600,000 pirates walk the plank

600,000 pirates walk the plank

There is a war going on just beyond the interface of our computer keyboards…only this time the pirates don’t have wooden ships and no “swashes” are being buckled. Microsoft has just pulled the plug on 600,000 Xbox Live Customers (source) – a staggering figure when you consider that the number of players they kicked out far exceeds the total number of accounts of most mmo subscriber based games. In question are those players who have purchased “mod chips” to allow their xbox to play illegally downloaded games, something that was the subject of a recent court decision in Microsoft’s favor. Here is an excerpt from the source article:

“Microsoft’s decision also swiftly follows a ruling yesterday by the UK Court of Appeal, which dismissed an appeal by retailer Christopher Paul Gilham against his earlier conviction at Hereford Crown Court. Gilham had been selling modification chips – ‘modchips’ – enabling users to override protective technological measures preventing the playing of counterfeit or ‘pirate’ videogames.” – Nigel Kendall, “Microsoft pulls the plug on online game pirates.

Microsoft has stated that they will suspend the online privileges of anyone found playing an illegally downloaded copy of Modern Warfare 2  (MW2) or using a modified console.

Traditional marketing thinking tells us that good marketing means making your product meet the needs of the consumer. On the next No Prisoners, No Mercy show when the subject of developer/community relations came up during the recording session, one of the guests, Tipa from the popular “West Karana” web site, said “when you start blaming your customers for things it is time to take a step back.” However, when it comes to relationships with the community, like a casino, most of the time the odds favor the house.  We all saw how great an affect the “boycott” of Left 4 Dead 2 had on the game; the boycott, and $1.50, as the old expression goes, will buy you a cup of coffee. In other words the players big wind blew no ill, so to speak.  That is also just about what results can be expected from the movement by some players to give MW2 low player review ratings on places like Amazon.com (the subject of a post today by Tobold, “Modern Publicity Warfare”) – the effect on the game has so far, apparently, had no effect as the sales of Modern Warfare 2 has broken all first day sales records.

Still, at least in the PC Gaming industry, the complaints of consumers do not always fall on deaf ears.  Last year the common claim around the “blogosphere” was that the draconic DRM (digital rights management) on Spore lead to it becoming one of the most pirated games of 2008 in an attempt to get around said DRM. (see “PC Game Piracy: Why Bother with DRM” available here) This seems to have lead to developers treading a bit more lightly where DRM issues are concerned.

In the end, no matter where the video game piracy war goes, the message from Microsoft to console players is clear: “Pirate videogames and we will make you walk the plank.”

See you online

Julie Whitefeather