We shouldn't stop people from jailbreaking if it doesn't infringe our own rights!

I think we are at a sort of impasse: how to respond to such things as piracy and jailbreaking and such.

I’ve been called every derogatory thing because of pure speculation as to where my stance actually is on this issue. If you care about little else than to defend your favorite gaming company like some kind of blind fanboy, then I suggest that you turn back now, because I’m not going to validate anyone’s POV just because they want me to. I’ve never done that before, and I am not about to. I meant what I said back in 2008 about Microsoft, and I’ve done so now.

What I will do, however, is to clarify as to what my stance is on this. This may be a little long, so those that are going to do the TL;DR spiel can leave now, too.

For one, what sparked this is someone complaining about an ad that appeared on N4G that had something to do with pirated PS3 games. As I have ABP installed on Firefox, I have yet to see this ad, but while N4G is responsible for a lot of the bad things that happen on this site (with the whole “kill all the hackers” being one of them), they are not here. This is because the advertising agency responsible for the ads is a third party. They choose what to run. Of course, once found, N4G can tell them not to, but they cannot be aware of every single ad. That’s outside their immediate control.

As for the ad itself, I understand the site’s general stance on piracy. That goes without saying. However, those that take an anti-piracy stance just because of blind fanboyism (or those that side with those like Hotz and Anonymous for the same reason) are doing it wrong.

I took Hotz’ side on the CFW issue, and did not regret it in the slightest. Hell, I was even one of them that donated to him (five bucks). This is because of my stance.

What is it? It is that, as long as it does not infringe on anyone else’s ability to enjoy their system the way they want to, and as long as you don’t hurt their right, they should be able to enjoy their system however they please. If you want to install CFW onto your PS3 to play homebrew games (whatever your definition of that may be), then be my guest. You’re not stopping me from playing Gran Turismo 5 in any way. Hell, if you find a good HB game that you think I should play, then by all means, convince me to convert to the dark side for that one. There SHOULD be competition in the gaming industry, and Sony should not be scared of the homebrew community (and yes, PS3 homebrew games do exist. Just use Google and stop being lazy). Hell, even if it is a SNES emulator you’re playing with, I don’t care (hell, who HASN’T used SNES9x or MAME?). As long as you’re not infringing on my right to do what I want to do, and as long as I’m not trying to stop you from having your fun, then why should I stop you?

It’s obvious that homebrew has not hurt Nintendo’s bottom dollar, so I’m not sure why one site claimed that Sony SHOULD stop people from playing homebrew games on the PS3. If you are allowed to play them on the PC, then why should you stop them from playing them on the PS3?

I’m not saying you should be allowed to cheat online and screw up player rankings, or that someone should be allowed to access personal information about you that can be used for identity theft, or anything like that. People try to equate one with the other because they know that if they do that, they have the excuse to blindly follow whoever it is that is saying that you shouldn’t be allowed to do such things. They would never have to actually explain what is so wrong. All you have to do is scream “piracy”, and they will rush to your defense before they even know what the subject actually is. Hell, why should they care? They’re only blind fanboys! Why do they even NEED a reason to follow you?

But not everyone who is anti-piracy is so because they are blind fanboys. That’s another way of confusing the issue to benefit their point of view because of their insecurity of being able to validate their POV with actual facts. If you call out either them or their savior company, you’re playing for the other side, and no opposing POV is safe, civil or otherwise. Neither are those that would support Hotz’ POV. You think he was trying to enable piracy and cheating? How do you know that he was or wasn’t? He said he wasn’t, and there was nothing actually proven one way or another.

So this is where I am at on this issue: if I were to install CFW on my PS3 and never again take it online at all, and then install something from PS3 Homebrew on my PS3 (or, GASP, install Linux on my PS3), but never touch PSN on that PS3 again, does that stop you from doing anything you want to do on your PS3? Does that constitute piracy on my end? How does that hurt you or Sony? I’m not trying to be a smart ass. I’m just asking legitimate questions that the blind fanboys seem unwilling to answer in a civil way, if in any way. Hell, even IF I install SNES9x on it and play Super Mario World on it, is that something that stops you from enjoying your games in any way (and think about how you answer that, too)?

I ask this because this site is getting things completely confused. The blind fanboys are trying to confuse things because they WANT us to think the way they do, and the rest of the site seems to just go with it. I wouldn’t be as upset about it if it wasn’t so many of us doing this, but unfortunately, there is that many unwilling to stop taking things so personally.

I disapproved of HipHopGamer’s way of showing that he disagreed with Hotz’. Seriously, HHG, you resort to a rap like THAT just because Sony was the target? I thought of you better than to resort to cheap…oh, wait: “Uncharted 3 coming to 360!” My bad, you WOULD resort to cheap shots against Hotz (after all, that’s how you’ve built most of your career). Then again, you weren’t alone: the name calling started here, as well as the “kill that f**k” BS began there, too. So why am I just blaming you for acting like some hysteric, blind fanboy?

A day or so ago, there was a Bitmob parody article saying that the author was who brought down PSN because he accidently slept on the PS button on his controller. Of course, it was meant as a joke to be funny. However, the amount of people willing to bash it because they didn’t find it funny was outlandish. It was as if the article hurt their feelings. They took it too seriously and/or too personally, and went so far as to judge the type of people that WOULD find it funny. The Bitmob article did one thing successfully, if nothing else: shown us just how much we have been overreacting about anything regarding the PSN issue. The reactions to it on this site prove to me that they were hurt that they got exposed. Of course, they were exposed before when they cheered Anonymous being hacked! That showed me the real reason they were against Anonymous and Hotz: they drank Sony’s milkshake!

Note that while I don’t condone how Anonymous went about proving their point (anyone who thinks I did is an idiot), I can see what their reasons were: to show Sony that they were upset about their stubborn stance on whatever it is they are trying to prevent. To be honest, I’m not sure if I would want Anonymous’ help, but seeing as how they’ve been on the right side of certain fights (their fight on Fred Phelps comes to mind), it’s hard to not at least consider the offer if you're with a similar stance as mine.

Again, I’m not saying that we should suddenly condone piracy and cheating. I’m saying that as long as it doesn’t hurt me or you, then why should I be that concerned about stopping you from doing whatever it is with your system you want to do? YOU bought it, and it’s in YOUR house, hooked up to YOUR television set. Why should I care if you want to play that homebrew game on your PS3? I’m able to separate the good from the bad. I don’t know why no one else on this site can, but I am able to do so.

Hell, I’m not even sure why people are bitching about the OtherOS lawsuit. Sony told those people that they wouldn’t touch it, but they did, and then possibly lied about why they did it (playing the piracy card in the means of garnering support for the removal when that was not the real reason). There are people on this site that are saying “well, no one used it”. Sony felt enough people used it to make such a guarantee, and plus, if you didn’t care about it, then why do you care enough to make the proclamation that it shouldn’t be reinstated. You didn’t care that it was on there before, yet you’re damn sure wanting Sony to fight to make sure it stays off your system. Again, “I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE”!

So yeah, that’s my stance. The TL;DR version of it is this: I am not against fighting piracy as long as we know that there are several interpretations as to what piracy even is, I am against stopping people from doing things that they do in the privacy of their homes when it does nothing to infringe on our right to do anything we want to do, I don’t know why we have to prove everyone right about this site’s “fanboy cess pool”, why we didn’t care before but we do now, or why we are constantly unable to separate one argument from the other, or why we have to take everything so personally and fuel the hysteria constantly.