I agree that there are grey areas (and my view point on piracy HAS actually softened from some debate I've had with people so if someone here knows they've debated this with me, know this; I have actually considered your arguments. I used to believe that no piracy no matter what if that helps inform the changes I've made in my stance). Just to clear it all up, I'll just put my opinion on piracy here:
There are only a few select exceptions to my "no piracy" rule (I still haven't and will never pirate even with these exceptions but I don't frown upon those that do when these exceptions arise).
Tippy2k2's "Acceptable Piracy time"
1. The product in question is at least two generations back AND is not available on a digital download service (like XBLA, Steam, Nintendo Virtual Network, etc.) or gains a re-release. Two generations back right now would be PS1/N64/Dreamcast era.
IF the product becomes available on a digital download service/re-release, you should delete your pirated copy and purchase the now-available product if you get the hankering to play the game again. You do not have to purchase the game if you don't ever play it again.
2. If the product in question is not available in your region due to a Publisher's decision, you must give them a year to rectify this. If they announce that it will be coming to you within a year, it is no longer a justified piracy. If you pirate it and they do release it after the year expires, same rule applies here as it did for digital services/re-release.
3. Unknown DRM that breaks the game. I don't think I'v ever seen this before but just in case it has happened, I'll include it. If Assassins Creed did not tell you that you had to always be online, that would be a justified piracy. However, because AC told you about the DRM, that is an accepted risk that you must now carry. If the AC servers go down, tough luck. You knew the bed you were getting into when you bought the game.
I don't think I've skipped one of my "justified piracy" points so in my mind, these are the only times where you could justify to me why you've pirated (as if my opinion is going to stop a pirate...).
Tippy2k2's most common questions!
"But Tippy2k2, you blond sex God of a man, what if you disagree with the DRM?"
I don't care. If you disagree with the DRM, let the company know by writing them a letter. If it bothers you SO much that you can't play the game, don't play the game. Vote with your wallet kind of thing here...
"But Tippy2k2, the perfect example of 'men want to be him and the ladies want to be with him', I wouldn't have bought the game anyway so why does it matter?"
Gaming is not a right; it's entertainment. If you are unwilling to pay for content, you do not get content. If you can not afford content, wait for it to drop in price. If you're so broke that you can't afford the game when it drops to $10, you need to re-evaluate the fact that you own a $300 console...
"But Tippy2k2, the most brilliant man of our generation, what about the statistics that state that pirates buy the most stuff?"
This is one aspect where I may change my tune but no one has been able to answer this and until they do, I'm doubtful of that claim: Besides for studies where they ASK pirates what their spending habits are, what studies show this? Every study I have seen that claims this have always been surveys and no offense guys, but I'm not going to take a pirate at his word when it comes to pirating...
"But Tippy2k2, you perfect male specimen, the developer didn't release a demo and I want to make sure I like the game!"
If the Publisher for whatever reason has chosen not to supply a demo, that does not give a person permission to make their own. We have so much information at our disposal nowadays that unless you're just blindly buying everything, you should know if you'll like it or not. Reviews, forums, "Let's Plays", videos; if you can't figure out if you'll like a game based on all the info we have, you're not researching right. Along with that, when do you decide the demo is over? Is one hour a long enough time to decide? Well...maybe a bit longer cause you haven't seen everything in the game-play. Is two hours long enough? Eh, I'm still not 100% sold. Oh, four hours in and I'm halfway through? I guess it's not worth it to me to buy it cause I've decided that I've seen all the cool stuff and won't be seeing more.
"But Tippy2k2, the man who invades my dreams at night, I want to make sure the game works on my system before I put down my money!"
There are multiple websites that will check your system to see if it can handle the game. Now, I recognize that the minimum requirements are not always right and those websites can make mistakes but...this will sound cold-blooded... tough. That's a risk you run in the PC gaming world. If you don't like the risk, wait for the price to drop to something that is acceptable.
"But Tippy2k2, you swift man of action, the industry is broken and we need to show them that we won't take it!"
Yes, the system is broken. However, you pirating everything is only breaking it more. You're not showing the big bad Publishers that you're not going to take their business practices, you're demonstrating to them that they need to apply more pressure to the choke-hold they have on consumers. This goes back to my earlier point; if everyone who was unhappy with EA's business practices wrote them a letter and chose not to purchase the next few games, EA would either change the way they do business or they might just plain sink.
