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I am completely for it- but only in certain situations.

Fair warning, this will be very long and some parts may be redundant (sorry about that). For the record I am 20:


Books: This mainly applies to books for college because most people still prefer paper over e-books for normal novels and comics (including myself, I still buy my novels/comics online and in stores). They need to be cheaper. It should not cost $100-400 PER BOOK just to further our knowledge while attending college, especially considering the already ridiculous price you need to pay for college itself.


Music: This is a simple one really, the record industry killed/is killing themselves. Before the internet artists could not get known anywhere without the help of marketing, so they were ok with getting the record companies on board and only getting a small fraction of the profit (For every CD sold for $20.00 the artist sees about $0.10 to $0.30). However now with YouTube, let’s plays, gameplay videos (pvp videos etc.), and content as a whole being created at such a fast pace a song can go from nothing to being a bit hit, WITHOUT the record companies. More and more artists are realizing they are not needed, and with a simple "donate" button on their website they can get EVEN MORE money than the record company wanted to give them. Add on to the fact that mass-producing your own CDs is getting extremely cheap and you can see where this is going.

Right now the music industry is terrified of this, because they would no longer exist. This is why you see absurd lawsuits like "1,000 IP addresses filed in lawsuit" or "Man charged $400,000 per song in a mix tape he uploaded". But it is their own fault, they OUTRIGHT REFUSED to adapt to new technology as it came along, and are trying to hold on to a business model that hasn't changed since the 60s, if not earlier. They keep riding that train and when new things come along, they have no idea what to do. Take the "IP address" lawsuits that come up at least once a month. You're suing a number? No you are suing a person, but targeting them through that number? That makes no sense. They seem to think 1 IP address = 1 physical address = one person but that is just not the case. It couldn't be more wrong. Pretty much everything connected to the internet has an IP address. What about routers? they only have one IP address yet there can be multiple computers with different users connected to it using the same IP. Again, you can see where this is going and it does not look good for them.

Then we get to the main bits of it, music itself. They do not even care about talent anymore, it seems anyone can get a record deal so long as you are young and have good looks. If you cannot sing they will auto tune, which for some bizarre reason people enjoy (theories are that it subconsciously reminds us of tribal chanting/humming). If you cannot write, they will write for you. Hell, a SINGLE PERSON wrote a ton of hit songs between the 80s and now for many different artists, this again is a product of the record industry. Many times the artists do not even like these songs because they did not write them, but the record companies either say they will close the contract or simply offer some extra money, and being that they make almost nothing as it is from said record companies (usually most is through merchandise, tours, etc. that they get a bigger cut of) they take it. If the record companies would stop shoving this crap down our throats everyone would be better off for it.


Movies & TV shows: This one is nearly identical with Music, simply replace key nouns with their cinematic counterparts. They expect gross profits like they used to get, a $100million movie would make $300million at the box office, and then another $500million in DVD and merchandise sales, this cannot happen anymore when you are only producing crap. They are not mad that pirates are getting their movies for free, they are mad that no one is watching their "Scary Date Movie 17" or "American Pie: Retirement Home" or "This Plot Was Ripped From A Drama That Was Made 4 Years Ago And We Turned It Into An Action Comedy #392". They only want to produce "safe" crappy movies because there is no risk. If it is a fairly low production costs the gains won't be great but the losses won't be either.

This is why it feels like there is just "no more originality" anymore. That is not the problem, the problem is there is TONS AND TONS AND TONS of originality, but the studios don't want to risk money on them because they do not assure profit. It goes without saying that THIS IS NOT THE POINT OF MAKING MOVIES! Bela Lugosi did not know that his portrayal of a vampire will be the "staple" for how we see vampires probably for a very long time. Almost everyone involved in Star Trek thought it was going to bomb on the first season, hell, it barely got approved after the pilot but look at it now. George Lucas did not know Star Wars would do so well, in fact, everyone thought it was a stupid idea, production costs were low and everyone thought it would flop but look at the monster it has become (and turned Lucas into). People should want to make movies because they want to make movies, NOT BECAUSE THERE IS POTENTIAL FOR GINORMOUS PROFITS.

Let's use the Twilight movies for example. No one and I mean NO ONE thought these movies were good, but yet they were made. Why? Because they had potential for huge profits, and look what happened. 4 (I don't care if the number is wrong) movies later and it's made a ridiculous amount of money. This is the only reason. They were not made because people thought they would be good movies, they were made because studio executives knew it would bring a profit and make shareholders happy, which in turn gives them more money.

Now let's talk the DVD releases. Let me ask you this, movie industry: WHY IS IT WHEN I BUY A LEGAL COPY OF YOUR FEATURE FILM EVERY TIME I WANT TO WATCH I NEED TO SKIP THROUGH 4 UNSKIPPABLE "DONT PIRATE THIS" SCREENS, SEVERAL UNSKIPPABLE MOVIE TRAILERS AND A 3 MINUTE LONG MENU ANIMATION BEFORE I CAN WATCH THE GODDAMN MOVIE I PAID FOR?? For christ's sake it takes nearly 10-20 minutes in some extreme cases between putting in the DVD and being able to start the first scene. Oh but that's not the half of it, I cannot even COPY IT FOR MY OWN PERSONAL USE. Media Center PCs are getting extremely popular and physical media is dying. But they don't care, if it's copying it's piracy so now movies come with DRM and copy protection keys that do not allow you to copy it. Let's compare this to the pirated version shall we:

Step 1. Google "Movie .Torrent"
Step 2. Download said torrent
Step 3. Wait between 10 minutes to 1hr (depending on internet speed and file size) for the download to finish
Step 4. Done! Watch your movie with no ads at all, no DRM, you can put it on whatever you want and watch whenever you want.

A much better version. Sure, I need to do the 10 minute to 1hr download but that is only a one-time thing, just like with buying a movie where it is a one-time thing. I might not get the special features, but those are usually available for free on YouTube or I could download them from another torrent (This is changing actually, many movie torrents are starting to include extras and special features).

If they keep shoving this crap down our throats people will start to vote with their wallet like they are with music. I know I already am. Even if I liked a movie I will not buy it (with EXTREMELY few exceptions depending on the director, actors, and studio) because of all of this BS. Why am I paying to be advertised to?


((This one is a bit tricky, so for the sake of this post I will split software separately from games.))
Software: Now, software is a gigantic pain the ass to make. People don't realize it but even simple programs can take months to years of coding and bugfixing just to get a stable release version out. This is hard work and many of these pieces of software definitely deserve the price tag just like any other 'for use' tool (think screwdriver, broom, etc.) or product..... But this is where we run into a problem. Software is, for the most part, COMPLETELY NON-REFUNDABLE. If you spend money on a piece of software and it either does not work, or was not to your liking you usually have no way of getting a refund. This is also a problem.

The obvious solution to this is to add a trial version but yet we run into ANOTHER problem where trial versions have restrictions on them. Oh you are thinking of spending $3,000 on our video software? Cool! Go make a video and tell us how you like it!

"You cannot put in Special Effects in the Trial version, please purchase the Full version."
"You cannot import .mp3, .wmv, .avi, .wav, .mov, ........ .mpeg, or .ogg files in the Trial version, please purchase the Full version."
"You cannot add titles and credits in the Trial version, please purchase the Full version."
"You cannot save your work in the Trial version, please purchase the Full version."
"You cannot create more than one audio track or channel in the Trial version, please purchase the Full version."
"You cannot use more than three segments of video in the Trial version, please purchase the Full version."
"USB mice and keyboards are disabled in the Trial version, please purchase the Full version."
"Rendering videos is disabled in the Trial version, please purchase the Full version."

-Whoops that sucks, looks like you need to pay up first.
"Hmm, this is good software but I don't really like it compared to my other one."
"Yes, hello can I get a refund?"
-Sorry bud but you already bought, installed, and used it. Plus you used the CD key, we cannot give you a refund.
"But I already uninstalled the product and it requires a constant connection to your servers to use anyways, can't you simply make the key invalid and refund my m-"
-Transferring *transferred to another CS rep* Hello, this is Peggy. Putting you through now.... *on hold for 4hrs, hung up on. From this point forward you are either immediately hung up on or put on indefinite hold in the hopes that you stop calling*

Well that was fun wasn't it?

If people like things, they might not pay immediately, but they most definitely will pay when they can. Take Bill Gates, Microsoft Office and Windows as an OS for example. He does not care that people pirate windows and office. At all. His stance that as long as people are using it and like it, and it's putting a dent in competition that he does not mind because more often than not, the person who got it for free years ago and loved it might just go ahead and buy the new official version. This is how it should be, it should not be a "pay us now, no refunds, you cannot test the software out" it should be a system where you pay what you want, when you want. Want to pay $50 for it? $10? $800? $1?Do you want to pay nothing? Fine, go right on ahead.

But this is where people will cry out "But everyone will just pay nothing!", well that is not true at all. Many people will buy for $1 or get it for free, but those people will be outweighed by the people who pay what they think it's worth, and the people who pay because they like/apprecieate the software. If 800 people get it for free and then twenty people pay $40 for it, those 800 people have just been eclipsed. Sure, you lose potential profit BUT, AND THIS IS WHERE THE BIG BUT COMES IN: Would you rather have 20 people pay $40 each and 800 people get it for free, legally, OR would you rather have 3 people buy it for $25, 10,000 people pirate it for free and 900 people pirate a malware infected version for free, spreading experiences and rumors that your software is infected with malware.

Multiple studies have shown, both in theory and practice (Humble Indie Bundle for example) that when people are allowed to pay what they want, they are more likely to ACTUALLY PAY SOMETHING RATHER THAN PAY NOTHING. This seems to defy all logic but it's true, when given the option to pay what they want, people are more likely to buy something than if it is at a fixed price, some even buy it at a higher price than what it was going to be fixed at.

Last but not least for software I would like to mention ELUAs and TOUs. These things are NOT legally binding, yet they are worded as such. No one actually reads the ~10++ pages of text just to install a piece of software. These need to stop having hidden agreements in them. Stuff like Steam, Origin, and the PS3's that say "You agree that if you join a class action lawsuit against us we will ban your account permanently". Now, because this is not legally binding and you cannot sign your rights away this does not work, but they will still ban you and there is nothing you can do about it. Sneakily, many companies are now retroactively adding this into their agreements AFTER THE PRODUCT HAS BEEN BOUGHT (PS3) OR BEEN ON SALE FOR A LONG TIME, this means if you no longer agree to the terms, you cannot use the software at all, not even an earlier version in many cases.

That whole shady practice needs to stop and the only reason it is there is to make corporate trolls and lawyers money.


Games: This is very tricky, but the games problem is more of a combination of all the above problems combined into one. To be honest, this is a very difficult one to word out. The industry as a whole is in a rough state and needs a lot of changes.... But I'll give it a shot.

Let's start with DRM such as SecuROM. This needs to stop, immediately. These kinds of DRM are essentially legal malware that infect the deepest parts of your system and the registry just to make sure you don't copy a game, nowadays even to the point where YOU CANNOT INSTALL THE GAME UNTIL YOU REMOVE ANY VIRTUAL DISK DRIVES OR DISC RIPPING SOFTWARE. I wish I were kidding. Back to movie trailers, why the hell do we need to sit through this when we just paid for a legitimate copy of the item when pirates don't need to deal with any of this? Not only is this a huge inconvenience and it is telling you to uninstall other products that have nothing to do with it but uninstalling the DRM is a complete nightmare. When I uninstalled GTA IV with SecuROM it slowed the hell out of my system, I had to do several wipes of temp files and the registry (I even had to spend a good 4hrs doing manual registry cleaning. For those who do not know this is NOT F**KING FUN) and finally after several restarts I was gone of it. All because of what? Because I felt like I should buy the game and give them my money. Thanks, asshats.

Online only DRM is not terrible for online games, but still stupid in general. Especially for single player games, why the hell do I need this? Many people with laptops play single player games on long trips in cars or on planes but oh no there is no internet [or if there is it's too slow to ping the server in time for the DRM] looks like you're SOL.

Many people will say not all DRM is bad and cite Steam as an example but this is not true. I love Valve and the Steam service but it really is just glorified DRM. Granted it's very non-intrusive DRM but it is still DRM. This would be an example of DRM done right (sort of) since we need to move away from it and things like SecuROM or Ubisoft's Draconian Law are not helping this cause. All said there though, I still believe CD keys are fine. You still need to buy and register the product, they are USUALLY non intrusive, and more often than not the ones that only have a CD key simply check if it was purchased rather than check the physical disk.

So far that has only been about PC gaming for the most part so let's go over to console gaming. Consoles are a bit of an odd one because piracy is not as easy as on a PC in most cases and many times cannot be done until near the end of the console's lifespan.

I was going to type a bit more for this part but most of my thoughts on it are already summed up in the movies and software category, just replace them with "video games".

Personally, I think most of the time it's not right to Pirate a game. HOWEVER there are exceptions and these are the big ones:

1. [from software] There is no demo, or the demo is restrictive. How else can I see if the game runs well on my system or if I even like it? Many people including myself pirate it first and if we play more than a few hours will uninstall/delete it, salivate over it for a short period of time, then buy a legit copy. If you are not going to give us a chance to try your game why should we risk our money, ESPECIALLY when PC games are non-refundable and console games are starting to follow suit.

2. [from movies] This is not strictly pirating, but no-CD cracks. CAN WE PLEASE DO AWAY WITH PUTTING THE DAMN DISK IN THE TRAY FOR 5 SECONDS JUST TO CHECK A 40 BYTE PRODUCT KEY EVERY TIME I WANT TO PLAY A GAME? I don't know about most people but I keep my games in cases on the shelves. Since the game is installed, the media is useless to me, why do I need to fish it out, put it in the tray, and leave it there? Can it not just encrypt a product key and put it in the registry like it's supposed to? Why are they jumping through hoops to prevent the unpreventable?

3. Intrusive DRM such as SecuROM and Ubisoft's DRM. If this is in the game, it is 100% A-OK to pirate it, end of story.

4. Crappy ports from other systems. If you expect me to pay full price for a crappy port of a PC or console game you are out of your goddamn mind. In this case I would suggest just not buying or pirating it at all, but if you want to at least try it I think it's justified.

5. On-disc DLC. I can understand release day DLC, maybe it was put in with development time between going gold and release. But on-disc DLC needs to stop. If I buy a game, and there is DLC on the disc, I expect to be able to have that DLC. I should not have to pay $10 for an 8KB file download that simply “unlocks” the DLC already on the disc. Imagine if we did that with movies or TV shows, you pay $30 for a box set with 27 episodes, all on the disc, but you go to watch and you can only watch the first half of all the episodes, you need to pay $10 to unlock the second half, even though it was already there. Why should we pay for on-disc DLC when the pirated versions often have ALL the DLC for free, including on-disc and DLC released at a later date.

Let's talk a little about the games themselves now though. Similar to the part about movies and studios only wanting "safe" movies and not taking risks, the same goes with game developer and publisher studios. Without a safe assurance the game will do well, publishers do not want to give a team to work on the next great RPG with innovative elements, they would much rather have the studio slave away at "Super Call of Halofield Babysitter Warfare Thi4f Hero Gaiden Ultra-Maxx Super Extreme Plus Gold Edition 3.14" and make a profit. They are more concerned about $ than having fun and telling stories, which, just like making movies, is THE ENTIRE POINT OF YOUR INDUSTRY.

Also stop making games so damn easy. I have rarely found a "hard" or "insane" mode that feels anywhere near challenging (The Witcher 2 was a good example of this, good lord was that game punishing, but fun as hell). Stop feeling like every gamer needs their hand held, there have been an ALARMING number of games in recent years where you can complete the entire campaign, on any difficulty, without killing more than one person or firing one shot, or in some cases, without attacking or killing anyone yourself at all (Resistance 3, Crysis 2 for examples).


Further thoughts: Piracy in some form or another has been around since spoken word and written language. The reason it is so big now is because of the affected industries inability to adapt their businesses to new technology and get on with the times. They are still trying to convince everyone the square is better than the wheel.

While it is 100% completely undeniably impossible to stop piracy it is VERY easy to lessen it: Stop punishing legitimate customers for giving you money, it only infuriates them and you may end up losing them as a customer FORVER. Give people the option to try things out, unrestricted, before they buy. If it is good people will buy it, if it is bad people obviously will not buy it. Like I said before the industry reps and higher ups are not afraid of Piracy, they are afraid of everyone starting to vote with their wallets. Give people the option to pay for less than your static price on something, many times they do not want to spend $30 but might be tempted to spend $5 or $10. Would you rather have less money from that person, or no money at all?

Last but not least, Stop BSing.
You do not need those giant $40mil/year salaries.
Piracy is NOT affecting your industry as bad as you claim it to be (the exception to this would be the US anime industry but I'll leave this short: Streaming is effective, options are effective, however if there is no other resource would they rather us just ignore their product? International agreements like that are touchy hence why I largely ignored it).
STOP PULLING NUMBERS AND FACTS OUT OF YOUR ASSES. 1IP=/=1Person, hosting an open WiFi is not a crime, one pirated copy=/=one lost sale, you are not "suffering" and we are not "damaging the industry" IF YOU ARE POSTING RECORD PROFITS EACH YEAR.
STOP SUING EVERYONE. Seriously, what the hell are you doing? Do you WANT us to hate you more?
PIRACY IS NOT STEALING, it is COPYING and COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, in stealing the original item is removed, in copying the original is still there. Does a lowly nerd in his room downloading a movie really put him in the same category as desperate people who threaten others with a weapon and demand a product?


This is MY money; I will spend it how I want to. I DO NOT want to get screwed around with, I DO NOT want to pay to be advertised to, I CAN choose to completely ignore your product.


I wanted to get into patents, copyright and the like as well but honestly I ran out of steam. Go watch some YouTube videos from other people about them:



I know none of this will not get through to them without some major changes that will never happen but this is my opinions and thoughts on the whole of things. I personally vote with my wallet, if I like something I will buy it. I may not buy it IMMEDIATELY due partially to being poor, but I would if I could and will buy it eventually.

Sources:
(Google most of these facts and you will get a relevant answer, video, or the like.)

EDIT: >_> I didn't mean for it to be THAT long.

TL;DR in the post below vvv