Friday, October 29, 2010

Welcome to the Real(Third) World!

First of all, I'd like to say hi to readers who, for God knows how, found themselves reading this post or in particular, this blog. Seriously, I don't know how you got here but still, let me extend my greetings. Also, I'd like to introduce myself by saying that I'm a newbie blogger who hails from the Philippines, a third-world country that has a very active gaming community. With that out of the way, you'd find yourselves wondering "why should I care about a third world country, much less it's gaming community?". Because it matters a whole lot, one way or another.

I'm sure that you've heard of software pirates. Those despicable, low-life scum who "pirate" out the work that game developers have toiled over for months, even years. Often with budgets that equal or even surpass those of summer blockbuster movies. A 49.95$ game? Pfft. I can get that for free through the net. Not to sound supportive of piracy, but this "pirates" are a third-world country's saving grace. Thanks to them, gaming is not limited to those who have deep pockets or are living in well-off nations. Because let's face it, with our minimum wages, we can't afford the way the consoles and games are priced. In the US, the lowest minimum wage I found was 7$ an hour. In the Philippines, based on our minimum wage, we make 4$ a day. See the huge difference? It doesn't take a genius to understand why we resort to piracy.

Pirates stop doing their job if there's no demand for their services. But seeing the state of our economy, I don't see that happening.

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