The Death of D. (Was Tango vs Phobos)

[Koroskin Denis]

On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:14:32 +0400, bobef <bobef at nosmap-abv.bg> wrote:

> Robert Fraser Wrote:
>> Yigal Chripun Wrote:
>>
>> > Robert Fraser wrote:
>> >  > I've had very mixed feelings about all this. One one hand, the  
>> letter
>> > of the
>> > > law may be questionably constitutional. But millions of dollars  
>> every day are
>> > > lost because people (including myself occasionally...) steal  
>> copyrighted
>> > > material. Honestly, I think there should be much stricter penalties  
>> for
>> > > things like internet piracy, because it's simply so widespread and  
>> damaging.
>> >
>> > Of course you have the right to have your own opinion (that's also in
>> > the constitution) but all of the above is bullshit. (sorry for the
>> > language).
>> >
>> > stealing only applies to physical things like chairs and cars. that
>> > whole metaphor of information as physical entities is wrong.
>> > you sure can infringe someone's copyrights but you cannot steal  
>> anything
>> > since there's nothing to steal.
>>
>> Some philosopher said that all philosophical debates were inherently
>> linguistic ones that stemmed from not having the words to represent the
>> concepts being spoken about. We're using different definitions of  
>> "steal,"
>> but the concept is clear -- it's taking something you don't have the  
>> right
>> to have taken without paying for, and the debate is over whether you do
>> or should have that right.
>>
> This discussion is, of course, pointless but since I read it I may also  
> comment :) I wan to support Yigal Chripun. So you say stealing is  
> "taking something". But information (and software) is not something. It  
> is not something you can take. I "pirate" something and I have my copy  
> and you have yours. Nothing have been taken all are happy. This is  
> actually a good thing. Too bad food doesn't work this way. The problem  
> is greed. It has nothing to do with stealing.
>
>> I think what a lot of these arguments boil down to is people trying to
>> justify taking stuff without paying for it. Plain and simple. I do on  
>> occasion
>> download videos (these days only anime fansubs).  And I don't feel bad
>> about it. But I do know it's stealing. Downloading a $10 CD is really
>> no better than shoplifting a $10 CD, because the people who worked to
>> bring that CD into existence are not being paid for it.
>
> It is not the same as shoplifting as you are not depriving anyone from  
> anything. So you are not stealing anything. It is moral (and that is  
> relative) to pay for the author's work, but only if you like it. When  
> you buy a CD with 14 shitty songs because you are exposed to advertising  
> of one good one, why don't you pay 1/15 of the price? This is more  
> stealing than "pirating" because you are actually mislead to buy  
> something that you would normally not buy because it sucks.
>
> I have had similar discussions but how can you explain my mother who  
> works for 150$ a month (and she needs to eat pay bills, etc with these)  
> that she has to pay MS 500$ for their software that is what? Pixels?  
> Bytes? What?
>
> Anyway. In my opinion it comes down to greed cause no one is stealing  
> anything. Just some people are not willing to share although they are  
> not losing anything. And to lose something you must own it. So you can't  
> lose a million dollars of sales because you haven't sold anything in the  
> first place. If authors were more conscious (less greedy) they would  
> share because if the users were more conscious (less living in a society  
> where everyone wants to *make you* pay for something) they would show  
> gratitude by paying.
>
> Regards,
> bobef

Can't stand away of the topic.

My company was making PSP game and it leaks to the pirate bay two weeks  
before official release. Isn't it a stealing? Did my company give someone  
a permission to redistribute its software? Yes, you can't buy the game  
officially for a time being, but so can't others. Is it an excuse for you?  
There is an agreement between us and a publisher, they have a schedule and  
can't put a game in a wrong timeline. It's a bussiness, some marketing  
needs to be done, hard copies be made and transfered all over the world  
etc.

A game was something we were working on for more that half a year, lots of  
effort were put in it. Do we deserve a payment and respect?

In fact, a game was downloaded about 500.000 times before it got to the  
shelves. And about a 100.000 copies were sold _in total_. We got no profit  
just because everything out there are so poor and can't afford a licensed  
copy. What the hell you were thinking about before buying a handheld? An  
answer is - you are just too greedy and don't respect others efforts.  
Shame on you.

As a result we don't make PSP games anymore and you don't get any games  
 from us. And from lots of other developers, too. You harm not only  
yourself, but many of the other fair people who _do_ pay for their  
entertainment.

My old good PSOne has the following text upon loading many of the games -  
I remember it word-by-word:
"Piracy harms consumers as well as legitimate developers, publishers and  
retailers." So true.