HBO’s popular fantasy television series Game of Thrones was recently described as the most pirated, or illegally downloaded, show of 2014. A website which tracks the number of times a show is downloaded illegally records that episodes from season 4 were downloaded over 8.1 million times. This is the third year in a row that Game of Thrones has topped the charts for most pirated show. In second place was AMC’s The Walking Dead with only 4.8 million downloads. This brings up one unanswered question: why is Game of Thrones pirated so much more often than The Walking Dead? Well here are a few theories.

AMC’s The Walking Dead is much more accessible than Game of Thrones because it is shown on AMC, which is available on basic cable, unlike HBO, which requires a subscription to their channels. AMC also shows re-runs of older episodes almost every day, and hosts marathons of The Walking Dead that last all weekend. The probability of flipping through channels and catching a Walking Dead episode is much greater than randomly finding a Game of Thrones episode. In order to Watch Game of Thrones, you have to almost certainly want to watch the particular shown/episode, and know exactly what time it will be on. You can also watch it online, but if Amazon sells it for $1.99 per episode, why wouldn’t you just find it for free somewhere else?

Game of Thrones is designed to be talked about. George Martin, the author of the books, designed them so they could be talked about and argued over. Mr. Martin did a very good job of revealing only what needs to be revealed and waiting until the plot itself happens, the reader or viewer figures it out, or he just doesn’t explain it at all. Most importantly, he leaves room for interpretation and leaves clues for the reader/viewer. I can interpret that a character is trying to seize the throne while someone else can have a totally different view and have evidence to support his or her claim. In The Walking Dead a character might die, or someone might leave the group, but there isn’t anything to discuss; it’s plain and simple with no room to be interpreted. Because Game of Thrones creates conversation, you might walk into school or work, and everyone is talking about the episode that aired last night, discussing ideas and theories about the show itself. If you haven’t seen that episode you are going to want to watch it immediately. You can’t wait hours to watch it; you need it now. The only place it’s accessible immediately is online, and when you can get it for free or pay for each episode, the choice is clear. Game of Thrones makes you constantly think about, you ask questions about how a character was able to kill some one, or how that one character is still alive when they most certainly should’ve died (i.e. Lady Stoneheart). There is also a sense of fear for your favorite character, as Mr. Martin has shown he can and WILL kill any character, no matter how important or popular they are (Red Wedding). In conclusion, Game of Thrones has a mysterious feel about it, making it unbearable to miss an episode, and making you feel left out if you haven’t viewed the latest one.

Both The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones are great shows. I have spent countless hours viewing both. I know that there are additional reasons that Thrones is pirated more, but these are the most important reasons. Thrones’s ability to come up in regular conversation makes it harder to miss an episode and creates a sense of pressure if you haven’t seen it. The effects of being highly pirated will eventually start to make a dent in profit for HBO and AMC, it will be interesting to see if a solution can be reached to cut piracy down.