Generation Free: Piracy, distribution, and entertainment

Poses in picture with an amazing author...

Hasn't read the books.

What is "game of thrones"?

on gaming: personally, I detested the inability of blizzard servers to handle d3 online players.
I always get connection errors nowadays.
in February 2013 alone, I must have experienced more than 15 disconnections compared to zero disconnection from November to December 2012.

Ya know .. its about time someone said this and its about time. As a digital artist and smal business person, sure I want everything for free too But I've also seen great projects come to a screaching halt, due to lack of revenue from their "loyal" user base.

For example - People rave about Open Source and I'm a contributor to some big ones myself. But ... the reality is a ton of software development gets thrown into the Open Source digital bin because they just simply couldn't protect it well enough to get a financial traction trhough even small subscription base program. So, instead of us getting really great software that can elevate our work and play to a whole new level, we get some halfbaked crap that no one wants to work on anymore - especially for free for 3 or 4 more years. After all, the coders, artists, producers have to pay rent and their heating, cooling, food, healthcare doesn't come at them for free ... yadayadayada. You know the drill.

You call it Entertainment Welfare here. I call it the TechnoHippy Generation
>> Free Love >> Free Sex >> Free Content
Everybody wants everything for free, but are so numb brained they they don't think to stop and ask - At what cost? They KNOW there is a cost they are avoiding and that's probably part of the thrill, but int heir moment of heheheing and calling those who pay slaves to "da man" they refuse to even contemplate the long term reprecussion of thier choices on the very things they say they hold dear.

And let's talk about the hypocrasy of it all. When it comes to thier projects they get totally bent outta shape if their "loyal users" don't only pay up, but also nark on anyone ripping them off! Its the craziest nutterbuddy ***** hyprocracy from a generation that's supposed to be against "evil, unethical, irresponsible, ruthless" corporations. I've seen them troll their competition in forums demanding they give code base back to BSD license Open Source projects even if it cost those folsk 10-150K to pay to get coded. In the meantime, they just keep ragging out their competition, pointing fingers at anyone and everyone else when they are doing exactly what they are accusing them of with their precious digital gold code. *sigh* Its like they think the these 'rules' should apply to everyone else but them. What's up with that?

I think the piracy act ... meaning the "ACT" of piracy to get a freakin free 60 mintues of numb braining entertainment is jsut another form of this TechnoHippy mentality, whcih I think you put out there really well. What we need to do is troll back at them the facts - That, without funding via revenues there is no free anything.

NOTHING is for free.
Everything comes at a cost and those evil corporate bastards they go on and on about will simply find sneakier ways to get their money from us. Like passive advertising via product placement and other subliminal marking techniques that go on right now under our nose and we just shrug off as no big deal. Aren't we then inviting the unrestrained commericialism of the very mediums we hold dear as art, such as through subliminal messages via tv and radio, product placement and other forms of passive and prolifice influencers? Do we really want to have a freakin' knee-jerk buying impluse everytime we drive by MickD's or WallyWorld? That's jsut one of many ways we are paying for our FREE stuff. Its our very minds are being sold to the highest bidder through the "art" we so stupidly insisted should be free because its an inconvenience to wade through the start up crap. At least when we pay for it we have a valid right to demand such things be examined and taken out of the stream of our consciousness through media. If we just shrug it off then no court is going to take our cries of foul over commercialism seriously, which is pretty evident since they've ignored and actually coddled big business even in the face of the worlds worst economy in almost 100 years. Wanna see that end? Then stop sucking on the nipple of commercialism in the name of Free-Dumb-ism.

GROW UP. Stop being passive patsies to commercialism and pay the freakin' buck to watch the money or $7.99 a month Hulu subscription, or if you're just so addicted, then $150 cable bill and demand these companies get ethical or you stop paying AND WATCHING. If we didn't buy into their trap then how would they succeed?

Ok - I'm off my soap box ... did you notice the ad for Dove while I was there? *WINKS*

Day-um,

This article is about software piracy? I would never have guessed that except for the fact that he stated it upfront. How many unrelated points do you have to make about the subject of piracy before actually making a point? Half way through reading I had to stop reading it. Let me see if I can summarize this article for people who don't have the time to wade through all the *******.

"I like cheeseburgers with pickles and mustard on top but without onions. Therefore, please do not engage in software piracy. It's wrong."

Yeah, okay. Thanks for the solid arguments CliffyB.

He doesn't understand Middle people who buy stuff and pirate it?
I did just that if a product is so crippled by DRM.

Assassins creed was one of them I did that with, Bought the game, realized how slow my fps was and then I started getting disconnected so downloaded a pirated copy.

Same with older music I downloaded from iTunes that had DRM, I bought some music from iTunes but pirated it so I could play it on other devices.

I don't understand the problem with this, The company is still getting my purchase, they're still getting my money, and I get a less crippled product?

College course refresher for CliffyB.

1. Tell the people what you are going to tell them.
2. Then tell them.
3. Then tell them what you told them.

That's it. Next time get yourself a piece of notebook paper and write it down on paper. Free styling articles just isn't your strong suit.

And yes ... I know there are a lot of misspells. Please forgive and don't let it distract you too much from the message of my rant. This site doesn't have spell check and I'm terribly dyslexic - just be glad I didnt' spell tit instead of it LOL - so try and restrain yourself from beating me up on the crazy reversals. I simply can't see them whilst I am writing. The bane of my existance.

These companies create this problem them selves. They treat paying customers like criminals. the pirated version is often times easier to use than legitimate version. Then they impose these rules on us and can't even support their product. How many Diablo 3s and SimCity launches have there been? How many times has this always online DRM proven itself to be a failure? Every game gets cracked and usually its within the first 24 hours. How many times does this need to fail before we stop doing it? Make a quality product for a decent price and people will buy it. We have DRM ridden software with day one dlc. They are asking too much for their product and giving us too little. The end result is going to be piracy. We must vote with our wallets and that's exactly what pirates are doing.

I can't imagine which browser you must be using, not to have a spell check option. Firefox, Opera, and even IE10 has spell check built in. I'm almost certain Chrome has spell check built in as well. IE7, IE8, and IE9 has an add-on that can be installed for spell checking, its called IESpell.

Really that article was mostly waffle and fluff.
Your conclusion:

while an oft repeated mantra of people who can't think outside the box, is demonstably false.

Good point by poster above. I think programmers who are used to living like movie stars get upset when there salaries drop from ludicrously high to a paltry ridiculously high. As a society, we have more software available to choose from than we did in the old days. Which allows smart people, like myself, to lag behind the technology curve a bit, and buy games at prices I believe they are worth. I used to pay $60 a game sometimes when the $60 game enjoyed a market unto itself. This is no longer the case.

I love to make this point every time programmers whine about piracy so I will again. I paid $2.49 a piece for triple AAA quality games from BioWare when I caught them on sale. A whopping $7.47 cents for Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 and Jade Empire. I haven't even finished playing the first one yet. So when you whiny rich programmers realize that not every game that fails to make billions is related to software piracy, maybe you can do something to find real solutions to increase profits. Call of Duty and Battlefield seem to be selling well enough to continue pumping out sequel after sequel.

I think Al Yankovic said it best a few years ago. Paraphrasing here but something along the lines of:
"My last record only went gold instead of platinum so I had to get the small jacuzzi". Pool Al. Makes me wanna cry.

They are not pirates they are thieves and the only question they ask themselves is "can I steal this for free?"

Oh dear, here we go again.
Copyright infringement is not theft. It is not stealing. It never was, and it never will be.
If someone does not dispossess you of something you have in your possession it is not theft, of any sort, in any way.
When people use the word theft to describe copyright infringement it serves only to highlight the fact that they have not thought about, or are unwilling to think about, what they are saying.

Best answer ever.Dont be the sheep,be the shepherd.You make those companies exist in the first place,make them treat you accordingly.

PS
I miss the old times where I bought a game with these goodies
http://collectorsedition.org/uploads/2012/08/Ultima-IX-540x432.jpg

and now it has come to this:
http://shop.bytes2beats.com/WebRoot.../B000/50ED/8960/00A3/DVD_in_DVD_case_open.gif

for the SAME price...
Meh

Quote "Then we?d have to just sit at home watching f*cking Harlem Shake videos."

Actually there are plenty of full length and short amateur films on you tube, Some of which are pretty good. HD camera equipment is so cheap nowadays anyone with an idea for a cool movie can go out with a few talented actor friends and make one.

Most of them do it for the love of their trade and a little bit of you tube advertising money thrown in.

You know, it's funny how people come to take an artificial, government granted monopoly as if it is some kind of birthright. As if it is natural law, as old as the hills. It isn't you know.
Theft has been well defined for millenia. Copyright has only existed for a few hundred years at most, and only in certain parts of the world at that.
Just because our economy has been built around it doesn't mean it is right. Just because many business models would falter if it was no longer given the force of law doesn't mean it is the best solution for the world we live in.
There is little doubt that the digital age has thrown new light on the ideas of 'intellectual property', the challenge is to have the courage to ask ourselves if we got it right when we came up with these philosophies or if, perhaps, we made a mistake that we now have an opportunity to correct.

I have nothing against choices. Choices equal freedom in my life. But my choice is to pay $2.49 for a triple AAA title on Steam when caught on sale versus paying $60.00 for a box and some colorful CDs. Just my preference but I support choices and freedom over anything else. That's why I refuse to purchase or even try Windows 8. I can't resist knocking Windows 8 every chance I get. It's like the red headed step child that everybody is always picking on. LOL. Poor windows 8.

I think you are onto something here...but...you must admit that games, books, music, and movies couldn't be produced without financial incentives. George Lucas would not have be able to produce 6 different Star Wars films if nobody ever paid to see his movies. So, even if I grant you the possibility that your premises are true, that theft only occurs if you dispossess somebody of something, we still have to deal with the reality that 'consumption of intellectual properties without payment' cannot be sustained indefinitely.

And of course you could argue the last point a bit. George Lucas is so filthy rich now that he probably could produce a few more Star Wars films for free without going bankrupt but that's another argument I guess.

But what about the unauthorized reproduction or dfistribution of such copyrighted work being illegal? Not thieves, but criminals instead?