I’m a PC gamer. And as such, I will admit that I have pirated games before. The common view of the pirate is wrong, I believe. The common conception of the pirate is someone who just downloads every new game and they rarely, if ever, buy a game (admittedly, these are the most vocal pirates). However, I believe there are valid reasons to download.

Piracy allows me to enjoy out of print games. Perhaps I want to play System Shock 2, I can pirate it or I can buy it. A quick look on eBay tells me that I can buy it from $30 USD; this is not a bad price at all! However, the problem is that when I pay that price, no one involved with the production of the game gets a cut of the money. A re-release of System Shock 2 which has been updated to work with the new Windows operating systems would get my money. Effort has been put into that product, people have worked, and they will receive a share of the profits that their work produces. Buying a game used, regardless of the situation, does not bring the publishers or developers money. I’ll shamelessly plug GoG.com, because they make sure the old games work with Vista or Windows 7. When they use DOSBox for their games, they pre-configure it to make sure the game runs as smoothly as it can. I gladly pay $5 or $10; I’m paying for convenience (and because I get a copy of the manual and some nifty extras!).

You're looking at one of the most annoying games to get running on a modern computer... and a ghost's ass.

Emulation, too, is piracy. I view it in much the same way. Sometimes when a porton a newer system comes out, I’ll buy it. One of my favourite games of all-time is The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I played it as a child on the SNES and I bought it for the Gameboy Advance when it came out. When I get access to my 360 and an online connection, I seriously want to get me some Prince of Persia. It’s a pretty remake of a classic platformer that is older than me. I’ll pay for ports – the Gameboy Advance version of A Link to the Past got my money because it offered the classic game to me in the palm of my hands with a new multiplayer game included. The XBL version of Prince of Persia would get my money because it’s a prettied up remake of a classic game, one that has been immensely influential to the development of video games. Graphically and stylistically, it is an important milestone. However, I can’t imagine myself paying for LttP on the Wii, the straight-up port doesn’t seem worth the money when I’ve already purchased the game before.

Publishers treat our PC game purchases not as a purchase, but a rental fee. If I bought Bioshock for the PC, I would not have the rights over that game that a console owner has. A console owner can play that game on as many consoles as he likes with no issues. As a PC gamer, if I install the game too many times, I have to call up the publisher and politely ask for the privilege to reinstall my game. I can’t lend my game to a friend if he wants to see if he likes it as easily I can with an Xbox 360 or PS3 copy of the game. Some digital rights management, or DRM, is worse – one needs a constant connection to play the PC version of Assassin’s Creed II; I don’t even need a constant internet connection to access Steam, a program which is an online distribution platform! When workarounds are found for DRM, pirates are able to enjoy the game on their own terms and this only makes piracy more appealing.

PC gamers are also losing demos. More and more, there are either no demos for PC gamers or the demo is just a level made for the purposes of the demo. Sometimes this can work well – Starcraft’s demo acts as a prologue to the game – but most of the time, I feel it’s disappointing. Jedi Knight II was a game I purchased based on the demo and I found myself disappointed because the demo was much more entertaining than the actual game. If publishers won’t allow me to try my potential purchases out legally, I will pirate a game to see if’s worth it. Games are expensive and before I buy a game I like to try them out. With consoles I can rent a game, with PC games I used to be able to download a demo. More and more, I can’t download a demo and, when I can, it does not represent the final product.

Demigod is a go-to for how piracy negatively effects the gaming industry. Neowin seems to credit the rampant piracy to Stardocks DRM philosophy (which is best summed up in the news posting “How copy protection creates pirates“). I remember the forum responses to that entire fiasco – and many pirates admitted they did pirate the game on a trial basis. I think it is valid for a potential consumer to want to try out a product they’re considering – especially when the game in question is highly derivative of a free custom map from an eight year old game! It took four months for the demo of Demigod to finally see a release. Would there have been so many copies downloaded if a demo had preceded the game release, or if the demo hit the same day as the game hit the shelves? I’d like to think it would have been different.

I will say, it is the prettiest Defense of the Ancients clone out there.

Piracy has been an issue for a long time. I have vinyl records which state that “taping kills music” on the back. I’ve seen the PSA that urge me “not to copy that floppy” because the consequence will be dire, and I’ve been informed that YouTube will kill television. However, a Harvard professor believes that music piracy strengthens music sales. Essentially, you can divide the pirates into two groups: the ones that wouldn’t buy the music anyways and those that want to sample music on their terms. The Canadian Record Industry Association concedes that pirates are more likely to buy music. In fact, finding studies that confirm this is quite easy, as evidenced by the fact that this author wonders whether music pirates should be likened to Robin Hood instead of pirates. I don’t think this should come as a surprise – those that pirate a lot of music are the ones that listen to a lot of music, they’re the ones that care about music, and they may even be the next generation of musicians.

So, pirates of music are the strongest consumers, but does this apply to games? I’ll be honest, I don’t have numbers on that. I know in my own experience, I’ve decided I’d rather skip out on a game than put up with DRM I don’t like, I know people who have canceled pre-orders over DRM and wrote the developers telling them that they have done so and will torrent the game. However, I do not see how the gaming industry would be so different from the record industry in this way. We are in an age where it is acceptable to package a 2 hour game for $60 on release – I remember when Gears of War came out; a friend bought it on release and it was finished by the next day. We are also in an age where we are seeing more indie developers get attention on the PC platform. I also wonder if those that pirate more games are more likely to buy games – some of the most prolific pirates I know buy the most games and are more willing to buy a new console. I also wonder if those more inclined to be involved in video game development are more likely to torrent a game before buying it.

This game has top-of-the-line generator rendering technology.

Piracy is not the end of the PC market; just like piracy wasn’t the end of the market back when my older brother and his friends were trading floppies with various shareware titles on it. I look at the increased piracy on the market and see a rejection of DRM and of the current pricing model. I see consumer-based civil disobedience. I also see a new market emerging – one that can and will make games priced competitively. Penumbra is an acclaimed series of PC games that sells for $20 and still manages to look amazing. The PC market is going to the little guys and I don’t think it would have happened if PC gamers weren’t unhappy with their roles as consumers. This is also a move I see as beneficial to the industry; as PC gamers are less willing to pay for AAA titles, but more willing to pay for independent titles, the industry discovers new talent. World of Goo got its start on the PC before moving to Wiiware, Cave Story was originally a freeware game released for the PC by one guy before Nintendo noticed it, and And Yet It Moves is another PC title that is getting a move to Wiiware. Much like how Valve used the modding community to seek out new talent (Left4Dead is made by people who used to make Counter-Strike maps in their spare time, for example), the changes we’re seeing on the PC market are bringing new people to the attention of consumers and the industry.  Piracy is the end of the current model of consumption, but I believe we’ll see something better take its place.