The main question for this argument that piracy does a lot of good is: are the people who are pirating things using it for this purpose? I don't think there's an ethical conflict for me to say that I am happy for piracy to exist for software that is otherwise unplayable, but think that piracy should not exist for new games that just come out.

Someone quoted a study that within the first 14 years is where most of the profitability comes from. Maybe I'd be okay with people pirating anything that's been around for 14 years, but I think most people who keep using this "pirating is good" line won't agree with this compromise.

[–] syn@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I don't know that a pirate's motive is really what determines whether or not piracy does good. I read somewhere at some point [citation needed] that a large percentage of the people who pirate wouldn't otherwise have bought the thing anyway. In those cases, that pirate would maybe never have been a sale, but is still spreading feedback and recommendations for the thing through word of mouth, and then some of the pirate's friends might buy the thing, netting sales that wouldn't otherwise have been made.

Of course whether or not it's ethical is another matter, and that's where motive probably comes in.

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