The Escapist: Artist Suggests Game Biz Should Compete with Pirates in Less-wealthy Nations
The Escapist: Artist Suggests Game Biz Should Compete with Pirates in Less-wealthy Nations
July 15, 2008
In a novel, if certainly controversial suggestion, Filipino game design artist Ryan Sumo argues that video game companies should compete with bootleg sellers in poorer countries by selling products with minimalist packaging and even allowing the pirates to burn the actual discs.
Sumo makes his argument in a guest column for The Escapist:
Piracy supports an underground economy and the livelihoods of thousands... in Asia, especially in countries where most people live below the poverty line. This underground exists primarily because its participants cannot afford the exorbitant prices charged by game publishers...
Publishers and console manufacturers like Nintendo are convinced that once they stop piracy, the money from all those lost sales will suddenly come flowing into their coffers. For whatever reason they never take into account their prospective market's spending ability...
In the Philippines... piracy isn't a matter of right or wrong; it's a matter of survival. To eradicate piracy means depriving people of jobs... It means eradicating the businesses that employ them and negating the taxes funneled to the Philippine government. Developers and publishers will claim a huge victory, but they'll soon notice that those billions of dollars in lost sales aren't exactly showing up on their bottom line.
GP: This is a provocative way to look at the piracy issue. Sumo makes a reasonable economic argument. On the other hand, the publishers do have legitimate rights.
Comments
Indeed its provocative but most developer/publishers will never agree with it.
Let's face it most companies have this insane belief that if you pirate something that you would have paid for it if the piracy wasnt avaliable. I can honestly say they are wrong on that assumption (look at Metillica they blamed Napster for their lost revenue and not their crappy music let's just say Napster's demise didnt suddenly see Lars with more money).
Now if you take a step further as the above author says and place it in a country in which piracy is the only possible avenue of affording these games then why on earth would you ever expect them to suddenly pay for it because you took down the piracy ring. Especially since most of these countries a 40 dollar game is pretty much a month salary (if not more) .... hmm choice between starving to death or video game well that one is a simple choice. Now if I had the choice between one meal or a 1 dollar pirated game hmmm I might miss the meal for the chance of escapeism from the harsh reality I live in.
Though I still have to say my favorite thing I see is the idiot publishers/developers that try copyright protection because god knows that slows down piracy and doesn't just frustrate the people who actually bought their product(hmmm seem to recall Sony placing a rootkit on people's machine who actually bought their crap and the pirates having a rootkit free version with in a day of release, yeah that slowed down those damn pirates).
Piracy is misunderstood on many levels, the industry believes its merely theft when their are to many factors to write it off as mere theft.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
While I agree with the sentiment, I'm not really sure how it would be implemented.
The film industry has been doing it in places like China and Russia for years now.
Thank god someone had the guts to say this somewhere besides a forum post. Some pirates are cheap assholes, but some literally cannot afford the product. It's time to stop simplifying the issue into a single cause with a single solution.
says the Anonymous person in the Anonymous post :P
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
I thought that was funny too, but I agree I wish I had some spot light in this industry cause I would spout the same crap I posted above, but alas I don't beyond my comments on gamepolitics and my rants to friends =P.
I fail to see how this "complicates" the issue much. If people in poorer countries can't afford video games, why are they playing them? Don't they have more important priorities for their scarce resources, like building up their community and businesses or getting educated?
As for the "jobs" issue, this is a black market; I could give the same diatribe about drug dealers, arms dealers, or smugglers. Just because an illegal activity supports people doesn't make it any more legal, or morally acceptable.
Even if a pirated game doesn't equal a lost sale, it's still theft, and it's still wrong.
Now that's just ignorance right there. What, only the Japanese, Americans and Europeans have the right to play video games now coz' you can afford a $60 game? We're talking about countries that considers $500 a month more than enough for a middle manager.
You have to understand that people from 3rd world countries are really poor by U.S. and Japanese standards. However, their middle class tends to be pretty well off (they can afford to eat better, they own their own home, have their own bank account, own the latest mobile phones), by the 3rd world's standards. That being said, they can afford different modes of entertainment, such as movies, TV's, and video games.
Now that being said, you can watch a movie in a 3rd world country for about $2.50. It's probably around $8 in the U.S., depending on the day. You can get a full meal there for about a dollar. Remember, we're talking about countries that considers $500 a month more than enough for a middle manager. Using these example, people would expect to buy video games at around the same scale (25% of the original price at the very least), but no. You can get an original GTA IV for about $90 in these countries. The copy I bought off at Gamestop cost about $60. A pirated copy costs about $3. If only companies have made better pricing decisions, maybe these people would've preferred buying orginal copies instead of getting pirated ones.
Wow, I guess that anything is OK when an economy is created.
Lets all go support human-trafficing, opium trading, "protection money", underground arms dealing, and dog fighting. After all, those things create an underground economy that supports thousands.
Pray tell, how exactly are drugs and slavery comparable to burned DVDs.
Bootlegging(IE real piracy) involves the blackmarket more often than not.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
I meant in the whole, y'know, destroying human life aspect. Comparing DVD bootlegging to drugs, aslavery, and arms manufacturing is nothing more than an attempt to create opposition to piracy through association with strong negative emotions. It's not a rational or useful argument.
A Brain leads to having an imagination as we all know imagination leads to people wanting to create entertainment; we also all know entertainment created rock and roll, movies, and those damn video games and least you forget we all know rock and roll and by association video games lead to sex and drugs therefore we need to ban brains because they can be indirectly related to a concept you may not agree with, find offensive or is down right wrong.
Viva Lobotomies
Data like food is a right that should not be "infringed" upon. *lick* ^^
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Video games are not "data" in the sense that data is usually associated with education. Education and learning are necessities like food, but video games are entertainment. Hardly a necessity to have video game entertainment. There are plenty of other free ways of being entertained.
E. Zachary Knight
www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Sorry nope, media is data the fulcrum which society broadens its horizons, you can not pigeon hole any form of data into being "protected" from public for a "price".
Like I have said before there is a separation between rights given to make profit and rights given to us to use our brain to seek out digitals apples in the kings forest.
If protecting data is so important then throw out the corpse that is fair use and the first sale doctrine, I strictly buy used thus it dose not matter if I buy my data or not, a victimless crime is most victimless indeed..
And before you or anyone brings in but what about the small "X" they are SOL in a huge ocean they either manage to make a hit that sales like crazy or they do not a 30% boost in sales wont save them from the brink.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Seriously? You think that having video games is a basic human right? I am sorry, but I fail to see your logic.
If you take food away from a person, they will die. If you take education away from a person, they will become easily manipulated. If you take video games away from a person, they will be bored until they find a new way to entertain themselves.
Hardly anything necessitating video games becoming a human right.
Video games may be the product of data, but they are hardly on the level of scientific data, economic data, educational data etc. Now if video games were the only way the average person could have access to that other data, you may have a point, but as it stands, there are a myriad of other ways to gain access to that more relevant data.
E. Zachary Knight
www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Media is food for the brain and by media I mean books to music to video to yes thats right video games, but like food its not free but that dose not eman it can not be harvested or gotten cheaper than "industry standards".
You seem to think media cannot expand the soul and the mind, you fail to realize the creativity of the human spirit by locking things to profit only, we are beyond such petty things, yes profits should be protected but not at the cost of stagnation of the mind.
By enforcing vague protections on media to ensure a minimal amount of the populace can see it, you create sheep willing to to sway with whatever the industry has to offer, the current industry offers no balance thus I will fight it all I can by buying used and ensuring my money is well spent by previewing it first..
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Let's make an anology that your referenced and I hope that you can understand.
Let's takethis "food for your mind" thing and run with it. Media is food. Media includes all things printed, audio, video and interactive. Let's compare that to the food pyramid. At the bottom, you have your grains. This is the staple of the human diet. This would be your general education. Learning basic human skills and such. Things like social skills, basic maths, phonics etc.
Next you have Fruits and Vegies. These provide more specific nutrients for the bodies. Compare this to balancing your check book, managing debts, daily news etc.
on top of that, you have your meats and dairies. These have high concentrations of certain protiens that you body needs. Compare this to your higher education. University degrees and such. This also includes political knowledge and other specialized knowledge.
At the very top is your fats and sugars. Nothing here to offer the body other than fun foods. this is where movies, novels, video games, music all reside. These can be removed from the life of a person and not deny them any nurishment they need. It may make them a lot more boring, but they are still functional.
Video games are not necessities of life. They are a nice perk to life but not a necessity. You have no valid claim to your desire to make them a necessity.
E. Zachary Knight
www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
So lets then call video games childish entertainment that needs not to advance to the next stages of a art form in fact tis games not media it need not be compared to film or art.......sorry there is no past go with mew =^^=
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
So you decide to change your stance and instead of comparing games to movies and novels you compare them to Leonardo and Classic Literature. That is like deciding a twinky is not comparable to a cupcake but to caviar. You are changing them from junk food to more expensive junk food.
People can live without going to an art museum just as they can live without playing a game.
E. Zachary Knight
www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
SO vido games are junk food? you want to bring in half baked analogies to supprt your views I am merely pairing what I see.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
No videogames are luxuries.
Zippy now you're just being an idiot.
And how offten is the name caller a person of names worse than the one he crys out to.
really, uuuu is better than that.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Well arguing with you is proving to be pointless, you writing is harder to read than normal, and your not answering any questions or comments directly, you are ignoring the argument and trying to pick at the means used to convey the argument.
Video Games aren't fats and sugars, you do actually need some of both to stay alive, but the veal and cavier of the food realm. They are something that requires extra-ordinary care, have a poor shelf life, and are so removed from ordinary life that not eating them or eating them has no impact on your life.
I would also take the point that food and water, while necessary for life, aren't rights. If you don't have the right to someone elses food or water you certainly don't have the right to their work be it media in any form.
Gotta agree with you here; people just don't need entertainment, and certainly have no right to them without paying for it.
They don't even rise to the point of things people don't "need" but should have, such as education and free access to information.
Video games are capitalism in its purest form; a product produced entirely for the pleasure of the consumer with a good chunk of disposable income with the sole purpose of making its producers as much profit as they can pry out of my wallet. Such noble-minded theories such as data being a "right" (which is news to me, anyway...) bounce uselessly off of the monolithic reality of economics. They're producing these things to make money. People are using these things without giving them money. Those people should be stopped.
PREFERABLY in a way that doesn't plant a bunch of annoying copy-protection BS between me and my legally-purchased software, but then I tend to blame the pirates for that, not the victims.
Maybe not a right but if games ever want to be considered a true artform by the mainstream then broad worldwide acess is definitly a requirement here. Books, movies, music, sculpture, paintings, and photagraphy all have this. Why don't games? It seems to me that the games industry wants it both ways. They are either an art form easily accessable to all. Or a buisness. The writer is arguing that they are a buisness and so should make good buisness decisions. He has a point too. You'll never eradicate piracy. Ever. The best thing to do is make lemons out of lemonade and still get SOME cash out of it. This is not about whats right or wrong it's about the battles that the video game industry should choose to fight. A battle that costs you costomer loyalty and trust is never worth it because you can't easily get those things back.
Zippy you are confusing data and Knowledge.
Data is information which is the seed of knowledge, all forms of media are data that opens facets of the mind, creativity is spurned that will shape people in subtle ways and sprun them to create or to imagine or lift them up, EZK wants games to be treated as media under normal circumstances yet now its not media its not a art form that can inspire or uplift...how shallow are we yet to think such things, we need to balance the needs of the people and mere profit.
I have been thinking(which I know most of you say no please no stop...no really...sirsly man STOP THINKING!!! lulz)
Anyway......
Frair use needs to expanded to the point anything old is free to trade anything recent and or new that is being published is protected with digi distro coming out of its infancy there is no reason the CP owner can not maintain its publication thus keeping it fully protected and right of return to protect the public at large for poorly made media.
And before you or anyone starts the media industry is a core industry of the world with trillions at their combined disposal they will always have the majority of the masses to sale product to and because of that the dredged illicit sharing dose not harm them even if doubled it will not harm them.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
EZK wants games to be treated as media under normal circumstances yet now its not media its not a art form that can inspire or uplift.
What in the world does that even mean? I am not saying that we shouldn't have video gmaes or that they are somehow inferior to other artforms or entertainment. What I am saying is that they are not a necessity to life. We will not die or become incapacitated if we are denied entertainment. You seem to think otherwise however.
E. Zachary Knight
www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Somedays trying to talk to zippy is impossible, for more than one reason. I think today is one of them.
Funny you are the ones that want no middle ground to decry video games are not media are not this are not that are protected just because, it could never possibly be that they are works of art like anything else and need to be shared within reason with the masses, by strictly focusing on profits you lose sight of the real reason why stuff is made to be seen!
oh god I am sounding like a stoner more and more....oh well...I am brain fried after all....
in the end a better balance needs to be struck in the industry than "ZOMG PROFITS!"
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
Where have I said no middle ground should be found? FFS I've argued consistently against most DRM and copy protection. I am a fair use Nazi, and I believe that first sale should be inviolable. I believe freedom of speech to be absolute, and I find many corporate business practices annoying if not downright stupid. I have several personal boycotts against companies for anti consumer practices. I believe that videogames are art; I also believe they are a product. Those are not mutually exclusive states.
So fuck off
Actually you believe it to be a "product" protected over other media, I don't see it as that its a medium of media nothing else nothing more and like all media should protected from profiteering as much as illicit profit, I answered your ramblings with those of my own, everyone is so focused on the extream ends not trying to find a middle.... its so easy to forget a middle is there but I stuck to arguing my point and stuck my feet into my mouth again..I failz! ><.
personally I argue the point if its bought used then previewing it cannot hurt because I am buying it used, but beyond that the industry wont be getting record profits it shearing dissapaers over night but I digress (or regress in the case of zippy) .
Lets end it as I believe the thieves are justified by the industries attempts to misplace their bottom line on the consumer, until right of return returns to the public there is lil sympathy I have the the industry that made tis own bed and then complains about thorns.
Illicit profits on the other hand needs to dealt with it takes money away from the market and the consumer and may lead expansion of the black market, if mod chips where not a federal crime (ice/FBI raids) I would strongly suggest that the feds get on it beyond racketeering and other charges that go along with piracy.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
And once that decision is made by those in power any form of media can become irrelevant to the "needs" of the people by the whim of the state going beyond simple moral censorship to full fledged brain washing, thus "media" is all forms of media not just what a few think they are.
What I am getting at you can not separate general nuclear plans that couldbe easily used for crime or to reinvent nuclear power by some a group of freethinking students from books with "questionable morals" that make people stop and think from mass market media that once every now and then can inspire the world and because its not a total loss it much be protected for the world to see, how it is protected be it fair pricing or better distribution setups or good old fashioned shearingis up to fate as its always a mix of everything when huamns make something.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)
I am sorry. I am lost. I am not going to attempt to make sense of anything you are saying. Just reading it makes my head hurt.
Come to think of it, it is a briliant strategy. Confuse the oposition so bad that their only recourse is to leave. that way you can claim a victory.
E. Zachary Knight
www.editorialgames.com
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/okceca
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1325674091
Huzzah!!!
What I am saying is the junk food analogy dose not work for mass media because like the old great works it can inspire and imagine the masses prehaps not as well but it dose so non the less and who are we to deny information to the masses if they are willing to get involved to find it, most don;t know don't care they prefer to consume from the filter of whats for sale, I am saying that what is for sale is not broad enough for humanity.
We need to protect profits but not at the cost of completely preventing media being "censored" for something as petty as money.
Media is part of the culmination of humanity's knowledge,wisdom heart and soul you can not lop off parts of it and say this is unneeded that is censorship it is not for us to say who may see what, media is is beyond profits and rules, but this dose not mean that rules and profits can not be reasonablely made fro it.
I is fuzzy brained mew =^^=
http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/
(in need of a bad overhaul)