[citation][nom]Zoonie[/nom]I'm so fed up with people comparing physical stealing with digital piracy. It's not the same thing.Many of those who pirate either can't afford or just wouldn't buy the software anyway, thus they aren't potential buyers. And no, this can't be compared to physical stealing, because digital copies do not decrease in quantity like physical material does. I'm not trying to say piracy is good, but it's nowhere near physical stealing. Developers need to stop being greedy and be happy with the revenue their software makes, because it normally makes up more than double the cost of development. And this coming from an old dev himself.[/citation]
Anyone who thinks that there is a 200% profit margin on software is on some serious drugs. Maybe you could achieve that if you are paying yourself $3.00 an hour. Then you’d be better of working fast food. People also never consider R&D. Most normal companies will have a 25% success rate in software sales. That means that 1 in 4 developed games/apps will turn a decent profit. So, the profit from that one needs to cover the dev costs of all four. The #12 iPhone app Pocket God sold 500,000 copies. That’s $380,000 after Apple’s cut. 4 Developers x 60 hours per week x 6 months is $52 per hour. How many times do you think you can repeat that? If they only sold 100,000 copies, that’s $12 an hour.
Digital Piracy is Stealing. It is equivalent to physical stealing. Pirates are stealing the property of someone else. It is called 'Intellectual Property' and, just like physical property, the owner has the right to set their own price. Just because it is easier to steal intellectual property doesn't mean that it is not stealing.
I am stunned by the arrogance of pirates who think they have a RIGHT to someone's software because they WANT it. You are not entitled to anything. For the simple minded pirates, let's equate it to movies. You can't see a movie in a theater without paying because you WANT to. If you sneak into a theater, they will call the police. Later, you can BUY it on DVD. You can RENT it from Netflix. Or, if you are crying poor, you can wait and see it on T.V. in a year or two for when an advertiser is PAYING for your free viewing of it by purchasing a commercial. Or, lastly, you can borrow it from a library after someone PAID for it and then DONATED it.
You can't get into a concert FREE because you WANT to. You can listen to it on the radio for free later when an advertiser is PAYING for your free listening by purchasing a commercial.
You can't get into Six Flags FREE because you WANT to. You can watch the videos of your friends who SAVED their money and PAID to get in.
How would the conversation go if you were face to face with the developer instead of hiding on the Internet and stealing?
You: I want your game!
Developer: OK. That will be $7.oo please.
You: No. Give it to me. I WANT it. I deserve it. Other people bought it already. Give it to me.
Developer: Four of us worked 60 hours a week for the last 6 months. I can't give it away. I have two kids, two car payments and a mortgage. We've released other free games. However, this one costs $7.00.
You: I don't want the free one. I WANT that one and I'm going to take (STEAL) it no matter what you say.
You can't walk into an employer and tell them how much they are going to pay you. They will laugh at you. You can't tell someone how much they should sell a product or service for. You only have two options, pay the stated price, or do without. In a thief's world the third option is to STEAL it. You have a RIGHT to NOTHING but sitting and twiddling your thumbs.
Trying to obfuscate the truth to make yourself feel better doesn't change the truth. 'Physical Property' vs 'Intellectual Property'. Leave off the description of the kind of 'property' and see if your arguments will work. Walk up to a Judge, District Attorney, Police Officer and say 'I took someone's property and didn't pay them for it.' Now try your arguments 'It's not stealing because I wouldn't have bought it anyway' or 'They already sold a lot of them and they are greedy so it is not stealing'. See how well that works for you. Since you can't afford the $7.00 for an app, I guess you won't be able to afford bail either. Taking $7.00 has a name too. It's called Petty-THEFT.