Battleangel

Researchers in the UK find consumers willing to purchase pirated games and music, in spite of aggressive awareness campaigns.

Dr. Jo Bryce of the University of Central Lancashire and Dr. Jason Rutter of the University of Manchester, have determined that in spite of aggressive campaigns to persuade them otherwise, gamers generally do not see the unauthorized copying, purchasing of counterfeit goods, or downloading files they didn’t pay for as being wrong.

“Consumers have an awareness of the scale of the problem and cost, but don’t take onboard industry concerns or government messages,” Dr Bryce told the BBC. “They just see it as inevitable, particularly as new technologies become available.”

The BBC said that an estimated $7.2 million worth of pirated games were seized last year in Britain. Authorities said 538 raids resulted in the jailing or fining of 67 software pirates. Unfortunately, the authorities are getting little help from consumers.

In spite of the disappointing results of the UK game study, advocacy groups continue to hammer away at attitudes and practices. This fall in the US, the ESA will launch an educational outreach program aimed at raising elementary school students’ awareness of intellectual property rights and the negative impact of piracy. After hearing what researchers have discovered in the UK, however, one just can’t be sure how effective such programs will be.

“They just don’t see it as theft,” Bryce said.

Source: Gamespot

Damn right we don’t. And no amount of whining, strongarming, education or inflated, even fictitious, estimates are going to change that. The main reason being that many, like myself, have adopted the stance as an ideology, one that fits hand in glove naturally with anti-globalization, anti-corporation, anti-hegemonic trends that many have taken to heart at least to some extent. Whether or not most people connect the dots or not is hard to say though.