{"id":54274,"date":"2021-01-31T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2021-01-31T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=54274"},"modified":"2021-01-31T09:00:36","modified_gmt":"2021-01-31T09:00:36","slug":"dont-be-hostile-towards-pirates-game-developer-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/?p=54274","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Be Hostile Towards Pirates, Game Developer Warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Lego<\/a>Dealing with pirates raises all sorts of issues for content providers and entertainment companies. On the one hand these are people trying to get something for nothing but on the other, many pirates are potential and even current customers.<\/p>\n

Converting pirates into paying customers is a puzzle that many companies have tried to crack. Many do so with free trials, hoping that after tasting the real thing people will like it enough to come back for more, wallets in hand. Some innovate, offering a product or service that cannot easily be emulated. Others prefer to intimidate.<\/p>\n

Screaming At Pirates<\/h2>\n

As reported last week, UFC President Dana White enjoys tackling pirates with threats and profanity<\/a>, treating them as a danger to be eradicated by any means. The jury is still out on whether consumers ever respond to this type of approach but if we think of consumers as regular people, few \u2013 if any \u2013 appreciate being shouted out and called names. <\/p>\n

Judging by the number of insults leveled at White late weekend, it\u2019s pretty safe to say that his actions rubbed many people up the wrong way. To be clear, White will not give a damn if this is the case but according to games developer Adam Coster of Butterscotch Shenanigans<\/a>, being hostile to pirates isn\u2019t an approach he recommends.<\/p>\n

No Open Hostility Towards Pirates<\/h2>\n

Writing in GamesIndustry.biz this week, Coster explains that the problem of piracy is emotionally charged but the overall goal should be to limit the harm, not only on the business itself, but also on the people creating the content.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to spend our time and resources fighting piracy \u2014 it\u2019s exhausting, expensive and, frankly, doomed from the start. We want our time going into making games and building an amazing community,\u201d Coster says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly don\u2019t condone or accept piracy, and we explicitly tell our players that when the topic arises. We also don\u2019t allow players in our communities to advocate for or help others pirate games. But when we discover pirates in our midst we stay friendly<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

While big companies tend to be outwardly hostile to pirates, stating that \u201ctheft-is-theft\u201d and there are no excuses for getting something for free, Coster doesn\u2019t mind acknowledging that there can be reasons why people go down that route. People without financial resources, for example, or people seeking access to his games where they aren\u2019t legitimately available. <\/p>\n

Keeping Things Nice Has Benefits For The Developer<\/h2>\n

Despite his understanding, Coster doesn\u2019t condone freeloading behavior but still prefers to keep things civil. There are benefits to that, he says, including keeping the environment around games consumption (and indeed, games creation) a nice place to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur non-hostile approach has helped foster a positive community, including a handful of converted pirates. But more importantly, it has been essential for our team\u2019s mental health. Adversarial relationships take a terrible toll,\u201d he concedes.<\/p>\n

Keeping the pirating masses happy \u2013 or at least emotionally compliant \u2013 has some interesting benefits for Coster\u2019s company. He believes that almost all of his potential players are pirates so it makes little sense to have an adversarial relationship with them \u2013 especially when a \u201cjillion angry people\u201d descend on community management and customer support teams to air their displeasure.<\/p>\n

A Better Approach<\/h2>\n

Given that this is one of the likely outcomes of being hostile towards pirates (or if one prefers, potential customers, who may walk away after being threatened) Coster says that anti-piracy measures should not be about the pirates. The starting point, whether he likes it or not, should be an empathetic approach along with gentle encouragement to buy his games when they can.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will try to steal your game. Huge numbers of them. This is just the reality. Treat it as a design constraint,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a business problem. Do your best to ignore how you feel about it. Yes, this is far easier said than done. Now get out there and make something worth stealing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full piece, which is a must-read for developers, can be found here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

From: TF<\/a>, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dealing with pirates raises all sorts of issues for content providers and entertainment companies. On the one hand these are people trying to get something for nothing but on the other, many pirates are potential and even current customers. Converting pirates into paying customers is a puzzle that many companies have tried to crack. Many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[308],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cryptocabaret.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}