“Why Do You Pirate Games?”

Although it’s been said that PC gaming is on the downslope, piracy of PC games has been steadily increasing ever since it’s existed. It’s not too often (if it’s ever happened before) that a game developer has come straight out and asked, ‘Why?’. Why exactly do people pirate games? Is it the high cost? The difficulty in purchasing? Laziness?

Cliff Harris, an indie developer for Positech Games, came out and asked the question, not to whine like many large developers, but rather to gain an insight into what goes through pirates’ minds. Personally, most people I know who pirate software or games wouldn’t purchase the game even if it were a single dollar. It comes down to laziness and lack of care, and I’m sure they are not alone. It’s a sad reality, really.

Cliff wants pirates to e-mail him with their insight, and in return he promises to not expose them, nor even relay their e-mails to the public. Rather, he wants to contemplate each message he receives and see how he and other developers can work to decrease the abundance of piracy, but that thought in itself is an extreme one. Piracy has been rampant in the past few years, and to slow it down by any means at all would be one impressive feat. Definitely a commendable move though, without question.

Starship Tycoon – One of Positech’s many titles

I’ll just read them, nothing else. It will be entirely off-the-record and effectively anonymous. I won’t hand any email addresses to the RIAA, MPAA, BSA or anyone at all under any circumstances ever.” What he will do, however, is read every e-mail in an attempt to understand why pirates pirate and what developers can do to change the way that PC gaming is going.