P For Piracy
I have something to confess, something I’m reminded to be ashamed of whenever I see my peers unabashedly and almost proudly practicing the act over and over again. It’s piracy I’m talking about, a phenomenon that continues to plague the video game industry relentlessly, and the confession involves my previous, brief practice of it.
Where I come from, it appears to be a creed among gamers to not purchase games but instead procure them through illegal means, ranging from simply downloading to buying vastly cheaper bootleg copies. It is the norm to simply pirate, and the extent of the piracy can be seen from non-gamers having the impression that video games are intended to be enjoyed without cost.
Perhaps this widespread pirate phenomenon is exaggerated in the Asian context, but a simple search off popular torrent sites for video games provide for a staggering amount of avenues for the gaming population to exploit, and this has led me to believe what I’ve experienced here is similar worldwide. Piracy has now transcended the necessity of a physical medium, literally beaming the game into the hands and minds of gamers through the internet, providing almost instantaneous gratification.
People like free things, that is almost inarguably a fact, and the force of piracy as the tireless phantom of the industry is most possibly driven by that truth. In the simplest economic terms, the lack of a cost translates into zero tangible loss for the consumer, and one will be hard pressed not to be able to see the advantages of this. Once you remove the financial transaction, people are free from commitment and the need to work for entertainment. Perhaps more importantly to pirates, it allows people (to quote directly from a friend) “to try the entire catalogue of video games without paying a cent.”
The awful truth is that a sizeable population of video gamers (or most people in general) dislike the notion of having to pay. The ramifications of this is widespread, and it is unfortunate that many of the offenders do not see these consequences and that their ability to continually pirate and enjoy free gaming rests on the population of honest, paying gamers. The people who continue to support the video gaming industry by purchasing instead of pirating enables companies to find it worthwhile to produce games, in turn allowing pirates to enjoy them illegally.
This is perhaps a reason behind the high cost of video games in general, which ironically also happens to be the argument for pirating games. The paradox of piracy is that the problems it identifies as justifications are largely a result of itself. This vicious cycle becomes self perpetuating, and ultimately the ones that the industry subsists on suffer.
From reasonable (Steam) to ridiculous (Ubisoft) means of managing piracy, companies have been trying to deter pirates, yet there has been little to no success in preventing the big P from rearing its ugly head time and again. If I had to wager on it, I’d gladly put a fortune on the line that the current means of combating piracy will do nothing. This outrageous trend of placing penalties on honest consumers is akin to amputating an entire foot for a tiny but annoying blister.
I’ve had multiple conversations with people who stand by piracy despite acknowledging that what they do is in fact legally wrong, and the surprising thing from these conversations is in their refusal to see what they do as morally wrong. Unlike shoplifting or stealing a physical good from someone else, they don’t recognize pirating a game as a wrong that rests in the same ethical league as the aforementioned acts.
While that didn’t prove to be shocking to me, it felt disconcerting to know that a significant amount of people who pirate do not see their act as wrong. The “illegal” tag that comes with the act isn’t enough to put them off since the actual enforcing of these laws are few and far in between. I wouldn’t identify this as the cause of their nonchalant attitude towards piracy; it continues to be a contributor to this phenomenon.
Yet I would hesitate to see the enforcement of such laws as the answer to the problem. Piracy would indeed fall, but the ultimate goal of raising game sales and perhaps in turn drop the prices of video games would hardly be considered conquered. The answer to these problems is in the value that people pin towards video games. People don’t directly compare pirating a game to shoplifting a good because they do not value these two acts similarly, and what must be done isn’t to simply prevent pirates from being able to do it but also from them wanting to do it at all.
Bear with me here, as I know what I say sounds incredulous. But what we should strive to do isn’t to set up barriers, but to attempt and raise the value of the video gaming medium. If the population realizes and appreciates the fact that video games, despite being intangible when compared to physical goods, represent an equal amount of dedication and work, we may perhaps be able to reduce piracy and benefit as a whole.
What I’ve just mentioned may present an idealistic view, but after the countless of wars between pirates and companies that have only seen the corpses of consumers in their aftermath, there must be an attempt to alter the way we deal with pirates. Putting up walls against them has proved futile with more torn down faster than can be built, and ultimately the status quo never tips to the industry’s favour.
We must realize that we cannot fully eradicate the persistence of piracy in the industry but can only control and minimize its prevalence. The act of dishonesty occurs throughout various industries and does not apply solely to the video gaming one. Industry makers must embrace the inability to control every aspect of their business and respect the desires of their customers, and consumers must work with the industry to reduce piracy.
Ceasing to ignore such acts and continue to engage any of our peers that decide to hide their integrity for gratification is a first giant step towards this goal. It is vital that as a community we act to put pressure on the ones around us, to stand by our beliefs as a form of respect to the ones that continue producing video games.
Piracy will not go away, but that doesn’t mean we simply stand with our arms by our side and watch people around us committing acts that we don’t acknowledge as legitimate. It can dwindle, but slowly. The industry must no longer expect an overnight solution to a problem that has persisted, and not see it as a technological issue but a human and an ethical one. It’s unfortunate to know that there isn’t a magic powder that erases piracy, but it is at the same time heartening to note that as honest consumers we can continue to advocate and push our peers into a direction that will eventually benefit all of us.
And perhaps then, I will no longer have to be ashamed of my inaction.
Categories: Gaming
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