It is important for people to first understand that there is a fine distinction to be made between the pirating of digital content and theft itself. Despite the message of those commercials before movies and the fiery rhetoric of industry leaders, piracy is not the same as theft. I will use a simple example to demonstrate the difference. If I go into a clothing store and take a pair of jeans without paying for them, that is theft. I have not only taken a product without compensating them for it, but I have also deprived them of the ability to sell that pair of jeans to a legitimate customer.  If instead I went into that same store with a magic pants copying machine, copied the jeans and left without compensating the store that would be more akin to piracy. Now the comparison isn’t exactly perfect with intellectual property like games and media, but the main point remains. Theft is depriving a seller of a legitimate sale, whereas piracy is not. While that doesn’t make media piracy legally or morally acceptable, it remains an important to understand that difference. Whenever game companies make statements about their content being pirated they consider the illegal downloads as theft, as if they were discs swiped from store shelves or if cash had been heisted from their coffers. While these unauthorized downloads are unfortunate, those pirated games are not directly taking money from the game developer and publisher.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that people who create content deserve compensation for their work. Game developers should be paid for the games they create. The problem is that already many consumers are able to buy games without a single cent going back to the respective creators. Have you ever used an EB/Gamestop Edge Card? How about an import from eBay? Ever bought a game from the classifieds or a garage sale? If you can answer yes to any of those questions, then you bought a game without compensating the developers. While this seems obvious when you think about it, I want you to really dwell on that fact. Look at the shelves of your local EB or Gamestop the next time you are in a mall. Think about how many games you or others have bought used in order to save some money. While those may be legitimate retail transactions, when it comes to the developers there is no difference between those purchases and someone going to The Pirate Bay.

Whenever torrenting and piracy is discussed there is always that quick assumption that the only advantage to these networks is that the content is free. While that benefit is undeniable, the other advantages of torrent networks are often overlooked. Torrent sites are incredibly robust distribution services. They are convenient, accessible through any computer with an internet connection. They are also relatively fast, capable of delivering the largest games and entire seasons of television shows in a matter of hours. They also have an absurdly wide selection. To my knowledge there is no store on the planet which has the same digital collection available that Isohunt does. And while Isohunt may be peddling illegal content it is in many cases the most convenient, or only way to get access to the games you want.

            I’m going to illustrate this point with a personal example. One of my favourite games is Grim Fandango. I bought a copy when it came out back in 98 and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Land of Dead. A few years back I moved homes. During the course of packing and putting boxes in and out of storage along with the other basic hassles of changing houses one of my boxes of games suffered an unfortunate accident, breaking many of my old PC games including both Grim Fandango discs. While the physical game was lost to me, my yearning to play it again did not subside; I decided to buy a replacement copy. First off, I checked Steam, a service which allowed me to replace other lost games for absurdly low prices (I still can’t believe that I got the entire X-Com series for $5). Despite a pretty extensive Lucasarts catalogue, Grim Fandango remained a poignant absence. I checked the Lucasarts store directly, and found that they only stocked some awful Clone Wars game and the equally terrible Star Wars Galaxies. It looked like buying used was going to be my only option. Before I get started explaining my quest to find a previously owned copy, I should point out one thing quickly. I live in Canada. Which basically makes any attempt to buy a rare item online near impossible. Most sites simply don’t ship to Canada, and those that do tend to have prohibitively priced shipping. A quick search on Amazon.ca and eBay presented me with two facts about this game.

1. There aren’t many copies of this game left for sale.
2. Those that are left cost at least $80, before shipping.

Now, I really like Grim Fandango, but there are limits to my love. I am not the type of guy who will pay $80 for a replacement copy of a game. It is an especially uncomfortable option when all of this money is going to some gouging collector as opposed to the people who actually worked on the game. Out of curiosity I checked Isohunt.com. The first page of search results was filled with torrents that would provide the replacement I wanted. In a few moments, I threw morality to the wind by clicking the download link and installing uTorrent. Within a few hours I was once again beginning a four year adventure with Manny Calavera.  I pirated Grim Fandango. And ya know what? I think it was a totally reasonable and justifiable choice.

            Now I understand that this is a pretty specific example, but there are a few wider and more salient points to be wrought from my struggle. First off, the present gaming marketplace makes it very hard to compensate the game developer for their work. While the marketplace for purchasing older games is improving with storefronts like Steam, Direct2Drive and Gametap, there remain a lot of titles which manage to slip through the cracks. And this is occurring on the PC platform, the most open platform of all. Good luck trying to find a new copy of a console game that is 6 months old that doesn’t begin with Halo or Grand Theft Auto. Once a console games printing is finished, that pretty much puts a wrap on any revenue a developer expects to see from a title. Once there are no new discs to be sold, there is no way for the developer to get money from retail stores. Now again, this is improving with the advent of digital catalogues on the Playstation Network Store and the Xbox Live Marketplace, but the vast majority of console titles remain available solely on disc.

            Just for fun, I’ll indulge you with another example. One of my friends is a fan of the Earthbound series. He is one of many dedicated fans who for years has wanted an English translation of the last game in the series, Mother 3. Despite numerous petitions and great deal of community support, Nintendo showed nothing but apathy towards these demands. Eventually there was a successful fan-made translation project which acted in Nintendo’s place. However, the only way to distribute this translation was through a downloadable DS Game ROM and the use of an R4 card. In other words, in order to play the game, you would need to pirate the game and use a device that is considered criminal in Japan.

            The major point I’m trying to get across here is that  a great deal of piracy occurs for reasons beyond the content being free. A lot of it takes place because of inadequacies in the distribution of games to begin with. Limited downloadable catalogues, locking games to certain regions, or plain laziness from publishers leads people to choose torrenting as a solution. While this certainly doesn’t account for or justify a great deal of the piracy that occurs, the presence of torrent networks shouldn’t be universally derided. In fact, the games industry should attempt to learn from them.

            Digital piracy has pushed other industries into embracing new directions. Just look at the music industry. Before there was iTunes, there was Napster. If peer-to-peer services were used only because the content was free, then iTunes should have been a financial flop. The illegal availability of music online forced the recording industry to adopt digital distribution. Gaming is no different. Before Steam there were Warez sites or other illegal options. Piracy has preceded and pioneered digital distribution for multiple mediums. And despite their constant presence, legitimate options have managed to flourish regardless. While I am perfectly savvy enough to torrent any game imaginable, I have still spent about $400 on my Steam account. The undeniable success of services like Steam should be an indicator to the rest of the games industry of how consumers are willing to make the transition to a fully digital store. Publishers ought to embrace this paradigm shift rather than stick to relics of the past like region locking, limited printings or fixed pricing. Piracy has shown the gaming industry that their customers still have an interest in buying older and more obscure titles, or are willing to sacrifice a physical copy in favour of convenience. Developers shouldn’t allow a games distribution or revenue to be dictated by retailers and disc pressers. It is the limitations of the retail model which allow piracy to exist. If game makers want to stop illegal downloading, they need to provide an alternative at the very least.