Free Speech, or what is it worth to you
Monday, February 8, 2010
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To be honest, I am completely out of patience with people who complain when they must pay for something that they believe, for whatever reason, that ought to receive for free. The contexts of this are many, but it has surfaced again and I figured it was finally time to say something about it.
If content creators—whoever they are, whether they provide blogs, videos, books, music, video games, or programming code—wish to provide access to their creations for free, that is entirely up to them. There are some interesting and reasonable arguments for doing this, but it is quite another for consumers of this content to expect and demand it. Do they expect to provide whatever services they perform for a living at no cost?
Boys and girls, it would be great if all games and content were free, but this is not yet the twenty-fourth century. People have mortgages or rent to pay and groceries to buy. The companies that provide the games you play have employees to pay and servers to keep running. None of these are free services.
Artists of any type are no different. Certainly, I can offer my fiction on the web at no significant cost. Any praise you might reap upon me, while much appreciated, does not keep my electricity on. Expecting all artists and organizations to provide you content for free simply because some do (and did you note how much of that "free" content is supported by bundles and bundles of often-intrusive advertising?
I really, really want someone to explain to me why I should provide them with access to my creations for free. I won't lead the witness here, although I have many more questions I'd like the ask. I just would like to understand.
If content creators—whoever they are, whether they provide blogs, videos, books, music, video games, or programming code—wish to provide access to their creations for free, that is entirely up to them. There are some interesting and reasonable arguments for doing this, but it is quite another for consumers of this content to expect and demand it. Do they expect to provide whatever services they perform for a living at no cost?
Boys and girls, it would be great if all games and content were free, but this is not yet the twenty-fourth century. People have mortgages or rent to pay and groceries to buy. The companies that provide the games you play have employees to pay and servers to keep running. None of these are free services.
Artists of any type are no different. Certainly, I can offer my fiction on the web at no significant cost. Any praise you might reap upon me, while much appreciated, does not keep my electricity on. Expecting all artists and organizations to provide you content for free simply because some do (and did you note how much of that "free" content is supported by bundles and bundles of often-intrusive advertising?
I really, really want someone to explain to me why I should provide them with access to my creations for free. I won't lead the witness here, although I have many more questions I'd like the ask. I just would like to understand.
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