I, for one, would not feel bad at all toward a game developer who prosecutes
game pirates. Piracy is thievery, and I would not get angry at police
forces who arrest and prosecute burglars. It's the same idea and the same
crime.
--
If guns kill people, writing implements cause grammatical and spelling
errors!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Towne" <s...@xirr.com>
To: "Gamers Discussion list" <gamers@audyssey.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2013 9:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Audyssey] Piracy rate?
There have been a number of developers who have tracked piracy rates
in various ways, and the numbers I have are more from the mainstream
and sighted indy game scene. It's not that everyone is an elite
hacker, it's more that one or two elite hackers can produce a download
that works for everyone with a single click. Once that download is
out there, people share it. "Hey man, can you skype me that
download?"
As for prosecuting people, it costs more than it's worth, so nobody
does it. Look at the MPAA and the record companies - they've tried
making an example of downloaders, and it hasn't stopped music sharing
If anything, it's just made them look bad. Suing your players will
just make your players hate you.
This is why I won't bother to produce any standalone games unless I
intend to give them away. Anyone who thinks they can sell standalone
games without strong 'phone home' server authorization and make money
is fooling themselves.
Dennis Towne
Alter Aeon MUD
http://www.alteraeon.com
On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 6:48 PM, Thomas Ward <thomasward1...@gmail.com>
wrote:
Hi Charles,
Well, if a developer wants to prosecute a software pirate to the full
extent of the law all they have to do is report it to their local
prosecutor and report it as a theft. According to the 1997 No
Electronic Theft Act a convicted software pirate can receive five
years in jail and a $250000 fine. That's if a developer wants to press
criminal charges.
If a developer wants to sue for damages the minimum is $150000 per
instance of illegal copyright infringement. So if Joe gives his key
out to 10 people and the developer can track his key to all 10 people
he can be sued for a total of $1.5 million in damages. Of course, as
we've already established most blind people aren't rich so there is no
way to get $1.5 million in damages from a pirate.
The irony here is while most developers have been rather light handed
about piracy if they wanted to get nasty they could really make their
lives miserable. I think five years in prison and $250000 in fines
might discourage a few pirates you think?
Cheers!
On 4/30/13, Charles Rivard <wee1s...@fidnet.com> wrote:
Speaking of piracy, does anyone know the approximate cost, or what would
be
involved in, penalizing these pirates to the full extent of the law, and
what you would get in return for the money, time, and effort spent? You
can
answer off list in order to not think the answers would make them feel
that
it is safe to pirate because nothing would be done about the rampant
problem. Could it be possible for developers to get together and split
the
cost involved? Thanks.
--
If guns kill people, writing implements cause grammatical and spelling
errors!
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