Reply With QuoteAsk him what he thought of GoW2.
Wow.
So my young cousin contacts me via Facebook and asks me what I do for a living. I tell him and he's amazed to hear that I make video games and that's awesome and something he's always wanted to do. He'd LOVE the chance to do something like that!
And then he goes on to tell me, without a hint of sarcasm, how he burns all the games for his modded 360 and he did the same for his original XBox. He downloads them off the internet when they come out - he just LOVES games!
I haven't replied yet because I'm not entirely sure how to proceed. I'm amazed.
Ask him what he thought of GoW2.
How old is your cousin? Now that it looks like he may be looking up to you, I think you should try to get him to understand how you and your coworkers work hard on games and need people to BUY them in order for you to have a job.
Possibly invite him down, take him to work and THEN tell him what Pogo just mentioned as he can sit and see everyone there.
Pogo
He's 26 so he definitely should know better by this point.
Thing is, I don't want to bitch at him and then have him go away and not bother talking to his grouchy, preachy uncle anymore.
Skipper
He doesn't live anywhere near me so that's a non starter, unfortunately.
Given the choice between pirating games and not playing games (because he's doesn't have enough money to play everything he wants to play), a modern teenager will always choose piracy. The conversation will simply show the kid he needs to hide such activities from Warren.
The interesting part here is actually that the kid is so utterly clueless as to the nature of what he's doing that he gladly brags about it to a game developer.
Edit: 26? Get a rope.
Last edited by MattKeil; 02-21-2010 at 05:06 PM.
You should be proud that he's taken the initiative to get as involved with games as he has. He apparently has a genuine interest in them, I think with a little help you could help foster that interest until he is capable of turning his passion into a career.
You should consider helping him find more torrent sites an whatnot, it would be a very cost effective way of supplying him with the tools needed to promote his budding potential.
He's young and impressionable though, so make an effort to only supply him with links to pirated copies of real video games, and not that Facebook crap. In fact, since I am biased towards PC games, I think you should try to get him more interested in the PC platform. Consoles suck, and they don't deserve all the attention pirates give them.
How young is young? Is he unaware of how markets and industries actually work, ie does he realize not paying for things he likes could be bad in the long run? He honestly might not be seeing past his own wallet or might not actually be able to afford anything even if he could.Originally Posted by WarrenM
When I was young I pirated games and I loved games. Now I work making them and pay for them. Sometimes fostering the appreciation when they're young to turn them into customers when they're able is well worth it.
Well, if he's 26 then he might not really have that ambition to go and make games like he says he does, but you could try to explain to him in a way that helps him come to the conclusion that people deserve to be paid for their work.
Note to self: don't leave a thread for 20 minutes then come back and reply. Yeah he's way too old for what I said. Set him straight.
Why is this in EE?
Maybe he pulled a Cubit.
:) I like you, Creole Ned.
I dealt with this with my brother a few years ago w/r/t music downloading. He had tons and tons of music and had been taking it since high school. In college it was incredibly easy to jump on the network at the school and share everything.
It's a whole different mindset. I found he viewed music in much the same I way I viewed free Internet services like email. There was simply no reason to pay for it. To do so was almost absurd. It wasn't even like he was exhibiting a sense of entitlement. It was just the way it is. He saw music as free.
I had long talks with him about intellectual property and stealing and on and on. I saw his eyes open up on the subject. He genuinely got it.
Did it change his behavior? Not one bit.
-xtien
And then there's this...
"We're both a part of the same hypocrisy, senator..."
I don't think kids are much different "these days" than in the past, there are just more of them exposed to technology.
Every geek/gamer kid I knew in high school pirated games for their C64 or Apple II. Every single one! Granted that was like 4 kids, including myself... These days there are just way more kids geeky enough (given the lower requirements and more readily available home computers) to fit into that group... but kids taking/downloading things without paying for them when there is virtually zero chance of being caught isn't really a new thing.
Having said all of that, your cousin is a bit of a retard for bragging about pirating to you. At the very least he should be wise enough to not think you'd be impressed by it.
Not just music. Movies, tv, games. All forms of digital entertainment are at your fingertips.
Personally, I'd encourage his interests in game development but while doing so give him a few home truths about what it's like, how hard it is to get into, and the impact of things like piracy. Don't mention that he's pirating, just mention piracy. If he can't read between the lines by 26, that's a worry. If he asks about it, tell him the deal but don't blame him. He'll either figure it out and it'll gnaw at him later, or he won't and nothing you say will make any difference apart from alienating him.
When it comes to music and TV it's slightly more understandable. You can already get those for free as long as you're willing to deal with commercials. There's at least an understandable disconnect there. Downloading a song and listening to it isn't so different from listening to it on the radio nor is downloading a TV show instead of watching it on TV or Hulu. Of course it's still illegal but there's an understandable train of thought there.
Movies and Games is less understandable as those are always for pay.
contact FBi and rat your cousin out.. it's the right thing to do..
You need to hire a one armed man to teach him a lesson. A group of male strippers dressed as cops are optional.
This, and then tell him he owes you 60 bucks.
you should message him back this week and tell him you just lost your job, because so many people pirated your last game that your studio was forced out of business.
He's 26, not 6. Tell him off for chrissakes.
Tell him to get a job.
Yes, and also note with sadness that if only one less person had pirated the game, the studio could have squeaked by.
If you really don't want to be preachy (though he deserves it):
"Great that you like games, it's a really rewarding line of work if you're at the right company.
(quote the modding part of his mail)
Since my income is 100% based on people actually paying for video games, I'd rather not hear about that part.
(insert other topics of conversation here!)"
If he told you that blithely he must either be unaware of how stupid the fact he said that to you is, or he's trolling you really well. If it's the first, just spend a few paragraphs explaining how much effort goes into a game and mention at the end "And of course, then the pirates take it for free" or something.
I think Anders has the right approach. Don't make a big fuss, but don't pretend it's not significant. Mention it, then move on.
Offer him a job as a games tester. Then watch him burn out, while you demand that he shows gratitude towards his uncle, who got him his dream job.
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