Dear Future Gamer

First off, great mag, and to add to the piracy debate that's been going on recently, here I am. I will hold my hands up and admit that I own pirate copies of both Unreal and Carmageddon, however, I will not be getting any more pirated games.

This sudden change came about while reading an interview with Gabe Newall, the guy from Valve. He was talking about how he had to personally fund a lot of the development of Half-Life, as he and the team didn't get paid until it shipped. This made me think. When I go down into a shop and pay £34.99 for a game, I give little consideration to where the money goes, but if you think about it, in paying for a game, you are giving something back to people who devoted years of their lives to making it.

Sure, the shop takes a cut, as do the publishers, but if you think a game is good, and worthy of your hard-earned cash, then the developers have done a good job, and by buying the game we can give something back financially, and also encourage them to make more games.

Austin

FG: Glad to hear you've given up the piracy Austin. I'm sure Gabe, and everyone else, will be heartened to hear that his words have inspired you. We've been saying it for years, piracy does indeed hurt the consumer as well as legitimate developers and publishers. Valve aren't the only developers to have to rely on sales of their efforts to support them and, like everything in life, if you've enjoyed their efforts for the weeks or months you've been playing their game then surely you should expect to pay for the privilege. The best things in life may be free, but being entertained by a good videogame isn't. Free that is.