Poll: Piracy for games that have no demo-Okay or not okay?

[xXGeckoXx]

I own a relatively low range gaming PC that gets the minimum requirements on most modern games. I usually run the demo's to check whether or not they will run well or whether the graphics are good enough on the lower settings for me to enjoy the game.

But recently I looked at the witcher. I perfectly meet the minimum requirements but don't want to buy the game before I know if I can run it.

I am wondering what the community thinks about this.

Note: I am referring to using piracy to test a game one intends to buy. If the game does not work well then you delete the pirated copy. If it does you buy the game.

 

[ThePirateMan]

It is certainly tolerable, but I doubt most people would be that honest about it.

 

[Internet Kraken]

We live in an age of information. You can get tons of info about any product, how good it is, what's it like, the types of people it will appeal to, etc. I refuse to buy the excuse that you need to demo a game before you will buy it. Demos are nice, but even when they are not avaliable that is no excuse for piracy. There's more than enough information avaliable for you to figure out if you will like a game without actually having to play it. As for seeing if you can run a game, well system requirements are always provided so I don't buy that as an excuse either.

I'm not going to say someone who pirates games to demo them is evil, but I'm going to have a hard time beliving that they pay for all the games they play.

 

[Iwata]

I have a friend who does that. He sometimes even pirates games that he's already ordered online, just so he can play them while they're in transit to his house.

 

[Uber Waddles]

We live in an age of information. You can get tons of info about any product, how good it is, what's it like, the types of people it will appeal to, etc. I refuse to buy the excuse that you need to demo a game before you will buy it. Demos are nice, but even when they are not avaliable that is no excuse for piracy. There's more than enough information avaliable for you to figure out if you will like a game without actually having to play it. As for seeing if you can run a game, well system requirements are always provided so I don't buy that as an excuse either.

I'm not going to say someone who pirates games to demo them is evil, but I'm going to have a hard time beliving that they pay for all the games they play.

This.

YouTube, Google, game review sites...

Or, send an email to the developer and say "I didnt buy your product because you didnt release a demo". If a lot of people do that, you bet your ass developers will release a demo.

Thats a slippery slope. A lot of people will justify piracy for demos, but what defines a demo? If you dont like the game, will you keep it but not buy it? Etc.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

As for seeing if you can run a game, well system requirements are always provided so I don't buy that as an excuse either.

To be fair that doesnt mean it will run to an acceptable level... no amount of system specs for Fallout New Vegas is gonna convince people that it runs well on any machine xD

anyway if you can trust yourself to actually pay for the game after you've tried it, then fair enough and there's no need to feel guilty about it, although its a slippery slope and sooner or later you might just 'forget' to go pay for it.

 

[Zac Smith]

I personally don't agree with piracy, so I picked no. I don't usually buy brand new PC games, so don't have to worry about settings on my moderate computer, anything I'm unsure about, I take a quick look at http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri/ to see if I'm good

 

[Seraj]

As for seeing if you can run a game, well system requirements are always provided so I don't buy that as an excuse either.

I perfectly meet the minimum requirements but don't want to buy the game before I know if I can run it.

I've had this problem before, minimum system requirements are usually utter bullshit. For example, the first Assassin Creed, I had the minimum requirements yet the game still ran very slowly and usually was forced to close as it was using far too much memory. (just an example, I can spout many other games I've had problems with on a different computer.)

OP: you don't need to ask the community about this, because they have no say in it. Lets be honest, even if everyone in the community agreed or disagreed its still your choice.

If you feel like its morally correct then go ahead, if you'll feel guilty about it, try renting the game instead?

 

[Azaraxzealot]

We live in an age of information. You can get tons of info about any product, how good it is, what's it like, the types of people it will appeal to, etc. I refuse to buy the excuse that you need to demo a game before you will buy it. Demos are nice, but even when they are not avaliable that is no excuse for piracy. There's more than enough information avaliable for you to figure out if you will like a game without actually having to play it. As for seeing if you can run a game, well system requirements are always provided so I don't buy that as an excuse either.

I'm not going to say someone who pirates games to demo them is evil, but I'm going to have a hard time beliving that they pay for all the games they play.

sometimes system requirements are rather..... vague to say the least.

they say something like "require X ram, X hard drive space, X processor" but the common man or woman probably doesn't know all this right off the bat, it's easier to just run the game and see if it works, plus, you can never know for sure if it's going to work even if you're pretty sure you have all the system requirements because you could need to do some work on your computer and you didn't know it.

perhaps (before taking the moral high ground) you take into consideration that some people do it when there is no demo because it's far easier to see if it works on your computer than reading a wall of text and making guesstimations, because with PC games there is NO refund or return policy, it's much riskier to actually pay for something if you don't know it's going to work (like what happened when i first tried to play Elder Scrolls 4...)

 

[Saluki_princess]

I'm pretty intolerant when it comes to pirating games, but if you're really that honest... well, I don't see the harm. It's a legit reason for doing it. Kudos to you.

 

[ShadowKatt]

Are you really doing this thread? First off, since admittance or even advocation of piracy is against the rules on the escapist, then no one here in their right mind is going to give you an honest answer if they do pirate or believe in piracy for anything.

And secondly, it's been done a hundred times and there's even a really good Extra Credits episode on piracy that covers this, and it's probably a lot more enjoyable than reading comments.

 

[xXGeckoXx]

Are you really doing this thread? First off, since admittance or even advocation of piracy is against the rules on the escapist, then no one here in their right mind is going to give you an honest answer if they do pirate or believe in piracy for anything.

And secondly, it's been done a hundred times and there's even a really good Extra Credits episode on piracy that covers this, and it's probably a lot more enjoyable than reading comments.

What are you talking about. I am not admitting to piracy I am just giving a hypothetical on a topic that affects me. the people on this thread are just responding to a hypothetical. Belief in piracy is fine as long as you do not actively advocate it. I have not linked any sites that advocate or allow piracy. I already served my suspension time over an Innocent mistake. I just want an opinion on the topic.

snip

sometimes system requirements are rather..... vague to say the least.

they say something like "require X ram, X hard drive space, X processor" but the common man or woman probably doesn't know all this right off the bat, it's easier to just run the game and see if it works, plus, you can never know for sure if it's going to work even if you're pretty sure you have all the system requirements because you could need to do some work on your computer and you didn't know it.

perhaps (before taking the moral high ground) you take into consideration that some people do it when there is no demo because it's far easier to see if it works on your computer than reading a wall of text and making guesstimations, because with PC games there is NO refund or return policy, it's much riskier to actually pay for something if you don't know it's going to work (like what happened when i first tried to play Elder Scrolls 4...)

I had system requirements far below those of Mass effect 1 yet I ran it perfectly but with black ops I had system specs on the minimum it just did not run full stop. So I think that I am justified in doubting the validity of this stuff.

snip

Snip

I've had this problem before, minimum system requirements are usually utter bullshit. For example, the first Assassin Creed, I had the minimum requirements yet the game still ran very slowly and usually was forced to close as it was using far too much memory. (just an example, I can spout many other games I've had problems with on a different computer.)

OP: you don't need to ask the community about this, because they have no say in it. Lets be honest, even if everyone in the community agreed or disagreed its still your choice.

If you feel like its morally correct then go ahead, if you'll feel guilty about it, try renting the game instead?

I posted this as an interesting Discussion, my decision is made and you will not know what it is because I am not going to tell you. Ambiguity baby. I just like to see where the thinking community sits on things.

snip

This.

YouTube, Google, game review sites...

Or, send an email to the developer and say "I didnt buy your product because you didnt release a demo". If a lot of people do that, you bet your ass developers will release a demo.

Thats a slippery slope. A lot of people will justify piracy for demos, but what defines a demo? If you dont like the game, will you keep it but not buy it? Etc.

I covered this in the OP. If it does not work (or I just don't like the game) I delete it because a) it didn't fucking work (fucking slow computer) b) I didn't like it anyways.

Some dev's dont put demo's for a reason. The game just does not support the demo (has some kinda shocking start).