Cliff Bleszinski is known to be an opinionated guy. But while you might disagree with his views on microtransactions or dildos, here's one you might like: he wants to tackle piracy not through legal threats but by giving gamers a reason to pay.
Bleszinski discussed the issue of torrenting – among many other topics – during his keynote presentation at the East Coast Game Conference yesterday:
“This ["millennial" demographic] of gamers expects things for cheap, but if something's great, they will shell out for it — hence the rise of free to play: 'I'll give you as much money for your game as I think it's worth.' Many of these gamers who torrent may not even realize that it's technically a crime – maybe they see it as a victimless crime. I, for one, would rather convert these gamers into paying customers as opposed to spending federal money to track these gamers down, arrest them, intimidate them, or pass laws that could potentially limit internet freedom, thank you very much.”
While he said that last bit, the person filming him zoomed right in, and once he was done the audience clapped and cheered, so it's obvious that this particular opinion of his is a popular one. After all, it's definitely possible to think both that piracy is wrong and that we need to find a different way of dealing with it than the current attempts of many of these companies.
If you've got 25 minutes to spare, check out the whole presentation on Gamers Nexus or below. A warning though, about sixteen minutes in he starts talking about BioShock Infinite and while he says “spoiler alert” he doesn't pause for long.
Do you agree with Bleszinski's views on piracy? How would you tackle the problem?
