I got into this conversation with a few friends not too long ago. Is piracy a necessary evil? I said yes, and I'll elaborate.

As a kid, I always played games. I had a lot of pirated games. And games back then were pretty expensive. I don't think my parent's would have bought games for me at all, just because it was expensive. And if that happened, I would have played football or something to pass the time. But I don't play football. I play games. And I think those pirated games made me a gamer. If I didn't have games, I wouldn't have developed an interest in games. And if my parent's bought me 1 game, and only 1 game, I still wouldn't have become a gamer.

I don't pirate games any more. I buy them. Because I respect and admire the effort game developer's put in, so that I can walk around in a fantasy realm. Most of my friends that game, also buy games. And it turns out, they also pirated games a lot when they were kids.


BUT, and there's a big but (heheheh), DRM is a lot stricter compared to 10-20 years ago. Piracy isn't the same. Back then, we would burn CD's and share the CD-Key. And if you didn't know the CD-key, filling in the boxes with 0's always worked. So, would kid's of the current generation have that kind of liberty? I don't know many kids that know how to mount an ISO. It'll be harder for them to develop their interest in gaming, unless their parent's indulge their hobby. Which isn't that pricey, nowadays. But there are always kids who live with strict parents or live in disadvantaged homes. So is it fair for them? Speaking from a business perspective, kids are future consumers. Well, kids that understand the honour system. I'm pretty sure there are adults who pirate games exclusively.

A point to make against piracy is that games have a lot more replayability. From my stats in Minecraft, it says I've been playing for 36 days. That's 800+ hours. I never played that many hours of Dig Dug or Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion.


Anyways, what is your take on this? I would've said that piracy is a necessary evil for kids, but the whole DRM thing is swaying my vote.