Cliff Harris, an independent developer of PC games, recently posed the question to the community, “why do you pirate my games.” There is little doubt that piracy is an issue in the PC realm but I’ve never really bought the line too heavily. Like the MPAA and RIAA I think it is more about finding a scapegoat than anything. That said, I’m sure it does eat away some of the profits they would have made.

I chose to respond to why I believe people pirate PC titles, however, and thought I would share it with you. The original blog post is here. My answer below (so you don't have to find it in the millions of responses to Cliff's blog).

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Let it never be said that the business of MMOs is not a volatile one. Each day I log into the Age of Conan forums to see the fire storm of angry players complaining about everything under the sun. To be honest, I think they are an exceedingly vocal minority. There are a large group of players who are generally happy. That doesn’t mean, however, that there isn’t a lot of room for improvement.

Age of Conan is a wonderful game despite all the issues it does have. It contains some fairly cutting edge features that have not been done well in any previous MMO. If you’re playing a melee class, combat requires thought and attention to detail, healing is no longer a “cower behind and play whack a mole” profession and the standard class dynamic has been set on its ear. Everything is not a black and white “tank and spank” these days. All of those features are wonderful.

Where the Funcom team needs the most improvement, however, is on basic features. It is shocking to me what the average player gets in Frames Per Second (FPS). It blows my mind that features that consumers would consider requisite and expected are missing. Most of all, however, I am surprised by the lack of a robust guild system in a game that basically mandates guild participation.

Are you interesting in being a craftsman? You must join a guild. Do you want to join in a large group to defeat raid encounters? You should probably join a guild. Would you like to siege or defend a battle keep? Join a guild already! It seems abundantly clear, to me anyway, that everything in this game revolves around guilds. To that I say, “It is about time.”

I am tired of the WoW mentality that nearly everything should be able to be done solo. I miss the traditional EverQuest model where after a certain point being social was required to succeed. In my mind, if you play MMOs to be a lone wolf, you’re wasting your money. I am getting to a point here, I swear.

In a game where guild membership is not just a benefit but a requirement for certain functions why are they supported so poorly? Here is a list of basic features that Conan guilds need and need soon to help support the players who’re passionate about progressing forwards. Many of you may be shocked to find that these things aren’t in game at the time of writing.

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One of the things that I see being brought up frequently is the comparison of new MMOs to World of Warcraft. I usually find this sort of discussion fairly entertaining. One such discussion came up in the Age of Conan raid forum just recently.

On side A (that is where I fall just so we’re clear); you generally have the “old guard” MMO players. We were around when MMOs were called MUDs and there weren’t any graphics at all. I remember being blown away by Ultima Online. Then, when EverQuest came out and someone explained it to me, it sounded like a whole new experience.

It was actually. It forced people to buy better computers and faster internet connections just so they could play it. This was a huge gamble for Verant (that is who made EQ back then), but it paid off big. These days, people forget that there was an MMO market before World of Warcraft. Allow me to assure you my young (in mmo years) friends, there was. WoW does very little that wasn’t done before. Shocking I know. Blizzard did not invent the MMO, raids, pvp, items or much of anything. They just packaged it in a newer and, in a lot of cases, superior way.

On side B, however, the old guard is forgetting a few things. Warcraft has taken our numbers and multiplied them until they’ve reached the 11+ million mark. WoW is completely accessible to anyone, not just the computer elite. You can run WoW on two tin cans, a tight string and a wooden computer powered by hamsters. This has brought in a lot of new players and we just have to accept that they aren’t us.

Nor, honestly, should they have to be. Everyone talks about how you shouldn’t compare any MMO to WoW like these folks do. That making this comparison is a stupid or foolish thing. Frankly folks, it isn’t. That is like saying “don’t compare an 18 year old scotch to one I brewed in my toilet.” Scotch shouldn’t taste like scrubbing bubbles (regardless of how adorable they look) or be blue.

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If you’re not living under a rock you’re probably aware that Age of Conan has hit the retail outlets and is making its way around the internet. We, like many other gamers, have snapped it up and started a new journey in a strange world.

Much to my pleasure a fairly large group of former Iniquity members have joined together in this trek in the hopes of forging something new and exciting. Thus far they seem pleased with the game.

It is true that Funcom has left out many of the minor details you would expect in a modern MMO. Things like basic ui structure and guild management are more or less lacking. On the other hand, however, the combat system is quite fresh, the character classes are interesting and the world is very attractive. More than anything AoC feels different to me. It isn’t just another WoW knock off or the same old thing.

That said it seems clear that AoC is here to stay for a while. With WAR looming on the horizon Funcom has five or so months to strengthen its position and I hope to see the company rise to the challenge.

Like Funcom Sodality too must rise and prepare for the months ahead. I am pleased to announce that we are openly recruiting for our organization. Please review the Sodality rules on the left and then apply if you’re interested! Register (as your in-game character name) and click on the forums to apply. We would be pleased to see your application. Spend some time on it, however, as we actually do read them.

In the coming weeks we’ll be deploying a new and exciting front page and our proprietary Avatar loot tracking and guild management system. Stay tuned for that as we think you’ll be quite pleased.

Finally a word to our former Iniquity brothers and sisters: join us soon! We miss you and want you to get on board sooner than later. I saw a lot of you at the organizational meeting and then you disappeared. We Want You!