Is piracy a serious issue for game developers?

[Bloodstone Press]

What is Book of Broken Dreams, by the way? If it includes a chapter on mob psychology, I may be interested.

What it is: A book on the "rules of psychology" in an RPG. It is written for d20, but a lot of people find it most useful for Call of Cthulhu. The chapter on personality runs on its own mini-game mechanic (a % system) and can be added to any RPG system.

The current version does not have any info on mobs, but the revision will. In fact that chapter is almost done. its 8,000 + words about group dynamics. It discusses juries, crowds, elite groups Vs ordinary groups, group process, dynamic social impact theory, group conflict, leadership of groups, behavioral contagion and mobs. The discussion on mobs covers trampling, what causes mobs, how mobs affect people that are in them, riots, and panics.

My attitude on this matter is something I have considered, and reconsidered, and considered again; even with some of the well-thought and well-written arguments on the previous pages, I still believe it to be valid and correct.

Then there is still hope for you.

I don't really think any of us came into this thread thinking we'd change our minds-- or, really change anyone else's mind

I did. Attitude change is possible. And Sundragon2012's post about how he used to pirate, but then changed his ways is a good example (I think it was him, anyway, who said that. I know someone did, but I'm not going to look for it).

Attitude change is not easy. It is one of the most difficult things to do in psychology, but it can be done. With over 2000 page views so far, I’m sure some folks reading this have given some more thought to the issue. And maybe some of them have taken a second look at their current set of attitudes, as you have. And maybe some of them will change. If not this time, maybe next time.

I also think the law is an important factor. Eg the (UK) law says I can resell books secondhand without compensating the publishers/authors. Is the secondhand book trade morally ok? What if the law changed so that resale became illegal or required me to pay a royalty to the Copyright Collections Agency? Would reselling without compensation then become morally wrong, equivalent to theft?

I think this has already been addressed earlier when someone pointed out that buying a book gives you ownership of that copy.

Hypothetically changing the law would, in my opinion, require a lengthy look at why we are changing the law. If I find the reason to be morally sound, then I would support it and say “yes.” On the other hand, if I could find no morally sound reason to support such a change in the law, I would not support it and the answer would be “no. “

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

What it is: A book on the "rules of psychology" in an RPG. It is written for d20, but a lot of people find it most useful for Call of Cthulhu. The chapter on personality runs on its own mini-game mechanic (a % system) and can be added to any RPG system.

The current version does not have any info on mobs, but the revision will. In fact that chapter is almost done. its 8,000 + words about group dynamics. It discusses juries, crowds, elite groups Vs ordinary groups, group process, dynamic social impact theory, group conflict, leadership of groups, behavioral contagion and mobs. The discussion on mobs covers trampling, what causes mobs, how mobs affect people that are in them, riots, and panics.

Hmm. Going to need to put money back on my credit card.

How long's your special offer going on?

 

[Bloodstone Press]

How long's your special offer going on?

The current version (which was made back in 2002 and is in desperate need of a revision) will continue to be available for $5 until I disable it sometime in December or January. The revision (selling for $7) will be released sometime in April... maybe sooner, but no sooner than February.

 

[DreadPirateMurphy]

I never said information was "worthless" or "valueless"-- I said it should be free. The fact that some people are willing to kill to protect certain information doesn't change that it should be free-- if anything, it makes it more important that it be made free.

If it were "worthless", I wouldn't be saying-- repeatedly, I might add-- that the people who create that information should be compensated for doing so. I wouldn't care if they got their paychecks, and I wouldn't avoid sharing the products of people I'm worried might not get paid because of it.

And yes, if it were within my means, I would snag Boeing's prototype plans, the core code to Windows Alpha, and the name of the man who shot Kennedy-- but as I said before, I'm no hero, and my charred body would end up in a ditch before I even got close.

Yes. That's why it must be distributed.

Who are you to decide what can and cannot be shared freely? Who are you to stop me?

I'm not sure I understand your point. I would like some clarification. What kind of natural law, right, or principle specifies that information in general should be free?

There is a difference in my mind between transparency for the common good (e.g., the US Freedom of Information Act, or SEC reporting requirements), and information that is private property by law and has no direct impact on public welfare. For example, if a large company were poisoning groundwater, that should be made public. That same company's proprietary technology, however, should not. Eliminating their ability to compete effectively would drive them out of business, and do a net public harm through lost jobs, tax revenue, and GDP.

 

[Storm Raven]

I never said information was "worthless" or "valueless"-- I said it should be free.

When you understand the inherent contradiction in this statement, you might understand what is being discussed here.

 

[Psionicist]

That depends on what, exactly, you mean by pirated DVDs.

I know a place that sells pirated DVDs of stuff that is still in the theaters...in their 1st week of their run!

That may be the kind of stuff Kid Charlemagne is referring to.

There's a difference between bootlegs and files you can download. Bootleg copies are manufactured in countires like china and meant to be sold for profit, like pirated copies of Nike t-shirts. Every single "pirate" i know think this is wrong. People who download stuff from the Internet are usually regular people from western countries who don't do it for profit. Every single "pirate" I know think this is right, or atleast "not wrong".

 

[Numion]

I view filesharing as not much different from loaning stuff from friends, combined with the 'if' that I had a zillion friends! I mean, there's not much difficulty in loaning a DVD from a friend, or loaning it from the library, for free. DLing from the net is about the same. Actually CDs are even worse than MP3 - all kinds of copyprotections so you cant use comp to listen them, no nifty playlists with songs from 100s of different albums on cd-players, you get them later than MP3's, which usually come 2 weeks before release date .. I could go on.

Besides copyrights last too long anyway .. they should be much shorter. I mean, if everyones right to earn money from their design / creative effort was the most important thing, then shouldn't drug patents, for example, last as long as copyrights too?

 

[Psionicist]

Besides, I have to pay taxes to the record industry on blank CD-R and DVD-R. It's my legal right to download all the music I want as I've paid for it.

 

[GeorgeFields]

On a previous hard drive, I had about a gigabyte of pirated D&D books.
That hard drive crashed, and I haven't had any desire to go back and get any of that stuff.

What I'll never understand is why people take the time to scan an entire freaking book into .pdf to make it available on something like Bearshare. Why are some people so devoted towards being evil?

Like you, I had several Gig of downloaded .pdf's on a hard drive that crashed without the desire to take the time to reacquire them. I had trouble finding one book in particular to complete a set, but I had the actual book. I decided to scan it in myself, but quit after only 5 pages because it was more trouble than it was worth. I guestimated it would take me 3 or 4 days without sleeping to scan in a 300 page book. These people that scan in 300+ page books either have vastly superior computers and software or don't seem to have a life that needs their attention.

 

[Numion]

Besides, I have to pay taxes to the record industry on blank CD-R and DVD-R. It's my legal right to download all the music I want as I've paid for it.

Thats soooo true, it's a total rip-off.