skisnow

Sure, we’d all like that, but pretending that piracy is some sort of noble way to bring about a collectivist creators’ paradise is yet more self-serving fantasy.

Not really, because obviously nobody who sincerely believed it was of no value would spend their time downloading it. The contradiction is in simultaneously claiming that something is of no value and therefore shouldn’t be paid for, whilst still expending effort to illegally copy it, this proving that it did have value. The only way to square it would be to claim that you’re the one who created new value by the act of downloading it, which is blatantly nonsense.

I hate IP trolls as much as the next person, but that feels almost like a non-sequitur

I’m not entirely following the thread here because it feels like I’m simultaneously being told that it’s already Game Over but also that only the Democrats can save us.

They’ve shown very clearly the last five years that they have neither the ability nor the interest to do that. If anyone’s going to save the country, it’s not going to be them.

Funny how Democrats never used to have to complain about Purity Tests back when they were doing things like attempting to pass universal healthcare. In fact I’d literally never even heard the phrase (in that context) before last year and suddenly it’s everywhere.

And I’m saying that it’s a strawman, because that’s not the principle copyright law operated on in the first place.

It works for anything small scale enough for its creators to be able to do is as a side hustle that may or may not pay off. Try funding a triple-A game that way and see how far you get.

Incredible, it’s like a constant stream of disingenuous mischaracterisation. You’re proving my point far more than you’re dispelling it.

Thats a pretty story, but completely unconnected to reality. If it worked like that, id be okay with it.

What do you think an investor is then?

Investors became investors by paying creators for their work in advance without knowing what they'd produce. It's incredibly short-sighted to say "hey, the creator already got their paycheck so my purchase makes no difference now".

Maybe it would help to think of it as paying the creator for their next game.

The problem with almost every pro-piracy argument like this is that they fundamentally require a significant percentage of the population to disagree with it. "People who can pay will pay and I'm not taking anything from them" only works for as long as both the general population and retailers regard piracy as wrong and keep funding all those games, movies etc for you.

Heck, all you pirates should be upvoting anti-piracy posts like this, we're the ones keeping your habit funded...

not actually true