Reaction: Breach Pirate Turns Himself In

Wow, what a story.

Yesterday, according to 1up.com, someone at PAX by the name of Justin May tried to pirate the still-in-development game Breach at the expo itself. He was caught, found with part of the game code on his computer, tried to bribe the arresting officer and failed, jumped bail, then turned himself in a few days later (which is good for him, as police have decided not to charge him for it considering he has no previous record, he turned himself into the police, and they know where he lives).

I have only one question: Why?

It’s not the fine he could be issued ($25,000 for larceny over $250, and $500 for buying, selling, or receiving stolen trade secrets), and it’s not the jail time (5 years for the first, 2 more for the second), though both of those are definite food for thought and huge deterrents, as far as I’m concerned. I honestly don’t know why you’d be doing something this stupid if you could be facing penalties like that.

But they’re still not the point of the why. No, the point of the why is as part of the gaming community itself.

Why would you do this at PAX? At an expo that’s all about the gaming, where Wil Wheaton once said “Don’t be a dick,” where it’s all about, from what I can gather, camaraderie as gamers, would you do something like this? I mean... was he looking to make himself a hero among pirates? Did he want to make a name for himself? Because right now, really, he’s looking at ostracising himself from the gaming community in general.

I don’t get it why you would do something so dickish. I don’t understand it at all. But, hey, that’s just me. Maybe the possible penalties would be worth it to him. I dunno. There’s not a lot of sense to it. Sure, a lot of gamers pirate their games, but even more of us want to support our developers so we can continue to get the good games (the crappy ones we just don’t buy... I’m looking at you, X Blades!). And at an expo where it’s all about the games, why would you try to pirate one? I’d be afraid of the beating my fellow gamers would deliver to me for it.

Plus... the jail time and fines! Why, man?

I also have no pity for this guy. If you’re stupid enough to try something like this, then if you get caught, nuts to you. I don’t know how much money and effort went into the game code that this guy tried to steal, but it’s probably more than $25,000, that’s for sure. Slap him with the full fine, at least, if not some jail time. Nuts to him, I say. At least he had the common sense to turn himself in when he found out an arrest warrant had been issued.

Is that harsh? Yeah, it is. But, honestly, I have no patience for pirates these days. Screw ‘em.