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

[Irridium]

I don't pirate, unless its horridly overpriced (Bethesda's DLC)

but I usually don't, theres no real point.
I bought Spore, the game with the most DRM, and so far I don't see what the big deal was

 

[Uncompetative]

i've only ever legally bought one game...

Is that your real name? Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate". Richard Misiak, "I am a pirate".

So much for avoiding prosecution through anonymity...

 

[Naal]

Nope, life is pretty good over here. It's nice knowing you're legit and won't get caught/charged with pirating.

I sleep well at night.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

The closest I come to pirating is ensuring that when I have to buy an EA game, I make sure to buy it used from Gamestop (though, I do recognize the irony in my little rebellion there), which is more or less the exact same thing as far as the developer/publisher are concerned I'd think. Otherwise, I'm perfectly okay pay8ing full price for a game, though I usually end up picking up titles weeks or even months after their release.

 

[JediMB]

Thought I'd drop in and say that, whenever possible, I buy my video games. And with "whenever possible" I mean when they're actually availible in retail. If I can't afford the games I just wait until I can, although I occasionally (once a year, tops) do a "try before I buy".

With tv-shows I download them as they air, because a lot of my online friends live in the US, while I don't, and I don't want six months to a year (or more) of avoiding spoilers before I can discuss the shows. I'll most likely get the DVD box sets eventually, anyway. Except for the Japanese shows that will never ever see an official release in any form I can comprehend today anyway.

Movies I tend to buy on DVD or watch in the theaters. I love collecting DVDs. I rarely watch TV, though, and if I find out that a movie I want to watch is airing I'm likely to download it and watch it when it suits me (and then delete it).

Music. If I just spontaneously want to liste to a song I download it without hesitation. I buy anything I'm a fan of, whenever I feel I can afford it. I'm even ordering some CDs from Japan, and I'm looking to eventually import the slightly different US and UK versions of two albums I already own. Also, if anyone happens to know where I can find the Super Mario Bros movie soundtrack, I'm still looking. >_>

 

[Doomwaffle]

I don't pirate for thrills. I pirate for games.

 

[Wyatt]

It is apparent that you lack the research to thoroughly conduct a justified argument. Torrents aren't physical copies of the software, they are links that let you copy the software from somebody who did pay for it. There is no loss of money, because the seller isn't spending money to make a copy of the game, just so it can be stolen. It's not like I pirate the game, and 40 bucks disappear from EA's bank account. Instead of ranting about stuff you don't understand you should *gasp* go fall in a vat of radioactive material.

you HAVE hit a tricky nail right on the head.

at what point does a consumers rights to media stop and a companys take over? ill confess to not knowing the 'legal' stances on this question, but i certianly know my ethical stance on it.

does a person have a right to buy a game (for example) and just give copys of that game away to all and sundry and does a company have to expect that they cant/dont/wont.

that really IS the core of this argument, at what point does a comsumers rights end and a companys begine.

i say that if a consumer doesnt know the person hes giving the copy too than its more than obvious to me that its moved beyond 'sharing with a friend' and into the realm of 'fuck the company'.

one last thing you missed either on purpose or because you just didnt make the connection, but when you buy a game your buying a COPY, you arent JUST or even allways paying for the box and the CD. more than one games company lets you simply down load the games the make now, and each and every game both ona shelf someplace and from a legit DL sight is a COPY. your paying for the IDEA of the game, the time to code the game, as well as the rights to use someone elses time and effort to make and put that game to market. NOT just for a CD.

im not sure whats so hard about this concept for people that are so dead set on coming up with arguments that ammount to legal silly string to justify theft. seems pretty simple too me, ideas ARE marketable you know. every form of media at all EVER in human history is just at its core and idea that was marketed, every invention at all EVER in human history is just an IDEA that was marketed. your paying for the IDEA of a game as much as anything else.

so when you steal that game from a torrent sight, at a minimum, your taking the IDEA of the game if nothing else and not paying for it when the owners of that idea can and should and DO expect compensation for the use of it.

that is theft.

there is though (as you tryed to point out) the question of 'loaning' a game too a friend, consumers have some rights too and that is the ONLY point about this subject that i can see ANY question about at all. if little Joey gives his copy of halo to a buddy should he go to jail? common sence says of corse not, but if little Joey uploads that copy of Halo to a torrent sight, its a whole new ball park from my point of view.

 

[FallenRainbows]

It IS stealing in the way that copyrighted products being copied is legally STEALING technically in the view of the LAW; you know the thing that keeps you from being shot every two seconds?

As for copy protection OMG NOOOO two seconds of validation!! So?
As for the spore 4 installs have you really managed to install any game more than 4 times?

Whether or not stealing is the right phrase it?s still ILLEGAL. And they do lose profit because if you get it free, they lose the £30-£40 you WOULD have spent for it defending piracy is ridiculous. The law exists for a reason.

As the Person points to above Lending a copy of it to a friend is still piracy, borrowing YOUR disk is NOT piracy, making a copy and passing it on IS.

 

[PsykoDragon]

In Iraq, original copies didn't & still don't exist. To Iraqi computer-store shopkeepers, an "original" copy is the original copy of a pirated copy that they copy from.

Where I'm at right now, they DO sell original copies in a coupla stores. But!
A) They only have a small selection of games, which means you can't find some less-popular games,
B) They start selling it WAY TOO LONG after the game has first been released, &
C) Their costs are insane. think 1.5X to 2X the prices in America. Given that there is a HIGH percentage of people who don't even make HALF of that much money in a month, it's pretty much unfair. Why?

Simply put, gaming is very important to us middle-easterns. Our colleges, schools, & dorms aren't anything like you see in western movies. There isn't anyone who comes up to you & tells you that there's a party at so-&-so's house. When ur in a car with a buddy, taking a ride, thinking of something to do, u just end up going in circles or trekking through the city, wasting fuel, learning more & more that there REALLY isn't anything fun to do here. & games are our only refuge from this boredom.

In Iraq, whenever the power goes out (we had schedules that ranged from 2-hour blackouts a day to 2 hours of electricity a day), I'd almost cry of boredom. Then I'd fall asleep. Would you have taken the one thing I did to have fun away from me?

 

[Cowabungaa]

In Iraq, original copies didn't & still don't exist. To Iraqi computer-store shopkeepers, an "original" copy is the original copy of a pirated copy that they copy from.

Where I'm at right now, they DO sell original copies in a coupla stores. But!
A) They only have a small selection of games, which means you can't find some less-popular games,
B) They start selling it WAY TOO LONG after the game has first been released, &
C) Their costs are insane. think 1.5X to 2X the prices in America. Given that there is a HIGH percentage of people who don't even make HALF of that much money in a month, it's pretty much unfair. Why?

Simply put, gaming is very important to us middle-easterns. Our colleges, schools, & dorms aren't anything like you see in western movies. There isn't anyone who comes up to you & tells you that there's a party at so-&-so's house. When ur in a car with a buddy, taking a ride, thinking of something to do, u just end up going in circles or trekking through the city, wasting fuel, learning more & more that there REALLY isn't anything fun to do here. & games are our only refuge from this boredom.

In Iraq, whenever the power goes out (we had schedules that ranged from 2-hour blackouts a day to 2 hours of electricity a day), I'd almost cry of boredom. Then I'd fall asleep. Would you have taken the one thing I did to have fun away from me?

I think that everyone would make an exception for you ;-) I mean come on, you live in a war torn country, there isn't much you can do.
It's a little bit the same with tv shows, but ofcourse not as bad, but a lot of stuff is simply not broadcasted here, like Battlestar Galactica. What else can I do but pirate then, I'de líke to watch it on TV, that looks better anyway, but I can't.

 

[azadiscool]

yes, it has. a copy of the game was taken from its rightful owner. the cash value of that copy is also taken. its the same thing as if you reached into their pocket and plucked out a $50 bill every time you steal a copy of a game. as ive pointed out repeatedly you arent paying for the master when you buy a game, your paying for a *gasp* COPY, so when you STEAL a COPY its removing something of value from the owner. thus its theft.

It is apparent that you lack the research to thoroughly conduct a justified argument. Torrents aren't physical copies of the software, they are links that let you copy the software from somebody who did pay for it. There is no loss of money, because the seller isn't spending money to make a copy of the game, just so it can be stolen. It's not like I pirate the game, and 40 bucks disappear from EA's bank account.

No, it's you who's missed his point. Pirating a copy of the software means that the pirate can use the software without paying the people who created the software. So the value of the service has indeed been taken from the creators, and they get nothing in return. From that point of view, calling it "theft" isn't unreasonable. (Imprecise, maybe, but not so wrong as to be worth insulting him.)

I do have to wonder, though, at how many of those so hot to defend piracy have ever created anything worth pirating... if any of them have ever been (or will ever be) on the receiving end, watching a bunch of people taking free rides on their stuff while they're finding ways to pay the rent. It's one thing to advocate it when you know you'll feel the bite of it yourself; it's another altogether when you know you'll never have to face it in person.

-- Steve

If you actually read what I typed, and then took two seconds to actually think about it, you would realize your argument is more porous than a colander. How are the creators LOSING money when I pirate? Sure, you could argue that they are losing the possibility that I might buy their product (when I am rich beyond my dreams), but it's not like I would be buying their product if I didn't have the opportunity to pirate it. If you actually read what I typed, then you would know I pointed out that it's not as if 40 bucks are taken out of EA's bank account when I pirate Spore (which I didn't pirate by the way). Please don't reply until you actually know what's going on.

 

[jemborg]

To go into hypotheticals for a minute: I'm sure that you're aware of World Of Goo. Fun game, imaginative, indie, 9 people out of 10 who played it pirated it. Now let's say just for the sake of argument that WoG was an EA funded title. It still gets pirated to hell, possibly even moreso as it has the stigma of being an EA title. Mr Ritticello looks at sales of WoG, and he looks at how much it got pirated. He thinks to himself 'Hmm... we sank a cool couple of million into that project, and got next to nothing back. Something's got to go.' So of course, he being the head honcho of a big corporation, he shuts down 2D Boy studios in order to minimize losses, then goes back to his however-many-millions-a-year salary. He and the rest of the managing elite aren't affected, but those guys at 2D are now out of a job.

Let's NOT get into hypotheticals. In contrast to that misrepresenting link above why not look at what the makers of World of Goo, 2D BOY, themselves have to say about the situation... 90% [http://2dboy.com/2008/11/13/90/].

"...people who pirate our game aren't people who would have purchased it had they not been able to get it without paying." They have good reason to think "...preventing 1000 piracy attempts results in only a single additional sale."

World of goo is a very poor example mate- 2D BOY also state... "by the way, just in case it's not 100% clear, we're not angry about piracy, we still think that DRM is a waste of time and money, we don't think that we're losing sales due to piracy, and we have no intention of trying to fight it." (From World of Goo has an 82% piracy rate. [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/11/15/world-of-goo-piracy-rate-82/])

Note that WoG is the second best selling game on Amazon after WotLK. And they are very proud of the fact, not at all crying into their beers. They've even given away the music.