The huge success of an AppStore failure

I think it is more unwillingness- since some software is free, some people resent paying for any software. (They probably don't get HBO on their cable TV either...)

What surprises me is that gamecenter allows cracked apps to appear on leaderboards. Maybe I'm missing something, but since gamecenter requires an iTunes account, and iTunes knows what apps you've purchased, why would gamecenter allow data from iTunes accounts it knows don't own the game?

Are you sure?

It drives page views. I mean, I had never heard of this game until this HN post, and I never would have heard of it otherwise. There are many, many thousands of alternatives in the App Store, and I don't play a lot of games.

So why stop complaining, necessarily? It doesn't cost much, and it helps your paying customers feel righteous, which provides additional value for the dollar.

These complaints often have a certain Br'er-Rabbit-and-the-briar-patch quality, and this one is a particularly good example of the genre. "Oh, please, pirates, please don't think our game is so awesome that exactly 15,950 of you download it in the first few days, making it look like a runaway success and building an enormous community of fellow players who will vie with you on Game Center if you buy the game at the absolute bargain price of $0.99!

"And, whatever you do, don't make us write a blog post talking about our awesome new app and how people can't stop downloading it, even breaking the rules to do so, because it's so crazy and viral and addictive.

"And don't make us complain about how we took a risk and sold our valuable app for the low, low price of $0.99.

"And, whatever you do, don't generate controversy that will get our blog post upvoted to the top of news aggregators. And don't slag on us in the comments, forcing us to issue a poignant reply that will also get upvoted on news aggregators.

"My god, if the controversy gets big enough Apple might actually respond, which might drive this issue into the mainstream news, where millions of people with iPhones and money might accidentally read the name of our app and learn how many times it has been downloaded. What a catastrophe that would be. Please don't let that happen. Please stop, pirates, I'm begging you, stop talking about our game and forcing us to talk about our game."

Common pirate argument #1. Prove it. Surely this is a falsifiable claim; do you have sources to back it up?

The people who pirate your app, act as advertisers, others see them playing the game, and then some people go any buy the game legitimately.

Common pirate statement #2. Prove it. Surely this is a falsifiable claim; do you have sources to back it up?

Also, the fact that people are pirating your app in the first place means is obviously very good and you should be proud of that.

Bad software is pirated just as good software is. This isn't meaningfully indicative of anything. And if it is good software (I'm not in a position to judge, it doesn't appear to be a game I'd be interested in), then I can very much see it being difficult to "feel good about it" when the compensation that they're due is not being paid them.

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These arguments are silly and demeaning to people who actually create things. They excuse bad behavior. Some people, I'm sure, pirate because they can't afford things (though how did they get an iOS device?). Others--and intuitively I think this is a large portion, but I'm at least honest enough to admit that I can't prove it--just want things for free.