AC: Hello?
Gabe Newell: Hi, I'm Gabe of Valve, we've created Portal, Half Life, and we update servers for one of our most famous free products called Team Fortress 2. I used to work for Microsoft and decided to make my own digital platform for sales of video games outside of retail. Of course, being a new endeavor, it happened to be pretty damn successful in allowing people to make copies of the game. The thing is, we learned to constantly update our product so that piracy is not an issue. We also learned that lowering the price of games has allowed us a very lucrative market into Russia, known for piracy problems.
You see, piracy has never been a legal issue. It's a service issue. The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.
One other thing we understood was price elasticity. Without making announcements, we varied the price of one of our products. We have Steam so we can watch user behavior in real time. That gives us a useful tool for making experiments which you can’t really do through a lot of other distribution mechanisms. What we saw was that pricing was perfectly elastic. In other words, our gross revenue would remain constant. We thought, hooray, we understand this really well. There’s no way to use price to increase or decrease the size of your business.
I hope this answers your questions in regards to piracy. Perhaps our friends in the movie industry could learn to make better products or smaller license fees to allow service globally could cut down on piracy so that more people can purchase movies and music worldwide along with our games. Thank you, and have a good day.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "New platforms" aren't wanted when don't guarantee money.
*blink, blink*
Did you actually proofread what you've said?
they didn't lose control of distribution,--
is then followed by an assertion which ignores all discussion of piracy ever since the 70s took place.
Why did the mp3 become a standard? Because people want to copy files from their ipods.
Why did people make mix tapes? To share with their friends songs that were indicative of the times. You continue to assert that piracy is causing some type of damage, and yet the evidence is against you. So now, you maintain that it's against the law.
Well, the courts still maintain that time shifting is legal. Bittorrent is still a legal technology with many noninfringing uses and as shown before, it's caused more producers to spring up and become popular in various ways.
Finally this:
it erodes jobs and the tax base of the US.
Again, your evidence of this is lacking. All evidence points to piracy actually doing more for customers than enforcement. I understand why you don't see it, but it's pretty telling that every time anyone discusses it with you (and how to use it to your advantage), you pull the "piracy, piracy" card. Sad.
Re: Re: Re: "New platforms" aren't wanted when don't guarantee money.
And that's why people find cheaper alternatives to that movie that they do not watch it. But in all this talk about how ONE movie is made, it ignores that the attack by SOPA is on those platforms for legal commerce as well as the usenets, the reddits, and everywhere people create content.
They lost control of distribution. It's sad to watch them suffer, but you know what? The alternatives have been excellent.
I can watch plenty of free shows on Youtube made by the ones that use YT to promote their works. Or I could find something new that fits in my taste. And I can do all that without this pedantic need to yell "piracy, piracy" at everyone as if the world is only filled with pirates and nothing else.
Those aren't the only petitions that have been ignored.
The Keystone Pipeline protests - People petition right in front of the White House but the administration won't take a position right before an election year.
Now think about this. Smoked marijuana has not been found to meet modern standards? Who makes those standards? And who does Obama not want to go against right before he asks them for money on new drugs or patents for making new pills?
Which would you rather screw over? The people that can grumble that you made a bad call, or the people backing you?
Oh EM Gee! Because they aggregate data and remain content neutral until someone points out the problem, it's their fault that someone is infringing on a copyright.
*gasp*
Tell the police! They have to shut Youtube down because they're liable for someone else's content on a website!
One of the biggest mistakes anyone can make is assuming that an increase is "artist gross" is actually an increase in artist net.
And one of the constant mistakes is how you make this stubborn complaint that growing the market means somehow the individual artist has lost something in compensation. They have not. All of the markets have indeed grown due to the abundance of digital files.
so you stopped talking to yourself?
Cute, but when all you constantly complain about is how on an opinion blog- uses objective analysis to bring up their conclusions, then it makes it harder to take you seriously.
More people sharing the same pie means skinnier slices for everyone.
The pie has gotten bigger so it's not the same pie at all.
A smaller slice could be worth more. One-third of Five and one third of 100 are not the same thing.
Moreover, we continue to have the "rich get richer" theory at work, where major acts are accounting for larger and larger amounts of the pie, leaving the small fry with even less money to deal with.
You seem to be conflating a few things here and you need to clarify. Are you talking about concerts? More live shows? More touring? How are major acts taking away from the other, smaller projects that are occurring such as streaming live on Justin.tv? I don't see how the "rich have gotten richer" when U2 touring has nothing to do with Imogen Heap's ways of twittering fans and making shows.
I love how you go on and on about FUD about a dog to disguise how embedding a video on a personal website can still make a website liable for damages. But by all means, instead of saying FUD, explain.
Otherwise, you're using FUD, not me.
If I put up streaming content of me watching a movie with friends, which gets embedded from Youtube, why should Viacom, Sony, or any other corporation care? Bear in mind, a theater had someone jailed for videotaping a few minutes of footage of Twilight. Viacom tried to sue Youtube even though they put up their content on Youtube themselves.
If you're going to chant FUD, be able to back it up with something yourself. You're making it harder to take you seriously.
Which has what to do with actually answering my analysis?
I didn't sit here and criticize someone's behavior. I was talking about how the trade industries could find ways to profit from piracy by removing artificial scarcities.
They won't want to consider that somehow, recorded music sales have dropped in half, about at the same speed piracy has increased.
Actually, he's dealt with that along with Bas. More artists are making money with only the recorded labels showing a decrease in music. I would venture that more artists are using free services as well as Kickstarter for projects and keeping those profits. I don't know why you choose to remain ignorant on your part, but that's up to you. From the sounds of it, it looks as if you dismiss anything you don't agree with.
So there's no more point in talking. If anyone wants to see the information, it's a link to an article showing how the best HADOPI customers were the biggest pirates.
How Music pirates were the RIAA's best customers
E-books and manga profited from piracy.
Joe Karaganis' 3 year report debunking the AC's line of reasoning.
Well, there's no more reason to talk to someone who wants to stay ignorant. There's more facts in the links up above. The AC has failed to engage in a debate, relying solely on rhetoric and ad homs. Sad.
Facts have been presented. Learn it and live with it.
Narrowing the definitions of the DMCA requires cutting a path through the forest of content with a flamethrower? That's narrow?!
I embed a Youtube video to my channel and someone says it's illegal and suddenly the mere accusation of it means I have to fight against my service provider, financial services, and the government on a mere accusation? Hello?
On the post: We, The People, Are Sarcastic And Not Easily Mollified By Bland Political Non-Answers
Re: Re:
On the post: Why PROTECT IP/SOPA Is The Exact Wrong Approach To Dealing With Infringement Online
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
AC: Hello?
Gabe Newell: Hi, I'm Gabe of Valve, we've created Portal, Half Life, and we update servers for one of our most famous free products called Team Fortress 2. I used to work for Microsoft and decided to make my own digital platform for sales of video games outside of retail. Of course, being a new endeavor, it happened to be pretty damn successful in allowing people to make copies of the game. The thing is, we learned to constantly update our product so that piracy is not an issue. We also learned that lowering the price of games has allowed us a very lucrative market into Russia, known for piracy problems.
You see, piracy has never been a legal issue. It's a service issue. The easiest way to stop piracy is not by putting antipiracy technology to work. It’s by giving those people a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from the pirates.
One other thing we understood was price elasticity. Without making announcements, we varied the price of one of our products. We have Steam so we can watch user behavior in real time. That gives us a useful tool for making experiments which you can’t really do through a lot of other distribution mechanisms. What we saw was that pricing was perfectly elastic. In other words, our gross revenue would remain constant. We thought, hooray, we understand this really well. There’s no way to use price to increase or decrease the size of your business.
I hope this answers your questions in regards to piracy. Perhaps our friends in the movie industry could learn to make better products or smaller license fees to allow service globally could cut down on piracy so that more people can purchase movies and music worldwide along with our games. Thank you, and have a good day.
On the post: Why PROTECT IP/SOPA Is The Exact Wrong Approach To Dealing With Infringement Online
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: "New platforms" aren't wanted when don't guarantee money.
Did you actually proofread what you've said?
they didn't lose control of distribution,--
is then followed by an assertion which ignores all discussion of piracy ever since the 70s took place.
Why did the mp3 become a standard? Because people want to copy files from their ipods.
Why did people make mix tapes? To share with their friends songs that were indicative of the times. You continue to assert that piracy is causing some type of damage, and yet the evidence is against you. So now, you maintain that it's against the law.
Well, the courts still maintain that time shifting is legal. Bittorrent is still a legal technology with many noninfringing uses and as shown before, it's caused more producers to spring up and become popular in various ways.
Finally this:
it erodes jobs and the tax base of the US.
Again, your evidence of this is lacking. All evidence points to piracy actually doing more for customers than enforcement. I understand why you don't see it, but it's pretty telling that every time anyone discusses it with you (and how to use it to your advantage), you pull the "piracy, piracy" card. Sad.
On the post: Why PROTECT IP/SOPA Is The Exact Wrong Approach To Dealing With Infringement Online
Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Why PROTECT IP/SOPA Is The Exact Wrong Approach To Dealing With Infringement Online
Re: Re: Re: "New platforms" aren't wanted when don't guarantee money.
They lost control of distribution. It's sad to watch them suffer, but you know what? The alternatives have been excellent.
I can watch plenty of free shows on Youtube made by the ones that use YT to promote their works. Or I could find something new that fits in my taste. And I can do all that without this pedantic need to yell "piracy, piracy" at everyone as if the world is only filled with pirates and nothing else.
On the post: The Secret Behind SOPA Defense: Insist That It Doesn't Say What It Actually Says
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: We, The People, Are Sarcastic And Not Easily Mollified By Bland Political Non-Answers
Re: Re: The system is down
"Home gardeners are killing the hemp industry!"
On the post: RIAA Admits It Wants DMCA Overhaul; Blames Judges For 'Wrong' Interpretation
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: We, The People, Are Sarcastic And Not Easily Mollified By Bland Political Non-Answers
The system is down
The Keystone Pipeline protests - People petition right in front of the White House but the administration won't take a position right before an election year.
Marijuana legislation - Won't take an issue because "To date, however, neither the FDA nor the Institute of Medicine have found smoked marijuana to meet the modern standard for safe or effective medicine for any condition."
Now think about this. Smoked marijuana has not been found to meet modern standards? Who makes those standards? And who does Obama not want to go against right before he asks them for money on new drugs or patents for making new pills?
Which would you rather screw over? The people that can grumble that you made a bad call, or the people backing you?
On the post: RIAA Admits It Wants DMCA Overhaul; Blames Judges For 'Wrong' Interpretation
Re: Re: Re:
*gasp*
Tell the police! They have to shut Youtube down because they're liable for someone else's content on a website!
On the post: Entertainment Industry Gets Another Usenet Provider To Shut Down: Is Usenet Illegal?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Entertainment Industry Gets Another Usenet Provider To Shut Down: Is Usenet Illegal?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
And one of the constant mistakes is how you make this stubborn complaint that growing the market means somehow the individual artist has lost something in compensation. They have not. All of the markets have indeed grown due to the abundance of digital files.
so you stopped talking to yourself?
Cute, but when all you constantly complain about is how on an opinion blog- uses objective analysis to bring up their conclusions, then it makes it harder to take you seriously.
More people sharing the same pie means skinnier slices for everyone.
The pie has gotten bigger so it's not the same pie at all.
A smaller slice could be worth more. One-third of Five and one third of 100 are not the same thing.
Moreover, we continue to have the "rich get richer" theory at work, where major acts are accounting for larger and larger amounts of the pie, leaving the small fry with even less money to deal with.
You seem to be conflating a few things here and you need to clarify. Are you talking about concerts? More live shows? More touring? How are major acts taking away from the other, smaller projects that are occurring such as streaming live on Justin.tv? I don't see how the "rich have gotten richer" when U2 touring has nothing to do with Imogen Heap's ways of twittering fans and making shows.
On the post: The Secret Behind SOPA Defense: Insist That It Doesn't Say What It Actually Says
Re: Re: SOPA/E-PREDATOR Screws over us DIY Artists
How about the artists and labels learn how to do it like the rest of society has already done?
On the post: The Secret Behind SOPA Defense: Insist That It Doesn't Say What It Actually Says
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: The Secret Behind SOPA Defense: Insist That It Doesn't Say What It Actually Says
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Otherwise, you're using FUD, not me.
If I put up streaming content of me watching a movie with friends, which gets embedded from Youtube, why should Viacom, Sony, or any other corporation care? Bear in mind, a theater had someone jailed for videotaping a few minutes of footage of Twilight. Viacom tried to sue Youtube even though they put up their content on Youtube themselves.
If you're going to chant FUD, be able to back it up with something yourself. You're making it harder to take you seriously.
On the post: Study Shows How SOPA/PIPA Will Harm Investment In Key Innovations
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Study Shows How SOPA/PIPA Will Harm Investment In Key Innovations
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Entertainment Industry Gets Another Usenet Provider To Shut Down: Is Usenet Illegal?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I didn't sit here and criticize someone's behavior. I was talking about how the trade industries could find ways to profit from piracy by removing artificial scarcities.
On the post: Entertainment Industry Gets Another Usenet Provider To Shut Down: Is Usenet Illegal?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Actually, he's dealt with that along with Bas. More artists are making money with only the recorded labels showing a decrease in music. I would venture that more artists are using free services as well as Kickstarter for projects and keeping those profits. I don't know why you choose to remain ignorant on your part, but that's up to you. From the sounds of it, it looks as if you dismiss anything you don't agree with.
So there's no more point in talking. If anyone wants to see the information, it's a link to an article showing how the best HADOPI customers were the biggest pirates.
How Music pirates were the RIAA's best customers
E-books and manga profited from piracy.
Joe Karaganis' 3 year report debunking the AC's line of reasoning.
Well, there's no more reason to talk to someone who wants to stay ignorant. There's more facts in the links up above. The AC has failed to engage in a debate, relying solely on rhetoric and ad homs. Sad.
Facts have been presented. Learn it and live with it.
On the post: The Secret Behind SOPA Defense: Insist That It Doesn't Say What It Actually Says
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I embed a Youtube video to my channel and someone says it's illegal and suddenly the mere accusation of it means I have to fight against my service provider, financial services, and the government on a mere accusation? Hello?
That makes no sense.
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