“Sometimes it’s OK to steal my software.” says Jeff Vogul and independent software developer and game designer. Jeff founded Spiderweb Software in 1994 and has written several games, including The Exile, Geneforge, and Avernum series and Nethergate: Resurrection.
So what gives? Why would a software developer be OK with users stealing his software? It turns our Jeff has discovered there are some benefits to people pirating his software. In fact many software companies know that piracy is key to why they are #1, even though they would never admit it (right Bill?).
I admit to being a little bit nervous about writing this. The sad truth is that, these days, it is so easy to pirate single-player PC games that most gamers only have to pay for them if they want to pay for them.
You see, when people pirate a game, more people get to play it. And when more people get to play it, that would never have purchased it (or played it) if they had to buy it, you sell more copies.
Now interestingly enough, that’s not why Jeff Vogul thinks its sometimes OK to pirate his games, even though I assure you he knows this is true. Jeff talks a while in his blog about children in third world countries who can not afford to pay him the $25 US Dollars that his game costs. He even get’s emails from these children begging for a free key.
When I get one of these message, what I want to respond is, “PIRATE MY STUPID GAME!!!” I mean, seriously, the time used drafting that e-mail would have been much more profitably spent figuring out how BitTorrent works.
But Jeff says the piracy by these children in these foreign countries helps him by helping to give his life meaning. He wants to bring joy to the people who experience and play his games and feel like ultimately he made a difference in people’s lives. Even if they stole from him. Head over and check out Jeff’s blog for the rest of the story.
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