seananmcguire:systlin:rowantheexplorer:While not quite true, it’s a good sentiment.Don’t pirate book
seananmcguire:systlin:rowantheexplorer:While not quite true, it’s a good sentiment.Don’t pirate books, for example, because while it does hurt the publisher, it hurts the author more, since they’re only paid by their direct sales numbers. Get the book from a library instead, since that drives a sale, supports a public service, and is free to you. (The exception being textbooks. The authors have usually already been paid all they’re ever going to get, if they got paid at all, and the publisher rakes in an obscene profit.)Don’t pirate indie stuff, whether it’s movies, books, music, art, video games, whatever. If it’s indie, you are directly hurting a creative who just wanted to put something nice into the world, and not being able to eat directly impacts their ability to make more nice things. Caution: certain industries like video games and music are very volatile, and companies that used to be indie might not be anymore but might still be cruising on that indie cred. Similarly, a well-known and well-loved studio you’ve been a fan of for years might seem huge to you but is actually still just a couple schmucks barely scraping by. Look into a company, see how big it is, and if it’s a subsidiary of something larger. If it’s just a few people, don’t steal, but if it’s actually a multi-million dollar company with several dozen employees, yeah, it’s probably fine.Do pirate from the giant names: Disney, EA, Activision, Warner, Sony, major tv networks, etc. It’s almost guaranteed that the people who actually worked on the project were paid terribly, have gotten all they’re going to get from it, and the company is bringing in so many billions of dollars with each project that you won’t make a dent.THISI keep seeing the argument of “pirate from the giant names” with the implication that it hurts no one, because the company is so big.I write for Marvel comics.I write for Marvel comics, my reviews are good, people love the characters I’m writing for, and our illegal downloads are through the roof, because people think piracy hurts no one. It hurts the creators who have fought our whole careers to get through a door that traditionally has only been open for straight white men. Am I the best thing in comics today? Nah. My ego isn’t that big. But I’m good and I’m getting better; give me ten years and I might well be the best thing in comics.And that doesn’t happen if people pirate my comics and Marvel stops seeing it as worthwhile to give me money. -- source link