- Date: 22/08/1999 | Author: Lord-D
At this late stage in the Development of Tiberian Sun it’s extremely sad to see a hacked version of Tiberian Sun out. How would you feel to be an employee of Westwood, seeing your years of hard work, totally disregarded and pissed away, in a lame Warez version. As far as I know, this version only has a few levels, and LAN play. What right do these people have to bitch about it’s shortcomings? They didn’t even pay for it! The people I most feel sorry for are Joe Kucan and his excellent FMV Dept. The palpable atmosphere and tension that they have graced the Command and Conquer series with can NEVER be recreated in a Warez version, yet these people don’t seem to care. I ordered my Platinum edition Friday, and I know I’ll get ten times more enjoyment out of it than a Warez user. In the rest of this article I plan to map out my specific objections, and further explain what I’ve said in this paragraph.
First of all, let’s look at the reason why people use Warez. The main claims are that it saves them money. Basically they’re saying it’s OK to steal someone’s hard work just to save a few bob. In fact, they’re not stealing from WestWood, or EA. Just because they’re corporations let’s not make this easier on the Warez users. No, they’re stealing from you and me. Because so many people just use Hacked versions of games nowadays, it forces publishers to up their prices. End Result? Legitimate users have to pay more for their games! They might as well be stalking around the game stores, picking $10-15 out of your pocket as you buy games. With that money you could get a cool CD Single, a McDonald’s and still have enough left over to get the bus home, or to appease any passing muggers.
Let’s look at another argument. They think it’s a victimless crime. It’s not as if one person is seriously gonna cut into sales. They’re right, If it was just one person. Fact is, there’s thousands of you guys. That seriously cuts into sales. What if we all did it? Brett Sperry would live in a Cardboard Box, Adam Isgreen would be forced to Whore his programming skills, and Virtual Ted would Eke out a meagre existence selling Bootleg TS Merchandise on the streets. Either that or all of them would realize all that comes from gaming is Illegal Warez, and wouldn’t bother in the first place.
Another one is that they get to play games earlier than us. So? We get the one with all the jaw-dropping FMV. The one with James Earl Jones and Michael Biehn. We get the one with another storming Frank Klapecki Techno Sound-Track. We get the one with all the missions, and full storyline (Which is half the game as everyone who played Total Annihilation knows.) We get Westwood On-line. You get a few missions, no FMV, bugs, and a minor LAN party with your other Warez using friends. I think we come out on top for our few days of waiting.
Finally, a Warez using friend of mine told me he uses them because he barely ever plays them. Maybe if he had to shell out good money for them he’d appreciate them more, would play them, and would discover that games are like Fine Wines. They must be savoured, and analysed to get the full flavour.
In the end, this seems to be more directed to Warez Users, appealing to their morality. By doing what they do, they’re cheating ALL of us, including themselves. It’s a base form of selfishness.