Article by: Andrew Wallace

It seems appropriate for me to begin with a startling, chilling confession. It pains me to admit that on occasion, I have downloaded copyrighted games from unauthorized sources. That’s right, I am a pirate. Despite the fact that the piracy moniker simply glorifies my crimes and paints me as rebel of the cyberseas, I believe that I owe an explanation for my transgressions. My smarmy introduction may not serve my argument well, but I do feel that amongst the gaming community and industry there is a great deal that is misunderstood about game piracy and distribution of games in general. I wish to defend the indefensible. I strongly believe that in many cases piracy is a necessary evil in order to enjoy some games, and that it is ultimately beneficial for the games industry.

It is important for people to first understand that there is a fine distinction to be made between the pirating of digital content and theft itself. Despite the message of those commercials before movies and the fiery rhetoric of industry leaders, piracy is not the same as theft. I will use a simple example to demonstrate the difference. If I go into a clothing store and take a pair of jeans without paying for them, that is theft. I have not only taken a product without compensating them for it, but I have also deprived them of the ability to sell that pair of jeans to a legitimate customer. If instead I went into that same store with a magic pants copying machine, copied the jeans and left without compensating the store that would be more akin to piracy. Now the comparison isn’t exactly perfect with intellectual property like games and media, but the main point remains. Theft is depriving a seller of a legitimate sale, whereas piracy is not. While that doesn’t make media piracy legally or morally acceptable, it remains an important to understand that difference. Whenever game companies make statements about their content being pirated they consider the illegal downloads as theft, as if they were discs swiped from store shelves or if cash had been heisted from their coffers. While these unauthorized downloads are unfortunate, those pirated games are not directly taking money from the game developer and publisher.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people who create content deserve compensation for their work. Game developers should be paid for the games they create. The problem is that already many consumers are able to buy games without a single cent going back to the respective creators. Have you ever used an EB/Gamestop Edge Card? How about an import from eBay? Ever bought a game from the classifieds or a garage sale? If you can answer yes to any of those questions, then you bought a game without compensating the developers. While this seems obvious when you think about it, I want you to really dwell on that fact. Look at the shelves of your local EB or Gamestop the next time you are in a mall. Think about how many games you or others have bought used in order to save some money. While those may be legitimate retail transactions, when it comes to the developers there is no difference between those purchases and someone going to The Pirate Bay.
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