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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperBusinessGroup started that fights piracy. Edit: Bad idea. No need to keep open.
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Author Topic: Group started that fights piracy. Edit: Bad idea. No need to keep open.  (Read 2280 times)
Yellowboy
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« on: May 25, 2009, 04:54:53 PM »

http://clubs.sheezyart.com/Anti_Piracy/

This is actually a very recent group that I started. As much criticism as it will receive for what it does, I feel that a group fan effort to report and find pirated copies of independent games will help keep the games coming. It's at least a good way to prove how dedicated you are to a developer.

Of course, the group does not involve getting you mixed up in legal procedures, that's left to reportings of the RIAA (details on the procedures of doing such is in the FAQs). We find as many pirated copies of a specific game per week as we can and we give the hosts six days to remove and respond to our legal threats or the sites are reported to the RIAA and other piracy-fighting organizations (suggestions on other organizations would be appreciated; more birds in the hag's hair) to tackle. Perhaps the pirates themselves can be tracked, which would be more helpful than a site shutting down a type of game.


The problems so far is that there are simply not enough members, which is an easy fix. We don't know every single game with piracy issues, so suggestions of games is helpful (seriously, though; when "Noitu Love 2 torrent/crack" comes up on Google when looking up its price [ten bucks], it's a bad sign).


How do you feel about what we're trying to do, fans cutting down on piracy to help independent developers? If you have reasons as to why it shouldn't work, please provide an excuse that isn't "because pirated copies are cheaper" (duh, that's how they compete) or "there aren't enough people/the web hosts would refuse" (to put it simply, it's too early for those to be good reasons).


Edit: Sorry that this sounds like an advertisement, I really just want to discuss the concept of fans using the RIAA to cut down piracy.
« Last Edit: May 27, 2009, 05:41:35 PM by Yellowboy » Logged

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ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)
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« Reply #1 on: May 25, 2009, 05:12:26 PM »

the riaa doesn't really care about things reported to them. in practice they protect the specific ip's they were hired to protect (corporations pay them millions to protect their particular ip's) and don't care about any other ip but those. there's no chance the riaa would pay attention to random people asking them to protect ip they haven't been paid significant amounts of money to protect.

also, the riaa is very unpopular, and trying to link indie games with them sounds like a bad idea.
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ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)
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« Reply #2 on: May 25, 2009, 05:32:00 PM »

this whole thing just sounds like you don't have much experience with this. have you actually even taken anything pirated down yet? i have, it's straightforward for some sites and impossible for other sites. the number of people requesting it isn't an issue, and usually they only listen to the copyright holder in any case, not fans. and you want to start a club about it? i'd recommend trying it first and learning how it's done before starting a club revolving around doing it.
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Yellowboy
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« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2009, 05:47:00 PM »

this whole thing just sounds like you don't have much experience with this. have you actually even taken anything pirated down yet? i have, it's straightforward for some sites and impossible for other sites. the number of people requesting it isn't an issue, and usually they only listen to the copyright holder in any case, not fans. and you want to start a club about it? i'd recommend trying it first and learning how it's done before starting a club revolving around doing it.

No, but I have made attempts at five or six websites hosting about twenty pirated copies of "World of Goo." I have very little experience in this, as opposed to you definitely looking like someone who has experience in such.

The number of people requeting takedown isn't so that a whole bunch of people focus on one site, that's a little unproductive. Instead, people spread out and search multiple websites to keep track of what's being pirated, where the copies are, etc.

If there's any extra information, seeing that I'm not experienced, some advice would be helpful, sure.
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« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2009, 06:46:20 PM »

my advice would be to let developers take care of it -- fans can't really do much to reduce piracy besides, like, if they notice a friend pirating the game recommend that they buy a copy instead, and things like that. besides things like that, if fans were to attempt to reduce piracy, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. as much as i love the people who like my games, i certainly wouldn't want fans of my game going on some crusade to reduce their piracy rate, they're liable to do more harm than good if they tried.
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Yellowboy
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« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2009, 01:59:22 PM »

my advice would be to let developers take care of it -- fans can't really do much to reduce piracy besides, like, if they notice a friend pirating the game recommend that they buy a copy instead, and things like that. besides things like that, if fans were to attempt to reduce piracy, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. as much as i love the people who like my games, i certainly wouldn't want fans of my game going on some crusade to reduce their piracy rate, they're liable to do more harm than good if they tried.

While I put faith in developers in their ability to keep piracy down, I see little wrong with having crusades of fans making reports. I was thinking, "Why not explore multiple methods of reducing?" And came up with the romanticization of a developer DEFENDED! by his fans in an ongoing struggle for the great of all mankind, ha ha ha.

Do more harm than good? How? :c
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ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)
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« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2009, 02:07:44 PM »

well, here's one way. let's say a developer sets up fake downloads of his own game to confuse pirates -- files that look like the pirated game but are actually just demos. having enough of those confuses people who are trying to pirate the game and may frustrate them enough that they eventually give up and buy the game. but those hordes of fans may not know that those are actually fake pirated versions and not real ones, so getting them removed would be counter-productive.
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Yellowboy
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« Reply #7 on: May 27, 2009, 04:07:04 PM »

well, here's one way. let's say a developer sets up fake downloads of his own game to confuse pirates -- files that look like the pirated game but are actually just demos. having enough of those confuses people who are trying to pirate the game and may frustrate them enough that they eventually give up and buy the game. but those hordes of fans may not know that those are actually fake pirated versions and not real ones, so getting them removed would be counter-productive.

I see your point. I think that the best way that pirates get around this, however, is that they post links to real torrents in the comments section of the download pages. Setting up fake downloads does little for pirates who work together.
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ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)
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« Reply #8 on: May 27, 2009, 04:31:45 PM »

that's true, but i haven't actually seen that happen yet for indie games, plus i didn't mean fake torrents, i meant fake full version downloads (on rapidshare and megaupload etc.) -- most indie games are pirated via those filesharing sites rather than via torrents, since most of them aren't popular enough to keep torrents healthy. and those are often posted in random places online, not centralized sites. pirates "working together" tends to happen more when it's a widely sought-after game, not some indie game with less than 1000 sales total.
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Yellowboy
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« Reply #9 on: May 27, 2009, 05:39:50 PM »

that's true, but i haven't actually seen that happen yet for indie games, plus i didn't mean fake torrents, i meant fake full version downloads (on rapidshare and megaupload etc.) -- most indie games are pirated via those filesharing sites rather than via torrents, since most of them aren't popular enough to keep torrents healthy. and those are often posted in random places online, not centralized sites. pirates "working together" tends to happen more when it's a widely sought-after game, not some indie game with less than 1000 sales total.

World of Goo torrent links are actually passed around on The Pirate Bay, but of course, not anything in response to a demo being present. I have no knowledge of Rapidshare (which is an obvious place to look, and this shows exactly how much "knowledge" that I have, and clearly illustrates your experience).

If it's certain (or at least near such) that this effort (uninventive, tried before, failed) will be made in vain, then there's no reason to continue it. This topic was in blind vain.

After reading Weldon's post on another indie forum, I am compelled to delete about 90% of my posts and start fresh. It's not a personal response to you, but a clear wake-up call about how I've stupidly acted. I thought I'd come back here to not act like an idiot know-it-all (In fact, I should probably delete this, too). I get really excited about a new idea about stopping something that's causing major damage, but hey, it's been thought of, before, doomed to be reinvented, as you said, and yeah, this won't work, after carefully thinking about this. Again, nothing personal or "shrink away from the God of Veteran Members," or anything. Yup.
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