Justifying Pirating

[Booze Zombie]

I have never been for pirating of games but I have experienced a situation where I think I would be justified in pirating a game off the internet.

I recently bough Empire Total War (disc, not through Steam) on the fourth of March and ever since then I have not been able to install the game because there is something wrong with Steam (I don't want to get into details because that would make this post way too long).

So I have owned this game for almost nine days and I haven't played a single second of my game. Creative Assembly has been unresponsive to the issue and lets just say fuck Steam, Steam can go to hell. So now I am considering, for the first time in my life, pirating the game. I feel I am not really stealing since I bought the game and this way I can play it whenever I want without the permission of CA or Steam. That is what I am most frustrated about. CA is using Steam as some sort of DRM but Steam is soo intrusive that I feel like I don't even own the game. It is like I bought a glorified rental.

Anyway I'd like to get some thoughts and opinions on this. Also I would like to say fuck Steam or have I said that already?

I do believe that if you already own the game, you've nothing to fear for downloading a copy of it from somewhere else. Just virus check it...

 

[Syndef]

Yeah, go ahead and pirate it. It's kind of justified in this case.
Although for future reference, I would have to gently remind you that it is generally unwise to openly declare that you will engage in piracy. These kinds of activities are, er...sensitive to the Light, shall we say? Keep it on the down-low and in the Dark. Darkness is for dark business. Don't tell.

 

[Dmatix]

You paid for it, you should get to play it. end o story.

 

[Lord Krunk]

I've been a pirate all my life because I have a system on testing games first before buying them, and sincerely most games which I pirate don't deserve to be bought. And yes, these include good mainstream games. I just have my standards too high.

That's the thing that annoys me the most; the sort of person who pirates things to test them out, and then says that 'they're crap' as an excuse to keep it. Honestly, what's wrong with people? Always wanting something for nothing, but willing to grab all the money they can get a hold of. It's not justified, law or no law.

On-topic, I would have to say that I approve in this situation. If you bought a game, you should be able to play it. After all, you own the game.

 

[Ronwue]

If you already own the game, I don't think it is called pirating... But I can be wrong.

 

[IsoNeko]

Theres a level of piracy I can stand.

Theres the, Oh that game looks cool, I'll go pirate it. That I cannot stand.

Then theres the "Oh wow, Audiosurf. Seems cool..." Then completely forget about it for ages until your curiosty peaks, you torrent it, play it for a day or so then don't play it anymore.

Then theres the "Well, I already bought this ages ago, and I don't wanna buy it again..." that seems reasonable.

 

[Lord Krunk]

I've been a pirate all my life because I have a system on testing games first before buying them, and sincerely most games which I pirate don't deserve to be bought. And yes, these include good mainstream games. I just have my standards too high.

That's the thing that annoys me the most; the sort of person who pirates things to test them out, and then says that 'they're crap' as an excuse to keep it.

How can you assume it's an "excuse"?

Man, you know me better than I do! That's amazing!

It's not justified, law or no law.

In fact it is, depending on your morals.

Just because you don't agree with it, it doesn't make it wrong.

On-topic, I would have to say that I approve in this situation.

Wait what? You just said "law or no law". This is a little contradictory then.

The law still says it's wrong in most countries.

You're not being screwed over, he is. That's the difference. If he gets sold a broken product, he should get a working one. That's law.

 

[oliveira8]

I been using Steam since release and I have come to enjoy it for what it is. Even if it resets my achievements every once and awhile.

But for real after you use Steam for so long you start to ignore the whole DRM side which is less intrusive than EA one.

Also what exactly is the problem? I have seen alot of problems related to Empire with people crying Steam's fault when in fact the problem is their PC. You can install Empire through steam it will take more hours tho. Just insert the cd-key on "Activate a Steam product" and when you finished with that the downloader for Empire will start.

 

[Lord Krunk]

I've been a pirate all my life because I have a system on testing games first before buying them, and sincerely most games which I pirate don't deserve to be bought. And yes, these include good mainstream games. I just have my standards too high.

That's the thing that annoys me the most; the sort of person who pirates things to test them out, and then says that 'they're crap' as an excuse to keep it.

How can you assume it's an "excuse"?

Man, you know me better than I do! That's amazing!

It's not justified, law or no law.

In fact it is, depending on your morals.

Just because you don't agree with it, it doesn't make it wrong.

On-topic, I would have to say that I approve in this situation.

Wait what? You just said "law or no law". This is a little contradictory then.

The law still says it's wrong in most countries.

You're not being screwed over, he is. That's the difference. If he gets sold a broken product, he should get a working one. That's law.

With PC games?
I'm afraid it's not.

In the most known shops if you take back the PC game because it's "borked" then they won't accept it. You know why? Because of the Cd-key.

Yes, that little retarded system which basically serves for nothing is what's keeping people from returning games.

Go figure. I've never had any trouble in Oz.

Rule is, if someone sells you a faulty product, the supplier has to replace/refund it, regardless of warranty or that little note that says 'no refunds'. I don't know what it's like in America, though.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

OP: You have a right to play a game you paid for. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong. It may not be a legal right, but it's a moral right. And legality doesn't not equate with morality. Only the most staunch anti-piracy people could claim that you have no right to play that which you paid for.

As for the inevitable derailing... I'm out. I'm not going to participate in another of these. I'll just state my views and leave.

1. I believe people have a right to own what they buy, with NO restrictions on how they choose to use them for their personal enjoyment (breaking the file and sharing it online doesn't fall under this.)

2. I believe in trying something before I buy as long as it's a game that can't be bought new. Emulating old GBA games is not wrong, because you can't buy them new anymore, so the developers aren't going to see any of that money anyway. Besides, I usually just play the game long enough to get a feel for it. If I like the game, I'll usually buy it. I played Dragon Ball: Advance Adventure before it saw a US release. If I hadn't done that, you have my WORD I would never have paid money for the game. But because I pirated, I decided I liked the game and wanted to give the developers some money for it. I bought it brand new, which is pretty rare for me.

I never play the pirated copy anymore.

3. Piracy isn't stealing. Stealing is depriving one person of something in order to give it to yourself. Pirates don't take games away, they just copy them. It's copyright infringement or possibly illegal copying. Ever copy a page out of a library book or textbook? Ever copy most or all of a text? Congrats-you're the literary equivalent of a pirate. Ever copy a DVD, VHS or CD? Same deal. It's not theft, it's illegal copying.

I just bring that last point up because so many anti-piracy people like to use the "piracy= stealing" argument. And with that, I'm done.

 

[oliveira8]

I never play the pirated copy anymore.

3. Piracy isn't stealing. Stealing is depriving one person of something in order to give it to yourself. Pirates don't take games away, they just copy them. It's copyright infringement or possibly illegal copying. Ever copy a page out of a library book or textbook? Ever copy most or all of a text? Congrats-you're the literary equivalent of a pirate. Ever copy a DVD, VHS or CD? Same deal. It's not theft, it's illegal copying.


I just bring that last point up because so many anti-piracy people like to use the "piracy= stealing" argument. And with that, I'm done.

Arent you depriving the money for the maker of the game that he made and keep it to yourself?
Digital Piracy is not about stealing a game/movie/music from someone. Digital piracy is about the makers of the movies/music/games not getting their money and now cause of it theres DRM.

 

[stiver]

Get a simple crack to bypass steam. Steam is bullshit. It also isn't pirating if you use your copy and use a crack with it to play it.

If you use Bit torrent tto try and get a copy under the false pretense you aren't pirating, you do aid in the problem as you have to upload to download, so you are still sharing parts of the illegal program with other people.

 

[mGoLos]

Them dutch are getting outta line and the ost indies trading co is pissing off the spaniards.

YAAARRHHH!

 

[veloper]

Ever copy a page out of a library book or textbook? Ever copy most or all of a text? Congrats-you're the literary equivalent of a pirate.

This is 100% legal for the educational purposes, aslong as you keep the copies to yourself. It is not piracy.

I agree about copying old games that are nolonger being sold or making the intellectual owner money in any other way. Not technically legal, but there is no harm done.

As for trying a (non-shareware) game to see if you like it, before you delete it again, that is the same as regular piracy.
Afteral, you decide how long you "try" the game, without the maker's consent. A day, a month, a year.

 

[KeithA45]

So I have owned this game for almost nine days and I haven't played a single second of my game. Creative Assembly has been unresponsive to the issue and lets just say fuck Steam, Steam can go to hell. So now I am considering, for the first time in my life, pirating the game.

The thing that bothers me is that, legally, you could get in trouble for that.
In a situation like this, the rules themselves restrict the justice that they are meant to enforce.

Maybe, but in the case of a possible lawsuit he might be able to issue a counter-lawsuit saying that the game he bought didn't work and tech support refused to help him. He might even win.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Ever copy a page out of a library book or textbook? Ever copy most or all of a text? Congrats-you're the literary equivalent of a pirate.

This is 100% legal for the educational purposes, as long as you keep the copies to yourself. It is not piracy.

I agree about copying old games that are no longer being sold or making the intellectual owner money in any other way. Not technically legal, but there is no harm done.

As for trying a (non-shareware) game to see if you like it, before you delete it again, that is the same as regular piracy.
Afteral, you decide how long you "try" the game, without the maker's consent. A day, a month, a year.

It's only legal because somebody decided it should be. Copying 100% of a text to keep and use for as long as you want is no different than copying 100% of a game to ditto and ditto for as ditto as you want. The difference is that people who read books aren't willing to put up with unfair License Agreements and Terms of Use. Anything can become legal or illegal as long as enough morons push the legislature through.

In guitar class, we were given photocopied pages of guitar tab and famous songs to play. Didn't this deprive these songwriters of money?

So what's your argument? That copying games is justified if the game is educational? Or if it is pirated for educational purposes? Or were you just saying that following the letter of the law determines whether or not you're in the moral "right"? But then there was your statement about some of the stuff I was advocating being okay, despite technically being illegal... I guess it's just a difference of opinion.

Oh, and I'd happily stop ALL piracy if the Government would just create a Video Game Library system, so long as it had a wide selection. They do this for books and DVDs, why not do the same with games and kick piracy in the groin while doing it? I mean, would you really play games for free illegally if you could play them for free legally? I wouldn't. Sure, some Libraries might have a game or two, but I'm talking about a Library with a HUGE games archive-at least as big as the DVD archives in our online Library systems here. If the game wasn't at your branch, you could go online and put a hold on it and have it sent there. They're willing to loan out new hit movies this way, why can't they do the same thing with games?

...Drat, and I wasn't planning to post again.

 

[DigitalSushi]

The thing that bothers me is that, legally, you could get in trouble for that.
In a situation like this, the rules themselves restrict the justice that they are meant to enforce.

legally your allowed a back up of your games.

If he says its a back up its fine, providing he has the disk, if he sells the game, the download has to go to.

 

[Liverandbacon]

Honestly, I don't think what you'd be doing is actually piracy. I'm very anti-piracy, but what you'd be doing is getting a backup of your game, and making it playable. Legally, it's still a crime (as far as I know), but the law isn't always what's right.

What really 'gets my goat' is the few times when I've been unable to start the game because Steam is having problems with their servers. On a few occasions when I've tried to play my game, I've got the message saying "All our servers are busy. Please try again in a few minutes".

That's really strange. I've never got that message with any of my steam games (both valve and non-valve), in the 3 years I've been using it. I've got similar messages when trying to download updates, but that's fair, any update server can be overloaded. Steam has not once blocked me from playing my games.