Stepping into Derek's room, it's difficult to avoid the stacks of CD-ROMs, the cases of DVD-Rs, and the printed game manuals. While all of his room is utterly filthy, it's the smell emanating from his laundry pile concerns me the most. As I tiptoe through the mess, I find Derek sitting, half naked, on his chair and playing Final Fantasy 13 — one week before its release date.
Piracy has always been a red-button topic in the industry. But unlike other issues, the discussion is completely one-sided. While critics, developers, and gamers collectively admonish the piracy of software, the copyright violators are eerily quiet. Normally, pirates are very reluctant to expose themselves, which leaves their opinions unheard. I'm here to remedy that.
To put it plainly: I live in a university residence building, and pirates surround me. Below are the testimonies and opinions of those pirates. Remember though, regardless of the depositions of these individuals, piracy remains a crime. Do not pirate games. For your sake and for mine.
But wait! It's important that you are aware of Canadian law and practices before you read the opinions of my friends and neighbors.
First of all, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (our national police force) tolerate piracy for personal use. That's right: Unlike the FBI and other national policing services, the Mounties do not arraign or arrest software pirates. As their official website explains, the Mounties "spend their limited resources focusing on crimes that actually hurt the consumer, like copyright violations related to medicine and electrical appliances."
As a result of this admitted lenience toward copyright infringement, Canada leads the world in file sharing. According to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, file sharers in Canada represent a larger percentage of the population than in any other country. In essence, pirates are rarely frowned upon here. While peer-to-peer sharing remains illegal in most circumstances, the average citizen accepts piracy as a part of the entertainment business polity.
As usual, the interviewees have all assumed pseudonyms. In addition, the opinions of these individuals do not reflect the opinions of Bitmob or its staff.
With those facts in mind, here are unedited declarations of the pirates who I live and study with:
Omar: When you download video games without paying for them, do you feel a sense of guilt? Do you believe you're hurting the developers, publisher, or the industry in general?
Derek: Fuck 'em. [Laughs] Theft is only harmful when the retailer owns a limited quantity of the product. When I download a torrent and install the game, I'm not stealing from the company — technically, they haven't lost anything.
You could claim that the opportunity cost of my non-purchase still affects them, but in reality, it doesn't. Why? Because I was never prepared to pay $60 for any of these titles. The company wasn't going to receive money from me — they lose nothing.
Omar: Even if piracy is commonplace, some of us feel compelled to reward certain developers for their hard work and ambition by purchasing their game. Do you believe in supporting development studios at all?
Derek: Not really, no. As a consumer, I feel somewhat alienated from the creators of the games. Conversely, I feel somewhat justified in my piracy when developers try to cheat us.
Omar: What do you mean?
Derek: Well, take Infinity Ward for example. As a fan of the original Call of Duty games, I was excited for Modern Warfare 2. In fact, I was prepared to line up in order to buy the game. But when Activision announced that there would be no dedicated servers, I tossed all plans to buy the game. If anything, I feel like I delivered a blow against avaricious businessmen everywhere!
Omar: Hey Jamal, I'm sure you're aware of Derek's romantic, Robin Hood-inspired notion of software piracy. Do you agree with it?
Jamal: Only to a point. I don't think that by pirating Modern Warfare 2 we're teaching the publisher a lesson. I mean, most Internet petitions do very little to sway the plans or opinions of developers. The Activision execs would be rolling around in their piles of cash, regardless of whether we bought their game.
Omar: When, if ever, does piracy become an effective, political tool?
Jamal: Well, look at Assassin's Creed 2 and the draconian DRM Ubisoft installed. By saying "no" and pirating the game, we'd be communicating our malcontent with the copyright management they want us to accept.
Omar: Couldn't you simply say "no," instead of pirating the game?
Jamal: [Laughs] Maybe…but that wouldn't be as fun.
Mary: This issue isn't PC-centric. Half of the people on this floor have modded Xbox 360s. Yet, almost all of today's DRM targets computer games.
Omar: Remeber 2D Boy, the developers behind World of Goo? Their business practically tanked after the game's release on the PC. Remember how badly Crysis was affected by piracy? The developers announced that pirates outnumbered legitimate customers by a ratio of 20 to one. You've got to admit that PC exclusive games are largely hurt by pirates.
Mary: Maybe that's the case, but the media has no right to prosaically label PC gamers as good-for-nothing hackers and scammers.
Omar: Well, you may not be a hacker or a scammer, but you're certainly good for nothing.
Mary: I resent that.
Omar: By pirating, do you believe you're committing a crime?
Harrison: At times. There are days when I feel as though my actions are justifiable. But when I hear about studios closing, I sense a bit of regret.
Omar: So why do you pirate games?
Harrison: Mostly because I don't really care.