No, we're pointing out that legal actions have a more deleterious effect on the industry than piracy does. There's a difference.

You are closer than you could have possibly imagined. Do you know?

Angry Birds sales are astronomical as are its piracy figures. Your argument is largely meritless based on this fact alone. It's no more the "odd pirate" here and there for Rovio than it is for CDPR or Bethesda.

Well if you're a woman I don't want to know :-P

The essence of the article is simply that "fighting piracy using tactical nukes is shortsighted and hurtful", in addition he points out that piracy has its upsides, even though they may not necessarily outweigh the downsides.

No one sane thinks Rovio would be better off as a company if there was literally no way to monetize Angry Birds or have any kind of income.

Nahh, nothing like this

There was an article on CRACKed.com about musicians just today. That's also why there isn't a link to the Colplay example, which would fit even better. They weren mentioned in the article.

Not really, they sell unlocks for things like single use Eagles and stuff on Android. That's actually really a clever way to monetize it. You don't need the Eagles to beat any level, but if you're irritated and just want to move on, plus you got the game for free and want to maybe reward Rovio for the fun you're having (overall, perhaps not at the moment) the 1 USD is pretty paltry compared to what you pay for traditional mobile games. Parents find Angry Birds worth solid gold bullion simply for its ability to occupy and shut up their spawn for any length of time.

Hmmm, sounds an awful like TV and radio increasing brand awareness, which allows some people to become much more massively popular than they ever could have before. Filesharing is not going to go away. I only hope it doesn't go the way of (most) radio and TV stations that keep hammering the same relatively small percentage of content into people's heads over and over and over...

Well, it is already that way to some extent, popular stuff is much more available and easier to find. However, I recall the first time I ever fired up Limewire I goggled at the stuff that just simply was not available for sale to me at the time (anime fansubs were pretty much the only way to acquire any but a handful of anime titles at the time). I think to an extent the internet will always act as a way to connect people with extremely niche tastes and allow facilitation for creation and distribution of such content. The only way that won't happen is if the internet ceases to exist in its present form, which a lot of people in various governments and industries dearly want. In the end, the genie may be permanently out of the bottle. The next generations will not see art and copyright the way even we do, simply due to the nature of the internet. 3D printing will likely fuck over the rest of the old guard. I call it human progress. Others malign it. Oh well.

It's pretty difficult for humans to maintain a balanced view. People start rebelling against anti-piracy measures, eventually they just go the whole way and start supporting piracy. Which is sad, because neither extreme is right.

Plus, gamers start rebelling against the censoring of violent games, eventually they just go the whole way and start shooting people. ;)

+1 for mushy101, btw! :)

touche

I really don't get it either. It's one thing to say it's a nuanced issue and there are reasons it happens. Quite another to glorify it. I don't see what's so noble about not supporting artists whose work you enjoy.

And as we had in a different thread "supporting piracy" doesn't mean that you pirate everything. I would call myself a supporter of what most people call piracy. Yet I buy 95% of my games (The missing 5% would be CoD games), because I have the funds to actually do it now. My "support", if you want, of piracy is towards people how can't play the game otherwise, because they are poor or they are living in a country with massive censorship (piracy made Quake big in germany), etc.

Many people think that only they are entitled to play games, because only they can afford them. That is their opinion and I respect that, but I don't share it (And please spare me the "They should get a job"/"but I did xyz" arguments, I'm not discussing, I'm stating an opinion and I've heard them before).

I think that the way "piracy" has established itself is a positive thing for development, cultural or otherwise.

That being said, there are forms of piracy I strictly oppose. Like "frat boy piracy" not buying a game even though you could or, the worst, selling pirated games (Which is widespread in the former "eastern block" countries or SE Asia.

TL:DR: my opinion take it or leave it