Hi all,
I realize this post isn’t Unity based, but I was wondering if you could take a few seconds to answer 3 simple questions on file sharing and your opinions on what info legal organizations should have access to - It’s for a research degree i’m studying for.
Kind regards in advance,
Matt.
Hah, that was a quick survey 
Answered your survey but just feel I should give you a more in depth reply as I dont think that the options meet what I think.
First of all for age I am under 21 (16)
I think that illegal downloading is fine, And I think this thanks to Charlie McDonnell and his Magic Mars bar theory, as seen here:
I also think of it this way, if my friend illegally downloaded anything I made, a game for example, he would be playing it in front of people, and then if them people take a liking to it they will ask for its name and maybe purchase it, if they illegally download it too then they will play it in front of their fronts, and the cycle continues. In a way its like advertisement. I understand that you may be loosing a lot of cash, but as in Charlies video, about music, if you like what you have gotten, you will contribute to the artist whether it be book, game, film or music as support.
I think that people should be allowed to monitor what you are downloading, because if you have nothing to hide, then why be bothered! The only implications I can see in that is when transferring things under NDA agreements, people would be able to see a lot of secret transferring that may be important, I also feel that if such things were placed, that there should be no access to the downloaded files for the sake of theft.
I hope this helps and best of luck on your degree
-Charlie
Ugh. 
There’s lots of things that aren’t illegal that people would like to hide. Their reasons for doing so are completely legitimate.
Done!
Fair point everyone has their own view on the situation
Since the survey didn’t have a way to type in my thoughts on the matter, I’ll just post it here in case you want to know the reasoning behind my answers:
2. In your opinion, do you think illegal downloading of copyrighted materials (such as Movies/DVDs, Music, Software) is a bad criminal offence?
I’ll be very honest here. When I first discovered the wonders of the internet back in the early to mid 90s, the very first thing I typed in Altavista (and Lycos, Webcrawler, and other search engines that were the Googles of that era) was “Download Free Games”. I grabbed the entire collection of SNES, Genesis, and every ROM type available for emulators at that time. All that I thought about as a kid was “Well, it’s free and these were games that I never got to buy from Toys R’ Us.”
The thrill of grabbing those games was the discovery of the bizarre and often amusing foreign games that game magazines in the US such as GamePro, EGM, and others never really gave attention. For example, if not for ROMs, I would have never discovered that the classic Elevator Action arcade/NES game actually had a sequel on the NES called Elevator Action 2, except that it was only released in Japan. I also would have never known that there was an actual SNES Back to the Future game, and again, it was just released in Japan! Through ROMs, I also discovered a game called Nosferatu, which was the horror equivalent of Out of This World/Another World. There are countless games that I’ve discovered because the internet made almost entire libraries of console and arcade games available to anyone.
It’s not just about games that I learned from the internet. Back then I honestly had no idea how to make games, how to make pictures move and stuff. I only knew the term “3D” because I saw it in those old Disney features about how some of their cartoons were made with the help of computers. Also, Donkey Kong Country was featured in one of those game magazines back then as using “3D rendered environments and characters” and they showed the wireframes of Donkey Kong and friends. With the internet, I just typed in “How to make 3d games” and I was suddenly flooded with information. I never really knew what “3D Studio Max” was or what it’s difference to “Rhinoceros” was but I started reading up on them. The internet really augmented my education aside from what I was learning in school. Back in college, Macromedia games were starting to pop up everywhere so as a side, I studied it on my own. I was able to successfully make a game as my thesis with the internet’s help.
Now that I’m starting to get old, I’ve also thought about different ideas on the matter. I’ve learned all sorts of things through the internet, and all I had to pay for (or at least my mom and dad lol!) was the slow 28.8kbps connection and the electricity bill. The software and education materials that I was able to use obviously cost more than that, and I don’t believe I would have been able to learn as much without the internet. Does this make things all fine and good since I never sold those things like other people do in the black market after downloading them? Maybe.
The thing is, it probably depends on the owner whether if they want to pursue “legal” action against someone or not. The problem as to why I’m actually having a hard time deciding on this is that anything you create in digital form can be recreated an infinite number of times. It’s not like in the real world where if you bake a pizza, that pizza only goes to one person. In digital terms, you can reproduce that pizza a million times, feed the entire population of Africa, and you would only have spent money on how you created the very first pizza that got recreated a million times.
Now I’m a budding game developer and my thoughts on the matter is more unstable as ever. When I was a kid, I just wanted to make games because I LOVE games (I sometimes had 48 hour gaming marathons lol!). Now, I still LOVE games and I still have gaming marathons when I have the time and my body wouldn’t fail (age makes you somehow less resistant to sleep I guess) but since I’m going to be selling games that I (or my team) make, I want to actually make money out of this career. The more I experience how hard it actually is to go through developing a game and having to concern yourself with the ugly side of making a game, the more respect I have for veteran game and software developers who succeed in the end after going through nightmarish work hours.
I think that the people who create these games, software, music, movies, whatever deserve to get the money that they’re asking for. This is me thinking as a person who appreciates and has experienced what it’s like to actually make a game. As a consumer/gamer, I don’t think that just because I tried out a game/software or anything else I should be fined or branded as a criminal. Does this mean that I think downloading stuff is fine? Personally, the answer is both yes and no. My answer comes more from the viewpoint of a combined gamer and game developer instead of a pure businessman.
When is downloading stuff NOT OK? If I were to make a game, spend hundreds of hours polishing it and making it really fun to play with a great story, music, and of course gameplay, then as a game developer I expect to “EARN” the money which is what I equate to how gamers and customers appreciate my product. If I earn and get the money from them, then I’ll be able to survive in this world since I’ll be able to buy food, pay all sorts of bills, or even have a family of my own and put kids through school. Aside from that, with money, I’ll be able to purchase new software that will help me create even more games with better quality. Without money, I won’t be able to pay bills and support myself, in other words, it will be the end of my game development dreams and all of the strange and fun ideas for games in my head won’t become a reality. I’d probably become homeless and die out in the streets, only to be discovered by someone after my body washes up on a beach somewhere.
When is downloading stuff OK? I think that if you’re just testing the game or software out on your machine then it should be fine. Let’s look at this from the point of view of a buyer. You’re not sure if your hardware will be able to handle Game X. Your machine is in the medium range of Game X’s actual recommended requirements. Still, from experience, you know that all hell can still break loose on your machine and the game will just be “functional” (yes it will boot up) but not “playable” (you’ll just run it at around 5 to 10 frames per second). This is the time to actually “Try Before You Buy” the game, especially now that most companies don’t even make a demo of the game available these days. Take for example “Dead Island” and “Rage” for PC. These two games didn’t have a demo. People bought them or pre-ordered them. Look what that got them. Dead Island was actually “Dev Island” with all sorts of bugs, save file corruption, and glitches galore. On some machines Dead Island ran just fine, but a lot of people had problems where the game was running at 5 to 10 frames per second even while exceeding the recommended system specs. Same goes for Rage. People who got it for the PC experienced all sorts of texture pop up hell and crashes. The usual “It’s 5 to 10 frames per second for me” also applies to some people. These games aren’t your typical $5 bargain bin stuff, these are supposed to be complete $60 products, but look at how gamers suffered just because there was no demo available and they just trusted the game company’s name and bought the stuff without even seeing if they could play the game or not.
I think that downloading stuff can’t really be judged as a whole. You need to check each situation on a case to case basis. Can you really blame people for needing to “Try Before They Buy” a game just to make sure their machines can actually run it? Even game stores won’t replace a game with another one of the same price if you’ve already opened the package. The loser is the gamer and customer if the game doesn’t work on their machines. They’ve just lost $60 on something that won’t even let them play it properly.
If you’re a gamer and you’re downloading games even if you have the money to spend, at least buy the actual game if you like it and if it works on your machine. It might sound corny, but game developers actually depend on your support because game developers are just like you, they’re people who need to pay bills, buy food, go to the hospital for medical reasons and raise families. If you don’t like their game or if the game doesn’t run on your machine, then there’s no need to pay. Game developers will have to rely on your honesty and love for games. It’s just that in the real world, the internet is already a major part of our lives, and with it comes the piracy of almost everything. Game developers really can’t do anything if everyone just decided to download their games without paying for them. Even big companies have no power to go after every citizen of a nation who downloads stuff. Just take the music industry for example. If they had the power to really go after everyone without losing money themselves and without wasting time, then they would have already sued all of America and possibly 3/4 of the entire world! The reality is that this is simply not humanly possible.
Now, if you’re a big company such as Pixar/Dreamworks and you download Maya/3DS Max 2013 or whatever else that you’re using to create your multi-million dollar animated films without paying Autodesk, then I think this is an extreme abuse. For a big company, the price of these products shouldn’t even bother them one bit. $5K is probably more like $0.05 to them. There’s no reason for them to make money using Maya/3DS Max 2013 (or even 2020 lol!) without paying. I think that in this situation, Autodesk really has a very good reason to sue these companies for money.
For individuals who download software to educate themselves, I think it’s not really that big of a deal. They’re not using it to make money. The effect is they actually become part of the people who believe in the abilities of a certain product and they’ll become future “legal” software owners. Where do you think the thousands of people who know how to suddenly model and animate in 3DS Max and Maya come from? We see them create wonderful art on fan pages and the like, and sometimes they even reach the level of an experienced artist just because they were able to gain access to these software as teens and they were able to practice the digital form of art. When they grow up, they either end up working for companies that use these software legally or they are the ones who become spokesmen for the products and recommend 3DS Max or Maya to new start up companies (some of which are headed by people who have no idea what software to buy).
3. Do you think law enforcement agencies should have access to information from ISPs regarding downloading activity?
Personally I don’t like the idea of anyone snooping around for what I search for or what I do on the net, especially if they have no good reason to. Downloading stuff is not a terrorist act. Downloading games such as “Rage” or “Battlefield 3” won’t cause buildings to explode or people to become homicidal maniacs.
I think that they better reserve all the spying and snooping around for actual threats to people’s lives, such as those who are suspected as being terrorists or murderers. They have no business trying to figure out what my favorite adult content is or who I write love letters to.
Conclusion:
I just realized that I’ve been typing my mind out for an hour already so I’ll just end it here quick.
It’s ok to download stuff if you just want to try something out on your machine and see if it’ll work or if you actually intend to honestly pay for it later on. We’re talking about honor and dignity here, not lawsuits.
It’s not ok to download stuff and make money off of it if you’re a big company who can easily pay for the software. If you’re doing this, you’re just abusing the understanding that game developers give to the gamers and customers.
As a game developer, if the game I released gets pirated (and I’m already expecting it to be), I’d get a little worried but I’ll count on the gamers to make the “right” decision and support me and my team by actually buying the games if they work on their machines and they enjoy it.
The real people that the law should go after when it comes to “illegal downloading” are those who sell the stuff in the black market. These people are the ones who really abuse game developers and other makers of products by actually stealing their stuff and selling them for their own profit. This is very different from people who just want to try out games (or intend to pay for them later) on their machines or people who just want to educate themselves more. These black market merchants are usually part of a syndicate who makes it a business to download stuff from the net to sell them on the streets or those temporary stalls that pop up during fairs. These are the people they should be investigating, not some 13-year-old kid who only dreams of becoming a 3D animator when he grows up or some 30-year-old guy who’s only checking out if the latest Batman game would actually run on his machine.
Two massive problems:
You argue that simple because you like that model - that everybody must follow it.
Simply because you disagree with a law, is not justification for breaking it.
Both of which lead to many crimes [Insert obligatory Hitler, Rape, Pedophilia Reference.]
I’m perfectly happy when people want to make their products better (digital downloads, decent pricing, demo’s for testing etc.) - I’m entirely unhappy when people want to arbitrarily tell companies what they can and can not do - especially as it removes the competitive edge for people that do make good products.
Many thanks for everyone who has taken the time to answer the survey, and to provide additional insights.
The survey is open for another few hours, so if anyone else could spare a couple of seconds to take it that would be great (will only take seconds).
Many thanks again,
Matt.
3 questions? That was short.
Do I think Law enforcement should be able to access ISP logs? Yes, just as they have access to security cam footage in stores, but they should only be able to view specific traffic over the period of time they feel the offense has been committed. They should require a search warrant to do so and need probable cause. Not just sit and sift through it at will without cause. I don’t want them doing that to my house, I don’t want them doing it to my ISP logs.
Do I think it is a crime to download stuff? Yes, but I feel that the outrageous settlements wanted by movie companies and the RIAA are ridiculous. Seriously suing limewire for more than the US’s GDP is a bit much and makes them look like money hungry fools than looking for actual realistic “damages”. But bit-torrents are another story, as they do have legitimate legal purposes. Anyway I think it should be punished, but the system now is too much. I wonder how all of this would change if they were able to get a statistic of those who downloaded something to try and then purchased? Heck, I still think the info graphics here speaks some real truth about why piracy and illegal downloading occurs.
People’s time is very precious, I solely need statical info on whether illegal downloading is ‘thought of’ as a crime etc. I could have bolstered the proceedings with additional q’s, but they are unnecessary for my needs.
I appreciate that… long surveys are a pain, and if you get what you need with a small number of questions, then it’s good all around.
I pretty much agree with you. I answered the same on the survey, and since I basically think you’re spot-on I won’t re-explain the same things.
Check out the comments for this article from Rock Paper Shotgun
New game requires always connected internet access. People are discussing piracy in the comments. There are many people who want to pirate the game as it will remove the need for constant connection.
It’s very similar to this song:
