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| marioandsonic #881887 6 months ago |
I'm sorry about posting a rant, but...here goes.
I really don't understand this support for SOPA. I mean, I get it that these politicians and lobbyists believe that the're engaging in a noble cause by trying to combat piracy and return funds to the copyright holders, but haven't they learned that this is not the solution? If you want to combat piracy, you don't sue your potential customers. If you want to maximize revenue, you don't try to shut down half the internet (aka. the greatest content delivery device ever created). If you want people to buy your product, you don't declare war on them. These SOPA promoters need to have a good long talk with Gabe Newell. His model virtually solved the piracy problem. If millions of people are stealing your product, that means that your business model needs reformation. It means that you need to innovate and change your strategy. Look at what Steam did for the computer gaming industry. The whole industry was on the decline. It was slowly falling apart and the ubiquity of piracy played a major role in that. I can't tell you how many people I knew who pirated ALL their software and never spent a dime on any PC games. Thanks to Steam, however, I do not personally know of a single PC game pirate any more. Not one. Every single person I knew who used to rip all their games now buys them legally on Steam. Valve saw a problem and instead of desperately trying to attack anyone and everyone around them in a blind rage, they chose to band together with the rest of their industry and find a way to deliver a product to customers that satisfied the customers' needs. Customers have two primary needs with regards to purchasing creative content - ease of access and a proper pricing model. Steam solved both those issues and as a result, countless individuals transformed themselves from software pirates into paying customers. Other industries could learn a lot from this. The MPAA and RIAA are so fucking stupid. They still don't get it. The technological world has passed them by and instead of trying to keep up with it and instead of making use of new technologies and new consumer trends as a means to profit, they've spent the past decade kicking and screaming about how the world is changing. They refused to acknowledge the market's pricing concerns (who the hell wants to pay $18.99 for a cd?) and they fought tooth and nail against the digital revolution. That's why their industries (especially music) began collapsing. The RIAA, in particular, has been so opposed to meeting customers' needs that the entire organization has been dramatically moving towards irrelevancy. They should thank the gods that iTunes came around when it did to dramatically lessen the blow. When the music industry started to face problems a decade ago, its first reaction was to sue everyone and their grandmother (literally, as can be seen by all the cases involving technologically illiterate grandmothers being sued by the RIAA). Everyone knew that this strategy was destined to fail and after the RIAA employed it for years with absolutely no success whatsoever, they've now decided to switch things up to employ an even more idiotic strategy. Now they're trying to tear apart the fabric of the internet itself. First they went after the users; now the're going after the infrastructure itself. Not once did the RIAA or MPAA ever stop to think "Hey, maybe we should modernize ourselves and start to acquaint ourselves with the consumer culture around us". They tried the stick and when that failed miserably, but instead of trying the carrot, they decided to grab a bigger stick. So with all that said, let's all hope that SOPA, PIPA, and any other acronyms that come along are torn up. They are not a solution to the problem and only serve to extend the RIAA and MPAA's scorched earth policy. If your company feels that piracy is a problem, then do something to lure the pirates into becoming paying customers. Valve proved that that is very much possible and that it can be extremely profitable, so it's time for the music and film industries to follow suit and think with their heads for once. /rant |
| Anonymous #881895 6 months ago |
Most people don't support SOPA. Not even a lot of corporations and legislators support it. Really only the music industry and a small part of the movie industry support it. |
| Ping_chan #881910 6 months ago |
Bottom Line, it makes FlutterShy cry. |
| Millfox #881943 6 months ago |
Faved just so i can read the giant post later |
| Anonymous #881973 6 months ago |
I am sorry marioandsonic, I agree with you on just about everything you have said except one thing. No one should ever go to Gabe Newell about ANYTHING relating to gaming, he is easily the most hated man in the entire gaming community. Also, his business model did almost nothing to stop piracy except to drive it under the surface, Modern Warfare 2, and Crysis 2 are both Steam exclusive titles on the PC and yet they have both been pirated more than 3 million times each.
In fact I have to pose the suggestion that Gabe Newell and Steam did more to accelerate and encourage the formation of bills like PIPA and SOPA than anyone or anything. The politicians saw Gabe and Steam and because of it realized that people didn't care if they robbed them of their rights as consumers, so long as they got their products. The BSA had it passed into law, and this might surprise alot of people, that we don't own the things we own. Go to BSA.org and you will see what I am talking about. This is the only way that Steam can work. Piracy isn't gone, it's just gotten more subtle, and for the record I do not condone or endorse piracy in any way I agree that those assholes just made things harder for the rest of us. I just don't think the solution is to make it so that we can't use the games we pay for without essentially asking Valves permission. As you said marioandsonic, you don't get people to buy your product by declaring war on them. |
| Anonymous #881975 6 months ago |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH1Q738UEsQ |
| Anonymous #882214 6 months ago |
Marioandsonic, I agree with your opinion (in most ways). Well said. |
| Zincy #882253 6 months ago |
If you hate SOPA, blame my state....VA
SOPA was penned by my states representive Bob Goodlatte....a cock-sucking peice of useless filth that i didn't vote for. |
| Dragoon #882273 6 months ago |
@Zincy
Our state really did that? I never knew |
| Zincy #882277 6 months ago |
Yep...good'ol Goodlatte. He did more then damage then just that one bill that killed Troatville...and the Renewable Fuel Standard Elimination Act which killed our chances of ever having Solar or Nuclear power here...and the stamp tax increase...WHY DID PEOPLE VOTE FOR HIM! |
| Dragoon #882291 6 months ago |
I'm wondering the samething now. Why would he even want to things like that |
| Anoymous #882333 6 months ago |
One thing I believe is that the media should have no control over the Internet at all. |
| Anonymous #882395 6 months ago |
Hanging the lobbyists/proponents of these kinds of acts or laws would be like turning discord to stone for the better of all, ie well within the love and tolerance mantra.
Something drastic needs to be done so this kind of stuff stops happening. |
| Anonymous #882414 6 months ago |
Remember children, love and tolerance is all well and good, but sometimes not enough.
Case already mentioned, Discord. And now too do something about these lobbyists. Ask yourselves, what would Rainbow Dash do? Answer? Kick them in their faces of course, something we have all seen her do, and also something we should all emulate. It should hurt to be in favor of censorship. |
| Anonymous #882472 6 months ago |
"I do not personally know of a single PC game pirate any more. Not one."
Then you're not looking too hard, because a quick glance at the seeders/leechers for any given Skyrim torrent will tell you all you need to know. Piracy is alive and well, usually among those who can't afford to buy the games. |
| marioandsonic #882708 6 months ago |
@ 882472
True, but none of them are people I know personally. :p |