QOTD: Do You Think the Word 'Piracy' is Too Sexy?

[JMcEntegart]

Anti-piracy advocates say the word piracy needs to be changed because as it stands, it makes the act of pirating seem too cool.

QOTD: Do You Think the Word 'Piracy' is Too Sexy? : Read more

 

[smithereen]

I guess they kinda have a point...

 

[brendano257]

"But we're talking about a criminal act. We're talking about making it impossible to make a living from what you do"
Oh? Last time I checked no one made money from giving things away for free....the only thing I could see making money are paid sites and those responsible for selling SceneAxx, which are the few and elite. 99.9% of "Pirates" make absolutely no money by P2P/torrents, they simply save money instead of filling the pockets of filthy corporate monsters.

Change the word, do what you want, but it won't change the fact that your STILL making millions while you criminalize anyone who thinks you don't deserve all the credit and money.

 

[Fokissed]

"Do you think changing the word pirate to something with more negative connotations, like thief, would deter people inclined to download music and movies?"
No.

 

[Hellbound]

No.....

 

[ezodagrom]

Yeah, the name should be changed, maybe from pirates to robin hoods?
They steal from the big rich companies to give to the poor....err wat?

 

[the_krasno]

If they change it to "theft" it would be said that it's "adventurous". Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer wanted to be a famous leader of bandits, for example. The underground, the outlaw, will always seem to be a dangerous and attractive idea. So changing the wording to something negative will do nothing.

If you want to deter pirates, use reverse psychology and call them Saviour Angels! XD

 

[redux fountain]

People are aware of the connotations a particular word has when they use them, that's why they use that particular word over another with the same basic meaning. And even if you did somehow manage to effectively influence people to use thief instead of pirate, the shame and stigma connotated with that word isn't going to apply anyway because people can only "pirate" content anonymously. You need to change people's opinion's not the words they use to express thier opinions.

 

[smithereen]

[citation][nom]brendano257[/nom]"But we're talking about a criminal act. We're talking about making it impossible to make a living from what you do" Oh? Last time I checked no one made money from giving things away for free...[/citation]
You just a made their point. If people take publisher's products for free, it's impossible for the publishers and artists to make any money. They're not claiming the pirates are making money, their claiming the pirates are making it impossible for the artists and publishers to make money.
[citation][nom]brendano257[/nom] ...while you criminalize anyone who thinks you don't deserve all the credit and money.[/citation]
Alright, hmmm... who other than the artists and publishers deserve the "credit and money?"

 

[CptTripps]

[citation][nom]fokissed[/nom]"Do you think changing the word pirate to something with more negative connotations, like thief, would deter people inclined to download music and movies?"No.[/citation]

Thief, like Garrett, I loved those games

 

[LORD_ORION]

Soon, with all this monitoring and suing going on... pirates will need to become ninjas. You want to get your Warez without paying a penalty? You must appear and disappear without a trace.

 

[theholylancer]

change the way how you deal with "piracy" stop giving us MW2 or Ubi/EA with always on, stop DRMing music, stop putting a limit on how long a game should be, stop expecting easy money whenever you have a tie in or a 2 in the name.

Piracy is born because there is a need for this, imagine 30 dollar big hit titles on the pc and xbox delivered you straight, and keeps their value to say 20 dollars when you sell it 1 year down the road because of replay, imagine where hardware is brought in line, and people aren't mislead to crap for gaming (while keeping cheap for office / email / flash games), imagine when I can listen music from one device to the next, where my pc game could have a portal iphone version that does the mini game route that I can take on the go.

When the consumer is satisfied, there won't be a need for piracy.

 

[tipoo]

I've been waiting my whole life for someone to ask this very question. Yes, piracy is a sexy word.

 

[Zinosys]

In all seriousness, Changing a word won't change peoples' stance on piracy. Words don't really mean anything. You need to change peoples' opinions on things. Something effective would be, "if you pirate anything, you will be subjected to the most heinous capital punishment", etc, etc.

In other words, No.

 

[bogcotton]

Lol, all it would do is exactly nothing.

People would still call it piracy.

Unless they have a time machine, and can go back to before the term was coined, all they are doing is babbling about technicalities.

 

[turtlespeed]

Changing piracy to thief or something even more 'bad' is useless!
So many people who thing stealing is ok because they don't want to pay anything. They think it's normal and does not hurt others. Or don't care about the hurting as long it's not themselves who are being hurt! And everyone does it why don't I they think.

My thoughts are: treat others as you would like to be treated.
So basic! So true...

Shame that most of us are a bad example for our younger children ...our future...because they will do the same things you are doing.
The only difference: they will do it even better!

A person who can withhold from doing evil things is a person to be admired. Killing , stealing is too much in our nature...choosing the opposite requires pure strength...even more then doing evil...
Who likes to have a evil person as colleque or as wife/husband?
I don't... do you??!?

 

[noodlegts]

I think they have a point. Pirates are portrayed as being cool in lots of movies where in real life they were just thieves and murderers.

Not to get into this whole debate again, but piracy at the end of the day is a crime. You're essentially taking something that someone has worked hard for and using it when you have no right to it. In that sense it's actually a bit like theft.

 

[warmon6]

Hmmm... no.

its name could be changed thousand time but people will still do something wrong. In this case, piracy will still happen even if the name changed to something else.

 

[gti88]

I think, "piracy" should be changed to "peertopeeracy".

 

[imspecial]

I agree with most of the posters on here. Changing the name will hardly do anything at all. Like the_krasno stated, anything concerning outlaws, rebels, or bandits is considered adventurous. And I guess if they switch the name to "thief" most people would think about a witty, cunning, and charismatic person, like in most rpg's....

 

[culgor]

Pirates are thieves, plain and simple. Let them call themselves pirates as they try to convince themselves they are not just petty criminals.

 

[LATTEH]

ARRR SHIVER ME WAREZ

 

[counselmancl]

Me dasn't think that a changin' th' word would do anythin' t' deter swabbies from illegally downloadin' an' copyin' things. What we be ah needin' is a shell out yer gold as ye go system system similar t' MMORPG games. Give'em sea dogs an' land lubbers th' first bite free, but then be chargin fer tha next tasty morsel if tha deal's to yer likin. Arrr.

 

[Sykar]

Changing the word won't change anything. I am a "pirate" btw, I download movies, games and music, If I like the product a lot I will buy it but as I am a student I wouldn't have access to all of the stuff I watch and play if I paid for it. Also, the whole DRMing companies are deploying will all eventually be cracked so developing them and using them is a waste of money for them, a waste of time for the consumer and inconvenience for the consumer.

 

[Trueno07]

I agree 100% that piracy IS a crime.

But i also have to agree that the more and more they [game dev's, music studios, etc] try and lock their stuff down, the more the computer Wizs will try and crack it. (Eg, Ubisoft)