Note: I make some rather passionately harsh comments and some arguments based on light ground in this post. I've since the inception of this blog post come to realize I was overstepping on some areas where I wasn't actually wanting this discussion to go, I was just getting out of bed in a foul mood that reflected poorly on my writing of this blog. In hindsight, I probably should have waited to post this until my mind could settle and I had a cup of tea down. I still stand by thinking this is entirely stupid, but I could probably have worded that entire thing better.

Thank you all for contributing to the discussion and if you're new to the thread, disregard some of my original ramblings and focus on the topic at hand; Kopimism.

Escapist Article talking about something I recently read in a Swedish newspaper here. Apparently some dude I wish I could punch in the face have made the act of downloading and sharing things online an officially recognized religion. This completely ruins me because not only is religion on it's own dumb. But to make piracy a religion is even twice as dumb because the basic idea behind piracy is such an annoying fallacy of logic that it always makes my head explode when people don't grasp the simple concept of "If no one paid for these things, they wouldn't exist". Sure they won't always slant it that way, but that's the gist. No one is stopping the notion of sharing freeware and copyright-free things, therefore these "enemies of free information" is obviously those who think copyrighted material should be paid for so that those who created those things get back what they invested.

And it's a shame that this mentality has taken place. I remember some years ago the film industry in South Korea was booming, they made some awesome films during that time (such as Oldboy). Since then, piracy has made most experimental films obsolete in favor of bland "lowest common denominator" entertainment much like Hollywood or Hong Kong. Sure, there will be those that manage to create something interesting, but not as much as it could be if more people took their head out of their ass and paid for the entertainment they consume. Sure, one could argue about how the income scales within entertainment, but just because A-list celebrities in block buster movies make a ton of cash, doesn't mean every person making something drives a Bently.

We all know this happens in the gaming industry as well. How many studios isn't closing down? Sure, their issues might not all be due to piracy, but for some I am sure it is. Big franchises tend to win out because they have the PR and they will sell more than they spent. But most won't. Which means new ideas are not as prolific as sequels. And while some franchises are fun sequels, it makes for a rather stale state of the gaming landscape.

I can agree though that while piracy is a reality, creators of entertainment needs to give out options that make paying for their products worth it. Make the pirate version the lesser one. But that may also mean we'll eventually end up in a place where "streaming" and "cloud" gaming (or other entertainment) is the norm and that the notion of owning something to keep for the future is a thing of the past. And I am not sure I want that to be the case. I like the fact that I can sit down and play Bushido Blade and not worry about them not having that game on some server somewhere.

Finally, for more brain melting stupidity, check out their website here.