What are people's views on piracy (of games)?

[userwhoquitthesite]

the only games i pirate are ROMS of old games that i cant locate after looking for them. I also get ROMs for DS games, but thats just so i can keep multiple games on one card, i buy the game itself. speaing of which, someone suggest a good site for DS roms, the ones i have still have anti-hacker crap in them (remember, its still an illegal copy, folks)

 

[Legion]

Most of my viewpoint is below but these are the only times it is not wrong in my opinion:

- If you already bought the game but it got damaged/DRM stopped it working. (Not if you sold it on or gave it away)

- It's no longer available to buy.

- It's buy-able but is more expensive than it's cost when it was released.

That said I have never pirated a game and have no intention of doing so.

My friend, I hate to be a search bar Nazi, but I made this thread a while back.

OT, because I don't like being a dick: torrents are your friend. Downloading can get you games that are no longer being made, are really freaking rare, or too damn expensive.

I agree with you up to here. Although the expensive part only in relation to games more expensive than the average new release.

I do not believe that it is theft because you are not taking something off the shelf and leaving with it; you are only taking a copy you made of it. As for the "it hurts developers" position: this is due to capitalism, something I as an outspoken communist am strongly opposed to.

This bit I completely disagree with. It is stealing because the created a product that require payment to own legally. If you own a copy without paying you are stealing because you have no right to own it. Even if you didn't remove the copy you still own it when you shouldn't.

As for the communist part. If you live in a Capitalist country you follow their rules. If you don't like it move to a communist country. Seeing as none exist I suggest you make your own.

 

[traceur_]

I'm good with it. If I had a half-decent internet connection, I'd do it all the time.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Depends. How old is the game, and what's its standard availability like? If it's no longer being released (which automatically rules out anything from this generation), I don't have a problem. I have a library of Genesis, SNES, and NES roms (in addition to having kept my cartridges), and a few otherwise-unavailable PC visual novels.

 

[slipknot4]

One only buy what's worth my money and i have only bought one game in the past 2 years... Killzone 2... 'n i got 5 games when i bought my ps3.

 

[TPiddy]

A game not producing demos is not an excuse to steal it. I agree that you should be able to sample a game's content before making the decision to buy, but there are other avenues for that... they're called video stores and rental services like gamefly. If you are unsure of whether you want to buy a game, rent the damn thing for a portion of the cost.

The only thing I 'illegally' download is music, and I typically will download a few tracks from an album I'm interested in and if I like it I'll buy it, if not I delete the songs. This is also on the decline as places like myspace and purevolume allow me to sample new albums before they come out anyhow, which is a better way to go.

If you can afford to spend $300 - $400 on a gaming system, you can afford to spend $50-$60 on a game. If you can't, you'll just have to be more selective about the games you play, do trade-ins, or wait for a game to go down in price because it's used or on sale. I did this with Saints Row 2. It came out during a period where there were a lot of good games, so I passed on it. I recently traded in Fallout 3 and got Saints Row 2 straight up. In fact, the last time I paid full price for a video game was probably gears of war 1. There are trade-in systems and barter set-ups and you can always play one against the other to get better deals.

 

[P2]

I wouldn't recommend anyone to do it but I really believe that games are over priced. I would have no problem buying more games if they were around $40 new. So I'll stick with renting for now.

 

[TPiddy]

I pirate games to play them for the same reasons i used to rent console games. If they're WORTH the pricetag, i'll buy a copy. If not they don't deserve to be paid for a shit game.

How do you think good game studios get to be good game studios? If a fledgling studio puts out a bad game, but at least makes money, they can learn from their mistakes and grow and evolve to become a better studio. You can't be the judge of the price of game... "oh that game sucks so it should be free". It still cost money to make. Besides, if it sucks, why are you playing it? Don't even bother stealing it then.

If a game company fails to sell units because the game sucks that's one thing, it will tell them that it sucks. But if a game company has bad sales because douchebags like you stole their work, You're just jeopardizing the industry. Kind of like how stealing music has watered down the music industry to the point where record labels aren't willing to gamble on artists that they don't think are a sure thing.

If you keep stealing games, games will become more and more alike in every way to meet a bankable formula until we're playing Halo 39 and God of War 26.

 

[Flour]

I've played a downloaded copy of nearly every new release this year. In my case, some publishers actually lost money because I realised what a pile of shit some games were, making me ignore the game and advising against purchase if friends were interested in the game.

The price/gameplay standard I have for buying games means that I might buy some of the new releases next year, when they're 50% cheaper.

So.. I really don't care, especially because every year I look back and see how much money I saved by not buying games I didn't like.

 

[brighteye]

If i want a game i used to buy it, i still do and will continue to do so in the future.
If i want to try a game i might or might not buy i press the download button and then we have to see the outcome of that. Crappy games deserve to be downloaded, awesome games usually have an extended directors cut special edition with cream on top with some extra loot and/or a t-shirt so sign me up for that.

Bioshock 2, Final Fantasy, Oblivion, anything in the KOTOR universe, and games like this is a must buy for me.

sportsgames that end with a year in the title, Sims amazing kitchen tool expansion, Facebreaker and any sonic game, get that "get this game for free button" ready!

If this means the talentless gamestudios that only want to make a quick buck by releasing a crappy game goes the same way as the dodo, no big loss in my book.

 

[jonnopon3000]

It's bad, don't do it. It hurts developers (just take a look at the World of Goo guys).

What's the story there? Haven't heard that one...

IMO, on-topic, I think it is not morally wrong...sometimes. In certain situations...it's hard for me to explain.

See...I think downloading an old/discontinued/VERY rare game is perfectly fine.
I think downloading a game that is still available is morally grey. I mean...I am fine with downloading a game that say...doesn't work incredibly (Like on lowest graphs and still some slowdown in places)...I have Fallout 3 for this reason-I will not waste £20 on something that detracts from "the norm" in performance. I still love it enough to play it...but the slowdown has made me trade it in before. So I refuse to spend the money.

Also...I have no problem in pirating DLC. I hate the concept of DLC anyway...so this is no-brainer for me.

However-downloading a new game that works perfectly is unacceptable. (IMO) It works fine, so there is no reason to be loathed to spend money. There is no reason to complain unless it is shit...in which case you should have tried a demo or asked someone first.

Oh. And I NEVER download a game just to try it out. There is
a)no point
b)probably a demo and
c)other ways to find out whether you like it or not


Flame me if you must...but IMO sometimes game piracy is the "smart" consumer option.

 

[Jonci]

I would admit there was a time when I pirated a few choice games back in the days of "I have enough money to feed myself or buy a new game", though now that I can afford to buy games I purchase them like any respectful gamer would. Plus having become a game developer, that would just be a kick to the balls to do it.

I have still downloaded something from torrents, like The Sims 3, only because I had the game preordered already and wanted to start playing a week early. Once I had my copy, I tossed the .iso.

For my part, I just call someone a pirate anytime they mention their modded console or downloading a PC game. I accept that some people still do it, but I recently had to take offense to someone I knew bragging about pirating games. Sure we know you have a modded 360, sure we know you are probably pirating with it, but laughing at others because we didn't pirate the game when we know you aren't going to ever pay for it? Off my XBL friends list, jackass.

 

[falcon1985]

i do it if there is no demo for the game.

 

[zacoman]

well im just a p.c gamer but i played nhl09 on the ps3 for months on end, when my room mate moved out i figured ill get it for the computer . when i looked it up it had the same graphics game play and looked like a clone of a game . when first played it looked like ps2 graphics at best and missing alot of the game play . THIS is the reason people torrent games, developers and put out a shity product and not be accounted for it.

but then again they says it "hurts the industry" . but its just like the movies , people dont feel bad when they torrent movies b\c that actor or star is still in a mansion .


dont rip off mom and pop developers tho

 

[Ganryu]

It hurts the devs? Most of the devs DESERVE to bleed a ton of cash for the shit games they've been making in the last 10 years. Remember when games were cheap, didn't take years to make and with development costs that didn't look like the budget of a small country? Yeah, those I would buy.

 

[Jonci]

It hurts the devs? Most of the devs DESERVE to bleed a ton of cash for the shit games they've been making in the last 10 years. Remember when games were cheap, didn't take years to make and with development costs that didn't look like the budget of a small country? Yeah, those I would buy.

Don't be so quick to blame the devs. Most developers come from the same gamers years ago saying they have a great idea for a game or complaining that "today's games" aren't as good. But regardless of how good an original game design is, publishers and investors tend to be the ones that ruin games. If an FPS isn't Halo, an MMO World of Warcraft, or an RPG Final Fantasy or Oblivion clones, investors won't put the money behind them they need. And publishers run the same game.

Indie games are getting a bit of spotlight just because they are the result of a lone or small group of developers that got to take their own idea where they wanted it to go, using their own cash of course. The moment a company has to accept money from someone bigger, the big guy is going to start putting his money-making ideas into their game where it didn't belong.

However, if a company doesn't make the goals they wanted in sales, they are screwed. Pirates contribute to that lack of sales. A potentially good company, that may stand on their own the next time around, could get lost because pirates take their game rather than buy it. Sometimes a company's first game sucks because of the investors, but if it does well enough they'll give that company more freedom afterwards because they are "safer".

Of course sometimes a company still produces shit games and you can't do anything about it. Best to just support the gaming industry and avoid bad companies when they are recognized. If you aren't sure if a game will be good, wait for reviews and word of mouth. Quit pirating just because you don't have the patience to see if it will be good enough for your standards.

 

[Asehujiko]

Everything i pirate is typically off my HD after a week unless the company the made the game pissed me off, then it's in .iso format in the torrent directory.

After pirating and playing it for a day or two(yes i'm lazy when it comes to deleting stuff, goes with having 10 times more storage then any given console), i either stop playing because the game didn't merit playing further or because it has been replaced with a legal version for patches and multiplayer.

As for world of goo: Something they conveniently didn't mention in their "pirates broke into our house and stole our cash" report: The game was not released outside the US, so the only way to get the game over here is by pirating. I believe that contributed greatly to the high piracy rate.