purplerat
Distinguished
- Jul 18, 2006
- 1,519
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A little touchy I see ovaltine. Sorry but when you say that piracy is caused by addiction for no reason other than opinion it deserves to be scrutinized. I'm not going to argue about morals because they are a completely made up and arbitrary set of opinions. Addiction on the other hand is a very real and clearly defined affliction. Saying it causes piracy would be the same as saying something like left handedness causes piracy. Unless you can actually back it up with something showing that left handed people pirate more than right handed people it deserves to be scrutinized.
You're addiction theory is flawed because it relies on two points that are highly unlikely. The first, which I'm very prone to argue about so just deal with it or drop the topic, is the idea that video games are abnormally addictive. I say abnormally because almost anything can be addictive so it's only natural to expect that a certain number of gamers will become addicted. However based on the amount of piracy and your theory that it's caused mostly by video game addicts it would indicate an enormously huge % of gamers being addicted. I find that theory appalling.
The second part of your theory that is flawed is the assumption that video game addicts would be pirating like crazy. In reality there's no reason to believe this. In cases where we know of real game addiction the addicts tend to be deeply locked into a single game. A clear sign of a game addict is somebody who spends a lot of time playing games but only plays a very few number of games. This doesn't fit the mold of piracy.
Also why do you think game addicts would necessarily turn to stealing to "get their fix"? With drug use you are already dealing with an illegal activity so increased illegal activities of other forms are only natural. But gaming is legal even if addicted, so it's better to compare it to other legal addictions. Do smokers or alcoholics have abnormally high tendencies to steal their fix? No not really. So why would gamer addicts?
Just one separate point I want to clear up. In my anecdote about the pirating-pastor my intent was not to say that this person had some moral high ground which we should all abide by just because he is a person of faith. I personally would laugh at that very notion. My point was that here was somebody who I can vouch for as truly trying to live an honest life but pirated music out of pure ignorance. Had the idea even occurred to him that he was stealing I’m certain he would not of done it. In reality there is no actual “pastor”, I just combined the idea of the many people whom I’ve known who’ve downloaded music without even given a thought as to whether or not what they were doing was theft. They do not account for all piracy or even most, but even software, music and movie companies readily acknowledge that ignorance or at least complacence accounts for a large amount of piracy. A lot more than addiction.
You're addiction theory is flawed because it relies on two points that are highly unlikely. The first, which I'm very prone to argue about so just deal with it or drop the topic, is the idea that video games are abnormally addictive. I say abnormally because almost anything can be addictive so it's only natural to expect that a certain number of gamers will become addicted. However based on the amount of piracy and your theory that it's caused mostly by video game addicts it would indicate an enormously huge % of gamers being addicted. I find that theory appalling.
The second part of your theory that is flawed is the assumption that video game addicts would be pirating like crazy. In reality there's no reason to believe this. In cases where we know of real game addiction the addicts tend to be deeply locked into a single game. A clear sign of a game addict is somebody who spends a lot of time playing games but only plays a very few number of games. This doesn't fit the mold of piracy.
Also why do you think game addicts would necessarily turn to stealing to "get their fix"? With drug use you are already dealing with an illegal activity so increased illegal activities of other forms are only natural. But gaming is legal even if addicted, so it's better to compare it to other legal addictions. Do smokers or alcoholics have abnormally high tendencies to steal their fix? No not really. So why would gamer addicts?
Just one separate point I want to clear up. In my anecdote about the pirating-pastor my intent was not to say that this person had some moral high ground which we should all abide by just because he is a person of faith. I personally would laugh at that very notion. My point was that here was somebody who I can vouch for as truly trying to live an honest life but pirated music out of pure ignorance. Had the idea even occurred to him that he was stealing I’m certain he would not of done it. In reality there is no actual “pastor”, I just combined the idea of the many people whom I’ve known who’ve downloaded music without even given a thought as to whether or not what they were doing was theft. They do not account for all piracy or even most, but even software, music and movie companies readily acknowledge that ignorance or at least complacence accounts for a large amount of piracy. A lot more than addiction.
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