The way ahead is sharing and caring. Reward people for being creative and spread their products freely so more people can enjoy them and feel inclined to reward.

Humble bundle is a good example of this starting to manifest. So is the no-drm movement.

Piracy as we know it today is a product of the music and software industry from a decade ago. It's an outdated term, because "piracy" these days enables the spread of information much more than advertising. It's the new word of mouth. It's only ugly because some people still perceive it as stealing.

On the contrary, a lot of companies are waking up to the realization that "piracy" has helped them build customer bases. Some openly admit it and embrace it, others deny it but facilitate it, while some remain stuck in old modes. There is still corporate stigma attached to embracing the sharing of information - just look at how GOG has to work hard to get companies to join up. Even so, GOG is hugely successful.

Piracy, or better: sharing, rewards high quality products while ignoring low quality products.

Someone who downloads a movie or a game and dislikes it - this person will never buy it, nor recommend it to his friends. The person who downloads a game and is blown away by it - this person has a good chance of becoming a paying customer, plus they talk to their friends about it and possibly strangers too. In the grand scope of things, the amount of converts and value from brand recognition through sharing outweighs the losses from people who simply download and never pay.

Sorry for the rant, but it's a nuanced issue and the subject of a lot of study. Simply going apeshit when someone talks about piracy is being ignorant of the issues involved, both good and bad.

Before anyone brandishes pitchforks, I bought the game on release date, including the DLC, to support Larian. :P

Last edited by Halcyon; 10/07/14 12:01 AM.