MegaUpload shut down. Hackers hit back.

[Roy Karrde]

The drug dealer analogy doesn't work, and personally I don't think you're stupid enough to really believe that it does. This is really no different to many other websites that make their money off content for which they do not have the copyrights nor have they sought the correct copyrights for (Youtube, ebaums, anime streaming websites etc.). Megaupload isn't even the worst offender, it is just the most high profile.

Yeah looking at what they are accused of its hard to say that they are the same as any of those websites. From money laundering to actually paying pirates to put up illegal materials they have gone way beyond Youtube and the rest.

It's a fact that one pirated download doesn't equal a lost sale, as much as the MPAA would like you to believe. Most people who pirate wouldn't buy the product if pirating wasn't an option. For every critic of the internet, you'll find as many supporters who enjoy the exposure that they gain through people sharing their work. It is noted that piracy can often lead to higher exposure and more sales of a product. To get to a point where people want to pirate your product, you must already be selling enough to gain that exposure. I'm not saying that it's right or ideal, but it's just being realistic. Just like a grocers who has to take into account the occasional smashed box of eggs or smashed bottle of milk, you have to take into account that if you decide to enter an industry where your product can be pirated and you should adapt your business model to reflect that. Realistically, nothing that is sensible or practical without enforcing a China-style internet blockade of everything but approved websites will stop pirating. Those that continue to bitch and whine about it while the rest of the pack does adjust their business models accordingly will be left in the dust.

I really couldn't care less about the MPAA and music, I am talking about the pirating of video games. In which even if a third of those pirated were to have bought the games, that could mean the difference between a designer receiving a bonus or not. Unlike the music and movie industry, those that make games are not filthy rich, and like it or not it is utterly ignorant to believe that everyone that pirates the game would not have gone out and bought it otherwise.

[Heald]

Yeah looking at what they are accused of its hard to say that they are the same as any of those websites. From money laundering to actually paying pirates to put up illegal materials they have gone way beyond Youtube and the rest.

I'm going to wait for the outcome of any trial before I make any judgements.

it is utterly ignorant to believe that everyone that pirates the game would not have gone out and bought it otherwise.

Ignorant isn't the right word here, and I never said everyone, just most, which really is the case. Most people who have the money to buy games will buy them, as games are pretty cheap comparatively speaking and the physical, legitimate copy is much better than the pirated copy, meaning its worth paying the dough. Not many people pirate INSTEAD of parting with cash, if someone wants to play a game bad enough, they will buy it. Those who do pirate are do so because they don't feel like parting with the money, and before downloading big files over the internet became viable people avoided purchasing in other ways (ripping CDs, borrowing/lending games, renting etc.). It is completely naive to believe shutting down the big file-sharing websites will provide any kind of boost to video game sales.

[Roy Karrde]

I'm going to wait for the outcome of any trial before I make any judgements.

Fair enough but until then the argument that they are just like Youtube does not really float.

Ignorant isn't the right word here, and I never said everyone, just most, which really is the case. Most people who have the money to buy games will buy them, as games are pretty cheap comparatively speaking and the physical, legitimate copy is much better than the pirated copy, meaning its worth paying the dough. Not many people pirate INSTEAD of parting with cash, if someone wants to play a game bad enough, they will buy it. Those who do pirate are do so because they don't feel like parting with the money, and before downloading big files over the internet became viable people avoided purchasing in other ways (ripping CDs, borrowing/lending games, renting etc.). It is completely naive to believe shutting down the big file-sharing websites will provide any kind of boost to video game sales.

It probably will, again will everyone buy the game that pirates? No probably not. But even a third, even a tenth that buys it, is money going back to the developers who worked long and hard on it. Not to mention there is a bit of a disrespect factor going in. Again like I said personally if I saw people downloading it, a product I had worked on for years, I would be pissed. As I don't know if you are going to buy it or not, no one is a mind reader in that. But either way by downloading it and not buying it, you are disrespecting all the people who worked on it, and for some, taking money that should rightfully go to them.

[Heald]

It probably will, again will everyone buy the game that pirates? No probably not. But even a third, even a tenth that buys it, is money going back to the developers who worked long and hard on it. Not to mention there is a bit of a disrespect factor going in. Again like I said personally if I saw people downloading it, a product I had worked on for years, I would be pissed. As I don't know if you are going to buy it or not, no one is a mind reader in that. But either way by downloading it and not buying it, you are disrespecting all the people who worked on it, and for some, taking money that should rightfully go to them.

You ignore the factor that piracy helps sales, in that the pirates who download it do, in a lot of cases, either buy the game itself, encourage others to buy the game through word of mouth or will buy sequels or other games made by the publisher. Many games developers recognise this positive effect piracy has, and I imagine any increase in sales brought about by the elimination of piracy will be offset by the sales that piracy generates.

Piracy is good for sales, say Devs

Yes, in an ideal world piracy wouldn't exist, but it does, and developers cannot pretend that there is any practical solution to it, or that it has any significant effect on sales in real terms (at least, significant in that it is worth investing the amount of money they are investing into stopping piracy relative to the amount of actual lost sales). Piracy generates free publicity of the variety that you'd normally need to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to achieve.