October 2000 Letters

Letter #1
This is a letter from Maurine in reaction to an article posted on GameOPS. Do you agree with her? Read on and send us a letter on [email protected] with the Subject Line: "Piracy Family"

   My name is Maurine Cababad, 35 years old. I live somewhere in the Marikina area. I have accidentally stumbled upon your site while looking for video game cheats,which featured video games.
     It is very interesting to note that you seem to be against us, pirates. I am proud to say that I used to pirate playstation games. It is not because it is easy to make money with, but it is the fact that I had no other choice back then.
     I am an amputee. Don't laugh at me please. I lost my left arm while I was working in an establishment which I will not mention. When I became handicapped, I was fired from work. I tried to have other jobs, but they won't accept me because I am handicapped.
     I am a mother of 3 beautiful children. I am an illigally separated person. My husband left me for another woman, her profession says that she's a bitch.
     Being the only one to support my 3 children, they had no one else to go to. My family were lost at a sea tragedy, my husband's family are in another country, and they probably won't recognize me as part of the family.
     Knowing that I have no other choice, only armed with one arm, I went to visit a friend who introduced me to pirating. It was an easy task, and I embraced it dearly as it saved my 3 children from absolute death.
     Being the one-handed Mother Pirate, I slowly built the foundation of my home, with the help of piracy.
     A pirate is not to be compared to a bad person, condemned by society. I hope you could clarify your articles in your site concerning piracy and the stores who provide it.
     What would you feel if you were in my place? You probably are even buying pirated games yourself! Don't pull the trigger if you don't have the bullet!

Answer:

Ms. Maurine,

I have read your letter regarding piracy. We are just telling gamers about the bad effects of piracy on us gamers and the video game industry. You told us that you do not have any other choice because of having only one arm. My answer is "Piracy is not the answer". Piracy is considered stealing. There are plenty of jobs for handicapped people that are decent. Our only advise to you is to seek the help of other NGO's willing to help handicapped persons. 

I admit that I used to buy pirated CD's and cartridges but values got the better of me in the end. Just think of it, every year video game companies loss billions of dollars. It only means that they will lay off some good video game developers thus reducing the number of good quality games being released (Just like SNK USA which closed last month).

My only advice to you right now is to find a new decent job and stop pirating games. And another thing, enjoy your new PlayStation 2 at wag masyadong seryosohin ang Dead or Alive 2!

Yours truly,
Rocky T. Opiña
CEO -GameOPS

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