DRM, Censorship, you brought it on yourselves.

[Asehujiko]

So, to return to my title statement; DRM and Censorship, you brought it on yourselves. I?m asking, no, pleading that anyone who commits or supports such an act on these forums take heed to my warning, because if it doesn?t stop, the gaming industry will.

I second that

I Third That.

I will point out that I in no way condone piracy or pirate anything myself, well I once dressed up as a pirate but that is beside the point.

As it stands with piracy.

People will not heed this warning, it won't be until the gaming industry is gone people will ***** about how piracy ruined it, when they in-fact were the pirates. People won't stop till it's too late, sad isn't it?
But there are ways to prevent this...

Step 1. Make games a ***** to pirate, put things in a CD that makes it impossible to do without at-least 3 hours of work, pirates are lazy, it should stop some of them.

Step 2. Make games massive, I mean MASSIVE I.E space-wise, you see the more massive the more tie and internet usage it takes to download. If you make a game 10GIGS it won't be pirated, Because...
A: Forces Pirates to go over their inter-net usage limit.
B: Takes forever, many pirates just can't be screwed waiting.
C: Gives more time to lock on and track who is stealing a game.

I'll Think of some later.

1. It already takes more then 3 hours to crack a game. If you mean making it take 3 hours for the user, don't expect legal costumers to like you after they went through 3 hours of crap just to get their game to run while pirates double click install.bat and laugh at everybody suffering from your DRM(which aren't the pirates).

2. 10gb games won't be pirated? Whatever you are smoking, i want some of it. FYI, it's not uncommon to see 150gb+ torrents for rom/iso compilations.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

However, 'trying a game to se if I want it' is yet another false ideology, as they already have it, and can't be bothered using the extra effort to pay.

Not if they uninstall it afterwards.

But do they? I doubt it wholeheartedly.

If the game is utter crap then yeah they do.

 

[Wargamer]

I only steal what cannot be purchased. If EA doesn't want me stealing copies of Desert Strike, or Square copies of Bahamut Lagoon, they can put it on the PSN as a 50p download.

Ironically, one of the only "modern" games where I do actively encourage piracy is Spore. Why? DRM.

If Spore was a normal game, without its user un-friendly DRM, I would not condone pirating it; it's a new game, it's readily available in stores, you have no excuse for stealing it. However, since it is safer to pirate it from the user's point of view, I promote piracy on this game.

So, the arguments for and against piracy are not clear-cut. DRM is done to cut down on Piracy, yet DRM itself encourages people like me to turn to Pirate copies in favour of the genuine article, because I feel I cannot trust the 'legal' copy of the game.

 

[Martenzo]

I don't know about the rest of the world, but here in Estonia, availability used to be a major issue if you wanted a game. What do you do, if no stores in your country sell it and official online stores don't deliver to your country? Wait until a publisher starts delivering there without knowing whether doing so is profitable? That might take a year or more, if it ever happens. And going to another country just to buy a game just isn't worth the price of traveling. I have made it a principle to buy every game I've pirated legally as soon as they come available. I don't support the concept of piracy, but occasionally, I just don't have any legal options to get the games I want.
And another issue with DRM is when you try to run legal games in Linux. The DRM just won't let you do it and you need to get a cracked pirate version.

 

[Silver]

As long as an opportunity exists I won't condemn the people who take advantage.

So, just as an example, if a store didn't have security cameras or guards, you would be all right with people robbing it?

Depends, why were the robbers robbing it? Did they get away with it? Were they wearing masks? Were they hopped up on drugs at the time?

Does it matter?

 

[JohnSmith]

It would be nice if game publishers were a little more creative in their moves against piracy and productivity for that matter. I mean could you imagine the response if for Portal 2 or whatever rather than costing money, they just started a donation funding drive? Setup with clear markers, i.e. Game must make X amount to cover production, Game must make Y amount to make a profit. So when you get the game you donate and if you want a hard-copy, then you pay a hard copy price. Also the amount of piracy according to anecdotal evidence would be very much less if games were priced at a more reasonable level. This is a particular problem in Australia where it was still costing $100 a game when our currency was worth 92 US cents.

 

[KeyMaster45]

Piracy harms the gaming industry, and in turn harms anything related to the gaming industry, such as The Escapist. So why is it so accepted on these forums nowadays?

And yet, while Piracy causes such harm, I know for a fact that there are many people on the Escapist in support (and partake in) it, and heartily condone it. Whether this is open or not depends on the user, but the fact is that it shouldn?t be.

How exactly does piracy harm the game industry? Is it because pirates were never going to buy that game, or because they have a chance to test a game before deciding it's shit.

The latter is a worthless argument because you're saying "developers and publishers are allowed to rip you off with shit games"
The former is usually the group that does not want to pay for games.

If you want to test a game so bad why not just rent it for the weekend? I save hundreds each year by simply renting a game before I buy it. Hell, I've even beaten many games in the weekend I rent them and thus have less clutter in my room for it.

I'll never understand the piracy of video games, we've all got friends who will buy games we want to try. Call em up and ask to borrow it for awhile. There's so many legal ways other than piracy to test a game to see if it sucks, that piracy of one is to much of a hassle in the end.

Read reviews, ask others what they thought of the game, don't use the excuse of "testing it" to justify the stealing of years of someone's hard work. Remember, Blockbuster hasn't gone out of business just yet.

 

[Wyatt]

If you want to test a game so bad why not just rent it for the weekend? I save hundreds each year by simply renting a game before I buy it. Hell, I've even beaten many games in the weekend I rent them and thus have less clutter in my room for it.

I'll never understand the piracy of video games, we've all got friends who will buy games we want to try. Call em up and ask to borrow it for awhile. There's so many legal ways other than piracy to test a game to see if it sucks, that piracy of one is to much of a hassle in the end.

Read reviews, ask others what they thought of the game, don't use the excuse of "testing it" to justify the stealing of years of someone's hard work. Remember, Blockbuster hasn't gone out of business just yet.

not meaning to come off glib or snarky here but some of us dont have an option too rent games. some of us have to either travel 40 miles or use some form of online shoping to get games. and before you comment on this, know that im from upstate new york, not 200 miles from one of the largest citys in the world and those are my two choices for picking up a game. my local video stores dont rent games at all so im in fact left with blockbuster if i chose that rout and the nerest blockbuster is 40 miles away the ironic thing about it is its in the same mall/plaza with my closest video game store too.

i spose i could have just shut up and stayed out of this point because i dont DL demos and dont at ALL agree with the excuse that the people are 'trying before they buy' you make good points in your post except the part when you assume that everyone has the option to rent. and there is the point as well that you are missing it seems too me, that renting games is one of the major REAL reasons for securom style DRM, they dont WANT you to be able to rent a game, they dont want you too be able to try a game at ALL , they want you to have to buy it before you can find out its shit. i ask you, how do you rent Spore with a 5 install limit? do you think blockbuster will replace their CDs after every 5 rentals with a new copy of the game? they want your cash in hand before you can even get a look at the game so when it turns out too be shit THEY have your cash and good luck trying to get it back.

now let me say, im a pretty honist man but if i was to go to all the trouble to find a fee version of a game i certianly wouldnt be bothered to go buy a legal copy even if i liked it. id say to myself 'well they are a big company they wont miss MY purchase, and really its too much of a bother to go to a store and get the game, and i need my $50 more than a big company like THEY do at the moment'. it would take a pretty extreamly moral person to turn down a free game once its on your hard drive in order to go give money to a company. and im willing to bet that if a person is extreamly moral to being with they arent trolling torrent sights and wont even know that they can pirate games to begin with, the thought to even look for a free 'trial' version wouldnt have occured to them in the first place.

 

[Wargamer]

I agree, with games at least, pirating to 'test' isn't an excuse - you can rent easily enough.

 

[Alleged_Alec]

If you want to test a game so bad why not just rent it for the weekend? I save hundreds each year by simply renting a game before I buy it. Hell, I've even beaten many games in the weekend I rent them and thus have less clutter in my room for it.

I'll never understand the piracy of video games, we've all got friends who will buy games we want to try. Call em up and ask to borrow it for awhile. There's so many legal ways other than piracy to test a game to see if it sucks, that piracy of one is to much of a hassle in the end.

Because PC games can't be rented or borrowed any more these days, with online registration, DRM and whatnot.

Read reviews, ask others what they thought of the game, don't use the excuse of "testing it" to justify the stealing of years of someone's hard work. Remember, Blockbuster hasn't gone out of business just yet.

It has been said before: those others don't know you. You might like it, even though others think it sucks or the other way around.

And really, is it stealing if you actually buy the game after finding out that you like it?

 

[Phase_9]

I don't really car right now, it doesn't affect me, but DRM is a stupid, knee-jerk move, and there are probably better ways to enforce this than by a DRM like that on Spore or GOW

 

[Zer_]

Piracy harms the gaming industry, and in turn harms anything related to the gaming industry, such as The Escapist. So why is it so accepted on these forums nowadays?

And yet, while Piracy causes such harm, I know for a fact that there are many people on the Escapist in support (and partake in) it, and heartily condone it. Whether this is open or not depends on the user, but the fact is that it shouldn?t be.

How exactly does piracy harm the game industry? Is it because pirates were never going to buy that game, or because they have a chance to test a game before deciding it's shit.

The latter is a worthless argument because you're saying "developers and publishers are allowed to rip you off with shit games"
The former is usually the group that does not want to pay for games.

If you want to test a game so bad why not just rent it for the weekend? I save hundreds each year by simply renting a game before I buy it. Hell, I've even beaten many games in the weekend I rent them and thus have less clutter in my room for it.

I'll never understand the piracy of video games, we've all got friends who will buy games we want to try. Call em up and ask to borrow it for awhile. There's so many legal ways other than piracy to test a game to see if it sucks, that piracy of one is to much of a hassle in the end.

Read reviews, ask others what they thought of the game, don't use the excuse of "testing it" to justify the stealing of years of someone's hard work. Remember, Blockbuster hasn't gone out of business just yet.

PC Game rental places suck donkey balls.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Piracy harms the gaming industry, and in turn harms anything related to the gaming industry, such as The Escapist. So why is it so accepted on these forums nowadays?

And yet, while Piracy causes such harm, I know for a fact that there are many people on the Escapist in support (and partake in) it, and heartily condone it. Whether this is open or not depends on the user, but the fact is that it shouldn?t be.

How exactly does piracy harm the game industry? Is it because pirates were never going to buy that game, or because they have a chance to test a game before deciding it's shit.

The latter is a worthless argument because you're saying "developers and publishers are allowed to rip you off with shit games"
The former is usually the group that does not want to pay for games.

If you want to test a game so bad why not just rent it for the weekend? I save hundreds each year by simply renting a game before I buy it. Hell, I've even beaten many games in the weekend I rent them and thus have less clutter in my room for it.

I'll never understand the piracy of video games, we've all got friends who will buy games we want to try. Call em up and ask to borrow it for awhile. There's so many legal ways other than piracy to test a game to see if it sucks, that piracy of one is to much of a hassle in the end.

Read reviews, ask others what they thought of the game, don't use the excuse of "testing it" to justify the stealing of years of someone's hard work. Remember, Blockbuster hasn't gone out of business just yet.

Actually, while I still wouldn't pirate, Blockbuster has closed all the stores in my area, and in any case, didn't rent PC games.

 

[KeyMaster45]

In retro spect I was a little short-sighted on my comment. Indeed not everyone has acess to a rental store, and I overlooked PC games for some reason (it was early cut me some slack). Being that PC games make up a small percentage of the games I play I guess I didn't really take them into account in my thought process.

While I still don't think there's much justification for pirating games, I understand where alot of you are comming from on the PC games. More than once I've picked up a PC game at best buy only to be very dissapointed by it with not much way of getting my money back.

And yes....best buy is my only option for a wide selection of PC games outside of the internet.

Sorry for stepping on some toes so early in the morning.

 

[Beowulf DW]

I've never had any personal experience with DRM or anything, so my opinion on this topic might not have all that much weight to it, but here it goes:

I'm of the opinion that piracy is indeed wrong, and I'm going to a comparison from my own life to explain why. My dad and I work (part time in my case) at a sheet metal fabrication shop, and every once in a while I'll hear from him that some one got in and stole some of our scrap metal. Scrap metal can be sold, as some of you may know, and every year, we send all of our scrap metal off to be recycled. The money that we make from recycling that scrap metal helps to relieve any finacial burdens the shop might have at the time. Also, my family owns the shop (it's mostly owned by a different branch of my family, but it's still my family). That means that whenever some jerk cuts through the shop's fence to steal scrap metal, he's stealing from my dad, me, my family, our co-workers and their families. A person who does that might think that they're stealing from some rich guy who doesn't need that money anyway, and that's partially true. My second cousin and second cousin-once-removed really are rich, and they probably don't need that money. But my dad's not rich, I'm not rich, and none of our co-workers are rich, either. We really DO need that money.

I think that's more less like piracy, and it's probably the reasoning that a lot of pirates use to justify their actions: "Those rich old farts don't need any more money." What about the people who work for them? They aren't rich old farts. They really do need that money.

Maybe the measures that some companies are taking are excessive, and arguably unreasonable in that they inconvience the people who are actually paying for the games, but that doesn't make piracy any more "right." Theft is theft, and in the case of media piracy, it's theft not only from the rich boss, it's theft from the programers, the artists, the writers, and even the janitors who clean up the company's building.

 

[Silver]

As long as an opportunity exists I won't condemn the people who take advantage.

So, just as an example, if a store didn't have security cameras or guards, you would be all right with people robbing it?

Depends, why were the robbers robbing it? Did they get away with it? Were they wearing masks? Were they hopped up on drugs at the time?

Does it matter?

I asked, so apparently yes.

Okay, fine, I'll play along. Why does it matter?

Is it better if they get away with it? (Is it okay to pirate if you get away with it?) Why? Why not?
Is it better if they're earing masks? (Is it okay to pirate if you hide who you are?) Why? Why not?
Is it better if they're one drugs at the time? (Is it okay to pirate if you're on drugs?) Why? Why not?

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

sorry to go a bit off topic here, but the OP mentions youtube involved in piracy. How is youtube being used for piracy?

 

[DeusFps]

DRM is pointless. Cracked versions of spore were on torrent sites mear hours after the games release. Not to mention that most of the top 10 pirated games last year had drm.