High Sails on the Seven Seas: Piracy and Games

Remember "Home taping is killing games"?
Of course you don't, that was in the eighties... 

First off I would like to apologize for the delay in posting this article, due to a hard drive crash, a lost flash drive and possible food poisoning, this article has had a three day delay. With the small staff we have here at Gaming Cuisine any one of those issues could cause a delay, combine all three, and well, it’s simply a perfect storm of delays. We apologize for the inconvenience. Now, onto the article at hand:

Sort of like this, but with life. 

Piracy. A simple word that, in the world of electronics and entertainment, can start an argument quickly; even among those whose opinions are similar. While opinions on the subject vary wildly, and tempers can flare quickly, I feel that this is a subject that should be addressed, regardless of stance.

To begin, lets define what “piracy” is. Miriam-Webster defines it as “the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright”. That’s a good start, but for the purposes of this article lets define piracy more simply as “unauthorized use and/or distribution of a product”. Since we’re talking specifically about video games this should cover the subject well enough.

Some countries, like Germany, have their own "Pirate Party".
I assume this is because parrots are so awesome.

Piracy is currently a subject of legal debate. Congress, and legal authorities in several countries are either pushing, or being pushed on, strong legal measures against piracy; backed, mostly, by associations like the RIAA and MIAA. I could write several articles on that alone, but that information is easily found elsewhere. So, why bring it up then? Because piracy does effect games, and the game industry. While video games aren’t being cracked down on in as harsh a manner as other entertainment forms, it’s possible that it could happen. Authorities in Canada are, right now, using video game piracy as a platform to pass restrictive, and oppressive, laws.

Why People Pirate

Before being released into public domain this Vectrex title was pirated.
Yeah, I'm not sure why either. 

One of the many arguments for piracy is that a title is no longer available in any form; that any profits made don’t go to the copyright, or license, holders. While some may see this as a valid point, most corporations disagree. A few small developers and company owners, however, have opened their libraries and software to the public to be downloaded at will (such as the owner of the Vectrex libraries). Often released under Creative Commons, or Public Domain, these titles are open for distribution, copying, and use, legally. However, one of the problems here is that many gamers think that software developed by companies that no longer exist, due to bankruptcy or other issues, automatically fall into public domain. This is incorrect. The case may be that the legal rights to these titles and works are in dispute. In some cases nobody is sure who actually owns the rights, or even if the rights are now public domain. In either case it makes rereleases or remakes of these titles impossible. If nobody knows who owns the rights, publishing or producing anything related to the title is risky. It could mean lawsuits over infringement, and possibly even jail time, for the developer and publisher. If you’re out to do everything “by the book”, remember to check if a game is truly under Creative Commons/Public domain before downloading, modifying, distributing or releasing anything.

I actually heard a guy say he'd buy "Dragon's Lair" if it got
rereleased, then balk at the $10 price tag a year later when it was.
I was baffled he wanted to play it in the first place.

Another common statement is that the person pirating said software will “pay for it if it gets rereleased”. A noble statement, but not always true. As many major companies have started rereleasing or remaking their old catalogues on new systems I have heard many complain that “(companies) are charging too much”, when they could simply “download it for free”. While not every pirate sees things this way, many do. If you feel it’s not worth the purchase price, let the company know; write them an email, post in their forums, etc. It’s as simple as that. They may not know what the public see as a fair price for an older game, or they may be unaware of what titles people want ported. However, the only incentive these companies have for rereleasing old titles is money. It may cost them quite a bit to port titles to newer systems, and if they don’t make a profit when releasing downloads of older titles, they’ll stop doing so. The problem here is that video game manufacturers may deem piracy as a harm to their profits, and may not only stop releasing their back catalogues, but could follow in the footsteps of the music and movie industries in their hardline approach. Something nobody would benefit from.

Over 200,000 people pirated a game that cost $2.50 at one point.
That's mind-blowing. 

Another common reason I hear for piracy is the desire to “try before you buy”. With some games not easily rented, or found at a reasonable price, many resort to piracy in order to try out new, or even old, titles. While many developers are concerned with this attitude, others have taken a softer stance, stating that piracy may actually increase overall sales as a form of viral marketing. Some go so far as cutting prices, or even allowing the public to “name the price” on their works. The creators of “Super Meat Boy” discussed this during an interview with DarkZero (July, ‘11).

“Our game was hugely pirated – we don’t ****ing care. If there are let’s say 200,000 copies of SMB that are getting passed around for free, that’s 200,000 people who are playing the game. If they like this game there’s a really high probability of their friends coming around and seeing it or them posting about it on their blogs. And it’s not cool to go round and say I really like this game that I stole, so they’re not going to say that. So it’s going to come around to sales.” Source: DarkZero Podcast 76: Meet Team Meat  (Warning: strong language used in the interview.)

Before DRM companies came up with other innovative ways of averting piracy.
This one came from a game about pirates. The irony. 

On the other end of the spectrum companies like Sony have hired lawyers and counsel specifically for “anti-piracy support”. The job description being listed as "(to) assist in supporting anti-piracy civil lawsuits and providing support to law enforcement intellectual property agencies on behalf of SCEA." Source: The Inquirer. Others include DRM (Digital Rights Management) in their titles, some of which has been fairly extreme. From requiring “activation codes”, or even being required to play online at all times, DRM takes many forms. With development costs rising, and some companies claiming losses of up to $500 million on a single game, it’s understandable they’ll do their best to protect their creations. In many cases though the people hurt the most by the extreme DRM are the people who have purchased it legally. Some even claim the reason they have pirated or otherwise modified a game is because the DRM is egregious or inconvenient. An interesting, and vicious, paradox for the game industry's developers and publishers.

Though parrots are pretty dang cool. Just look at how happy that guy is!

We here at Gaming Cuisine don't endorse piracy in any manner, and we feel that if you’re going to play a game, you should purchase it, defunct-title download, or multi-million dollar production. However, we also appreciate that some companies aren’t using crippling DRM, or stopping production altogether. The fact is piracy is going to have an impact somewhere, large or small, and it's never going to go away. While open communication between companies and the public would resolve most piracy related issues (DRM included), its going to take both sides to step forward. So if we do our part, maybe they’ll do theirs.

For more reading on the subject check out Games Radar's excellent history of piracy:
History of Piracy

Until next time, Game on.