this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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Not being aware was a simpler expression to convey "does not have any influence on that person". And no, it does not harm you. Please explain what difference does it make to you if someone does not buy the game or does not buy the game and pirate it. And better yet, if you think that the comparison should be between a specific human being purchasing the game or pirating for it, please explain how can you prove someone did have the intent to buy the game? Even if so, the person responsible is not the one making a decision to pirate, but the one making it available for piracy. I still disagree with this view of reality, but for me personally assigning more responsibility to the websites offering content rather than the users is a more sensible middle ground. The main problem for me is the idea of a "lost sale", whereas it is not possible to prove someone was going to buy the product. I've even seen some people suggest things like "if you are poor and can't afford entertainment then you shouldn't have entertainment", which is completely absurd, because in this case specifically piracy even more clearly has no negative impact on anyone, and just a positive one for the person unable to afford a product.
It doesn't make much difference a person refusing to buy your game isn't going to buy your game.
I guess in some cases they might be simply butthurt losers about it (most people attacking piracy are) and in some cases they'd be seething about people being free to choose not to buy their stuff in the first place, though they'd never say that because they would sound crazy, greedy, and tyrannical, even to people against piracy.
They don't really feel anything from it, if they do they're just butthurt losers.
Is it possible to calculate which people who steal content would have purchased it if stealing it was not an option? No, of course not. Would you suggest that the number is zero? That no one who steals it would have purchased it? Especially considering the fact that prices in general would be lower for everyone if stealing it was impossible? I think it's pretty safe to say that people stealing content robs creators of some profits. Which, by the way, is why it's illegal.
And are you suggesting that the only form of entertainment poorer people have as options are movies and games that they have to steal? Because that's crazy. My family was not well off when I was little and there were loads of things that we couldn't afford that my friends could. It's like you're insinuating that I'm arguing that poor people shouldn't be able to eat if I say that it's not okay for people to steal filet mignon. There are movies on TV and YouTube. There are free and affordable games. Most older content is pretty cheap. We're not taking away someone's inalienable rights by saying that to see the latest Marvel blockbuster, they have to pay for it.
It's remarkable to me that people justify this stuff by saying it's right and good. I'm not an angel, but when I do something I shouldn't, I don't try to convince people that I'm entitled to it. I don't make up words to make my actions sound okay.
I think this discussion is leading nowhere, but I again want to emphasize the fact that you cannot point to a person and say that their actions specifically led to any harm and thus you cannot (imo of course) morally hold them responsible. As for the second part that was not my point, you are of course right about what you said and I agree with the whole paragraph, I just wanted to show an extreme example of how there is no harm, because there is no way such a person would pay for the content anyways - so yeah, you can just let them not enjoy filet mignon, but why would you when they could eat it with no harm to anyone? And as for the last part I am not stating that piracy is always a clearly good thing, I am just stating that it is ethically neutral in most cases and rarely necessary to save content from being forgotten or for other research purposes, when eg. the scientific articles are locked behind absurd paywalls.