magerette
Hedgewitch
- Joined
- October 18, 2006
- Messages
- 7,834
Bit-tech.net has an interesting editorial up by staffer Bret Thomas on the recent flap over DRM protection in such games as Spore and Mass Effect, and on the ethics of piracy:
Conclusion:...We're left with a chicken-and-egg scenario. If nobody stole it, would they need to protect it so carefully? But if the protection wasn't so invasive and the price so enormous, would we feel as pressing of a need for previously legitimate users to download cracks and patches that thwart it? Both sides justify their own actions by the actions taken by the other side.
Even the debate about product quality creates an inescapable paradox. Pirate-supporters say that it's ridiculous and unfair to charge full price for a game that isn't pretty well bug-free, while developers are stuck with less budget to pay people to bug-test when less people are buying the game. That amount is further decreased by the chunk that the publisher has to pay a protection company to attempt to stall the cracks by even a little.
More information.I know that EA has rescinded the draconian scheme that brought all this to light, and for that I am as thankful as you. But I think we need to pay special attention to what that really says – the battle has become so ugly that it's hard for the company to know that protection crossed one too many lines until it's almost too late. I wonder if we on the other side ever stop to think, “Did I cross a line, too? I really could have bought this...why didn't I?”
For those of you wondering what my (not-so) brilliant solution would be to this, well...I hate to disappoint you, but I don't really have one. See, it seems everyone's too busy fighting for the rights of pirates or the rights of DRM to remember that in the end we're all consumers and producers just trying to not get screwed.
So, the best that I can do is elect that we all step back and actually talk about it. Not talk the way forum users bicker and flame and troll – as consumers, we don't get anything by being at the front lines. Neither do the developers or producers (some of whom actually read this site).
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2006
- Messages
- 7,834