Piracy: How would you stop it?

[Daverson]

Oh. That's easy.

It's mostly torrents, right? It'd take an infinitesimal fraction of the NSA's computing power to full up torrent linking sites with horrendous viruses disguised as the latest releases. It won't hurt people who legitimately use torrents like a blanket ban, it saves the rigmarole of actually attempt enough legal action to scare off pirates, and best of all, it's karmatically pleasing! =D

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

Piracy isn't always bad. It gives things more exposure and keep old things from fading into extreme obscurity, but at the same time people shouldn't take what they haven't paid for. Probably what I'd do to lessen piracy is pobably reduce prices of things o give you an incentive o buy, like every three games you buy you get one free. Something along those lines.

 

[Grottnikk]

DONGLES!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI

 

[aivalera]

Don't put the game on a PC...nah, just kidding, while that will work it's sort of ass-ish.

The only thing that you can really do is respect the comsumers and hope they respect you back.

 

[Quadocky]

By fostering respect for artists and the native complexity of business models.

At the same time, fostering knowledge for both in order to understand and hold them accountable.

But probably the main thing would be to modify copyright law in a way that doesn't overtly benefit big establishments.

Sometimes it comes down to a personal moral perspective. I may not agree fully with copyright law as it is, however I respect the work of the artist and strive to give payment where payment is due.

However, even at that, I believe return policies should be more open in a digital age. A game I bought recently I absolutely detest, however I am pretty much stuck with it since it is a digital download.

Main problem overall is that Piracy is addictive. It has created a weird sort of people who download EVERYTHING not because they want it, but because they HAVE TO have it.

 

[deviltry]

Treat piratebay.se as a competitor.

So lets see what they offer:
1) Good prices. Hmm yeah, maybe my 10 hour single player game isn't worth 50 pounds.
2) No DRM. Hmm yeah, DRM doesn't help prevent piracy and only pisses of costumers. <- main point. I can wait for prices to drop. But when I buy a product and cannot use because of DRM, time to google "how to jailbreak xbox 360".
3) No crapware. Hmm yeah, pirated games don't require you to install steam.

And after that - gaming industry would flourish. I'm pretty damn sure. mp3 are easier to pirate than ever, but when stores started selling drm free mp3s (and with great variety of artists) - BOOM MUSIC INDUSTRY IS GROWING. WHO WOULDA THOUGHT? Certainly not those old fart CEOs who are seriously outdated and are in dire need of replacement with younger people who understand what is a compjooter and interneet.

 

[Shadowsetzer]

You can't stop it.

This. Piracy is essentially theft, and there will always be people who are ready to take what isn't theirs.

 

[Giftfromme]

I laugh at some of the people in this thread who think that lowering prices or some other arcane shit will really stop people from pirating. Here's a solution: just don't spend so much on making games!!! yeah! that works! Or how companies shouldn't charge so much for their games. Hilarious shit.

 

[Ryotknife]

I dont think you can stop piracy like oh so many posters have mentioned.

At best, you can treat the customer right with a superior product so that people by and large dont want to pirate the game.

Hell, i havent pirated music in almost a decade!

 

[Olas]

[HEADING=2]I have an idea![/HEADING]​

If you can't block the flow, poison it.

Create lots and lots of fake downloads with virus's so that nobody can tell what's safe anymore and pirating becomes too dangerous for most people to dare attempt.
Yes, I'm suggesting media corporations create virus infested games/movies/music to sabotage p2p sites, you can't fight piracy if you aren't willing to play dirty.

Maybe it wouldn't work, maybe it would, from what I can tell it's never been tried.

 

[kenu12345]

Ok Ok hear me out hear me out.

I say we take the internet... and push it somewhere else

 

[AZT00Z]

I wonder if we stop worrying about it will it really get any worse than it is right now?

 

[Antari]

[HEADING=2]I have an idea![/HEADING]​

If you can't block the flow, poison it.

Create lots and lots of fake downloads with virus's so that nobody can tell what's safe anymore and pirating becomes too dangerous for most people to dare attempt.
Yes, I'm suggesting media corporations create virus infested games/movies/music to sabotage p2p sites, you can't fight piracy if you aren't willing to play dirty.

Maybe it wouldn't work, maybe it would, from what I can tell it's never been tried.

That is what they are doing now. It has been about as effective as throwing a rock at the moon. You might knock a few people out next door, but you haven't accomplished your goal.

 

[Godhead]

Well first I would stop punishing people who pay for my game with really shitty DRM, and have the most extreme DRM be Steam, or otherwise be DRM free. I would then stop looking at pirates as lost sales and try to figure out how to make them stop pirating but look at them as potential customers and attempt to find a way to get them to buy the game instead of pirating; whether it be a lower list price, more sales, or better sales.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

I might try selling games at a lower, more affordable price point. Of course, it's obvious how that could backfire.

Beyond that, goodwill. Try to show that your games deserve to be bought, not pirated. Maybe include all future DLC free for people who pre-order instead just that one, mediocre post-launch DLC. If they did that, I'd probably pre-order a lot more games instead of buying them used and getting the DLC (if it looks un-shit) when it's on sale.

Ok Ok hear me out hear me out.

I say we take the internet... and push it somewhere else

That'd be a lot of tubes to rearrange... IMPRACTICAL!