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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5222990" data-attributes="member: 2067">So, in addressing some (really good) points, I'll try to keep this focused specifically on D&D/RPGs/WotC/DDI/Piracy/Etc, though I might reach a bit to describe why I think the way I do. Hopefully, we can keep it friendly. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" />As to your first point: for this discussion, stealing is irrelevant, since piracy and DDI sharing is not stealing. If you're fuzzy on the issue, there's a nice little song about the issue here:[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4&feature=related"]...the difference...[/ame]<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> As to your second: working together for the greater good is, indeed, something that many moral systems think is really awesome. Which is actually evidence that sharing a DDI account or making a torrent of a book you scanned is actually a moral good, since you're essentially sharing your resources, for free, to everyone you can. Which creates a society where people suffer less from not having something.   Piracy is a nonviolent resistance. Additionally, a reasonable case can be made in many systems of morality that the laws it breaks are unjust. Worst-case scenario would be that the laws are neutral, in which case, most moral systems don't really care if you follow them or not. The Catholic church doesn't usually care if its people, say, use recreational illegal drugs (as long as that doesn't lead to you doing naughty things like thinking about naked people), and even gives some to its worshipers (a sip of wine...). Mormons from the LDS church, on the other hand, don't even want you taking legal drugs like alcohol and caffeine. And if you're a member of many native american tribes, or perhaps associated with a mesoamerican narcocult, or even part of the Catholic church as I mentioned above, illegal drugs are essential for a sacred experience. So, morally, legal obedience is a subject that is highly circumstantial, depending on your legal obligation, your moral obligation, and how much one cares about the other. Well I think you'll be happy to know that ever since Napster discontinued its weapons program, most copyright infringement and ToS violation uses no force whatsoever. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />That's true, and it's actually a really fascinating avenue I've been doing some recent research down, which is why I'm interested to see where the thread goes.My personal feelings are muddy (which happens with someone who studies morality as much as I do <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />) , but most moral systems hinge on that description of what is "yours." For instance, lets take Catholicism, since I know it pretty well.Catholicism has a concept of personal ownership (which not all moral systems do), but it's subordinate to deific ownership (All Metallica CD's ultimately belong to God, one way or another. Which I'm sure would delight Lars!). There's also a very strong, very present vein of charity. It's emphasized every Sunday that God gave you something (your soul's salvation), and that you need to be as God like as possible and give everyone as much as possible (because that's what Jesus would do!). There's also the do unto others maxim, which states basically that if you would like it, you should do it for everyone else.So, working from cause and effect, I buy a God Rock CD. My friends on the God Rock Rocks Yer Soul! Facebook group all want to hear it. I should probably give it away. But here's this technology that allows me to keep it, and ALSO let others hear it! That's the Best of All Possible Things! I get to be like Jesus, AND listen to God Rock! And talk about it with all my friends! Everyone is happy! Yay God!Well, except for some organization called Warner Music Group. But if they wanted to be like Jesus, they should have given me the CD for free in the first place! They're behaving immorally in the first place! And when God Rock asks for donations on their website because they're not making much money from their CD's, I should give as much as I can, because that is what Jesus would do! Yay God!In a world where I can make bread out of thin air by pressing a button, Catholicism would generally say that it is deeply immoral for me not to just give bread out freely to everyone. It's probably even sinful to charge for it. It's even more likely to be sinful if you try and lock it up, and you put the people who use the technology in jail and into debt and into emotional pain and suffering because you want to be the only person who can charge for it. So, no, most Catholics (and likely many Catholic spin-off groups) shouldn't have any sort of moral dilemma in piracy or account-sharing. And this is where that intersection between morality and economics and society gets really fascinating to me. When you stop and realize that the reason China is one of the world's largest sources of pirated goods is, in part, because of a communist-style moral system, you get a little chill down your spine.Or at least, I do, but I'm a tremendous nerd about this stuff. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></blockquote>

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