Most of us have pirated something at least once in our life, whether it be something as “innocent” as photocopying a textbook for personal use, or maybe buying an album and ripping multiple copies for your friends. However how many of us have actually tried to atone for what we have done?
During GDC, a writer by the name of Shivam Bhatt publicly apologized to Diablo’s creator David Brevik for pirating the game when he was a teenager back in 1997. He then gave Brevik some cash although we’re not sure if he accounted for what that money is worth today what with interest and inflation, but it was meant to be symbolic.
According to Bhatt’s tweet, which accompanied a photo of him and Brevik, “Well that was surreal. I totally went and paid @davidbrevik for the copy of Diablo I pirated in 1997.” Brevik then responded by saying, “That was incredible! I was stunned. Thank you so very much!” Of course Bhatt probably isn’t the only one who pirated the original Diablo back in the day, but we reckon he’s probably the only pirate who actually tried to pay Brevik back.
Piracy is still pretty rampant these days, although some cracking groups believe that piracy could be nearing an end as developers are making it increasingly difficult, not to mention the always-on requirement for games certainly makes things a lot trickier.