Poll: Pirating games. Discuss.

[b3nn3tt]

Now that's just totally ridiculous. Only the games, music and movie industry works like that. Imagine applying that to houses. That would involve making a guy pay a million for a pile of bricks, on the odd chance that it may be a nice house.

It'd be more like buying a house without looking around inside, but I do see your point. I think that the way to combat this is for developers to release demos for games. So many games don't have demos, but if they did then they may well be able to entice people to buy the game.

OT: This topic has been done to death. But regardless; I think piracy is wrong. I think the only time it is even remotely justifiable is if it is literally impossible for you to get the game any other way. Other than that, I am yet to hear a convincing argument as to why piracy is ok. The one that annoys me the most is 'Well, I wouldn't have bought it anyway, so it's not reall a lost sale'. This is stupid, because you obviously want to play the game. If you didn't want to buy it, then you didn't want to play it.

EDIT:

It's still wrong, but how many of you here can honestly say they have never pirated a game.

I can

 

[veloper]

Used to be a pirate. That's how most kids become gamers. I remember from highschool that everyone who played either casually or seriously was a pirate.
Now that I have money, I always buy legal.

 

[Treblaine]

EDITED FOR FEAR CLARITY

I don't ever pirate games but I HAVE "A FRIEND" WHO does pirate TV shows... but usually not movies or music and NEVER pirate games.

TV shows, there are just so many and they get such poor global coverage. They can take years to arrive in the UK, you never know which channel they are on, always on at an inconvenient time and they're giving it out for free anyway.

In Soviet Russia In America you can log into hulu and watch any TV show any time... the option just is not there in the UK. Piracy is the only way to get the service I hear yanks go on and on about how great it is. All these American TV shows they simply do not bother even trying to bring to UK audiences the same as US audiences.

I'd MY FRIEND (WHO I WILL NOW REFER TO IN THE FIRST PERSON) WOULD pay 50p an episode or watch a reasonable amount of ads per episode to watch futurama but I'll be damned if I'll wait 6 months for the licencees to get of their arse to release an episode this side of the pond. It' an interconnected world, I know when it is released in America and for how much.

Video games I don't really have an excuse, with global simultaneous release at very equivalent price. Plus I know just how vulnerable the developers are to piracy, they take the heat and the publishers walk. That and the value proposition of gaming and how I am simply passionate about the industry I can't bear to even do one-millionth of damage to it.

 

[b3nn3tt]

OT: This topic has been done to death. But regardless; I think piracy is wrong. I think the only time it is even remotely justifiable is if it is literally impossible for you to get the game any other way. Other than that, I am yet to hear a convincing argument as to why piracy is ok. The one that annoys me the most is 'Well, I wouldn't have bought it anyway, so it's not reall a lost sale'. This is stupid, because you obviously want to play the game. If you didn't want to buy it, then you didn't want to play it.

One problem there is in the prices. Those are so high people will think twice before buying.

I mean, I'd also like to have car, but can't afford one. If there was a way to copy somebody's car for free and drive it, I'd jump at the chance. And if there was such a thing, the car industry would be facing a similar 'innovate or die' scenario like the entertainment industry has on it's hands now.

Demos may solve this, as it would give people a better idea of what it is that they'd be spending their money on.

Alternatively, read some reviews of the game to get an idea of whether or not it's something you'd like. Or, just wait until the game gets cheaper. If you're unsure about a game then it would be stupid to buy it brand-new, just in case you don't like it. Wait a year or so, and the game will be half-price or lower in most cases. The problem isn't price, it's convenience; people don't like having to wait for things when the option exists to have it now for free.

 

[King of the Sandbox]

Oh, look... it's this thread again.

I only pirate games I can't physically get a copy of anymore. I like to, y'know, support my hobby's industry.

 

[cfb_rolley]

I'm not a fan of pirating, but if there's no other way to obtain a game (i.e: extremely old and no longer sold), i'll do it.

 

[vxicepickxv]

There are some rather interesting gray areas when it comes to piracy, abandonware, and emulation.

How much is covered under then last two? How about just abandonware?

Is it illegal to get abandonware just so you can get it to run because you don't have a 5"1/4 drive on my laptop?

 

[Void Droid]

I've pirated a game once, Halo 1, and my reason is fair.

I bought the game on PC from Game, and when I got home the disk was scratched, I brought it back to the store, they REFUSED to exchange it, claiming "All games are checked for scratches before giving to customer... also the receipt doesn't match up with the store" even though it was the same employee that sold me it only an hour before.

So since I had all ready paid and management wouldn't do anything about it I feel downloading a copy was justified, the company still got their cut in the end. After writing to head office and kicking up enough stink I eventually got offered another game of my choice for free a month later.

 

[Treblaine]

One problem there is in the prices. Those are so high people will think twice before buying.

Steam Sales changed that for me.

It's actually gotten really bad for me, I've bought so many games that... I HAVEN'T PLAYED YET IN OVER A YEAR!

Seriously, I can't get through them all there are so many, the licence is uninstalled on my games list. You don't even want to know how much I spent, yes, it averaged only £4 ($6) per game, but 270 games!

The trap is you don't want to move onto the next game until you have completed the last.

But as to piracy of TV shows... £1.89 per episode of Futurama on itunes! That's $3 for an episode that came out 9 years ago! I know that Americans can get that shit free and legal streaming with ads from company websites! That is extortion I will not tolerate yet they have a monopoly in this market, no where else to option the show digitally and legally.

Futurama is great, but I am not waiting 9 years to pay $3 per episode for it.

 

[frehls]

hue

 

[Nurb]

Jesus was a pirate.

He multiplied the fish and bread he got in order to feed 5000 and the people that sell those items lost a lot in potential income. So by current defenitions Jesus commited theft by making many more fish and bread loaves from originally obtained food products instead of buying more.

Imagine... those poor business owners and their lost "potential sales" because of fish and bread copying

And don't forget! Cassette recording was killing the music industry too!

.

 

[veloper]

Jesus was a pirate.

He multiplied the fish and bread he got in order to feed 5000 and the people that sell those items lost a lot in potential income. So by current defenitions Jesus commited theft by making many more fish and bread loaves from originally obtained food products instead of buying more.

Imagine... those poor business owners and their lost "potential sales" because of fish and bread copying

Haha! Classic!

 

[F4LL3N]

I just hate when people more or less compare it to murder. Piracy barely effects the game industry. Some games have world records for making money and sales.

Publishers are stealing far more off developers than piracy is. Yet we get punished with crappy products because most publishers/developers just don't care about anything but money.

 

[HerrBobo]

I may have done it once.

My sister bought me starcraft 2 for Christmas. The key code did not work and Blizzard were no help, telling me I had to provide a receipt, which I did not have.

Anyhoo, after several emails back and forth, they said there was nothing more they could do for me.

So, I looked into other ways for a fix. Which I got.

In general though, I think it is stealing, unless something like what happened to me comes up.

 

[StormShaun]

I think that pirating games that you can just get at any game shop is really pointless but I think it is okay to pirate games that you cant get anywhere (Eg. Japan's Visual novel), since we cannot get any one of them here in Australia.

 

[GiantRaven]

Even if you do illegally download games, I don't see how you can think it isn't a dick thing to do.

 

[yuval152]

not now,but that's what got me and my friends into gaming

and if i do pirate it'll be only old games that almost Extinted or GFWL games.

 

[Gigano]

It's wrong if there's an actual market position to hurt for the product, i.e. if it's (still) commercially available in a form usable to you.

If some South African dude downloads an independent French film that'll never see release outside of Europe - nor ever be officially translated into Africaan - then there's very little reason that the law should extend to such a case, as its true purpose is not to prevent distribution, but to secure that creators and publishers get a reasonable rate of return from the markets they have and will release on.

That it usually does extend to such cases bear witness to the very heavy lobbyism that have shaped current copyright law (looking at you, America), and its lack of proportions, clearly defined boundaries, and proper balance between consumer and industry rights; Which is ironically one of the primary factors undermining respect - and hence efficiency - for it in the general population.

Breaking the law is of course never a good and proper thing to do, and should be avoided. But nor is accepting its current - simultaneously too oppressive and too inefficient - state as immutable and unchangeable a good and proper thing either. A better balance must eventually be struck, if the industry is to have any chance to gather the societal and normative respect around the law, without which it simply cannot function to any significant degree in a free society.