To anyone who thinks piracy is ok

[mrwoo6]

The problem is, with PC games, there's often no rental or demo platform for it. You have to buy the whole game and flip a coin with your $60 on whether or not its good. That's where Piracy comes in. If I were to ever pirate something (I admit nothing) it would merely be to see if the game is any good, and if I felt it WAS good, I would support the developer by buying their product. If it was shit, I would skip it.

What needs to happen is for a Steam-like digital distribution platform to come out that lets you purchase games for something like 1 week before it cuts off your access, that way we could "rent" the games before we buy.

WRONG. I tried the demo for Half-Life 2 and Arx Fatalis, both PC games, on Steam.

Yes a few games, he means almost ALL PC GAMES.

a few demos for a few select games? im not going to throw 60 quid a game that i can only look at in trailers and screenshots, thats not what a game is about, its about the gameplay.

 

[Dastardly]

Dear god, there are a lot of shit "justifications" floating around for piracy.

"Oh, they're too expensive!" - So are Ferraris, but you don't see me running out to steal one, or even just joyride one without permission from the owner.

"Oh, it's not stealing because they still have a copy!" - You got it. You didn't pay. You got it without paying, and they did not receive payment even though you are now enjoying the fruits of their labor. That. Is. Stealing.

"Oh, if they stopped making crap game I'd..." - If they're such shit, why are you STILL STEALING THEM? Just another way of trying to paint is as activist crap.

"Oh, I just do it to TEST games, and if they're good I go back and buy them." Bull-to-the-shit. You can check and see if a game is any good by talking to people that have played it, reading a wide variety of reviews, downloading demos, comparing it to other game that you did/didn't like. And then, if you want it, you buy it. If not, you wait. That's right--you WAIT. More information will become available for you, the savvy and cautious consumer, to make your decision. Stealing is a result of impatience, not discernment.

Piracy can be, in some cases, UNDERSTANDABLE. That does not in ANY way make it anything approaching right or okay.

I can understand someone stealing to feed their starving children. I'd do it in a heartbeat. But at the end of the day, it's WRONG. What about the guy I stole from? What about HIS kids? I'll try to convince myself he didn't really need it, or that he was a jackass anyway, but I don't know that. It's all flimsy justification to make myself feel better. And it's bullshit.

 

[Delusibeta]

If there's one thing the Humble Indie Bundle taught us, is that there's no such thing as an excuse to pirate. All the tick boxes were ticked (no DRM, you chose the price, all 3 major OSes was supported, etc. etc.) and yet it was still fairly heavily pirated. Sure, you can argue that the website was badly designed, but the point was to support wget on Linux.

Ultimately, piracy is static. The best ways to promote your game (advertising, support, updates etc.) are also the best ways to reduce piracy. Take, for example, Garry's Mod, where a system to download addons and maps from the cloud is being developed... but only serving those who bought it. That's how you reduce piracy, not DRM.

 

[Kouen]

If they started pricing right I wouldn't consider piracy. 60$ for medal of honor? 50$ for front mission evo? 40$ for dead rising 2? These games are not worth the price, and I've gotten ripped off way to many times. Oh and for anyone who says "you can wait for the prices to drop" take a look at CoD MW 2. Still 60$ after about 2 years, and it's only half as good as CoD 4. Price them reasonably and sure I'd buy it. The only time I wouldn't pirate ever would be for companies just starting.

as he says here... Just becuase you cannot afford it doesnt mean you need to have it

 

[Ghost]

OK. I'm going to pull out my ultimate argument against pirates now.

If you are pro-piracy, I implore you to quote me and answer this question.

-I have no XBox or good PC.
-I'm not going to buy a PS3 in the forseeable future, due to lack of money.

So, my question is this - why shouldn't I steal a PS3? What is the difference between that and piracy?

Well if you steal a PS3 console from a retail outlet, they have paid for that specific console, so that is a genuine lost sale to them.

However, if you pirate a game a copy has already been bought, so if you where going to buy the game yourself that is a lost sale (although significantly less than the money the ps3 would have sold for). BUT, if you weren't going to buy the game to begin with, you may end up liking it and becoming interested in the franchise and buying the game if you see it on sale, or buying sequels to it.

If I were to steal a PS3, wouldn't that give more money to the games companies? You know, because of all the games that I buy for it now that I've been 'introduced to the franchise'?

Oh I lol'd at the picture. Ok good point, though it depends on how many games you'll buy surely? If you're going to buy like 40 games then the developers will benefit, though the retail store still loses however much it costs for them to buy the console, but if you buy the games from that same store, then they'll probably profit off you more than if you had only bought the console there, but the game you where comparing to the PS3 theft was never in itself a lost sale probably and buy stealing the ps3 you may become loyal to Sony products and buy their future systems so it'd basically be an... 'involuntary loss leader'?

Jesus, your Ultimate Argument is good.

 

[mrwoo6]

People can use whatever logic they damn well please and use whatever numbers they damn well please, the bottom line once people have started pirating they will continue to do so. It's like an old dirty habit a person has that they cannot stop doing.

Not true, I haven't pirated a game in years. For a while I was pirating alot of games but I quit.

Then you're a rare case.

How would you know?

Anyway, I didn't quit for some noble purpose, I quit because I realized how worthless PC games are. A service pack or OS change can kill the functionality of a game (like KOTOR after XP SP3). I love GoG though because they address that very issue.

They aren't worth buying if they aren't worth pirating.

So you stoped becase you dont use the PC anymore. The PC being what you pirate with. if you still liked the PC you most likely would still pirate therefore.

did you not just prove his point?...

 

[EvilMaggot]

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 pirate games to see if i wanna use money on it... i play 1 hour of it, if its fun and keeps me going, ill buy it... but if not... ill delete it after that hour and not waste money on a shit game ... tho with mmo's ive paid way to many money to see if they are good xD

 

[dark-amon]

And for all the thrasing on piracy we have no problem with gamestops used games-campaign. Although it presents the same economical problems only legal.

 

[mad825]

"Don't blindly support Steam"
I nearly choked on my food when I saw that. ^.^

 

[dududf]

has anyone seen that video thats says "would you steal a car?", "would you steal a handbag?". piracy is stealing

Piracy is not theft it's piracy.

Nice thread here, I bet if we changed the target from pirates, to say black people, or homosexuals a butt ton of people would be on probation.

Ahh well.

 

[drdamo]

Stealing my friends gamedisk would be theft, copying that gamedisk won't hurt anyone.
Ok, it might be the theft of intellectual property so to speak, yet all those schools and universities that blindly copy pages from books and sell them back at ya as readers get away free? I doubt everyone is getting their fair share of those copies.

And sure, they can blame me for it because I should've bought the game, yet what if I'm not interested in paying loads of cash for addictive entertainment in the first place?
What if I'm unable to afford such game for various reasons?
And what if I'm simply too stubborn to just accept the ONLY choice I'm offered?
If I buy a brand new car I can negotiate on a price I'm willing to pay. I can barter for anything, yet games have always been a dead end unless you're willing to buy a 100 copies at once.

Besides, not paying a penny for a copy will only downvalue the game in such a way that you don't feel obliged to play because it didn't cost you a sh*tload of money.
The whole damn reason WoW sucked away 4 years of life; because you friggin paid for it.
Theres more to life than gaming and I don't see the point in getting too attached to a game.
Eventually I'll buy a good game 2nd hand not only because of the above, but also because all you pay for is a piece of plastic compared to the cardboard pieces of art they used to package them in.

 

[mrwoo6]

People can use whatever logic they damn well please and use whatever numbers they damn well please, the bottom line once people have started pirating they will continue to do so. It's like an old dirty habit a person has that they cannot stop doing.

Not true, I haven't pirated a game in years. For a while I was pirating alot of games but I quit.

Then you're a rare case.

How would you know?

Anyway, I didn't quit for some noble purpose, I quit because I realized how worthless PC games are. A service pack or OS change can kill the functionality of a game (like KOTOR after XP SP3). I love GoG though because they address that very issue.

They aren't worth buying if they aren't worth pirating.

So you stoped becase you dont use the PC anymore. The PC being what you pirate with. if you still liked the PC you most likely would still pirate therefore.

did you not just prove his point?...

I do use the PC, GoG is nice (as I said). I am also giving FF 14 a chance at the moment. That is also on the PC. So yes, I do still use the PC for gaming.

I stopped pirating because the games don't have much lasting value. A service pack can break them (MMO's are immune to this though). They aren't worth pirating and they aren't worth buying either.

I know this is unrelated to the main topic but.

Thats like saying my Betamax tape wont run on my DVD player. clearly the whole moive world is pointless now.

Old games get old and arnt compatable. that does not mean new games still suck. Each to there own but i fail to see the point on hateing on the whole PC gameing world.

 

[SinisterGehe]

With my student money that I get from gov I would need to wait 2month to just buy a normal movie ticket, JUST THE TICKET!
To buy a game I need to wait 8months...

I stopped pirating games when i noticed that they aren't worth of pirating anymore even... (talk about drop of quality)... I have bough few games because I liked what I had pirated, but in 9 of 10 cases It was waste of my time to even download it.
Movies, I just loan from a friend who gets them free for hes work.
Music, I buy a CD rarely and from few artist and almost always for the extra material... Just the though of 80cents of 1euro goes to someone else than artist haunts me... and still paying 22euros+tax for a cd >.<...

Drop the prices and people can afford to buy something...

And now days I happily sit front of a MMO with real paid sub and enjoy my time play, pretty good game, with great people...

 

[nofear220]

Why don't people just shut the fuck up about Piracy?

I'll pirate stuff if I want to. I don't give a fuck if it hurts this industry either, this industry fucking deserves it. I have yet to see a finished game released in 2010 and I have yet to be satisfied with my purchase a month down the line which has caused me to pirate other games. Pirates aren't the ones hurting this industry, the fucking idiots making the products are.

Yes they nickel and dime customers to death but they aren't called thieves. Their DRM punishes customers and sends them towards piracy but that is largely ignored. They actively try to destroy the used market (something that no one would tolerate from other industries) and people rally behind them.

Take notes people, ^^these two are correct.

 

[Kouen]

Why don't people just shut the fuck up about Piracy?

I'll pirate stuff if I want to. I don't give a fuck if it hurts this industry either, this industry fucking deserves it. I have yet to see a finished game released in 2010 and I have yet to be satisfied with my purchase a month down the line which has caused me to pirate other games. Pirates aren't the ones hurting this industry, the fucking idiots making the products are.

and why do you think the products are getting worse? devs (NOT PUBLISHERS) don't have as much money to make the games thanks to people like you with your attitude problem.

 

[cocoadog]

You think since it's obviously such a big problem they would find a way to, oh ya know, fucking fix it? Seriously it's starting to get annoying just hearing about it all the time. As long as it is available people will do it. Especially music.