So what if I pirate games, why should you care?

[Dexiro]

No one should care in the slightest, but people love to be moral asshats and spew their opinions onto others.

And before anyone says that they lose money from pirating; they don't, so don't say "Because it directly harms the industry blah blah blah", because it doesn't. It just causes a loss of a sale that may not have even been a sale to begin with.

The only reason to care is DRM, and honestly, it isn't that big a deal to handle with it.
DRM isn't that annoying.

Of course the industry loses money from pirating, some developers have almost gone out of business because of it and some probably HAVE gone out of business. That's a lot more common with indie developers though so at the very least people shouldn't pirate indie games.

In a lot of cases you are right, there was never going to be a sale to begin with. But there's still a massive chunk of money lost from people that actually would have bought the game.

 

[Popido]

They love it when they think they have moral high ground. You should see their stand on hacking.

Also,

LOL Extra Credits.

 

[Snork Maiden]

2. potential profit =/= profit

This shouldn't be wheeled out in an "is piracy wrong?" debate - it's place is in a debate about how harmful piracy actually is, which is a different thing. The argument that someone someone pirating doesn't equate to a lost sale (although I'd argue if a hundred people pirate, a sale has probably been lost somewhere amongst all that) is a good one if you're against companies employing strong DRM "because of piracy."

It's a bad one in a moral argument - just because no one loses out ("I wouldn't of bought it anyway") doesn't mean it isn't wrong, but it does mean you're a self-entitled asshole.

 

[Lokithrsourcerer]

although i don't pirate games and don't really agree with it in 99% of cases

i did write an essay on the positive effects of copy write piracy. not going to re-write it here (it was 4000 words) but mainly focusing on how it forces/allows new business models like spotify, steam etc there are a lot of positive effects of piracy but there are of course a lot of negatives as well
i suppose the big question is do the positives out-weigh the negatives

i'm not saying people should pirate stuff but as a by product some very positive things have happened.

these positive things should have been able to happen without piracy but because of some large companies sitting comfortably in their ivory towers it probably wouldn't have without it (that last statement applies more to the music biz than games)

 

[vehystrix]

Oh come on, most pirates do so because they can. They won't buy the game even if they can't pirate it, they'll just pirate another. They want free entertainment, and they'll find it somewhere. Especially with multiplayer heavy titles, if you pirate one of those, you won't consider buying it if you can't pirate it, since you're obviously not doing it for the multiplayer.

Simple example: any COD game since COD4. If you pirate it, you're just gonna play trough the single player once or twice, have some giggles in the challenge mode, and that's about it. You wouldn't care if you can't pirate it, because the single player is so interchangable you could just pirate another game.

Now I wonder how many sales have been gained trough piracy. I'll admit I've pirated some games. I'll also admit that I have bought those that I liked, I just wanna know for sure that I like a game before spending my cash. If I don't like it enough, I'll just remove it and that's that, I wouldn't have bought the game if I couldn't pirate it, but the other way around, I would've bought the game if I could pirate it and liked it enough.

Yeah go ahead and flame me for my twisted opinion in this matter

 

[Celtic_Kerr]

Because there's no justifiable reason to do so, being a self entitled douchebag has no excuse.

Hint: "I don't have enough money so I'll pirate the game" is not a valid justification.

Of course there's usually no excuse (See: Extra Credits). But why should you care?

Because out of all of the things that are in my interest to see profit, the game industry is one of them. Saying piracy doesn't harm the industry is ridiculous, because it does. It may not do any massive harm, but it still does enough to warrant being a concern.

Captcha: return irotte (I didn't even now i had him/her/it).

irotte was a fantastic one.... You'd have loved him

I have to agree with Onyx on this one. It damages the industry, and one day it will damage our experiences. Hence. we care

 

[Snork Maiden]

snip

Copy of a cracked version of a game =/= physical copy being sold at your nearest retailer. Someone downloading the former does not in any way directly affect the developer's/publisher's money. The latter actually has a manufacturing cost to it. Just throwing it out there.

Again, whether or not anyone loses out doesn't make it right. "I wouldn't of paid for this anyway so it doesn't matter" doesn't cut it with me, but I admit I have a hard time explaining why.

I will note I'm absolutely not arguing from the moral high ground here - I've pirated plenty of stuff, and I can see how the argument works: probably 90% of the stuff I've pirated has been an "I'm bored, lets grab something fun to play with for a few hours." The chance of me ever buying said game is literally nil. That said, there are some games I absolutely would've bought if I hadn't pirated them, and since I now have them free I absolutely am not going to pay for them. That IS a lost sale, right there.

I also think Steam is a little interesting - the amount of games I own for Steam that I have either never installed or only played for five minutes is testament to the fact that when it's easy I absolutely randomly buy games that I would normally of suggested I had no intention of buying. I played STALKER for 83 minutes for example, which is shorter than the amount I've played many games I've pirated.

 

[THE_NAMSU]

2.

It DOES hurt the industry. Just because they are making a lot of money already, doesn't mean that they deserve to lose potential profits. Those potential profits could fund a riskier less-main stream title, too.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind making some companies lose "potential profits."
For example, Call of Duty.
Note: I don't actually pirate and so on, even the cod games!

 

[JET1971]

I care to the point of if you enjoy the game, then support the developers by buying it.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Three reasons:

1.

They can, will, and have tightened DRM belts before.

I can't even play most of my XBLA titles with my Xbox offline. The only ones I can play are the recently played ones, too. Thankfully, all of my PS3 titles are playable offline, even Trine. Which I got and last played the week I bought it. And the Wii? I can only play games on my memory stick, on the Wii I bought it on. And I see no way to transfer ownership right to a new system.

2.

It DOES hurt the industry. Just because they are making a lot of money already, doesn't mean that they deserve to lose potential profits. Those potential profits could fund a riskier less-main stream title, too.

3.

Because hacking makes me update my shit pointlessly. PS3 isn't the only offender in anti-piracy updating. Just the biggest. >_>

1. I don't think XBLA games can be pirated? correct me if i'm wrong
2. potential profit =/= profit
3. most pirated consoles are hardware base mod, so updates usually have no link to piracy. I know Sony have been a-holes with their updates but before PS3 was cracked they've been pushing updates like crack

1. They totally fucking can. And have. Modded Xboxes and the like. 360's were hacked long ago.

2. Uh...in terms of piracy, yeah it does. If they had legitamately purchase the game, the company would gain a profit from the sale. If I steal an apple, the man at the fruit stand doesn't get paid, and makes less money. I didn't mean potential profit in the terms of sales projections.

3. True about the hardware base mods, but that doesn't stop the companies from trying to punish them the moment they ever have a need to use the legitimate online services.

 

[The Woolly One]

snip

Copy of a cracked version of a game =/= physical copy being sold at your nearest retailer. Someone downloading the former does not in any way directly affect the developer's/publisher's money. The latter actually has a manufacturing cost to it. Just throwing it out there.

If the developer guesses that 10,000 people will want to buy their game(small number but run with it) then they'll make 10,000 copies. Now, if 5% of people pirate it then thats 500 copies they've paid to make that they won't get money from. They know some people will pirate it, so they'll produce less copies of the game to compensate. The publishing company won't be happy as they now see the game as less profitable: they can only sell 9,500 copies as opposed to 10,000, so maximum profit is reduced. The publisher wants as many copies made as possible to ensure high profit margins, but the developer doesn't want to over-produce because they know some people will pirate it instead of buying a hard copy. The publisher will be less likely to invest in the game company in the future. The industry stagnates with low-risk ventures.

Also, if pirates are playing online games then the company is paying to have them on their servers without getting any money from the pirates. So yes, piracy can directly affect the developer's or publisher's money.

Also, while it doesn't affect me personally what makes someone think they can enjoy for free what everyone else has to pay for? Why should the pirate get the game for free when someone has worked hard to ensure its existence?

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

2.

It DOES hurt the industry. Just because they are making a lot of money already, doesn't mean that they deserve to lose potential profits. Those potential profits could fund a riskier less-main stream title, too.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind making some companies lose "potential profits."
For example, Call of Duty.

They earned their success, regardless of your personal opinion on the company or quality of the CoD series. We can't make exceptions just because you don't like the company policies.

 

[Innegativeion]

"wouldn't have bought it anyway" is an awful, awful excuse.

Like I said before, pirating is outright theft. You're using software owned by someone else, who is registered to sell it, without permission and without paying. So, the above excuse would in theory be applied to any other form of theft, right?

Somebody shoplifts and the freaking alarm goes off. Mall security or something surrounds you. "Oh it's okay, I wasn't going to buy this thing if I couldn't steal it anyway, so it's okay."

How do you honestly think that testimony would go down in a court of law?

 

[bob1052]

And before anyone says that they lose money from pirating; they don't, so don't say "Because it directly harms the industry blah blah blah", because it doesn't. It just causes a loss of a sale that may not have even been a sale to begin with.

Wait a minute.

And before anyone says that they lose money from pirating; they don't

It just causes a loss of a sale that may not have even been a sale to begin with.

So it just causes them to lose a sale (see: money) that may not (see: may) have actually been that money. So how is it that it is definitively not losing them money?

 

[Snork Maiden]

snip

snip

Sorry, not going to get pulled into this, because I don't find the subject all that entertaining to debate. That's why I said I'm just throwing that out there. Pointed out the flaw in a flawed analogy and I'm on my way.

To be fair if I wasn't sat very much NOT writing an essay I wouldn't of come near this thread with a bargepole.

 

[Levethian]

If a pirate couldn't afford it in the first place, there's little chance that a sale was lost through their piracy. In that sense "because I couldn't afford it" makes the action of piracy morally blank, because no-one loses out.

Of course, "what people can afford" is pretty subjective...

If you enjoy the game, then support the developers by buying it.

Aye. I wonder how many pirates purchase games after pirating.

 

[THE_NAMSU]

2.

It DOES hurt the industry. Just because they are making a lot of money already, doesn't mean that they deserve to lose potential profits. Those potential profits could fund a riskier less-main stream title, too.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind making some companies lose "potential profits."
For example, Call of Duty.

They earned their success, regardless of your personal opinion on the company or quality of the CoD series. We can't make exceptions just because you don't like the company policies.

This feels like a pure capitalist statement x).
I don't think I should start such a political arguement.
But they earned their sucess by brainwashing their victims, it's like when people take drugs.
And drugs are illegal .