How to deal with freeloaders

[slowtiger]

I'm offering advice for free most of the time and have had several people at my place to show them TVP, of which several bought it immediately afterwards. Recently it happened that people asked me for some specific tips about TVP, but only after sitting down at my place for some time it became clear they used a cracked copy.

Now the dilemma is that they were my guests, and in one case even somebody I knew for years. How should I react? What did you do in this situation (I assume I can't be the only one)?

[D.T. Nethery]

I voted : "Finish the lesson, but urge them to buy TVPaint as soon as possible" (this is mostly my policy for financially stressed students who have grown up in a culture of "free" stuff and who are ignorant of the ethical implications of their actions ... after talking to me , I hope they DO understand the ethical implications and will never do it again ... I hope...)

But even with students I'm often thinking :

"Throw them out of your place immediately (but not from the balcony)" And maybe from the balcony !

I don't know if this lesson is ever really learned by students until they spend their own time and money creating something, only to see it "borrowed" with no payment for their time and effort . Suddenly they "get it" .

[momo]

That's delicat question. All the studios and people I have met who use TVpaint a part from a very few use cracked version.

Obviously when you are visiting a studio you cannot just say hey guys you should buy your software. So in that case I just shut up. But if it is a single person that I know well I will just bring to their attention that the software is made by a very small crew of people shievering in the rain in the north of France. A simple explaination often goes a long way.

Needless to say everyone, studios, artists and even school, seem to use pirated softwares. I even heard of computer repair shop that will install all the softwares you want. Crazy.

The next question is how do you fight piracy?

[ten_zero]

I suggest the 6th option ：

• Abandon the forum account and report BSA (The Software Alliance) or ACCS (The Association of Copyright for Computer Software) solemnly and silently.

　When I can not pay "one of the software for Proffesional" in a lump by cash just in time, I think "Well, the software be unsuitable for me NOW. Let me think to do more hard work & get TOEIC score over 800 for pay raise".

Or research an alternative tools that presented by inexpensive price because for I am not a PROFESSIONAL in case of Animation industry.

[v.veidt]

I was once in a similar situation, giving a lesson to someone who told me they owned a copy of TVPaint. When it became clear they were using a cracked version (because they did not have a dongle plugged in), I asked for some proof that they actually owned a copy (it seems that half the TVPaint users I know use cracked copies even if they have a license). When they couldn't show me an email from the team, I switched to teaching the lesson using Synfig instead. The way I see it, helping someone use pirated software is just enabling their choice. By making ownership a barrier to the community of legitimate users, we can at least increase the sort of value that can't simply be downloaded from a torrent site.

Personally, it always makes me smile when Elodie calls out a pirate asking for help on the forum. I think it's a great way to get the point across.

That said, in a situation that involves numerous lessons and not just a single workshop, I would make the license fee part of my rate and waive the fee if a student already had a legitimate copy.

[slowtiger]

Good news: one of these just phoned me and asked for advice about debut or pro - he's going to buy now!
Ha.

[v.veidt]

That happened in my case, too. In my case the student was a young person who grew up in the age of internet piracy. I think some of these people don't even consider the morality or tangible consequence of their actions because they assume software is always made by incredibly wealthy corporations. Sometimes calling them out is all it takes.

[dperro]

I've been using and teaching TVPaint in my university since 2009. I always talk about how pirated software can destroy a company financially and when that happens, we lose the software. Like a species going extinct (Well, in a way). The company deserves to earn the profits and in most cases, developers put those profits back into the software to make it even better.

But the main thing is, I let students know that if they hand in animation done on cracked software, the assignment gets an automatic fail (0%). We provide students with a facility that they always have access to. They have their own workstations that they don't have to share with other students and can be there any time of the day or night, so there's no reason to steal software. Also, the student discount, using the code, makes the software a great value.