Music Pirates Targeted In New Game For Kids

[jipper]

Hey, kids! Want to join the FBI and chase music pirates?

That would be the Funny Bureau of Investigations, and the chase would take place in the make-believe world of a computer game based loosely on Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island." But the underlying message is serious: Don't bootleg music.

The game is being developed by Music Games International, a privately held company in Cambridge, Mass., that is run by three emigres from the former Soviet Union, Igor Tkachenko, Roman Yakub and Alexander "Sasha" Gimpelson. "The Music Pirates Game," due out in the spring, will be the fourth interactive music title from the company.

Tkachenko, a concert pianist and composer, said MGI had set out to create a game about the yo-ho-ho kind of pirates. But when the trio started researching the topic of piracy, they were overwhelmed with information about music copyrights.

"It was a natural extension," he said.

Their goal is to persuade the Recording Industry Association of America to distribute the game free to schools and students across the country.

"We believe it's a great benefit to the RIAA," Gimpelson said. "Either you can teach them now or sue them later. I don't think there's any other option."

RIAA spokeswoman Amy Weiss said the group had not been approached by MGI, "but we welcome anyone's participation in the battle against piracy."

The RIAA has launched a few educational campaigns against illegal downloading. It is best known, however, for suing online file-sharing companies and the people who use them. Although the trade group has won several key court battles and collected several hundred thousand dollars from individual infringers, file-sharing networks continue to attract tens of millions of people around the globe, and CD sales continue to slide.

Unlike the RIAA, which has focused its educational efforts on college students, Tkachenko prefers to target young students who don't expect music to be free.

And the best way to deliver an anti-piracy message isn't to scare kids, he said, but to ridicule bootleggers.

So in MGI's game, only the bootleggers' ringleader is portrayed as evil. The rest of the pirates are "kids who love music, and they don't know better," he said.

P.J. McNealy, who tracks the video game industry for American Technology Research in San Francisco, said video games could be effective educational tools, "but we've seen more applications for multiplication and spelling than explaining copyright law." MGI's project is "a noble effort," he said, but it won't put a dent in piracy unless it's integrated into a larger campaign.

resource : http://www.detnews.com/2003/technology/031...logy-337323.htm

[rainbowdemon]

"We believe it's a great benefit to the RIAA," Gimpelson said. "Either you can teach them now or sue them later. I don't think there's any other option."

What an asshole!!

It looks like our friends at the riaa have sunk to a new low. Brainwashing children!!

[jipper]

So in MGI's game, only the bootleggers' ringleader is portrayed as evil. The rest of the pirates are "kids who love music, and they don't know better," he said.

hahahahahahaha

[DudeAsInCool]

Take that shit back to russia - circa stalin era - like 1945. No kid is gonna play this game

[Shawn]

That's some low stuff.

Typical RIAA logic though.

[HolyMoly]

That's some low stuff.

Typical RIAA logic though.

Yup ... but that Detroit News story allowed people to respond. This is the response I sent to the article:

Hey, that gives me the idea for another new game called TURN THE TABLES. This is how it works. You are the head of the RIAA. Your quest is to protect yourself and the labels you represent from those who would challenge your control over the music market. But, in order to do this, you've got to accomplish four things. First, you have to create a policy called MAP that rips off the music consumer to the tune of $400,000,000 starting four years before Napster was even born. Secondly, you have to find a friendly Attorney General who won't press criminal charges against you for the monstrous theft. Thirdly, you have to settle a multistate antitrust lawsuit in such a way that you get to keep $256,000,000 of the $400,000,000 you stole while making the plaintiff attorneys think THEY won. And finally, you have to convince the public, the Congress and the Senate that you and your member labels are merely innocent victims of copyright pirates ... hoping they won't see through your facade to see the biggest pirate of all. :D

[rainbowdemon]

Great response!! Let the public hear the other side of the story.

[HolyMoly]

Great response!! Let the public hear the other side of the story.

It'll probably never make it to the typesetter. Nobody likes a kiljoy, even if the kiljoy speaks the truth (grin). But, I love venting my spleen.

[rainbowdemon]

I wouldn't call it a killjoy really. The general public buys the riaa cd's and has no clue as to how badly they are being ripped off.

[HolyMoly]

I wouldn't call it a killjoy really. The general public buys the riaa cd's and has no clue as to how badly they are being ripped off.

True, but the general public doesn't decide which "letters to editors" get published. Gannett Corp. owns the Detroit News ... and I imagine a larger media conglomerate owns Gannett. Media tends to be pro-Media ... and my thoughts are anti-Media.

[HolyMoly]

BTW, Music Games International (also known as Kids Music Stage), the people developing the "Music Pirates Game," can be contacted at one of 3 email addresses on THIS WEB PAGE ... in case anyone wants to tell them what a wonderful job they're doing, hehe. ;)