Video game pirates deservedly banned

On this blog, I have been somewhat harsh on businesses that produce goods in digital form, particularly what I feel is their short-sightedness with regard to the changing marketplace. However easy it is to claim that modern businesses are clueless about the digital age, it is perhaps even easier to claim and prove that many people are just simply dishonest and break the law out of their own greed, and their cries of foul in reference to corporate behavior are simply empty rationalizations.

According to this report, Microsoft has banned close to or right at one million people from using its online service because the subscribers modified their Xbox 360 to be able to play pirated games. For a monthly fee, people who own an Xbox 360 can play online with other Xbox 360 owners on Xbox Live. Warez groups release pirated versions of videos games and make them available for normal people download. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo lock their respective consoles down in hardware and software to try to prevent people from playing pirated versions. However, people have found ways around the protective measures by modifying the physical game consoles. It isn’t apparent whether the banned users will be able to return sometime or if they are banned forever.

I have no sympathy for the people who modified their hardware and who Microsoft have banned. As much as I dislike digital rights management, I can see that it is completely necessary for companies to try to protect their products because many people apparently don’t know the difference between right and wrong. I don’t see why people who won’t pay for a game like any decent law abiding person should be able to play online; at least the legitimate people have some value to their game that the pirates can’t enjoy.