To anyone who thinks piracy is ok

[bob1052]

I pirate games that have no demo so I can actually try them before I buy them. I'm not going to just chance that it works on my PC and that it deserves its metacritic score. If I don't like it I delete it (Why would I keep a game I don't like?) if I like it I buy it.

The devs don't want to let you try the game or see just how well it runs on your PC then I make my own trial, it's only fair since they have millions of dollars and I barely have money now a days.

And before you call me out on it and tell me that I don't buy my games and that I'm just pirating all games

Spoiler

I buy my games thank you

And yet the fact that the resources that you use to pirate to "test" the games are available to everyone, even the vast majority who would not buy the game if they like it. Your personal convenience is not worth more than the people who own the ip and should be getting payed.

 

[Danzaivar]

It only covers 'piracy' in a market economy. I have drawn a little illustration to help you realize the error of limiting infinite resources for profit.

Red bar has the words "free information".

Green bar has the words "costs of producing".

If it has a cost, it isn't free!

There is a difference between cost of production and cost of distribution. Information is special in the way that it has a one-time cost of production and a close-to nothing cost of distribution.

If you read some of "Das Kapital" by Karl Marx he carefully explains the value of commodities and what commodities are, which is relevant here.

I don't recall differentiating them. Russian bearded philosopher or no.

 

[bob1052]

I pirate games that have no demo so I can actually try them before I buy them. I'm not going to just chance that it works on my PC and that it deserves its metacritic score. If I don't like it I delete it (Why would I keep a game I don't like?) if I like it I buy it.

The devs don't want to let you try the game or see just how well it runs on your PC then I make my own trial, it's only fair since they have millions of dollars and I barely have money now a days.

And before you call me out on it and tell me that I don't buy my games and that I'm just pirating all games

Spoiler

I buy my games thank you

So in short, you're saying that if they offered a trial or a demo of some sort, you wouldn't pirate and if you enjoy the game you would buy it?

My only question is, how far do you go in the games you pirate? Do you stop at the first level and make a decision or do you go farther?

Why does it matter how far he goes into the game? If he likes it, he buys it? If the publisher wanted to determine the length of the demo, they should have released an official demo.

With PC gaming it is indeed important to ensure that the game will run on your PC because by the time you get to the point of finding out on your own, the product is non returnable.

Finding the specs required to run a game isn't as impossibly hard as you make it sound.

 

[wulfy42]

I pirate games that have no demo so I can actually try them before I buy them. I'm not going to just chance that it works on my PC and that it deserves its metacritic score. If I don't like it I delete it (Why would I keep a game I don't like?) if I like it I buy it.

The devs don't want to let you try the game or see just how well it runs on your PC then I make my own trial, it's only fair since they have millions of dollars and I barely have money now a days.

And before you call me out on it and tell me that I don't buy my games and that I'm just pirating all games

Spoiler

I buy my games thank you

I don't think there is anything wrong with what you are doing. Pirating games to see if you like them and then purchasing the ones you buy is, in my opinion, the best argument for piracy out there right now. While some people take advantage of the ability and don't buy the actual game if it's good, I'm betting most of them would not have bought the game in the first place. It's quite likely that more people buy good games then would have before due to piracy.

It's almost CERTAIN that less people buy bad games then would have because of piracy.

I can't see how that is a bad thing over all.

Many games are released with 1 hour trial versions etc (popcap games does it all the time), and if more companies did that I would then say piracy was not needed anymore and I could side more with people who say it is all together bad.

I commend you for stepping up and explaining why you pirate and showing that you actually purchase games as well.

 

[Mcface]

I found an article, its 10 pages long, but is the most in depth look at piracy i have ever seen.
He takes a very unbiased look at it, and i plead to anyone who still pirates games to go read it.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html

I started pirating when PC game quality went down. I will no longer buy PC games at full price, simply because they are rushed out, rarely supported after launch, or just awful ports.

If they are so bad, don't play them. Don't deny companies money and then cry like a little ***** when they don't have enough money to make quality products.

Yes it's ok for them to ship broken and terrible products and steal my money, but im not allowed to do anything back? screw that. I've wasted so much money on shitty PC games i dont give a fuck if some faceless millionaire studio cant afford to make their next shit-tastic DLC.

Metro 2033, unplayable for the first 2 months
Empire Total war
Alpha Protocol
Gothic 4

Then assholes behind Kane and Lynch "Oh I know, lets charge 50 dollars for 4 hours of mediocre gameplay"

I know some suckers who will keep throwing money at it, but I ain't one of them.

Why are you spending money on the games that are crappy then? Why not wait a week after the launch and read reviews? Watch gameplay videos, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE BUYING! Ever heard of the phrase "Consumer beware?" it's your money, so use it on the quality games you're interested in. Don't dive head first into a game on launch day, that's the fastest way to lose out.

Don't blame developers for your carelessness with money, those mutlimillion dollar publishers don't even see most of the $60 dollars they charge.

Reviews dont focus on technical issues. There is virtually no way to tell if a game is even going to run on your machine before you buy it. You can meet all the specs and then some, and still have the game run like shit, as was the case with Metro 2033. There hasn't been a PC game in 2010 that has worked hands down perfectly the way it should. I am no longer going to pay full price to beta test a game.

And look at the settlers 7. You have to be online at all times just to play it. Guess what? You don't with the pirate version, you can play it online or offline.

Once again, all this stuff can be solved by doing a bit of research. I haven't played New Vegas yet, but in five minutes on google, I can find the Specs, the major bugs, what players think of it, common complaints, and the recent patch notes. We live in an age where you can get information in an instant, a week at the most, and you could have learned the common problems that occur in Metro 2033. Once again, it's your own fault for wasting money.

As for Settlers 7...really? That's your only excuse for buying it, so you can play it offline? If you're on a desktop, why would it not be hooked up to the internet? If you have a laptop, guess what, most Cafes, train stations, airports, hotels and libraries offer free Wi-Fi. The only time you could be without internet is after a recent move (Which is usually back up and running in a couple days), in a car (and that is now changing as well, with newer cars actually having Wi-Fi ) or if it has been turned off (In which case, you should be spending your time finding a second job over gaming)

Every game released in the last 2 years have the SAME reported bugs on steam. The entire fourms are full of bug problems. You don't know if you will have them until you try the game out. I'd rather take the chance away and just download the shit.

And you wouldn't be saying that if you have shitty Verizon internet. It craps out every so often, and ill be damned if im going to lose my single player progress because my internet goes out.

 

[bob1052]

And yet the fact that the resources that you use to pirate to "test" the games are available to everyone, even the vast majority who would not buy the game if they like it. Your personal convenience is not worth more than the people who own the ip and should be getting payed.

..and cars can be used to kill people, does that makes all cars bad?

That terrible comparison has nothing to do with what I said.

 

[wulfy42]

I pirate games that have no demo so I can actually try them before I buy them. I'm not going to just chance that it works on my PC and that it deserves its metacritic score. If I don't like it I delete it (Why would I keep a game I don't like?) if I like it I buy it.

The devs don't want to let you try the game or see just how well it runs on your PC then I make my own trial, it's only fair since they have millions of dollars and I barely have money now a days.

And before you call me out on it and tell me that I don't buy my games and that I'm just pirating all games

Spoiler

I buy my games thank you

So in short, you're saying that if they offered a trial or a demo of some sort, you wouldn't pirate and if you enjoy the game you would buy it?

My only question is, how far do you go in the games you pirate? Do you stop at the first level and make a decision or do you go farther?

Why does it matter how far he goes into the game? If he likes it, he buys it? If the publisher wanted to determine the length of the demo, they should have released an official demo.

With PC gaming it is indeed important to ensure that the game will run on your PC because by the time you get to the point of finding out on your own, the product is non returnable.

Finding the specs required to run a game isn't as impossibly hard as you make it sound.

Not true. The specs for Hellgate London for instance were well withing my computers capabilities. I could never get the dumb game to play on my computer reliably though. It had a huge memory lead and problems with dual core computers. Thats just one example, many games have problems with Nvidia graphics cards that are listed as ok and the company just says "thats a problem with Nividia drivers not our game". You can't know if a game is going to play well on your computer unless you actually try it unless you have a very specific system.

And yes, people can pirate the game who are not going to buy it. Who cares? They were not going to buy it anyway. The convience people like the above poster gets from pirating is worth far more in my opinion because he's and actually CUSTOMER!! He will buy the game (if it's worth it and works on his computer). The other pirates will mostly not have bought the game at all (or even heard of it probably). Nothing is lost by them downloading the game.

The number of people who would have bought the game but didn't because they pirated is probably very small, at least that is true of good games.

The number of people who would have bought the game but pirated it and didn't are probably very high for crappy games.

I consider that a good thing. Game companies need to stop releasing trash.

 

[Toeys]

I stopped downloading pirated material years ago. Not cause i felt morally obligated to
stop.

There were a number of reasons:
- prices on games never inflated, rather the opposite
- games got more accessible
- as more people download pirated stuff; more unwanted code come with the games(trojans etc)
- it doesnt cost a months salery(before tax) to get a wellworking computer anymore, so
i can afford to actually buy the games as well.
- Steam(i love steam, although they should check the abandonware some publishers distribute through their system)
- I got more funds through better work


Worst thing that happened to piracy, was that it got so easy to perform a download that any granny can do it now. I really loath hearing people with no clue about computers or anything in the relation to it talk about the films and games they downloaded using some stupid 1 click program to download. Maybe thats another reason for me quitting; the people that spat on us calling us "nerds" 10 years ago, are now doing the same thing without understanding anything about it.

Edit: forgot to mention that reviews are all over the place, i dont need to download to test or anything. It's perfectly easy to see what games to buy and what to forget

 

[Casual Shinji]

It's funny how everyone here that condones piracy is all like, "I'm a rebel, fight the power".

Just be honest and admit it's because it's free swag.

If all your seeing is "I'm a rebel, fight the power", you obviously aren't reading enough of the posts. I pirate games, but I always buy them after if they play well.

Honestly, I kind of pity the people that are unable (or unwilling) to see the shades of gray in this issue.

Well then, you are a good-hearted and earnest human being. But the large majority of people that pirate see no need to buy the game when they already have perfectly good pirated copy.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I found an article, its 10 pages long, but is the most in depth look at piracy i have ever seen.
He takes a very unbiased look at it, and i plead to anyone who still pirates games to go read it.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html

I started pirating when PC game quality went down. I will no longer buy PC games at full price, simply because they are rushed out, rarely supported after launch, or just awful ports.

If they are so bad, don't play them. Don't deny companies money and then cry like a little ***** when they don't have enough money to make quality products.

Yes it's ok for them to ship broken and terrible products and steal my money, but im not allowed to do anything back? screw that. I've wasted so much money on shitty PC games i dont give a fuck if some faceless millionaire studio cant afford to make their next shit-tastic DLC.

Metro 2033, unplayable for the first 2 months
Empire Total war
Alpha Protocol
Gothic 4

Then assholes behind Kane and Lynch "Oh I know, lets charge 50 dollars for 4 hours of mediocre gameplay"

I know some suckers who will keep throwing money at it, but I ain't one of them.

Why are you spending money on the games that are crappy then? Why not wait a week after the launch and read reviews? Watch gameplay videos, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE BUYING! Ever heard of the phrase "Consumer beware?" it's your money, so use it on the quality games you're interested in. Don't dive head first into a game on launch day, that's the fastest way to lose out.

Don't blame developers for your carelessness with money, those mutlimillion dollar publishers don't even see most of the $60 dollars they charge.

Reviews dont focus on technical issues. There is virtually no way to tell if a game is even going to run on your machine before you buy it. You can meet all the specs and then some, and still have the game run like shit, as was the case with Metro 2033. There hasn't been a PC game in 2010 that has worked hands down perfectly the way it should. I am no longer going to pay full price to beta test a game.

And look at the settlers 7. You have to be online at all times just to play it. Guess what? You don't with the pirate version, you can play it online or offline.

Once again, all this stuff can be solved by doing a bit of research. I haven't played New Vegas yet, but in five minutes on google, I can find the Specs, the major bugs, what players think of it, common complaints, and the recent patch notes. We live in an age where you can get information in an instant, a week at the most, and you could have learned the common problems that occur in Metro 2033. Once again, it's your own fault for wasting money.

As for Settlers 7...really? That's your only excuse for buying it, so you can play it offline? If you're on a desktop, why would it not be hooked up to the internet? If you have a laptop, guess what, most Cafes, train stations, airports, hotels and libraries offer free Wi-Fi. The only time you could be without internet is after a recent move (Which is usually back up and running in a couple days), in a car (and that is now changing as well, with newer cars actually having Wi-Fi ) or if it has been turned off (In which case, you should be spending your time finding a second job over gaming)

Every game released in the last 2 years have the SAME reported bugs on steam. The entire fourms are full of bug problems. You don't know if you will have them until you try the game out. I'd rather take the chance away and just download the shit.

And you wouldn't be saying that if you have shitty Verizon internet. It craps out every so often, and ill be damned if im going to lose my single player progress because my internet goes out.

1) The Quest giver that attacks you is a bug, the head turning upside down in the intro to New Vegas is a bug, deleting your saves are bugs. Walking into a wall isn't a bug, it's a glitch in the game. There is a major difference and you can normally tell which ones are more prominent in a few seconds. "My character is stuck in a wall." may be a common one in all games, but how many games have killer NPCs that are meant to be friendly?

2) Then just make a hotkey and save after every notable point. Besides, most games have an autosave feature for that reason. Once again, downloading something and doing something that is just as bad as theft because you have a crappy internet isn't the developers fault. Why should you be so greedy to steal their work without their permission just because you can't be arsed to switch internet providers. Oh and one more thing, I do have Verizon as an internet provider. I run just fine.

I pirate games that have no demo so I can actually try them before I buy them. I'm not going to just chance that it works on my PC and that it deserves its metacritic score. If I don't like it I delete it (Why would I keep a game I don't like?) if I like it I buy it.

The devs don't want to let you try the game or see just how well it runs on your PC then I make my own trial, it's only fair since they have millions of dollars and I barely have money now a days.

And before you call me out on it and tell me that I don't buy my games and that I'm just pirating all games

Spoiler

I buy my games thank you

So in short, you're saying that if they offered a trial or a demo of some sort, you wouldn't pirate and if you enjoy the game you would buy it?

My only question is, how far do you go in the games you pirate? Do you stop at the first level and make a decision or do you go farther?

Why does it matter how far he goes into the game? If he likes it, he buys it? If the publisher wanted to determine the length of the demo, they should have released an official demo.

With PC gaming it is indeed important to ensure that the game will run on your PC because by the time you get to the point of finding out on your own, the product is non returnable.

Because playing the game to the half way point before making a decision and deleting it doesn't really count as a demo. It counts as regular piracy.

 

[wulfy42]

It's funny how everyone here that condones piracy is all like, "I'm a rebel, fight the power".

Just be honest and admit it's because it's free swag.

If all your seeing is "I'm a rebel, fight the power", you obviously aren't reading enough of the posts. I pirate games, but I always buy them after if they play well.

Honestly, I kind of pity the people that are unable (or unwilling) to see the shades of gray in this issue.

Well then, you are a good-hearted and earnest human being. But the large majority of people that pirate see no need to buy the game when they already have perfectly good pirated copy.

How do you know that?

And how do you now any of those people would have bought the game anyway.

Honestly people who pirate PC games would probably just rent console games instead or at most buy them used if they couldn't pirate PC games. I think good games need to be supported but from everything I have seen they still are. Every even halfway decent game released on the PC has sold just fine. Many small games like Plants Vs Zombies or Torchlight or Minecraft have sold more then Console games that cost a ton more to make.

Good PC games seem to be selling fine.


Bad PC games deserve to lose sales. In fact, that is the best argument for Piracy to me. Preventing players from buying crap games is worth a small loss in sales for good games. It will mean more players have money to BUY THE GOOD GAMES!! It means that people will not be as disgruntled about buying games and will be more loyal to the companies that release good games. I'd pay for Torchlight II and III right now for instance. I'd buy Diablo III right now. I'd even buy Fallout 4 right now (although many people were unhappy with the bugs of Fallout NV I've had few problems except for freezing).

Piracy in my opinion does more good then bad. Only companies that release games that should not be released have really been hurt by it.

 

[Snotnarok]

I pirate games that have no demo so I can actually try them before I buy them. I'm not going to just chance that it works on my PC and that it deserves its metacritic score. If I don't like it I delete it (Why would I keep a game I don't like?) if I like it I buy it.

The devs don't want to let you try the game or see just how well it runs on your PC then I make my own trial, it's only fair since they have millions of dollars and I barely have money now a days.

And before you call me out on it and tell me that I don't buy my games and that I'm just pirating all games

Spoiler

I buy my games thank you

So in short, you're saying that if they offered a trial or a demo of some sort, you wouldn't pirate and if you enjoy the game you would buy it?

My only question is, how far do you go in the games you pirate? Do you stop at the first level and make a decision or do you go farther?

I thought the image would have said the thousand words I wouldn't need to. The only games I "Demo" are pc games because the requirements are usually bullshit, and they usually remove the demos to games for some weird reason. Either way what does it matter what level I get to when "demoing" the game? If I don't like the game I'm not going to keep playing it and if I like it, I'm going to buy it.

And yes if demos were offered then I wouldn't have to go through the trouble of torrenting a 9+gb game and I could just download what they give. It's tedious to do it this way, but when your MEGA BIG IPs like MW2 can't be assed to release a demo to see if you might like it and the game is 60 bucks why WOULDN'T you try it before you buy it? I couldn't exactly rent the PC version could I? I can't return it. So I'm not giving the multimillion dollar company the benefit of the doubt, I'm going to try their game and if I like it THEN I will buy it.

Funny enough I didn't "demo" MW2 and bought it because my friends egged me on and I hate the game, that just goes to show you how far Demos can go.

And yet the fact that the resources that you use to pirate to "test" the games are available to everyone, even the vast majority who would not buy the game if they like it. Your personal convenience is not worth more than the people who own the ip and should be getting payed.

I don't really care about your opinion because it's so bias it doesn't apply to me. The people deserved to be paid yes, but they're a multimillion dollar company if they can put out a game they can put out a demo for me to try it. And if they don't I STILL want to try it and I AM going to because I don't have millions to spend on whatever I want.

I wasn't speaking for everyone I was speaking for ME, but no you're right, I should just chance every game I'd like to buy and spend 50-60 dollars on every game and hope I like it and HOPE they didn't bullshit the requirements. You're absolutely right, I should just let them walk on me instead of trying a game out before I buy it I see the harm being done.

No, I demo my games and then I buy my games so I support the developers. As I said in my post earlier, this is what I do, not everyone, so maybe you should find a real game pirate to chew on.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

I found an article, its 10 pages long, but is the most in depth look at piracy i have ever seen.
He takes a very unbiased look at it, and i plead to anyone who still pirates games to go read it.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html

I started pirating when PC game quality went down. I will no longer buy PC games at full price, simply because they are rushed out, rarely supported after launch, or just awful ports.

If they are so bad, don't play them. Don't deny companies money and then cry like a little ***** when they don't have enough money to make quality products.

Yes it's ok for them to ship broken and terrible products and steal my money, but im not allowed to do anything back? screw that. I've wasted so much money on shitty PC games i dont give a fuck if some faceless millionaire studio cant afford to make their next shit-tastic DLC.

Metro 2033, unplayable for the first 2 months
Empire Total war
Alpha Protocol
Gothic 4

Then assholes behind Kane and Lynch "Oh I know, lets charge 50 dollars for 4 hours of mediocre gameplay"

I know some suckers who will keep throwing money at it, but I ain't one of them.

Why are you spending money on the games that are crappy then? Why not wait a week after the launch and read reviews? Watch gameplay videos, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE BUYING! Ever heard of the phrase "Consumer beware?" it's your money, so use it on the quality games you're interested in. Don't dive head first into a game on launch day, that's the fastest way to lose out.

Don't blame developers for your carelessness with money, those mutlimillion dollar publishers don't even see most of the $60 dollars they charge.

Reviews dont focus on technical issues. There is virtually no way to tell if a game is even going to run on your machine before you buy it. You can meet all the specs and then some, and still have the game run like shit, as was the case with Metro 2033. There hasn't been a PC game in 2010 that has worked hands down perfectly the way it should. I am no longer going to pay full price to beta test a game.

And look at the settlers 7. You have to be online at all times just to play it. Guess what? You don't with the pirate version, you can play it online or offline.

Once again, all this stuff can be solved by doing a bit of research. I haven't played New Vegas yet, but in five minutes on google, I can find the Specs, the major bugs, what players think of it, common complaints, and the recent patch notes. We live in an age where you can get information in an instant, a week at the most, and you could have learned the common problems that occur in Metro 2033. Once again, it's your own fault for wasting money.

As for Settlers 7...really? That's your only excuse for buying it, so you can play it offline? If you're on a desktop, why would it not be hooked up to the internet? If you have a laptop, guess what, most Cafes, train stations, airports, hotels and libraries offer free Wi-Fi. The only time you could be without internet is after a recent move (Which is usually back up and running in a couple days), in a car (and that is now changing as well, with newer cars actually having Wi-Fi ) or if it has been turned off (In which case, you should be spending your time finding a second job over gaming)

Every game released in the last 2 years have the SAME reported bugs on steam. The entire fourms are full of bug problems. You don't know if you will have them until you try the game out. I'd rather take the chance away and just download the shit.

And you wouldn't be saying that if you have shitty Verizon internet. It craps out every so often, and ill be damned if im going to lose my single player progress because my internet goes out.

1) The Quest giver that attacks you is a bug, the head turning upside down in the intro to New Vegas is a bug, deleting your saves are bugs. Walking into a wall isn't a bug, it's a glitch in the game. There is a major difference and you can normally tell which ones are more prominent in a few seconds. "My character is stuck in a wall." may be a common one in all games, but how many games have killer NPCs that are meant to be friendly?

2) Then just make a hotkey and save after every notable point. Besides, most games have an autosave feature for that reason. Once again, downloading something and doing something that is just as bad as theft because you have a crappy internet isn't the developers fault. Why should you be so greedy to steal their work without their permission just because you can't be arsed to switch internet providers. Oh and one more thing, I do have Verizon as an internet provider. I run just fine.

I pirate games that have no demo so I can actually try them before I buy them. I'm not going to just chance that it works on my PC and that it deserves its metacritic score. If I don't like it I delete it (Why would I keep a game I don't like?) if I like it I buy it.

The devs don't want to let you try the game or see just how well it runs on your PC then I make my own trial, it's only fair since they have millions of dollars and I barely have money now a days.

And before you call me out on it and tell me that I don't buy my games and that I'm just pirating all games

Spoiler

I buy my games thank you

So in short, you're saying that if they offered a trial or a demo of some sort, you wouldn't pirate and if you enjoy the game you would buy it?

My only question is, how far do you go in the games you pirate? Do you stop at the first level and make a decision or do you go farther?

Why does it matter how far he goes into the game? If he likes it, he buys it? If the publisher wanted to determine the length of the demo, they should have released an official demo.

With PC gaming it is indeed important to ensure that the game will run on your PC because by the time you get to the point of finding out on your own, the product is non returnable.

Because playing the game to the half way point before making a decision and deleting it doesn't really count as a demo. It counts as regular piracy.

Downloading it in the first place counts as piracy technically but piracy numbers aren't accurate anyway so who really cares. However, if you want to claim that it isn't actually piracy until you play through to half the game, then I have only pirated one game in my life. LOL

A demo ends at the first level on most points. This is usually the first mission following the tutorial and sometimes things will be cut to make the demo shorter. Like the Arkham Asylum demo, half the first building was cut out to speed the demo along. If you play past the point where you would suspect a normal official demo would end, then its not a demo anymore.

 

[saruman31]

@MasterOfHisOwnDomain
I wasn`t talking about indie games. Any artist who works on a project is payed in advance so that is beyond the point.
@badvibration
The industry did not changed to consoles because of pirates. It changed because of regular joe dumbface who has a very short attention span and doesn`t want his games too complicated. Piracy is not responsible for DLC`s, people who buy them are. Pirates are almost never potential clients.

 

[James13v]

I think the entertainment media industry needs to face the fact that piracy will never end because of one fact: entertainment media is made to be shared. Creators of such media are faced with a paradox in which they want something they can share, but also can not be shared. The nature of the industry facilitates a constant cat and mouse game between piracy and anti-piracy measures.

 

[RDubayoo]

One of my favorite parts:

For 2009, the most pirated PC game as reported in this article was Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The PC version had a staggering 4.1 million downloads via torrents alone compared with an estimated 200,000 - 300,000 actual sales via retail and Steam, demonstrating that the most popular game of 2009 was also the most pirated, and more importantly, that the actual number of downloads for the most popular game is now almost three times as high as in 2008, signalling the rampant growth of piracy.

YEAH! The threat of piracy is WAY overblown! Also:

Regardless of the precise level of piracy, the key point to consider is that World of Goo addresses every single item on the checklist of excuses which people usually present for pirating games - yet it is still being pirated quite heavily.

YEAH! You pirates go show those greedy... uh... independent developers?... who's boss! Also, from this thread:

Still...he does feel the need to state 'the facts' a bit too often.

Yes, why should we let the facts get in the way? Anyway, if you have an issue with this dude's facts, feel free to research your own article. From where I stand, everything he said makes total sense.

Bottom line is this: piracy is wrong, and it doesn't matter how you justify it. You're not getting back at anyone, you're just being greedy. You're not helping the games industry, YOU'RE STRANGLING IT. And if you can't afford it, don't buy it. Simple.

 

[wulfy42]

I found an article, its 10 pages long, but is the most in depth look at piracy i have ever seen.
He takes a very unbiased look at it, and i plead to anyone who still pirates games to go read it.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html

I started pirating when PC game quality went down. I will no longer buy PC games at full price, simply because they are rushed out, rarely supported after launch, or just awful ports.

If they are so bad, don't play them. Don't deny companies money and then cry like a little ***** when they don't have enough money to make quality products.

Yes it's ok for them to ship broken and terrible products and steal my money, but im not allowed to do anything back? screw that. I've wasted so much money on shitty PC games i dont give a fuck if some faceless millionaire studio cant afford to make their next shit-tastic DLC.

Metro 2033, unplayable for the first 2 months
Empire Total war
Alpha Protocol
Gothic 4

Then assholes behind Kane and Lynch "Oh I know, lets charge 50 dollars for 4 hours of mediocre gameplay"

I know some suckers who will keep throwing money at it, but I ain't one of them.

Why are you spending money on the games that are crappy then? Why not wait a week after the launch and read reviews? Watch gameplay videos, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE BUYING! Ever heard of the phrase "Consumer beware?" it's your money, so use it on the quality games you're interested in. Don't dive head first into a game on launch day, that's the fastest way to lose out.

Don't blame developers for your carelessness with money, those mutlimillion dollar publishers don't even see most of the $60 dollars they charge.

Reviews dont focus on technical issues. There is virtually no way to tell if a game is even going to run on your machine before you buy it. You can meet all the specs and then some, and still have the game run like shit, as was the case with Metro 2033. There hasn't been a PC game in 2010 that has worked hands down perfectly the way it should. I am no longer going to pay full price to beta test a game.



Because playing the game to the half way point before making a decision and deleting it doesn't really count as a demo. It counts as regular piracy.

I don't agree.

Playing a game to the halfway point and then deciding you don't like it and not purchasing it counts as piracy (as long as the reason you don't like it is that the game is only 4 hours long for instance).

If he bought the game after playing it halfway through then that is not piracy at all. He tested the game, liked it, and bought it. Not piracy.

If you play a game for 20+ hours before deciding you don't like it....I'd say thats probably piracy at that point...but still not horrid.

If you play any game for 100+ hours without paying for it then that is wrong. Very wrong and you are a bad person. A game that gives you that much entertainment (and you can't say you did something you don't like for 100+ hours) should be paid for period.

But trying out a game before buying it? I kinda wish that was an option more. Should make PC games rentable now that piracy is out there for instance. Try a game for a week for $5 for instance. Now that would drastically cut back on piracy.

So many games I have (like Mass Effect) that I had to play for 10+ hours before I got so bored I stopped. Many people love Mass Effect (I have it for the Xbox 360) but I just couldn't get into it. Renting games on the PC is something that could be easily done now since demo's of full games often have a time limit...just increase the time limit for rentals.

There are many ways to fight piracy...that solve gamers problems as well. Just telling pirates "you are bad" is not the solution.