Pirating, or illegal downloading, is a strange yet divisive issue in the age of technology. Everyone seems to have done it at one time or another. In fact, some artists have even encouraged illegal downloading of their albums.

With the caveat of System of a Down ironically titling one of their albums "Steal this Album." Although the meaning of that is debatable, since there are claims that it's a reference to the counterculture book, "Steal This Book" by Abbie Hoffman.

Nevertheless, in the indie gaming community, thievery is definitely not appreciated by developers since they make little to no money upfront for their games. This is perhaps why allegedly several companies have created ways to penalize players who download illegal copies of the game.

The latest iteration of this is a hilarious loop/trap in PC puzzle game "The Talos Principle." According to a report by Kotaku, a user who does not pay for the game is ultimately trapped in an elevator with no way out. They note that those who legally purchase the game should be perfectly equipped to make it out of the elevators.

The anti-piracy measure seemed to be discovered on Steam via the comment section. According to a screen capture on Neo GAF it all began with a post from user J.K.

"When I unlocked the 2nd floor on the tower, all the elevators have stopped working. Whenever I want to get somewhere, it just stops in the middle of the way and I can't do anything," wrote J.K.

"Congratulations you must be the first one to show the internet world what Croteam did this time to punish pirates. You should be proud of yourself, it will be all over the internet in about 30 minutes I'd say..." replied Steam user Punchobastardo.

For those unfamiliar with the PC game "The Talos Principle," the official description on Steam is as follows: "The Talos Principle is a first-person puzzle game in the tradition of philosophical science fiction. Made by Croteam, the creators of 'Serious Sam', and written by Tom Jubert (FTL, The Swapper) and Jonas Kyratzes (The Sea Will Claim Everything)."

It seems that for all the divisiveness about "sticking it to the man" and pirating material, some artists are making it impossible to experience their material either way. Furthermore, they're doing it in playful but somewhat serious ways.

Because what's more playful than a "pirate" stuck in an elevator?