To Ori Or Not To Ori?

Non Malaysians may be wondering what does the title mean, but it is crystal clear to my fellow Malaysians. There's a local "slang" of which Ori means - Original & normally it is used in reference to VCDs, DVDs, CDs.... the works.

In Asia, it is extremely common to find pirated VCDs, DVDs, CDs etc. You can even have a choice of :
1. "Recorded from a Cinema" view with walking shadows across the screens, but you get to see the show fresh from the directors' & producers' "oven"
2. Copied from DVD - with crystal clear pictures but it'll be much later after the show has been in theatres for some time.

I was part of the "guilty" group of people who purchase the pirated version of movies especially since it costs less than RM10 per DVD. It is especially during my student days when money is "tight" & your budget is entirely from the FAMA Bank (short for FAther Mama Bank).

As original VCDs & DVDs prices starts to drop & becomes more affordable, I find myself buying original more often lately... Plus the fact that I'm earning my own income now... that helps. I also began to appreciate that by purchasing the original version, I'm actually supporting the producers, movie investors, script writers, not to mention the artists involved in the making of a movie / music. If I were to purchase pirated materials, my money would go to people whose only effort is re-producing works of others without any effort (albeit the "running effort" when chased by the law enforcers). If it becomes unprofitable to produce a movie / good music, we may very well end-up with lousy materials in our movies & music as investors stop investing on high-budgeted movies / music.

So, the question now is "To Ori or Not To Ori?"

I can summarize my opinion as this....
When our pocket is thin & our very "survival" is the highest on the agenda, we normally have no space in our hearts & minds for the "loftier" & nobler thoughts of rewarding & giving recognition to the parties due. Whatever that gives you the equivalent quality at the cheapest price goes.

When we reach a stage where our bellies are full, we have the time for leisure & the luxury to think of nobler thoughts. We then have the ability & again the luxury to reward where recognition is due.

At this stage; though I may not be rich, but I have the luxury of choice to purchase original at a lower price... I'm defnitely picking Ori. It may not be as cheap as the ones that I can get at the local DVD stalls, but a few RM more for better quality without the heart ache & effort of going back to the pirated DVD stall demanding for an exchange of faulty goods... I think it is well worth the price.

An example was, my hubby and I bought a DVD for "The Incredibles" and not only was the quality lousy, half way through the show, the disc just hangs & refuse to play on no matter how we fast forward / rewind. Even if we were to go back to the stall, we have to remember from which of the dozens of stalls did we purchase from. Then there's the question of whether the person even recognize that the faulty DVD was purchased from his stall. It's not like they'd bother giving a receipt for the pirated movie. So in the end, we find that it was too much of a hassle to go through for an RM7 DVD. Parking at RM3/entry alone excluding the cost of petrol & toll is already adding to the overall cost of the DVD. Some time later, we found a shop selling original "The Incredibles" DVD at RM19.90. It's more than double the pirated version, but the quality is assured, the picture is clear, the colour is bright. It even has the extended version + behind the scene bonus disc.

A second example is the CD for my favourite game - The Sims. Whoever thought of buying the original version. It is ridiculously expensive at hundreds of RM per disc. Then you have expansion packs etc... But I have been purchasing the same sets of the Sims + all the expansion packs for almost 3 times & they all fail, that I'm beginning to contemplate buying original (though I have not reached that stage yet... still a question of affordability).

Again the question of "To Ori Or Not To Ori" are all relative.

To sum it up, there was a saying that goes, "When Poverty Knocks on the Door, Love Flies Out the Window"... In this case, "When Poverty Knocks on the Door, Principles Flies Out the Window"... Not many people can afford the principle of paying high prices to reward & recognize the people who put effort in their work... Me included... :-p