I've been very intrigued with this awesome discussion on the question of piracy and motivations. Keep up the excellent thinking and civil discourse. I just thought I'd throw in my two cents worth regarding Dark's acertion regarding people pirating games out of a misperception of large corporate profiteering. This kind of immoral rationalisation is actually pretty widespread out there. I've introduced many people to the whole idea of audio games and found that unless I made a point of telling them about the individuals behind the games, they presumed the existence of a large company employing untold hundreds of people. Why would it do any harm at all, they would reason, if I give X person a copy of a game he/she couldn't afford or wouldn't have thought to buy? I'm pretty confident that this line of dubious reasoning has indeed cost our game developers over the years This is even more the case in the larger macro-economics of mainstream games for sighted people. People simply aren't usually that informed about what goes into creating the magic they take for granted and therefore have unrealistic expectations. In the larger companies, we don't usually have situations where these disappointments fall directly on the shoulders of game creators. Other departments are there to insulate them from this. Not so for our game developers. They're often working a regular job and finding out the hard way that their hobby has a way of turning into a nightmare of unrealistic expectations.
Unfortunately, our community has the double curse of very low income coupled with a significant number of younger naïve people who just don't understand how things really work. This clashes sharply with the compassionate but often overworked individuals who care enough to develop games for blind people and/or make games accessible. Other than having a meeting ground like this and getting as many developers and customers participating in discussions, I'm not certain there's much that can be done about this. In my experience, once someone has taken time to educate these formerly naïve people, they tend not to be problematic. It takes time and sometimes great patience. On 4/25/13, Trouble <troub...@columbus.rr.com> wrote: > The reason why those that record audible books get no royalties is > because they are not the one that wrote the book. They are paid to > read the book and that is just a job. You really study that and still > don't know how royalties on products works? > > At 04:10 AM 4/25/2013, you wrote: >>Hi Tom. >>Actually, my comments about audio books were based on realistic >>pricing that I have seen on price comparison sites, as well as the >>prices I have myself paid for people like audible.co.uk. Tis might >>be because Uk publication rights cost more than us ones, (there are >>lots of things that are simply not available in this country), >>however that comment was not theoretical. >> >>i never said that paying an extra five usd for an audio book would >>be something I'd see as unreasonable, but when for example a copy of >>David Gemmell's book Knights of Dark renown would cost me 7 pounds >>to buy in print as a paperback, but 57 in audio that is when i >>question company motives. >> >>My assessment of prophit is also based on the fact that I do know! >>actors and professionals who reccord audio material, and they are >>not actually seeing the prophits from the sales that go to pay their >>sallary at all. They are usually paid a set fixed income for the >>hours that they spend working on the reccording, and that is that, >>they get no steak in royalties or prophits. >> >>This is indeed one of my main problems with so many major >>coorporations, that instead of their prophits being distributed >>equally among employees less the percentages that go into further >>production, costs are cut by paying fixed sallaries, even to >>professional persons, while those at the top of the tree give >>themselves millions in bonuses. >> >>there are better examples, Google for instance used to work on a >>much more share holding basis, but that is by no means the norm, and >>don't forget all those people like microsoft who drive their own >>costs down by having basic production of goods done in countries >>with no minimmum wage or fair labour laws, so that they can keep >>sallaries as low as possible. >> >>Bare in mind that while I do make economic cryticisms, they are not >>just based entirely upon theory, but on research I myself have done as >> well. >> >>getting back to games, when i spoke of "professional image" I did >>mean impersonal, rather than quick responses to tech enquirieis, >>being available etc, but the over all image and personality of the >>website and writing. >> >>to take an example, while it is obviously quite important and >>natural to present information on your games and products in as >>clear a way, if there is no information about yourself, why you >>write games, no jokes etc, then a person has nobody in mind as a >>single creator of the games and is thus more likely to engage in piracy. >> >>this is actually a skill that it is valuable to learn in any sort of >>personal presentation, whether your a doctor, a lawyer, or indeed an >>actor, since if you just appear as someone from whome people get a >>service, well people will think! of you as a machine. >> >>Beware the Grue! >>Dark. >> >>--- >>Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org >>If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to >> gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. >>You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at >>http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. >>All messages are archived and can be searched and read at >>http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. >>If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the >> list, >>please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > -- Michael Feir Volunteer at The Dam http://www.thedam.org 2011-- Twitter: mfeir Skype: michael-feir Author of Personal Power: How Accessible Computers Can Enhance Personal Life For Blind People 2006-2008 http://michaelfeir.blogspot.ca/2009/01/personal-power.html A Life of Word and Sound 2003-2007 http://michaelfeir.blogspot.ca/2009/01/life-of-word-and-sound.html Creator and former editor of Audyssey Magazine 1996-2004 Check out my blog at: http://www.michaelfeir.blogspot.ca --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
