Pirated or Preowned?

[pigeon_of_doom]

Just a few of my thoughts on piracy.

A lot of people disapprove of piracy in videogames on the grounds that it prevents money from getting to the developers. However on the preowned market the same thing happens but at a higher cost to the consumer. Profit from the sale goes to retail chains or small buisnesses rather than the creators of the product. Yet it seems to me that people who would buy preowned games regularly believe they can take the moral high ground against pirates. Does their larger expenditure and ownership of the original product make their means of attaining the game superior to pirating - despite in both cases the makers have been given nothing?

In the case of collectors it is understandable. Also the legality and convenience of purchasing second hand goods is an advantage compared to pirates dodging laws and copy protection.However the end result is the same.

I'm a student (so by definition quite poor) and although an original copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga would be nice, I resent paying an ebayer hundreds of pounds when Team Andromeda would not see a penny of the money (although I won't pretend I would have paid that amount if they had). I used to buy games second hand but cases like that or Suikoden II made it seem much more practical to download and emulate games like these. I wouldn't buy Jeff Buckley's Grace as any royalties can't go beyond the grave, so I just torrent his discography and enjoy his entire works for nothing. However the morality of my actions are only a side issue in my case, I cannot justify the outlay on spending much on brand new games, while with second hand games I personally see no advantage over piracy. I do not pirate any next gen consoles but that is more to do with not being able to afford any as of this moment. I do pirate games now that previously I would have bought second hand on the PS2 however.


Oh, and just to make any PC gamers feel included, I pirate PC games as well. I have both KOTRs and Jade Empire on my HD so if Bioware go bust in the near future feel free to hold me personally responsible.

So theres my most likely self-contradictory, ill formed, selfish view on piracy based on my own situation. I'm respectful of other people's methods to acquire games so please no-one yell "BA5TArDs LIK U KILLD CLOVER STUDIIOS" or anything like that. I just posted this as I've been curious on peoples thoughts to my reasoning on Pre Owned games and to see what the general view on the Escapist is on the subject.

 

[LadyZephyr]

I won't buy games more than 10 years old, myself. If I cannot find the game in either of the game stores within driving distance of me, I'll probably DL. That said, I won't DL games that are easily bought. That's not fair to the publisher.

Then again, most games I want to play are classics I can get through abandonware or services like GameTap.

That said, one of my friends torrented The Sims 2 a while ago and have a crisis of guilt. She almost deleted it until I gave her a few articles about what bastards EA execs are. So she kept it. I would never do anything to harm companies like Insomniac or Naughty Dog though.

What else.... oh, old SNES and PSX games I once owned but lost in my big house move? Totally up for grabs.

 

[Ionait]

Poof

 

[qbert4ever]

Is it morally better to get a pre-played game through a store instead of pirating it? No. But that doesn't make it any more legal. I have stated my views on this issue in other topics, so I won't go crazy here. All I will say is that I have no sympathy for anybody that gets caught and punished for pirating games. I will also state that I will only buy a used game from a store if there are no other options. I like playing games, especially fun ones, and if I have to pay an extra 10 to 15 dollars to help make sure the people that made it get the money that is rightfully theirs, then so be it.

 

[WlknCntrdiction]

I pirate music, films, pictures,(not porn) wallpapers, e-books but not games. The only reason I don't pirate games is because I don't want to void my warranty on my Elite by opening it up, and I'm shit with electronics, as for PC games to pirate them eats up my harddrive space like a bull terrier on your leg so that's out of the question too.

I was asking myself if when I've built my computer if I would pirate games because I would have the space, and the answer was no, PC games are dirt cheap and I would be able to afford two, maybe even three for the price of one console game, plus with a cracked version of the game its so much hassle with cracked servers, loopholes around validation checks to get updates, just a load of hassle that can so easily be avoided by buying the game. So I won't ever crack or pirate games but I will continue to pirate everything else to my dying days because everything else I pirate is fucking expensive to buy legally.

 

[LadyZephyr]

In the perfect world, we would stop pirating and stop buying used.

In this perfect world, publishers would continue making copies of their games for people like myself to purchase. I was dead set against pirating Sam and Max: Season One, so it still took me months to find a copy. If it'd been any other company (i.e. not a small indie deal that needs support), I'd have gotten the game through different means.

The fact that after two years of it's release, PC games become nigh-impossible to find pisses me the hell off.


ETA: oints down: Bravo to you, SimuLord.

 

[SimuLord]

I've been known to crack games, but only when the game's DRM is so Byzantine as to make legally playing my legally obtained game more trouble than it's worth. For quite awhile I'd pirate any game protected by StarForce as a way of sending a message to the developer that "I don't like any company that treats its customers like convicted felons." I'm entirely aware that I conceded the moral high ground by doing so. I just don't care.

 

[IvanRosski]

The way I look at this one is, when buying a pre-owned game, someone has most likely previously bought it at full price. To to take this to extremes, in downloading a pirated game, only one person needs to have previously bought it for everyone to obtain it. Every pre-owned game has logically been bought at a considerably higher price at some point previously.

On the other hand, I don't rag on pirates, I just don't like doing it myself.

 

[hamster mk 4]

You do raise an interesting point. I was a big fan of used PC games back before EB pulled them from the shelves. I still like playing games one generation old, usually from the discount bin. I figure if a game is worth playing it is worth waiting for. However I guess this does adversely affect the developer's bottom line. My solution to this is when I was young and stupid I happily plopped down a month's worth of allowance for a new release. Now I trust the young and stupid to do the same to keep the industry afloat.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

The difference between uploaded content and used content is this; one copy of a used title may trade hands a couple of times, but it's unlikely to do so more than a dozen times. Uploaded content, though, means that one person has bought it (maybe) and thousands can benefit. The former doesn't hurt developers any more than the used car market hurts auto manufacturers... the latter does hurt a lot more.

Besides, if you actually read the End User Licencing Agreement it's likely there's language in there granting the right to transfer the license to another party presuming that the first party has removed the content from his/her system. If so, selling your used copy of the game is entirely legal.

-- Steve

 

[LadyZephyr]

Besides, if you actually read the End User Licencing Agreement it's likely there's language in there granting the right to transfer the license to another party presuming that the first party has removed the content from his/her system. If so, selling your used copy of the game is entirely legal.

Yes, but with limited keys that most companies are using nowadays, it matters little if you buy the physical copy. If the game's changed hands more than twice, there's a good chance you won't be able to use it anyway.

Not refuting your argument. Just wanted to point that out.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

My solution to this is when I was young and stupid I happily plopped down a month's worth of allowance for a new release. Now I trust the young and stupid to do the same to keep the industry afloat.

Thats exactly my attitude now. Far as I'm concerned I've sunk enough money into this industry and will only buy new games when I have no choice (Mass effect on PC, didn't want to wait for crack) or it is worth my while to do so (which is why I have the collectors edition of Fallout 3 on pre-order).

 

[Cid Silverwing]

I pirate anything that isn't being sold anymore, quite frankly because it is only fair to acquire what isn't being made anymore for free (though I find myself actively pirating movies after a few weeks of their release or whatever).

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

the issue is not about developers getting the money, it is simply about copyright protection. current copyright protection laws do not extend into the realm of used or second hand content so therefore no copyright law is being broken.

you seem fixated on the concept of theft and financial loss, which isn't what the law deals with. it's just about you being an unauthorized copier of the content. there is no theft occurring since all you are technically doing is changing the ones and zeros on your hardrive to match the ones and zeros of another person's hard drive. you literally are not taking anything.

 

[x434343]

Bleh. Piracy? Who needs that? It's right on my list of shit I don't do. Or tolerate. Right under hacking. 2nd time this bleeding year my Steam account has been jacked. For fucks sake, if you read Zero Punctuation, bagle!!!! (which I doubt, you brainless shithead), VALVe is going to bring back my account for I have CD keys. You better give it up, you little fucker. Garry's Mod should be bought, not stolen. (My account had about 20 games, about 12-150 bucks USD of games. I'm getting them back. I take no bullshit.)

 

[DaruneAlbane]

sounds to me like someone has an "unsafe" system. scan for viri and other malware more often keep your system fully updated and avoid the porn pages

 

[hipholyte]

Oh, and just to make any PC gamers feel included, I pirate PC games as well. I have both KOTRs and Jade Empire on my HD so if Bioware go bust in the near future feel free to hold me personally responsible.

Is it really that hard to walk down to the shops and pay 10 pounds for these games?

 

[x434343]

sounds to me like someone has an "unsafe" system. scan for viri and other malware more often keep your system fully updated and avoid the porn pages

Haha, nogo. Not when I have a good antivirus. No viruses in the systems I use.