Arrr!

As all five of you probably know, my better half and I have created a game for the iPhone, now for sale in the iTunes store. We passed a critical milestone a couple weeks ago – we got pirated.

This turn of phrase has confused people in the past, so an explanation. Someone bought our application from iTunes, and then hacked the file and shared it with other on torrent sites, which means that thousands of people have now downloaded it for free. The worst part? Whoever does this generally posts a guilt trip on the site: “I put a lot of work into hacking these, you guys. Be a human being and donate some money to me! Here’s my Paypal link!”

Let me tell you – when you pour your heart and soul into something, getting pirated is about as flattering as getting mugged and then seeing your valuables for sale on a street corner. However, I have learned something along the way. For everybody’s benefit, I present what I have learned from my time with the pirates. Who, unfortunately, did not look like this:

Well, maybe they did. Who knows? They’re online. From now on, I’m assuming that all the weasels stealing my stuff look like Johnny Depp. Shirtless.

Tomorrow: How to deal with pirates. And how to NOT deal with pirates (hint: truth is not the way to go).