Glad you enjoyed the article, and found it interesting enough to repost here Zachary! Here's a few more of my thoughts on the topic:
I'm pragmatic by nature. While it might be tempting to try and "show the pirates who's boss," as soon as you get caught up in this thinking you'll lose sight of the end goal, which is to have a better game that sells more copies. The game business is and should be about creating something awesome, not fighting a war against the bad people. Any time or resources you spend there will probably come back to bite you.
While it's not cut-and-dry, I absolutely feel that the best approach is to treat your players/consumers with respect, and to really try to make it as easy as possible for them to enjoy your game. Sure, there will be times when taking the 'nice' approach will burn you, but that's no different from life in general. We don't stop being nice and polite to everyone just because a few people are rude or misguided.
Some More Thoughts
I'm pragmatic by nature. While it might be tempting to try and "show the pirates who's boss," as soon as you get caught up in this thinking you'll lose sight of the end goal, which is to have a better game that sells more copies. The game business is and should be about creating something awesome, not fighting a war against the bad people. Any time or resources you spend there will probably come back to bite you.
While it's not cut-and-dry, I absolutely feel that the best approach is to treat your players/consumers with respect, and to really try to make it as easy as possible for them to enjoy your game. Sure, there will be times when taking the 'nice' approach will burn you, but that's no different from life in general. We don't stop being nice and polite to everyone just because a few people are rude or misguided.
Honestly, it all just comes down to staying focused on what's really important (which is another topic I've written about! http://jonshaferondesign.com/2012/04/10/the-secret-sauce-focus/).
- Jon
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