead of just relying on guilt tripping pirates into buying, or wasting time and money trying to stop them, I can offer online-only services that actually add to the game experience. Online level saving, centralized skins, friends lists and secure name verification for multiplayer. None of these features can be accessed by people with pirated versions of the game, and hopefully they can be features that turn pirates from thieves into potential customers.

It seems MMGN has misrepresented him by so severely abridging what it is he has to say. You'd do well to read his original article about piracy, dating from late 2010. notch.tumblr.com/...

04/03/2011

And I love starting sentences with conjunctions! >=D

Kudos: 20,566

l3ailey

04/03/2011

Need a new signature? Why not Zoidberg? (\/)_(°,,,°)_(\/)

Kudos: 3,681

teknikal

^^ win

04/03/2011

Gold Coast, Queensland

Kudos: 25,703

shiversul

I think it's a completely different argument to justify piracy, which in some cases, can be justified (Increasing sales for example).
But he is merely arguing that piracy isn't stealing, which it is...
Taking something someone is selling is stealing, whether you're just duplicating it or not.

04/03/2011

Geelong, Victoria

Kudos: 17,828

LDEvolution

Hmmm....to some degree he has a point. I mean stealing is taking the original while pirating is taking a copy of the original...still it gets all technical from here but in the end I take no sides in the debate of piracy and its effects on gaming.

05/03/2011

Kudos: 1,194

Puhm

It seems the reading and comprehension of the average MMGN user is fairly poor. Try reading it again, guys, and you might understand the article!
Piracy is not theft in the traditional sense, in that by claiming possession of something you are not also stripping someone else of their property. It simply creates a copy...
To use the car analogy, it would be akin to having some fictional technology that allowed you to walk up to a car of your choice and create an exact duplicate next to it to drive off in. You were never going to buy it, so the manufacturer doesn't miss out on a cent. In fact, by having you driving around in one of their shiny machines you're actually popularising and advertising it to genuine, potential buyers.
I think the last point is perhaps the most significant, but it appears that by that stage the developer's bum-buddies around here were already bashing out an ignorant rant on their keyboards: "Make a game last longer than a week". It's a challenge to other developers to make fun games with longevity that forces or entices players to hand over their cash. If a game can be completed in no time, with no replayability, then what right do they have to expect us to pay a premium for a few hours entertainment?
The future is online gaming... If you want money, make a good online game and ask for a subscription. If it's worth it, people will pay. If it's not, then the game doesn't get the money that it rightfully doesn't deserve. Everybody wins.

05/03/2011

Kudos: 30,795

Scoot

Gaetano said: "There is no such thing as a 'lost sale'. Is a bad review a lost sale? What about a missed ship date?"
Wow...Just...wow...
The guy is comparing a bad review, a thing of opinion and a critique of a product in an OPEN market, to stealing a product that cost money to make? Those things cannot be used in comparison, as they don't encourage a person to break the law or obtain a product illegally.
They might equate to a lost sale, but you can't monitor public opinion unless you're in North Korea. People have a right to critique a product if it has a price, in order to detail its worth based on the price. If a bad review is written, the product doesn't deserve to be bought, so therefore, the lost sale is dependent on the developer's skills (if the consumer believes the review). Piracy equates to the theft of a product. It doesn't matter if there's more of them. I assume this guy is a commie?
Stupid, ridiculous argument.

i say your comment is stupid because you're statement is assuming he thinks piracy should be illegal. its obvious that he doesnt think it should be viewed as theft, and probably not illegal. (given that he wants to view 'pirates' as a customer base, implying no jail term lol)

the comparison he's making is this: a bad review encourages people to NOT PURCHASE THE GAME. Piracy encourages people to NOT PURCHASE THE GAME. that's the comparison that he's making.

his whole opinion isnt based on what is right/wrong, but what HE THINKS should be right/wrong.

you've taken something he said and turned it in to something its not. I don't believe piracy is stealing either, doesn't mean it's not because thats my opinion on it. I agree with him, theft should be illegally obtained goods that result in the original owners loss of that particular product. they aren't losing anything. They can only 'suggest' they lost sales, theres no telling whether that person would buy the game or not if he couldn't pirate it.

but yeah still <3 you man

07/03/2011

Brawl: Scott - 1807-5138-3949 Pokemon Black: Scott - 0991 7089 7872

Kudos: 38,788

Desi

swordsaint said: the comparison he's making is this: a bad review encourages people to NOT PURCHASE THE GAME. Piracy encourages people to NOT PURCHASE THE GAME. that's the comparison that he's making.

WHAAAAAT? @_@ That's not what he's saying at all.

What Notch is saying there is that to look at sales as being 'lost' is a fallacy because there's no such thing as a certain sale.

Not everyone who reads a bad review was ever going to buy the game in the first place, so that sale was never going to happen and therefore cannot be 'lost'. And not everyone who pirates a game ever intended to buy it legitimately, so you can't classify those as lost sales either.

07/03/2011

And I love starting sentences with conjunctions! >=D

Kudos: 43,032

dossaer

Puhm said: To use the car analogy, it would be akin to having some fictional technology that allowed you to walk up to a car of your choice and create an exact duplicate

The Transformers (as seen in Michael Bay's Transformers films) do this.

07/03/2011

here

Kudos: 5,568

Skidmark

Piracy is not Theft like Manslaughter is not Murder.
The difference is merely a technicality.
At the end of the day, If you "take" something you should have "paid" for then it's stealing (at least thats the morals my parents taught me)

07/03/2011

Skidmark inc Est-1971 Proudly operating 41 years without fail.

Kudos: 78,268

renagadez

Pilkingbod said:
renagadez said: go live in your minecraft world you jackass

aahahahahaha good times

07/03/2011

Sydney, New South Wales

Kudos: 12,617

abujaffer

Skidmark said: Piracy is not Theft like Manslaughter is not Murder.
The difference is merely a technicality.
At the end of the day, If you "take" something you should have "paid" for then it's stealing (at least thats the morals my parents taught me)

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING! Can't everyone jus read my comment before posting? At the end of the day pirating is illegal, even if you've bought the freaking game 5 million times. Is it logical to pirate if you've bought it 5 million times, or even once? Yes. Is it legal? NO! [Rage]

07/03/2011

3D world... where everything, even flat stuff, are in 3D.

Kudos: 43,032

dossaer

Random quote:

Relax dude, did you even read my comment about the Transformers? =_=

07/03/2011

here

Kudos: 242,263

Beta

Skidmark said: Piracy is not Theft like Manslaughter is not Murder.
The difference is merely a technicality.
At the end of the day, If you "take" something you should have "paid" for then it's stealing (at least thats the morals my parents taught me)

Yeah, but some people here are trying to argue that "theft" and "stealing" is exclusive to taking goods from a store that result in a lost sale?

My belief was that if you obtain something via means other than purchase or mutual agreement (that is, the owner giving it to you), then it is theft, whether it equates to a lost sale or not. Whether you had intention to buy or not is irrelevant. I know piracy falls more under copyright infringement than theft, but you're still stealing a product because you're not paying for it.

I understand all of your arguments. I am not getting angry at anyone or criticising anyone (because I know someone will reply saying how stupid or argumentative I am...), but if something has a price, if something is available for purchase and you're obtaining it for free without the consent of the owner (in this case, the publisher), then you're stealing it. They own the rights to the product, and they sell it to you through a retailer or whatever. If you download a game, you're stealing a copy of the game. It doesn't need to be taken directly from the original owner, because the product can be distributed and reproduced.

Skidmark said: Piracy is not Theft like Manslaughter is not Murder.
The difference is merely a technicality.
At the end of the day, If you "take" something you should have "paid" for then it's stealing (at least thats the morals my parents taught me)

But they are both forms of KILLING. THEFT and PIRACY are forms of STEALING. In committing piracy you're also committing theft.

Theft - the act of stealing; the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another.

Piracy, by definition, is illegally reproducing, obtaining and/or using content that does not belong to you. In downloading a game that is priced, you're stealing it, as well as committing piracy. To be a pirate you also need to be a thief. You can't have one without the other. You're just as much a thief as you are a pirate.

I understand the guy's argument, and the definition is quite broad, but I personally (note: PERSONALLY) associate piracy with theft. I know its definition, but as I said, you can't have one without the other. Just because you're not taking it directly from the owner doesn't mean it's not theft. The internet has changed the meaning and the way in which one can steal.

07/03/2011

Le Melbourne

Kudos: 242,263

Beta

Continuing on, people argue that because the original remains intact and you're distributing a copy that it isn't stealing. If something can CONTRIBUTE to lost sales (if a game makes its way online, one could argue it's going to at least deter a few hundred people from not buying the game, either because it's crap or because they now have a copy, albeit obtained illegally), then it is theft. The fact that piracy CAN contribute to lost sales (see PS2, Dreamcast, PSP, DVD sales) proves it is a form of stealing (I say this because some of you are arguing that it can't be proven if a pirated copy contributes to a lost sale).

In the broader scheme of things, a pirated game is being accessed FOR FREE to MILLIONS of people. How can one argue that that WOULDN'T contribute to lost sales?

EDIT: inb4rampage

07/03/2011

Le Melbourne

Kudos: 198,955

Ben

Some of the more serious gamers I know pirate games to play them early and then buy them when they come out here, pending it's not crap.

It's very much a grey area, since they do buy a game, but just don't want to wait for it to come out here to play it. They specifically do it with fan translated versions of games like Pokemon. They have to wait 6 months for an English release, or can play a fan translated pirate and then buy it when it comes out here.

I'm not condoning what they do, but acknowledge they don't really have another option if they desperately want to play early.

07/03/2011

twitter.com/Ben_Salter | Dennis, your mule is shit. I am no longer turned on by mules.

Kudos: 17,828

LDEvolution

I'm not saying pirating is right but there is alot of reasons why one would want to pirate something instead of buying it and sampling it is one of them but there are others.

Dubbing - Like alot of anime fans I prefer my games that has voice acting to be in their original language but during the coarse of translation they get new voice actors that sound rubbish compared to the original although I admit there are ones that has great voice acting like the Professor layton series which I gladly bought but otherwise I find it horrible and since devs won't give an option to alternate between the voices I don't see a better option.

English localization - at times during it they remove or change to content and for purist like myself it ruined the game, like the starter names for the Pocket monsters b&w in english sound horrible and I rather them did a direct translation of the japanese names and left it in romaji but since that didn't happen I had a better shot at importing the game while my friends pirated it

I don't take sides on the concept of pirating but until these types of issues are addressed then I don't see it ever going away also having to buy over-charged games isn't helping the situation either but for the moment I don't see a solution to the problem.

07/03/2011

Kudos: 87,438

Skarteh

Puhm said: It seems the reading and comprehension of the average MMGN user is fairly poor. Try reading it again, guys, and you might understand the article!
Piracy is not theft in the traditional sense, in that by claiming possession of something you are not also stripping someone else of their property. It simply creates a copy...
To use the car analogy, it would be akin to having some fictional technology that allowed you to walk up to a car of your choice and create an exact duplicate next to it to drive off in. You were never going to buy it, so the manufacturer doesn't miss out on a cent. In fact, by having you driving around in one of their shiny machines you're actually popularising and advertising it to genuine, potential buyers.
I think the last point is perhaps the most significant, but it appears that by that stage the developer's bum-buddies around here were already bashing out an ignorant rant on their keyboards: "Make a game last longer than a week". It's a challenge to other developers to make fun games with longevity that forces or entices players to hand over their cash. If a game can be completed in no time, with no replayability, then what right do they have to expect us to pay a premium for a few hours entertainment?
The future is online gaming... If you want money, make a good online game and ask for a subscription. If it's worth it, people will pay. If it's not, then the game doesn't get the money that it rightfully doesn't deserve. Everybody wins.

It troubles me to say that I agree with this post, I thought exactly the same thing.

Furthermore I understood what he meant by reviews, as they will win or lose a sale quite often. I have not bought games before because they got absolutely shit canned and I was planning to buy them before. He's not saying that makes reviews bad, hes simply pointing out there are completely socially acceptable ways to make a company lose sales.

Piracy is theft of sorts, but his point about it being a copy rather than a loss for someone else, is completely valid. That is why we do not see it as the same thing psychologically.

I seriously do not get why people are calling him an idiot, his arguments made perfect sense to me.

07/03/2011

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

Kudos: 24,744

BBking

Recording a TV show and making a mix tape is piracy.

If you have done this then you are a thief!!

08/03/2011

Sydney, NSW. Hills District

Kudos: 198,955

Ben

BBking said: Recording a TV show and making a mix tape is piracy.
If you have done this then you are a thief!!

Recording a TV show isn't. It's free to do and perfectly legal (with a couple of stupid catches). Downloading or even physically taking someone else's recording is, however, illegal. Which is stupid, and pretty much morally a non-issue with everyone. I realise that it's only illegal because of advertising and such, TV stations need the ratings which don't matter after it's aired. But people here are only forced to download them because some shows take 3-6 months to get here.

08/03/2011

twitter.com/Ben_Salter | Dennis, your mule is shit. I am no longer turned on by mules.

Kudos: 13,454

Syrian

Torah scrolls for use in public reading in synagogues contain only the Hebrew consonantal text, handed down by tradition (with only a very limited and ambiguous indication of vowels by means of matres lectionis). However, in the Masoretic codices of the 9th-10th centuries, and most subsequent manuscripts and published editions of the Tanakh, intended for personal study, the pure consonantal text is annotated with vowel points and other diacritic symbols invented by the Masoretes to indicate how it should be read, besides marginal notes serving various functions.

Though the basic consonantal text written in the Hebrew alphabet was never altered, sometimes the Masoretes preferred a different reading of a word than that found in the pre-Masoretic consonantal text. The qere/ketiv represent an attempt by the Masoretic scribes to show, without changing the received consonantal text, that in their opinion or by tradition a different reading of the text is to be preferred. That preferred Masoretic reading is known as the Qere (Aramaic קרי "to be read"), while the pre-Masoretic consonantal spelling is known as the Ketiv (Aramaic כתיב "(what is) written").

In such cases, the vowel diacritics of the qere (their alternate, but preferred reading or correction) would be placed in the main text, added around the consonantal letters of the ketiv (the masoretically-disapproved variant to be substituted — even if it contains a completely different number of letters), with a special sign indicating that there was a marginal note for this word. In the margins there would be a ק sign (for qere), followed by the consonants of the qere reading. In this way, the vowel points of the qere were separated from the consonant letters of the qere — but they were meant to be read together (even though the vowel points of the qere are located on the consonant letters of ketiv).

09/03/2011

I like trains.

Kudos: 87,438

Skarteh

I read all that Syrian but it pwned me with linguistic terms I didn't understand :P next time you find a wall of text to paste make the contents more interesting [Rage]

09/03/2011

Melbourne, Victoria | Walk with me in hell

Kudos: 24,549

Dyke

l3ailey said:

I would download a pizza in a heartbeat...It don't work like that [Shifty]

09/03/2011

In lulz we trust

Kudos: 22,417

Marge

Skarteh said: I read all that Syrian but it pwned me with linguistic terms I didn't understand next time you find a wall of text to paste make the contents more interesting

i also read it fully ... i found it quite entertaining. Does that mean i'm cursed?

09/03/2011

Your Mother's Closet

Kudos: 24,744

BBking

www.shacknews.com/...

Looks like Iwata has a similar view...

30/03/2011

Sydney, NSW. Hills District

Kudos: 20,927

Makra

Oh dear....

Firstly, let me make this clear. I disagree with many of the views here, despite the fact I'm about to side with some of them...

Under Australian law, IP/Copyright infringement (aka piracy), is NOT theft. The basic elements for larceny (theft) are:

1. The accused wrongfully took and carried away
2. The goods of another
3. With the intention of permanently depriving the owner of such property
4. Without the owner's consent.

With piracy, there is no deprivation of the owner of their property, therefore it is not larceny.

Now, I have my own personal views on piracy, but I'm not going to bother posting them, because they are irrelevant. It's not morals, ideals or opinions that define crimes, it is the law. [Facepalm]

16/12/2011

Mordor