Dear Future Gamer

Good article ('The Road To Anarchy', FG38). The two sides of the argument are still banging their heads against the wall, I see.

Great quote from the pirate 'Gamer X', saying, "At £40 a pop, most games are totally out of my price range." So you steal them, right? Well, at 70 grand an Aston Martin is out of my price range, but I'd love one. I know, I'll just nick one from their garage. Aston Martin sell really expensive cars so they must be loaded, they won't miss one car, will they? But if I nick one, all my mates will want one too, and if we nick enough, no more Aston Martins for anyone because they've gone out of business.

He goes on to say, "I only work part-time and don't earn much more than that in a week. If I buy a game then it's a quarter of my wages gone. The only way I can afford the latest games is to get pirate copies from a friend of a friend."

My heart bleeds. We live in a capitalist society; however much you earn, you're free to spend it how you please (within reason). But you can only spend what you earn and you have to make sacrifices. I choose to buy games and software because I appreciate the effort that goes into them, but because of that I can't afford other stuff. That's life, my friend, and it's not always easy. People seem to find software theft easy and guilt free. I'd like to see whether the same people have the nuts to rob a sweet shop for its takings. Somehow I doubt it.

Stef

FG: This isn't the first time that argument's been used by and against pirates, and I dare say it won't be the last. Piracy is theft, theft is illegal and therefore piracy is a crime which harms legitimate consumers, developers and publishers. Software piracy is not, however, worse than genocide.