To the people who don't pirate: Is life really so bad?

[Erana]

All this talk about pirating has led me to ask, "Is life so bad that people really need to pirate?"
I don't pirate, and if there's a game, or some music, or something of the sort that I want but don't have, I deal. I just don't quite see how its easier to live with knowing that you've stolen a game than to just go without.
Now, to my fellow non-pirates, is your life really that miserable because you have to go without, or paid for what you have?
(And if this has been done, please tell me. I searched, but my inner thesauraus isn't functioning so well right now.)

But still, I made my question pretty clear; please don't make this deteriorate any further into a pirate-ethic thread.

 

[iseko]

A fate well deserved. They just give you demo's with good bits so you would buy a game. And when it turns out to be shit, you already bought it and are stuck with it.

I download a game and if I like it I buy it. Same goes with movies, music and everything else.

 

[Dudemeister]

Maybe some people just don't have the cash to buy all their games, music etc.
Then again, pirating requires a moderately good PC in the first place.
Hmm...

 

[fenrizz]

I just don't quite see how its easier to live with knowing that you've stolen a game than to just go without.

I did not steal it, i copied it.

 

[Sir_Montague]

A fate well deserved. They just give you demo's with good bits so you would buy a game. And when it turns out to be shit, you already bought it and are stuck with it.

I download a game and if I like it I buy it. Same goes with movies, music and everything else.

Same type of concept for XBL... Downloading demos on the XBLA helps me cope until I have the money to buy them...

 

[joystickjunki3]

I don't pirate unless it's abandonware. Life's not so bad.

 

[Malkavian]

I fail to see how OP encourage discussion with her alledged target group.

 

[Erana]

Maybe some people just don't have the cash to buy all their games, music etc.
Then again, pirating requires a moderately good PC in the first place.
Hmm...

I don't, either. And I just go without. Why don't people just accept that?
I mean, if you didn't have the money for a fancy dinner, you'd just live without, wouldn't you?
And who cares about the ability to just "Copy" something? I mean, its not yours. You didn't pay for it. No one gave your the lisence to play it.
Too bad.

 

[Nomad]

I just don't quite see how its easier to live with knowing that you've stolen a game than to just go without.

Pirating is not stealing. When you pirate software, you copy it. The one you copy it from still gets to keep theirs. When you steal, the person you steal from loses their copy. Noone loses anything if I copy software, I merely create another of it.

And no, they don't lose profit either. I've never given them my money, and I never had any intention to do so. "You can't lose what you do not have".

Edit: Also, as for the reason for pirating: Consumers get software with copyright protection, shitty internet validation and stuff. Pirates get cracked software, meaning without the annoying protection. Conclusion - if you pirate software, you get a superior product. So what they're doing, in essence, is punishing people for paying for the product by supplying them with an inferior product.

Edit: A prime example is the recent spore release. Buyers get to install it four (?) times, then it's done. A pirate can install it an infinite amount of times.

Further edit: Also, I don't pirate myself. But most of the arguments for not doing so are... really dumb.

 

[Erana]

I fail to see how OP encourage discussion with her alledged target group.

I was asking people who don't pirate, "Is life so bad without pirating?"
Then they'd share their opinions on the life of a non-pirate. Its just that people like to talk about the ethics of piracy, which is technically not the topic.

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Does watching movies and anime over the internet count as pirating?

 

[Malkavian]

I fail to see how OP encourage discussion with her alledged target group.

I was asking people who don't pirate, "Is life so bad without pirating?"
Then they'd share their opinions on the life of a non-pirate. Its just that people like to talk about the ethics of piracy, which is technically not the topic.

Nah, my beef is just that you more or less ask a rhetorical question. You will not get any dissenting opinions from non-pirates. It will more or less be back-patting. See? All those that actually "discuss" in this thread are pirates. I'm not saying the thread should be locked, it's just...

 

[Combined]

Yes, it is. Particularly here.

 

[lacktheknack]

Life's fine over here. I just think if I REALLY REALLY need it, then if I do, I buy it.

(What a foreign concept!)

Plus, I get to laugh at my pirate friend, so...

 

[DragunovHUN]

I don't pirate and i'm fine. I look at games like any other luxury item, if i can't afford it, then too bad.

On the other hand i will pirate games that are no longer available, or never were available in my area, which practically isn't hurting anyone since they don't make their product available to me, they wouldn't get my money anyway.

 

[SmoothOperator]

I can't get myself to pirate, i'd feel like im stealing. And I know there are tons of arguments on how it isn't, but you're still getting something for free, which is usually paid for.

But no, life isn't shit, this makes me consider getting a game really much, and if I didn't, i'd have waaay to many unfinished games. I already have too many. Oh, and I need something to spend my money on, so that's fine.

 

[Jonatron]

I fail to see how OP encourage discussion with her alledged target group.

Badly.

Guilt? Ha.
All's fair in love and games.

Once a game is no longer being shipped from the Publisher, perhaps a year or two after production, (Downloadables excused) What difference is there between getting it off of some guy on EBay and getting it via *Arrrrrg!* ?

And there's the old argument about wether or not you would get the game if you could afford it.

There'll always be ineffiency issues with everything. Piracy is just heat loss to the surroundings.

 

[UpcountryGecko]

I guess life isn't so bad if you don't pirate games as it means that you only tend to play the best critically acclaimed games instead of playing an average game that a lot of pirates play for an hour before deleting from there hard droves. However if you don't pirate then you don't get a firsthand experience with a game, unless a demo is released which will 9 times out of 10 include one of the best parts of the game anyway. I personally don't pirate games either but what it means is that I will miss a couple of gems purely become I don't have the income to be able to buy them so I can understand why some people do play pirate copies.

 

[I3uster]

I onyl pirate games with DRM.
They need to learn their lesson

 

[Mephisteus]

Because the vast majority of the money you pay doesn't end up with the people who designed the game.

Because legal versions tend to have useless and restricting copyright protections on them.

As for music, because only a few numbers on cds are actually worth buying, and individual songs cost more then they are individually worth.

It's repaid by going to concerts, and actually buying games that are worth a damn (and leaving the occassional game that's good but is too restrictive (*cough* fallout 3 *cough) on the shelf.

I just don't quite see how its easier to live with knowing that you've stolen a game than to just go without.

Pirating is not stealing. When you pirate software, you copy it. The one you copy it from still gets to keep theirs. When you steal, the person you steal from loses their copy. Noone loses anything if I copy software, I merely create another of it.

And no, they don't lose profit either. I've never given them my money, and I never had any intention to do so. "You can't lose what you do not have".

Edit: Also, as for the reason for pirating: Consumers get software with copyright protection, shitty internet validation and stuff. Pirates get cracked software, meaning without the annoying protection. Conclusion - if you pirate software, you get a superior product. So what they're doing, in essence, is punishing people for paying for the product by supplying them with an inferior product.

Edit: A prime example is the recent spore release. Buyers get to install it four (?) times, then it's done. A pirate can install it an infinite amount of times.

Further edit: Also, I don't pirate myself. But most of the arguments for not doing so are... really dumb.

If you had no intention of paying them, yet you take what they made. That's stealing because you took property without being allowed to do so.

Somewhere along the line people started making up the excuse that because you can't hold something in your hands it isn't stealing. Or are you saying you can't steal electricity? It's identified as property, and you have no right to take it. The definition of stealing was kept simple, and obtaining something that is owned by another party without that party giving you permission to obtain is theft. Same for patents, or formulas, or credit card numbers.

PS
I download games, a lot less then I used to in the past because (surprise surprise) I have more money to spend (though I have noticed that I want to download more again because of DRM and that games tend to be shipped & sold before they are actually finished.)

And I like to be able to complain at support lines if something isn't working.

PPS
I think I repeated myself a few times in there, *ahwell*

[edit]
Nomadic, don't take this personally btw. It's more my annoyance with that excuse in general