The “Break it Down” Blog

Over the last couple weeks, there has been some interesting developments on the computer game pirating front.  As reported by arstechnica.com, Cliff Harris, an independent game developer with Positech Games, put out an invitation to the average gamer to explain why they pirated games.  Simply wanting to learn from the pirates, Harris agreed to not publicize or report any of the people that emailed him.  The responses have already been numerous and, as can be expected, also very varied but there are definitely some arguments that are stronger than others. Three of these logically stronger reasons for pirating are the “because I can”, wanting to try before buying (AKA quality assurance), and the convenience.

The first argument is simple, yet very problematic.  How do you keep pirates from making your software available online for anyone to download and use?  There are several points at which one can try to prevent this from happening: the actual hacking of the software, the upload, the download, and the user verification.  Most of the current preventative measures come at the first and especially the last step of the pirating process.  While the last step may be the most effective, it may not be the best method as it affects the convenience factor.

One commenter explains the convenience factor perfectly:

“The more convenient is the killer. I don’t mind paying a reasonable amount for a game, but I won’t buy it if it treats me like a criminal (I won’t pirate it either, I’ll just ignore it). I bought EV Nova a few years ago. I copied it across to a new computer when I replaced my old one and it told me I had to re-authenticate. Unfortunately, I had to authenticate via a protocol that was blocked by a firewall between me and their servers. I bought some games that needed the CD in to run. Playing them years later, often I couldn’t find the CD, or it was scratched. Or I wanted to play them on a laptop on a train and the CD drive flattens the battery too quickly. I bought some with a serial number, but came to install them later and found that I could find the CD but not the case with the serial number on it.

Compare this with the pirated version of any game. It’s typically an archive which you extract and then run. No fuss, no effort, nothing getting in the way of enjoying the game. Anti-piracy measures only ever affect the legitimate users. Pirates have fun circumventing them and then aren’t bothered by them once they’re cracked.”

Recently game security has gotten so overwhelming that it seems like it’s easier to activate Windows.

Fixing the problem is not going to be easy as software piracy has been ongoing for as long as distributed software existed.  But there are a few things that can be done to help to reduce the problem.

• Educate the general user base of who’s affected by pirating. There are many people in the pirating populace that believe that they are sticking it to the big corporations.  Sometimes they’re right, but a lot of the time they are wrong and do not know that pirating is affecting smaller teams who depend on a game’s success to make a living.
• Create a richer and more in-depth demo. Making a demo that will prove to the customer that the game is worth playing is a better way than trying to make a demo that advertises the game to be worth buying.  Square-Enix seems to be trying out this method of demo with a two hour long demo of Final Fantasy XIII and more companies should follow suit.
• Reward the legitimate user. Instead of punishing these users with the droves of hurdles to jump over to play a game, give them something to help ease the pain of putting in codes.  Prizes, collectibles, coupons, loyalty rewards programs are all things that can help someone understand that the company appreciates their business and honesty in a time where shortcuts are plentiful.  Wouldn’t it be great if every game from a certain developer had a code that you can input into the company website, and after 3 legitimate purchases the company rewards you with a coupon for the next game at half price or even for free, or a life-size cutout of your favorite character, etc.?

Software piracy is not going to end any time soon. But as long as developers and distributors are putting the gamers first, the effect of the pirates should not be as overwhelming as it would be for those who are putting out games purely to profit.

Thanks Kotaku, Ars Technica, Joystiq, Slashdot!