Education’s the key for gamers
SLAPPING a £6,000 fine on a woman found to be illegally sharing games over the internet could alienate consumers and unleash a backlash on the industry.
That’s the view of one Middlesbrough developer, who said the test case brought by games manufacturer Topware Interactive in the Patents Court this week was ‘harsh’. Today it emerged that up to 25,000 people will also be asked to pay £300 or face prosecution for similar offences as the industry clamps down.
Sean Crooks of 3rd Dimension Creations, which has just finished work on its biggest downloadable games project for Blitz Arcades, said consumers needed to be educated, not punished. The interests of games developers was better served by pursuing mass distributors and internet service providers who failed to monitor and warn against illegal file sharing.
“The games industry has been slow to take up the route adopted by the music industry. They are attacking the big sharers and telling ISPs to send three strike warnings. That’s how it should be done, not fining some woman who’s distributed a game to two or three friends,” he said.
The case was the first of 100 civil proceedings launched by the Dream Pinball 3D game developer against players suspected of uploading software without a licence. It was also awarded £10,000 costs.
But Mr Crooks said the industry was sometimes its own worst enemy.
“I don’t deny there’s a big pirating problem, but when you buy a game and install it you get a 73-million page user’s guide - if you sat down and read it, some have some pretty scary stuff in, but half the time people don’t know what it’s about. Ignorance isn’t an excuse, but you have to act within reason.”
Carri Cunliffe, head of sector development at Codeworks GameHorizon, a business network for the games industry in the North-east, said that while the figure awarded seemed “a little extreme when you compare the cost of paying for the game”, it was important that the industry sent a strong message to consumers.
“Games companies need to protect their products from illegal procurement,” she said.
“This prosecution will certainly send out a warning signal to those people who are currently downloading digital content illegally, and - particularly given the size of the damages payment - will work as a significant deterrent.
“Somewhere in the region of 6.5m broadband users access music, games and films without permission through peer-to-peer services, leading to massive costs to these industries. For example, the music industry alone is estimated to bear a cost of £1bn in the next five years due to illegal downloads. The games industry is obviously trying to avoid similar costs by sending its warning out early.”
Digital City, the digital business hub based in Middlesbrough’s Boho Zone, regularly holds workshops to alert newcomers to the industry on the importance of protecting intellectual property.
Director Mark Elliott said the buck stopped with the ISPs. “There’s a growing consensus that they need to clamp down.”
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