So, I've been reading Serious and Lite Discussion for a while...
and I've come up with something we should do.

Since we all seem to be very intelligible, why don't we create a "game" all about showing off our argumentative minds?

RULES:


Just remember that this is all for fun.. so no trolling, flaming, and the usual
If you're a good Ponderer, you should try to avoid very invasive topics such as religion. But, since we all should be open-minded individuals, it shall still be allowed.

This Week's Thought:

sm extra materials: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2653-Piracy

Tinker Away!~

(I will be making my own personal argument soon)

Edit: Edit: With moar DRM?

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Feb 1 2011, 2:11 am by Tuxedo-Templar.

It's impossible to control the "electronic anarchy." The world wide web stretches to almost every corner of the globe, and people can download gigabytes of data within minutes. People are constantly inventing new programs and methods to bypass systems and illegally pirate millions' worth of electronic material. Companies and schools have problems filtering their own networks--how could any government, or even every government, block a boundary that stretches to infinity and beyond?

I kinda don't get why you already picked the side for us. I hope you realize some people are "pro-pirate", or otherwise, see some benefit to pirating.

No shit, some see a benefit to pirating. They get free music and programs. Nevertheless, it is without a doubt something to be fought, as it is essentially stealing. If, without Adobe, you couldn't have gotten Photoshop, than without giving them what Adobe wants for it, you shouldn't have it. Same for music (and I'm a hypocrite here). Piracy is something that should be fought as it's undoubtedly a negative for the economy. Piracy stops the growth of competitors, as why would one use Jasc PSP instead of Photoshop, if Photoshop can be gotten for free through piracy?

Also: More convenient DRM-enabled (or at least commercial) services which people would want to use. Things like iTunes or Zune, where the convenience of it being there and with additional information and resources outweighs the costs and risks associated with piracy.

Because stealing is generally held to be wrong by the majority of the world.

As the internet exists today it seems almost impossible to truly stop piracy, but if the internet were changed such that a person was required to log in as their actual identity else a server wouldn't process any of their requests, it would be a radically different internet in which it would actually be possible to hold people accountable for their actions. But do we really want that sort of internet? Personally I think it should be left to companies to discover newer and better forms of encryption to protect their data, and the government should be allowed to regulate stupid companies like Blizzard who won't even let you play SC2 without logging in.

Convert the world to Christianity. As piracy is stealing, and true Christians are against stealing, the amount of piracy in the world would drop to zilch, or thereabouts.

Shut of the internet LOL

Interesting concept. I for sure would change my behavior on certain stuff.

I hope I'm reading you wrong, bro. I swear you just said iTunes is more convenient and has more resources than pirating [music].

Indeed, I did.

That would be incorrect, sir. Everyone I have ever heard talking about iTunes states that it has DRM, it has arbitrarily lowered bitrates (I read 128-196, which is quite low) compared to CD releases (that should always be released in lossless), and I rarely ever see official releases (say of a game soundtrack) that contains anywhere near what can be accessed through a single click on a rapidshare search engine.

Any one of these elements renders it an inferior choice over sailing the Flying Dutchman.

I cannot say anything about Zune as I have never even heard of that service before. iTunes is fairly popular but very much despised by the soundtrack community.

You could only interpret it as stealing if the data was being deleted on the other end somehow. Copying =/= Stealing.

Now, copying is not held to by wrong be the majority of the world.

The only practical way to adapt to unrestricted file sharing, is by pricing digital items at their true market worth. Songs should be pennies, and movies should be quarters. Another idea is to make Internet service more expensive, and require ISP's to give that extra $ to sites with the most hits.

Please tell me this is a joke. One - you've done the true scotsman fallacy right off the bat, and two - you do not have to believe in barbaric thousand year old fairy tales in order to be a good person.

As for piracy, I think the only way to control it is to resort to something that limits the freedom of the internet, and that itself is worse then piracy itself. Though what I have been seeing lately is that pirates can't play multiplayer with everyone else, only singleplayer. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) So I guess that is a sort of 'con' to using pirated games.

Ugh, Gods no. I'm already looking at paying $3-5 a gig if this stupid usage-based billing thing goes through in Canada. I'm just going to drop the internet entirely and take up knitting if that happens. Internet is expensive enough as it is.

As a heavy pirate, the big thing that drives my piracy is convenience and cost. I buy stuff that I like and intend to play a lot when it comes to games. Take Darksiders. I pirated that to rip SFX from it. I couldn't rip the SFX, so I played it (and recorded my playtime). When I was done, I actually bought the game because I enjoyed it and I felt supporting the developers was worth it.

Thousands of dollars for 3ds max when I never intend to make anything commercial? Hell no.

I was trollin' a bit, but the idea would actually work. I betcha there'll be no piracy in heaven. Also, true scotsmen != true Christian. If you understood basic Christian theology, such as the idea that all people calling themselves Christians are not, in fact, actually saved, bornagain Christians, then you'd realize that if the entire world genuinely was composed of true Christians, then, while it wouldn't be perfect, it'd be a lot better place than it is currently. Also, I find it fairly offensive that you call Christianity barbaric. I've yet to see anything barbaric about honest Christianity (and don't even try to say medieval catholicism was Christianity).

Also, "a good person". What is a good person? Many people who don't murder people, don't look at porn, don't smoke or do drugs or get drunk, pirate music. Are they bad people? Is lying a bad thing? What about stealing time from your employer by not working as hard as you should? I think you'd be hard pressed to find "a good person" in this world.

... stay on topic, yo.

@Tikels
The design of the "thoughts" is that it can be anything. Similar to "Debates" on SC2, I'm looking for the most insightful/persuasive posts.
On the other hand, you can argue pro-piracy, and if it's insightful, then that'd be even better.

So we all seem to agree that Piracy is simply more convenient...
Have anyone seen the video I posted in the OP? http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/2653-Piracy

One thing I found very insightful about Daniel Floyd's comments was this. Instead of punishing consumers for piracy, why not reward the consumers for buying the right copy?

I know this is somewhat limited to the game industry, as I'm sure reward systems are already in place with music and movies. But for the game industry, he has nailed a point that probably very little people have thought of. If we get a coupon for every new game we bought, heck I'd think more about buying legit copies before pirating it.

Or what about abusing the Skinner Box again? Have it so that buying a game gives you a chance to win something relevant... like a week vacation to the game designer's office, or maybe 5 extra games for free, or something like that. That'd be awesome. You can make the chance to win as minuscule as you want, but you can still market it! Imagine a week's trip to the EA headquarters. For me, it'd be awful cause I hate EA... But for most kids, that'd be awesome.
Or allow them to appear as a cameo in The Tester or the Ultimate Gamer.

Even better is give a poster/little doll keychain thing for every purchase of the legit copy (given by the game store, of course)... Nintendo can definately do that to stop people from using pirated versions (trust me.. the wii is very easy to bust ) by just giving out something that cannot be bought... Like a keychain with luigi and daisy kissing... COLLECTIBLES!!

All in all, I think Daniel Floyd (person in the video) is right. There're better ways to deal with piracy than putting buggy encryption codes into their products, because that just makes them worse.

I will oblige and stay on topic. Though, once the thought of the week changes to religion - I will eviscerate you.

EDIT: *ahem* I mean, eviscerate your argument.

I use to pirate music a lot. Today i hardly ever do. In fact I see no need to, not when we've got sites like youtube.

IMO the best way to eliminate piracy is to simply eliminate the need for it. Streaming sites like youtube and hulu (with occassional 15-30 second ads) are a good consensus.