Obama and piracy

Visual Novel Community Anime/Otaku Discussions
#1

Split from DT thread because this is majorly OT for that thread:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6669&start=200#p100653

There’s some more issues in the broader proposal that are very concerning and possibly violate constitutional law. One of them involves prosecuting based on keyword searches, something akin to thought crimes seen in those 1980s sci-fi movies.

They should really just focus on things all sides can agree upon like prosecuting those profiting from illegal sales which has near universal support. I’m also not sure they will get traction with China and I’m not certain Russia will do much to help fight it (they’ll likely pay it at least some lip service though).

There’s also been no info to back up any of the claims maid by any of the industry. I can claim, for example, there are 2 million monkeys living in caves under the moon’s surface. There I just did. That doesn’t make my claim true. I’m also not sure the lobbyists have as much power as they claim. There has been a slow paradign shift going on in Washington and there is also a backlash (how widespread is debatable) with government intrusion and this would be essentially government intrusion (in some cases very broadly) into private industry and private life. I think there’s room for some reform, especially like I stated above, but I doubt the president will get anything before November if its major and after that it will be harder.

I personally think the industry needs to look at itself and see how it can develop things to curb piracy. I do sympathise somewhat as I know people who pirate without regard for ever buying an item. On the other hand I know people who buy an item and want to play it through a different medium (such as playing a UMD game on the PSP through an ISO) for any number of reasons, people don’t like shelling out a lot of money for a product they cannot return (mostly PC games) and that has no decent demo and finally those who watch a series and buy it if they like it. Fortunately the latter seems to have been dealt with somewhat and company’s seem to have found a way to allow low-quality streaming video and make money.

Bottom line I think the industry is afraid of the bad PR of suing someone’s grandma and wants the US government to take the hit while they rake in the dough.

#2

Source on Narg’s quote? I browsed the news on the topic and see no mention of prosecution of software piracy. The main thrust seems to be preventing piracy of physical goods. Furthermore, the focus is on piracy originating in foreign countries rather than domestically. Consumers don’t seem to be in the crosshairs of this plan either.

http://www.techworld.com.au/article/350 … own_piracy
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/a … iracy.html

There is mention that companies are encouraged to work with each other to reduce copyright violations. That’s about as close as it gets to software piracy, as far as I can see.

#3

News site that deals specifically with the game industry:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/u … ine-piracy

You’ll have to register to see the entire article. The I’m a consumer… account is limited, but totally free and gives access to the public articles. IMHO it’s a good site. They talk about “boring” things like what game companies get federal tax credits and whatnot (there’s a reason why foreign games cost more than domestic ones). One honestly doesn’t need more access that the free account: the paid accounts are pretty useless, unless you already work in the industry, in which case the company be paying for it. :stuck_out_tongue:

Operated by Europeans, so from time to time, the info there gives a unique prospective on things American’s don’t care about.

I do find it interesting, [url=http://www.theesa.com/newsroom/release_detail.asp?releaseID=100]that mainstream news doesn’t care what the ESA thinks[/url], seeing how software piracy is why the ESA exists… and they are part of a multibillion dollar industry, that makes more money (and thus could lobby more) than Hollywood.

#4

I hate to say it, but I’m sensing spin in that article you linked–linking together statements (in this case, by the federal government then by the ESA) to make the point you want to make, rather than reporting on the salient points / what actually matters. And why is it that no one else linked the investigation to software piracy? Until I see actual evidence to the contrary, I have to assume this initiative has little to do with software piracy as applies to US consumers.

#5

There’s no doubt there’s spin. I’ve no question of that. It is a video game exclusive news site. But since when has the industry needed to have laws passed or enforced, with the consumer in mind? It’s been long held that consumers do not care about piracy: it doesn’t impact their accessibility to what they want, and the factor to pricing is negligible in the grand scheme of things. To a consumer, the worst that can happen, is they won’t find the product on store shelves anymore… or there won’t be a sequel. However piracy does impact profitability - people lose/don’t get jobs over it - so it’s an industry focused issue.

Most companies have long accepted that fact, and move along with their own agenda. Appealing to consumers, doesn’t work with piracy, no matter if companies play good cop or bad cop with the issue. The law basically just gives company lawyers more toys to play with - has nothing to do with “helping the consumer” in any direct function. Game companies can do things they couldn’t do before (or it’s easier). Nor was the law written for game companies or software piracy in specific - it just happen to be convenient for such uses: software is intellectual property after all.

I just wanted to post the article. Didn’t want to defend or dissect the ramifications.

Also, mainstream news has reported “one sided spin” all the time. Just check out the Politics section. I just find it interesting that the general media doesn’t care about this kind of stuff, as much as they care that McDonalds Happy Meals are making kids fat (which is spin like any other). Just supports the trending industry thought, that software piracy is an internal matter they’ll deal with themselves, with the tools they can find. And that’s what the article pretty much reflects. However I’m not surprised, nor did I check. Wasn’t my intention to discuss if the government is in cahots with the game industry or not (and it’s not). :slight_smile:

EDIT
Not related to this piracy matter, but don’t think for a moment that game companies won’t sue something stupid because of worry over a “PR” image. That already been worked on. People already hate Electronic Arts, as some big greed evil corporation that sues and puts drm on things, or sucks the life out of games.

All according to plan. :stuck_out_tongue:

When The Sims 3 has drm on it, you blame EA… not Maxis. People love Maxis: they hate EA. You buy stuff cause you love Maxis… but hate what EA does. Well guess what? You’re paying EA anyways. Thanks for playing! Angry that Rock Band XXX sucks? People don’t blame Harmonix Music Systems for it… they blame those evil corporate executives on the EA board, for cutting the budget or changing directors… even if that didn’t really happen (or at least not that simply). Lookie here! Over at this hand! Don’t pay attention which pocket the money goes, just hate my hand over here. Grrrr… evil left hand… but my right hand gives you good stuff, so keep stuffing those pockets! Hate my left hand though. HATE! :wink:

Consumers hate EA. Investors love it. Or rather, they did until last season’s forecasts.

#6

Well economy aside, which affects EA like anyone else, there has been a slow but growing backlash against buying games with excessive DRM. While People may like Maxis and hate EA, not buying games still hurts. One person refusing to buy that game is not going to make a difference, but if enough people decide that, it will starts making an impact.

Also Maxis hasn’t been completely untarnished. People still associated them with heavy DRM games. Its just with EA as the parent company of so many other such company’s they pool all that hate.

Ultimately though I think EA, and its subsidiaries, problem is not DRM or piracy, its quality. Their games have continued to lack major innovation and new ideas. This is reflected in the continaul downward spiral for their overall game reviews. I think finally people started talking with their pocketbook now that money’s tighter.

#7

Actually from a technical standpoint, business is booming for EA: their anti-protection and underhanded market strategy [u]INCREASED[/u] revenue by over half a billion dollars. The reason why investors are angry, is because EA went a billion dollars in the hole anyways. The company would have needed 1.5 billion in revenue increase, to break even.

EA lost profit because:

#1: The used game market.

#2: They spent too much on making games.

#3: Failing economy.

The first is justified, because many of the best reselling game in the used market, are EA titles. Had those people bought new copies, rather than used copies, the company’s profits might have been $500 million greater. This is why GameStop is not exactly a friend of EA right now.

The second is due to high budget price tags, releasing too many games, and having too many people on the payroll. EA is fixing that, with layoffs and project terminations. Also expect EA to not spend as much on game budgets: the people who are left, must do more with less, or be fired.

The third is obvious to all. Nothing EA can do about it, but fixing 1 and most certainly 2, will be a resolution.

More people are buying EA games. The issue is that it costs more to make those games, and more of the buyers are looking at the used market.

EA’s piracy stance, has little to do with their diminishing sales. DRM games continue to be top sellers, despite people whining about DRM. And thus so far, DRM games that failed to sell, was because the game sucked, not because it had DRM.

At present, DRM is less of an issue for EA, than is dealing with GameStop. They’ll continue to send their attack dog lawyers for copyright violation, but they’re more worried about being undercut at the retail level.

#8

Actually, the whole content-locking thing they’re doing seems to be in lieu of nasty DRM. At least, both Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 had simple-disc-check-only for boxed retail copies. They have more restrictive activation measures for downloadable sales (where I can concede activation makes more sense).

I can’t say I’m a big fan of this whole DLC-locking thing (because things are more easily lost to history, and because I don’t like it when companies try to unilaterally change the rules of the road when the law clearly intends otherwise) but they haven’t been too obnoxious with it so far, so it’s not something I freak out over.

#9

I’m not sure if that’s the case or if its the same number of people buying more EA games.

Basically my point was not that DRM has hurt them much, but that lackluster titles (with big budgets) + excessive DRM has hurt sales of their non-flagship titles like Civilization or Madden.

#10

News article from a month ago…

#11

It’s sort of troubling when it’s the casual crowd actually buying games and the hardcore gamers pirating them. These kind of stats will only hasten the Nintendofication of gaming…

#12

I’d actually almost expect the casual crowd to pirate less. After all, they’re casual. Casual pretty much means they game now and then, but aren’t big huge fans. If something is too difficult for them, they move on. Console piracy is not as simple as point, click, and pirate. You have to mod your device. This is a pain in the neck, and so - for a hardcore gamer who wants free stuff, worth the effort - but for a casual gamer, the annoyance factor is worth more to them (or to many of them) than the cost of just buying the game. Casual gamers don’t have the motivation (speaking in general terms only) to pirate; if their friend hooks them up with pirated games, great, but they’re not going to sit down and figure this stuff out. Instead, they’ll do something else.

#13

Indeed, a better comparison would be pirated pc games targeted as casual market that have no copy protection or whos copyprojection is pre-cracked. I expect titles like The Sims to be high on those lists.

#14

Nintendo wins a battle in the UK:

http://kotaku.com/5598447/r4-piracy-dev … -in-the-uk

God save the Queen and whatnot. :stuck_out_tongue: