Arrrrrrr!

Piracy and computer gaming is one of those eternal debates, much like the role of digital violence upon real world violence. Most recently Brad Wardell posted some of his thoughts on PC piracy at his blog and he takes an interesting approach to the subject. If you haven’t read it yet make sure to check it out.

Normally I’m not inclined to write about piracy, save to ridicule those that pirate our games and then go onto the official forums to ask for tech help when their pirated game breaks, but the other day I heard something on NPR that made me pause. I was in the middle of swapping CDs, fumbling to put one away while commuting in the heavy afternoon traffic, when NPR’s afternoon news program had a tease for an upcoming segment.

Apparently while many forms of crime are up in the country, burglary is down, and from the sound bite they had the angle was it was because everyone basically had everything nowadays and so there was little market for stolen goods. I suppose it makes some sense. You can pick up a standard DVD player for about $40. A low end HDTV for a couple hundred dollars. Enough folks have iPods that you’d think Apple was giving them away in Cracker Jack boxes. That’s not to say there is no longer a difference between the haves and have nots, just that it no longer is determined by consumer products owned.

Stealing games has never been about turning a profit though. Sure, you do have the problem with the Asian and East European markets, but that’s a recent problem. Back in the ‘80s was Choplifter more likely to be cracked and ripped off by American teenagers or Thai gangsters?

Unlike traditional theft that involves stealing something to then sell to someone who could normally not afford such a product, that’s never been the issue with computer game piracy. Consider that if you have the means to pirate a computer game, or to use a pirated game, you’re already doing fairly well since you need the invest in the hardware in the first place to commit the crime. Yes, you could use a stolen computer I suppose, but I have a feeling the largest percentage of pirates are your everyday joes. And that’s what I’d really like to see some numbers on.

What is the percentage of pirates coming from first world nations that have everything to begin with? I’d love to see a breakdown, especially down through the years. I have a feeling that the percentage of actual pirates—those that turn around and sell the stuff for profit—is a far smaller number than the pirates who are in it simply because they can.