Poll: Would this be ethical...

[FolkLikePanda]

Yeah, you've paid for their product.

 

[Fayathon]

I've never seen the problem with using a pirated copy of a game when you have already purchased the game in the same format.

I know that there's an argument for "You bought it knowing that it's online only, suck it up and deal with it" but if you're wanting to play it one player and have no interest in taking that character online then you should be allowed to play offline.

 

[spartandude]

If you knew anything about the game, then you knew it was 'always online'.

If this bothered you, then you shouldn't have bought the game.

I really don't get this argument. It's like saying "If you knew anything about ME3, then you knew it had 'tacked on multiplayer'. If you don't like that then you shouldn't of bought the game. I think buying the game should give you the right to play it, so doing something like this is fine. Also, what if the person wasn't bothered by the DRM, but his internet becomes shitty one day and now he can't play the game. He has every right to be pissed off/play a pirated version.

What?

You don't need to play ME3's multiplayer to play the single player game, so I don't understand the comparison.

You agree to the terms of service when you boot up the game for the first time. Don't like those terms, don't play the game.

I don't agree with their methods, but if people are going to throw money at them, despite draconian DRM, then they're gonna keep doing it.

What if you've payed for the game. You've got an amazing internet connection, one that never goes down. You play say act 1, then BAM something happens that turns off your internet. No game for you, you've wasted your 50 pounds. They didn't know that was going to happen, but due to the crappy DRM they can't play singleplayer without internet. Yeah sure, you can counter this by saying "Well, you buy a car even though the next day you might crash/it get eaten by truckosaurus". But Diablo 3 is very different because it's a game, and it's the companies fault that you can't play SP when your internet's down.

Well that's an issue with your ISP, not the game devs.

Much like saying it's Ford's fault that I can't run my car because my local petrol station has ran out of fuel.

You shouldn't have bought a car if you knew you would possibly run out of fuel and be pissed about it. And you have no right to be pissed, because you knew it could happen.

i love how complacent people are these days

 

[tologna]

If you knew anything about the game, then you knew it was 'always online'.

If this bothered you, then you shouldn't have bought the game.

I really don't get this argument. It's like saying "If you knew anything about ME3, then you knew it had 'tacked on multiplayer'. If you don't like that then you shouldn't of bought the game. I think buying the game should give you the right to play it, so doing something like this is fine. Also, what if the person wasn't bothered by the DRM, but his internet becomes shitty one day and now he can't play the game. He has every right to be pissed off/play a pirated version.

What?

You don't need to play ME3's multiplayer to play the single player game, so I don't understand the comparison.

You agree to the terms of service when you boot up the game for the first time. Don't like those terms, don't play the game.

I don't agree with their methods, but if people are going to throw money at them, despite draconian DRM, then they're gonna keep doing it.

What if you've payed for the game. You've got an amazing internet connection, one that never goes down. You play say act 1, then BAM something happens that turns off your internet. No game for you, you've wasted your 50 pounds. They didn't know that was going to happen, but due to the crappy DRM they can't play singleplayer without internet. Yeah sure, you can counter this by saying "Well, you buy a car even though the next day you might crash/it get eaten by truckosaurus". But Diablo 3 is very different because it's a game, and it's the companies fault that you can't play SP when your internet's down.

Well that's an issue with your ISP, not the game devs.

Much like saying it's Ford's fault that I can't run my car because my local petrol station has ran out of fuel.

That Metaphore is so bad... Let's keep from using real-world metaphores on this one. No one is harmed by you downloading somthing that you already own and have paid for, and no one is lacking compensation. So I don't see why it wouldn't be ethical.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

If you knew anything about the game, then you knew it was 'always online'.

If this bothered you, then you shouldn't have bought the game.

I've got to agree with Daystar. Blizzard told us about the always online thing well in advance of the game's release and made sure we all were well aware that it was going to be there. So I suggest that you just sit back and wait for your Internet connection to come back, maybe play something else in the meantime. Although if it's really so bad that you need a "fix" then I'd suggest you forget about your friend's pirated version and consult an addictions counselor.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

If you knew anything about the game, then you knew it was 'always online'.

If this bothered you, then you shouldn't have bought the game.

I really don't get this argument. It's like saying "If you knew anything about ME3, then you knew it had 'tacked on multiplayer'. If you don't like that then you shouldn't of bought the game. I think buying the game should give you the right to play it, so doing something like this is fine. Also, what if the person wasn't bothered by the DRM, but his internet becomes shitty one day and now he can't play the game. He has every right to be pissed off/play a pirated version.

What?

You don't need to play ME3's multiplayer to play the single player game, so I don't understand the comparison.

You agree to the terms of service when you boot up the game for the first time. Don't like those terms, don't play the game.

I don't agree with their methods, but if people are going to throw money at them, despite draconian DRM, then they're gonna keep doing it.

What if you've payed for the game. You've got an amazing internet connection, one that never goes down. You play say act 1, then BAM something happens that turns off your internet. No game for you, you've wasted your 50 pounds. They didn't know that was going to happen, but due to the crappy DRM they can't play singleplayer without internet. Yeah sure, you can counter this by saying "Well, you buy a car even though the next day you might crash/it get eaten by truckosaurus". But Diablo 3 is very different because it's a game, and it's the companies fault that you can't play SP when your internet's down.

Well that's an issue with your ISP, not the game devs.

Much like saying it's Ford's fault that I can't run my car because my local petrol station has ran out of fuel.

You shouldn't have bought a car if you knew you would possibly run out of fuel and be pissed about it. And you have no right to be pissed, because you knew it could happen.

Kind of stretching it a bit there

What I mean, is if that something bothers you so much that you're willing to break the law for a video game, then something needs to change.

Throwing money at Blizzard doesn't tell them that their DRM sucks.

 

[Danzavare]

They have your money, go nuts.

I think that pretty much sums it up. They have the money from the purchase, you couldn't play Diablo during the internet downtime anyway and you do plan to use the 'legit' copy the second you can again (So you're open to spending more at the auction house).

I don't see a problem.

 

[Tufty94]

Get off your high fucking horses. He paid for the game, playing a pirated version of it is not unethical.

 

[DEAD34345]

Well, it harms no-one and benefits you, so I'd say it's perfectly ethical by my definition of that. In fact, I'd be more inclined to say that buying it in the first place was unethical, as supporting this kind of anti-consumer DRM is what allows situations like this (in which you can't play a game you paid for without pirating it) in the first place.

 

[Sethzard]

I think that it would be ethical, he paid for the game, he's given the developers his money, it doesn't matter how he plays his game.
I'm pretty sure it isn't legal. The game doesn't belong to you according to the Blizzard EULA.

 

[Count Igor]

I'd say ethical. You've already paid for it, so they've got the money they wanted. You were never going to buy another one, as that wouldn't solve the problem, so they're not losing anything.

 

[Aeshi]

Piracy is Piracy, regardless of motive.

If you have a poor connection and bought a game with Online-DRM then that's your stupidity, not unfairness.

 

[Kragg]

i dont get why people are even arguing about this, in this particular case he bought the game and afterwards pirated it, noone loses anything.

buy an mmo and go on a private server, they lose money cause you dont pay a monthly sub, but in this case the game is paid for and there is no extra "fee for the serveruse"

diablo has digital key attached to your account, in olden days they used to frown on you buying the game then using a no cd crack cause they would get money if for some reason you scratched your cd, noone cares about that anymore.

in short, user buys game, then doesnt use serverstructure, seems like a win for them? and user gets to play, win for him. or maybe people are arguing cause the user wouldnt be tempted to use the RMA? ...

 

[Agayek]

Yes, it is still unethical. Everyone is acting like this is a giant slap in the face of gamers and they were blind-sided by this but you all KNEW that this was the case. I think my mother, who barely knows what my Wiistation 360 is, knew that Diablo 3 needed to be online to use. Now I haven't bought the game but if this "online-only" fact has evaded you, I would assume it's on the box somewhere.

People ***** and complain about this kind of practice and then they bend over and present themselves when a game they want comes out. You knew what bed you were getting into here, now you get to sleep in it.

From what I've gathered, the furor has been less "oh my god always-online, kill the heretic!" and more "fucking hell? the servers are down again?!".

I, and the people I play with, don't have any particular issue with the always-online thing (aside from it being a dick move and blatantly anti-consumer), but the servers regularly crash and/or are taken down for maintenance, and when that happens, you can't play the game you paid for. It's a perfectly legitimate grievance. If they were going to implement an always-online thing, they should have the infrastructure in place so that their customers can play the game at any and every time, and that's really all there is to it.

OT: I don't see anything terribly wrong with the scenario as described in the OP. I'm one of those people who think once you buy something, it's perfectly legitimate to download a cracked version to void the DRM or make any other modifications you want to it, just so long as you paid for it originally.

There's nothing inherently unethical about it.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

My question is: Would it be ethical to install and play the pirated copy of the game?
Now remember, I am not asking whether it would be legal to do this, just whether it would be ethical. Also remember that laws are not always ethical.

100% Ethical.

Although, if you can convince your friend to also buy a legal copy, that would be even better.

Once you've bought a legal copy, any DRM free version you happen to acquire, no matter the means, is ethically covered.

Not legally, but you already know and have acknowledged that. Ethically, though, you're fine.

 

[Aeshi]

but the servers regularly crash and/or are taken down for maintenance, and when that happens, you can't play the game you paid for. It's a perfectly legitimate grievance. If they were going to implement an always-online thing, they should have the infrastructure in place so that their customers can play the game at any and every time, and that's really all there is to it.

The same can be said for most/all MMOs and I don't see bloodthirsty mobs forming to review bomb & scream about how they can't play whenever that happens (and I've seen MMOs that have far less MMO in them than Diablo III does.)

 

[fix-the-spade]

Activision has no ethical problem with taking people's money and then denying access to the product, there is no ethical debate about gaining access to something you already paid for.

Legally? I did not read the EULA of D3 but I'm sure they have a paragraph forbidding that so no.

A EULA (notice that it's an 'agreement' and not a 'contract') has no legal standing, you did not sign it, hitting the 'accept' button is not the same as placing your physical signature on a document.
Most EULAs are pretty unethical anyway, they tend to amount to 'now we own your ass, you can't sue us even if we put ricin in the box,'

 

[nuba km]

If you pirate the game, even after buying it, blizzard are going to add you (and the many who probably pirated for the same reason) to the justification of having you be connected to the internet to play their single player games.