Why do people think it's ok to pirate games?
- Thread starter Cody211282
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Cody, I'm not entirely sure why you felt the need to create this thread in the first place. You obviously don't agree with piracy, why not just leave it at that rather than trying to debate the morality of piracy with the same old rhetoric over and over? You're beginning to sound like a kid on the playground with their hands over their ears going "lalala, I can't hear you!" to any logical point leveled against your opinion, while endlessly repeating a flawed argument that not even the LAW itself agrees with, and believe me, if the RIAA could find a way to classify piracy as theft, they would in a fucking second. Other than attempting to establish your own perceived "moral superiority" (see: ego trip) this thread seems entirely pointless.
I'm really not flaming you here, so no offense intended, but when you ask for an opinion, or for an explanation for why someone does something you won't always get an answer that you agree with, and it really isn't yours, or anyone else's job to pass judgement on the actions of others, especially when soliciting their opinion in the first place. Discussion is one thing, judgement is quite another.
I'm really not flaming you here, so no offense intended, but when you ask for an opinion, or for an explanation for why someone does something you won't always get an answer that you agree with, and it really isn't yours, or anyone else's job to pass judgement on the actions of others, especially when soliciting their opinion in the first place. Discussion is one thing, judgement is quite another.
Because people are evil.
Also because it doesn't quite register in the brain. Stealing a real object is more tangible than stealing a virtual one. It's also requires much less effort and the repercussions are not immediate.
Finally, people have been stealing since...forever. Why do you act like it's such an unimaginable act? Imagine shoplifting, if a company which stocked baked beans said that their revenue was being damaged because kids shoplift; no one would bat an eyelid. But when people pirate a pretend product which game companies charge an extremely high amount (I live down under by the way) everyone is shocked!
Also because it doesn't quite register in the brain. Stealing a real object is more tangible than stealing a virtual one. It's also requires much less effort and the repercussions are not immediate.
Finally, people have been stealing since...forever. Why do you act like it's such an unimaginable act? Imagine shoplifting, if a company which stocked baked beans said that their revenue was being damaged because kids shoplift; no one would bat an eyelid. But when people pirate a pretend product which game companies charge an extremely high amount (I live down under by the way) everyone is shocked!
ok my 2 cents on this topic...
Ahem(clears throat), ok so i bought this "game(not naming it)" and found out that it has a drm that requires a constant connection to the internet, now i am almost constantly on the road with my buddies in their Semi-Truck and don't have one of those nifty(stupidly retarded) 4G usb internet card(i guess it could be called a card), so i copied the game to the 2nd drive on my computer(D
and downloaded a crack so i could play it offline when im on the road, i still had the original copy on my main drive(C so that when i had internet i could play online. When i got the a hotel with wifi i hoked my laptop up and tried to connect, big mistake, since even though i had the crack on a different drive than the original copy my laptop still got banned for even having a crack for the game on it(also got a nice little seize and desist letter in the mailbox from the law enforcement with a number to call).(yes i got unbanned after calling tech support)
So in short even if you buy a game the developers/server/publishers all treat you like a thief if you even so much as make it to where you can't play a game offline without the drm.
ok now for the pirating games part: i don't pirate games that i cant afford to get or are unsure of, i have a few rich friends that buy all the games that come out... so if i wanted to find out if a game is worth buying or not i go to them. i am not against downloading OLD OUTDATED SOFTWARE that is no longer in circulation(e.g. Sim ant the original, the original sim city, the original c&c(which is for LEGAL free DL from ea i believe)).
Edit: forgot to mention that i do not "pirate" new games but i do DL the old ones like the original sim city and the original C&C.
Ahem(clears throat), ok so i bought this "game(not naming it)" and found out that it has a drm that requires a constant connection to the internet, now i am almost constantly on the road with my buddies in their Semi-Truck and don't have one of those nifty(stupidly retarded) 4G usb internet card(i guess it could be called a card), so i copied the game to the 2nd drive on my computer(D
and downloaded a crack so i could play it offline when im on the road, i still had the original copy on my main drive(C so that when i had internet i could play online. When i got the a hotel with wifi i hoked my laptop up and tried to connect, big mistake, since even though i had the crack on a different drive than the original copy my laptop still got banned for even having a crack for the game on it(also got a nice little seize and desist letter in the mailbox from the law enforcement with a number to call).(yes i got unbanned after calling tech support)So in short even if you buy a game the developers/server/publishers all treat you like a thief if you even so much as make it to where you can't play a game offline without the drm.
ok now for the pirating games part: i don't pirate games that i cant afford to get or are unsure of, i have a few rich friends that buy all the games that come out... so if i wanted to find out if a game is worth buying or not i go to them. i am not against downloading OLD OUTDATED SOFTWARE that is no longer in circulation(e.g. Sim ant the original, the original sim city, the original c&c(which is for LEGAL free DL from ea i believe)).
Edit: forgot to mention that i do not "pirate" new games but i do DL the old ones like the original sim city and the original C&C.
The price of games is insane, asking almost £50 for a single game which will last you a whole of 8 hours on average. So people think "Sod that" and download it illegally. It doesn't mean they're right, but if the price of games dropped, I think there'd be an increase in sales.Cody211282 said:
Plus there's a handful of people who download a game illegally just to try it out, because there's not a demo for all games out there, they use it as a demo before buying the game.
And some people download games illegally because they know they're only going to play it once or twice and move on to something else, so why pay for a full game when you're only planning on playing it for a few hours?
This is exactly the problem, and it's what game companies are really losing sales to. I myself always wait a while after a new game is released to buy it, and almost always used, why? Because I, like many others, simply cannot afford $60 and rising for a game that might very well end up being "Return of Mediocre Nonsense: Modern Gunfight 2" (c wat i did thar?) and finish it in about the time it would take to watch the average movie, with about the same level of interaction.Kruxxor said:
Problem is, the big game companies (I'm looking at you, EA) are stuck in a Hollywood-ish rut of developing the crappiest, cheapest thing they can reasonably sell to the lowest common denominator of gamers - which just so happens to be the largest demographic - and pushing it out the door in whatever half-assembled, buggy state they can get away with to get their paycheck at the end of the day.
The pirates aren't the problem here - the industry is, because people are unwilling or just plain unable to pay $60 for a game that might turn out to be absolute shit. Good reviews or no, we all know the game companies pay for their good reviews anyhow. Build a loyal fanbase by, ya know, actually making a decent product that's worth paying for and all of the above dirty tactics are rendered unnecessary IMO. Just look at Valve.
First of all, the "too expensive" argument is quite faulty. Games are a luxury, that is they are not needed for survival but is just a hobby and therefore saying that they are too expensive doesn't get you anywhere since you don't actually NEED it. I didn't get if you thought the argument had a valid point, but if someone do I call it bull!Kruxxor said:
The last one is just retarded (I'm not calling you retarded, just the argument which doesn't seem to be yours), it's like saying you don't wanna pay for going on the bus since you're just planning on riding it for an hour.
Err... No it isn't. If you already own the game, you are allowed to have a digital copy of it as long as you only intend it for yourself, not for redistributing or selling or whatever. Sure, it's probably illegal for the people who uploaded them to have uploaded them in the first place, but it's still perfectly legal for you to download them as long as you still actually own the game in question.Onyx Oblivion said:
Of course, it confuses me why you'd want to download a PS1 ROM if you already own the game since you could just download some free software to make a legal digital copy yourself.
EDIT: I don't pirate games, but I do have Goldeneye 007 on an emulator which I know is legal since my hardcopy of Goldeneye 007 is only a few metres away from where I sit. In fact, the only reason I don't play that instead is because most of the wires for my N64 have decided to go bugger off somewhere.
I know we've linked this already, but here my post coming from that thread :
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.177814-From-Russia-with-Love-On-piracy
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.177814-From-Russia-with-Love-On-piracy
ouch111 said:
That is.... a very apt metaphor actually.gigastrike said:
Bravo on that one.
OT: Most people who pirate games don't JUST pirate games, they pirate movies, music, tv shows, etc., I think that after a while they just think "why buy it when I can get it for free?".
While morally and ethically unjustifiable, it bears mentioning that the reason pirating is so common is because it's done in the privacy of ones computer with relatively no risk. They don't have to explain themselves to anyone, and there's no one to try and stop them in any serious way.
Basically it boils down to the fact that without any threat of repercussions from pirating, people who would otherwise be curbed from stealing in a normal social setting feel uninhibited to indulge themselves in a little piracy.
I've got to go with the "A pirated copy is not a lost sale" argument by referring to my own past:
Back when I was young, naive, and poor, I played a hell of a lot of games. I think it's fair to say that I put all of my disposable income into buying games, and asked for games from pretty much everyone I knew who might buy me a Christmas/birthday present. However, there were still plenty of games that I wanted to play and couldn't get through legitimate channels. So I borrowed games from friends (which is considered piracy by some) and I downloaded pirated games.
However, if I hadn't pirated games, the industry still couldn't have got any more money out of me.
Nowadays I have the money, but not the time, so I tend to purchase the few games I really want (Dragon Age: Origins most recently). You could argue that I would give the industry less money now if I hadn't played so much as a kid, but that's a bit tenuous.
Back when I was young, naive, and poor, I played a hell of a lot of games. I think it's fair to say that I put all of my disposable income into buying games, and asked for games from pretty much everyone I knew who might buy me a Christmas/birthday present. However, there were still plenty of games that I wanted to play and couldn't get through legitimate channels. So I borrowed games from friends (which is considered piracy by some) and I downloaded pirated games.
However, if I hadn't pirated games, the industry still couldn't have got any more money out of me.
Nowadays I have the money, but not the time, so I tend to purchase the few games I really want (Dragon Age: Origins most recently). You could argue that I would give the industry less money now if I hadn't played so much as a kid, but that's a bit tenuous.
i) If people think they can get away with it they will do anything. This is why murders take place in areas with the death penalty, no-one ever commits a crime assuming they will get caught.Cody211282 said:
ii)If people feel they can get something for nothing, generally they will.
iii) The publishers of games actively punish you for buying their product (see DRM, activation limits etc), why pay good money for a flawed product when you can steal it and get a better service at the same time?
Obviously it's more complicated than that, but they're the major points these days.
Personally I think publishers would do better looking at ways to shift the consequences of piracy onto the pirates. Rather than their current approach of attacking the paying customer with everything they have, because that is counter productive.
Agreed.KingTiger said:
Third World Countries accept PIRACY because it makes these things accessible to everyone.
The same goes for consoles, PCs and mobile phones mods.
We also have other items here made much affordable but have the same quality as those who pay premium.
We got them all here in the Philippines.
So why should only the rich people deserve to own such commodities then?
They're not any different from the less fortunate ones.
I have (or had) three reasons-
1) Lack of accessibility. It's an obscure game, or it's just plain old. 5 years ago I didn't know about steam, and trying to track down obscure games like Gothica or ones that were just plain old (Tales of Phantasia) and couldn't feasibly buy so it was no skin off my back. When the games did become more available I bought legit copies (ToP for the GBA kept me busy for a while.)
2) Lack of.... well knowing. I'd have to dig up the youtube video but as the big cheese at valve said- these are people with 2000$ computers pirating games. It's not a matter of money, its a matter of exposure and beyond. PC gamers are a fickle bunch- we don't buy games at the drop of a hat, and the buy / sell / trade market for us is just small. All of this, plus the uncertainty of specs means that if I'm going to drop 60 bucks on a game I need to know it'll work.
3) Going off that, there's a lack of exposure. Simply knowing whether a game will work only goes so far. If I'm pirating a game its because I honestly do not want to spend money on a game that's just bad. I did it with Spore. I did it with COD4:MW2. I did it with COH: Tales of Valor. My money isn't tight, but I'm not going to give hand outs. If they're not releasing playable demos I'm probably just going to work out the middle man and pirate it. Often times the pirated version are buggy to the point that if the game is actually good I'll justify the money to buy it outright. If not? I wasn't your customer anyways.
1) Lack of accessibility. It's an obscure game, or it's just plain old. 5 years ago I didn't know about steam, and trying to track down obscure games like Gothica or ones that were just plain old (Tales of Phantasia) and couldn't feasibly buy so it was no skin off my back. When the games did become more available I bought legit copies (ToP for the GBA kept me busy for a while.)
2) Lack of.... well knowing. I'd have to dig up the youtube video but as the big cheese at valve said- these are people with 2000$ computers pirating games. It's not a matter of money, its a matter of exposure and beyond. PC gamers are a fickle bunch- we don't buy games at the drop of a hat, and the buy / sell / trade market for us is just small. All of this, plus the uncertainty of specs means that if I'm going to drop 60 bucks on a game I need to know it'll work.
3) Going off that, there's a lack of exposure. Simply knowing whether a game will work only goes so far. If I'm pirating a game its because I honestly do not want to spend money on a game that's just bad. I did it with Spore. I did it with COD4:MW2. I did it with COH: Tales of Valor. My money isn't tight, but I'm not going to give hand outs. If they're not releasing playable demos I'm probably just going to work out the middle man and pirate it. Often times the pirated version are buggy to the point that if the game is actually good I'll justify the money to buy it outright. If not? I wasn't your customer anyways.
