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"Pirates Ahoy"

Piracy in the gaming world has always been something of a problem. The once underground market that plagued the sale of legitimate computer software has become more of a threat on the game producers as its migration to the mainstream production line that exists today continues. This change has resulted in rising rates of piracy and an increase on game prices. So what's brought this problem out of hiding?

New copying methods and PC software easily accessible over the net combined with cheap CD writers have created a new wave of 'pirates'. All around the country business like enterprises operating from bedrooms are coming into operation, it's like a whole new enterprise that seems to pose no pitfalls or threats to the perpetrators. Why do people do it? Why is this market becoming increasingly worrying to the gaming world? Two main reasons come to mind, the apparent ease and safety of producing pirate games combined with the very high prices of gaming media today.

I myself earn enough money to maybe buy 20% of the games I would like to own however the rest are clearly out of my reach due to my cash flow. I have a 'proper' job, well part time at least, and I still run into problems with purchasing game's, what about all the youngsters that this market is catered for so widely? How many games do they get to own? There are some exceptions of children with, how do I say it, overly generous parents, who will get the titles they desire but for the majority the problem is clear and present.

Here is the vicious circle part of it all, the more piracy that occurs, the more game prices need to rise due to a significant loss in profits, this resulting in more people spending less on legal copies and turning to the piracy market which is now widely available, and, a lot cheaper. I'm sure all of you reading this have easy access to copied games and a percentage of you have, or will in the future, make use of this fact.

I personally do not agree with the piracy of games however I do see why people do it. Game's today are stupidly priced, £40 is an extremely large amount of money to spend on a game especially if you're young. Using CD or DVD media for production of titles does lower the cost for the manufactures and you can notice this if you compare CD based games with the cartridge format used for the N64. However, this cross over to optical media has meant the cheap and easy copying methods available today. Manufacturers are saving on production but losing through ease of copying, they can't win.

Why risk it though? People seem to take piracy as an everyday 'thing' which is very worrying, breaking the law should never be an everyday occurrence, so why is it? People don't seem to worry about the consequences, which are enforced by ELSPA but rarely appear in the public eye. Some of you may be unaware that ELSPA are able to raid premises and seize equipment and media while also placing a fine and in significant cases taking the offender to court, scary stuff.

How do we solve this problem? Well, someone needs to break the circle, this can be either the manufactures or the public or a joint effort from both. Game prices can and should be lowered encouraging the sale of legitimate copy's lowering the interest in pirate games. The public should also be well aware of the consequences of piracy, ELSPA need to advertise the fact widely to insure this. It will never be an easy route to lowering piracy and manufacturers need to realise that to make more money through sales, they first need to lose it by encourage less piracy. Will they though?

Thanks for reading

Dean_0

k

Hmmmm, think people would have found this more interesting in prime topics???

I think people are more excited about the prospect of Mystique watching a DVD (hope she choose green mile) and Sheepy crying, which could be funny if he posted pictures of it :-)

Actually, my last post didn't make sense. It should have said "...has a VHS recorder instead of a DVD recorder..."

ShadowDragon wrote:
> Oh, those types of pirates? OK...
>
> "Ya mum's a pirate with a wooden cd, an eye for films and a vhs
> recorder instead of a VHS..."
>
> =oP


Now if all pirates used wooden CD's we wouldnt have this problem :-)

Oh, those types of pirates? OK...

"Ya mum's a pirate with a wooden cd, an eye for films and a vhs recorder instead of a VHS..."

=oP

naughty, witty, pirates ELSPA will get you, but laugh in the process.

ShadowDragon wrote:
> Quote from Toad, "Ya mum's a pirate with a wooden (expletive), an
> eye patch and a budgie instead of a parrot."
>
> Pirates help us to provide such witty phrases...


... and cheap copied games

Quote from Toad, "Ya mum's a pirate with a wooden (expletive), an eye patch and a budgie instead of a parrot."

Pirates help us to provide such witty phrases!

anyone ?? Am i that boring?


The cheek of it

oh and dont answer that above question :-P

Anyone with any opinions out there ???????????????