Why do people think it's ok to pirate games?

[Quiet Stranger]

I have been thinking about this for a while now and can't seem to come up with a good reason why someone would pirate a game. My line of thinking is since you didn't pay for it your stealing, and well stealing is wrong and a criminal action thus don't pirate game. But there has to be a reason so many people pirate games, maybe I just don't get it or haven't heard the right reason, "Because I can" "I don't have the money to spend on games/don't want to spend money on games" are the ones I hear most and they are not even that good of reasons to do it.
So I was wondering if anyone else had an incite or have heard a good argument for it?

OH HERRO AGAIN! And I'm just gonna say this once more (okay I will say it many more times) but there's no such thing as good and evil, everything is opinion, so there ya go

Yes there is stealing something that is not yours is evil, killing in cold blood is evil, saying that there is nothing that is evil is just an excuse to make it so you sleep better at night.

Lawl, my friend you make me smile, looks like the got to you too, too funny, just cause something says something doesn't make it so, like for example, Let's say someone says a flower smells nice (roses) and the next person says the roses smell awful, who's right or wrong? Neither, it's all based on opinion, to person A he is right and the flowers smell nice, to person B he is right and that the flowers smell bad, it's the exact same thing with this, for another (more extreme example) lets look at 9/11, to you and all other people (mainly those who aren't terrorists) thought it was awful and terrible, to the terrorists it was one of the best things to ever happen, but again who is right or wrong? Neither because it's all based on opinion also a reason you only believe things are evil is because you've been told they're evil for so long you probably wouldn't believe otherwise.

I also sleep so well at night because I don't think much at all (when I go to bed) my bed is also very cozy and I'm usually VERY tired so when I go to bed I usually hit the pillow pretty hard

 

[Snotnarok]

Because some games the companies are out of business or there's no way to buy it new and there's no point to buying a used copy because it doesn't support the company that you're aiming to support, only game stop.

 

[Dahni]

With your car reference the pirate would go out and take a car anyway and drive it even though they didn't buy it thus they are not entitled to it, and the fact that they think they are is rather insulting to people who work hard to be able to buy something.

love how you ignored everything else i said and picked up on a sort of bad anecdote.

It's a talent I picked up from games, find the glowing weak spot and hit it until it dies, also I would just be stating what I already have before but I will again.

Lost sale or not the person now has something they didn't pay for, they stole a copy thus they don't deserve to have it, gaming isn't a right, it's not something you entitled to, it's something you do for fun to pass the time, and if you don't have the money to buy the game then you should get a better job or take up another hobby, as I said before as much as I like fast cars I don't have enough money for any, and that doesn't mean I can just take a car and go joyriding anyway.

I never said it was a right. I don't agree with pirating. But I'm just saying that people can't use "THE DEVELOPER IS LOSING MONEY" as a defence as to why they don't agree.

 

[signingupforgames]

I don't think they believe it's right. It's just that they distract themselves from the morality of it by playing.

 

[Cody211282]

Well here is a solution, just don't buy games, it's nothing more then entertainment, how the hell are you so entitled to it you would steal it from someone else?

The point being that he'd never buy the game because he can't afford it. Follow that through, and you get that; yes, he has no right to have the game, but because he wouldn't ever get the game in the first place what bloody difference does it make? Either way, the developer gets no money.

The difference is they are breaking the law to get something they doesn't deserve and should be punish accordingly. If you cant afford it to bad, get a better job or improve your living situation until you can, and if that is the reason they shouldn't be playing games anyway.

While I'll agree that they have no right to the game, the rest I'll discuss.

You are assuming that the law is absolute and correct in all things. It isn't, hasn't been and likely never will be.

You are also assuming that "getting a better job and improving your living situation" is an easy thing to do. Again, it isn't.

Having money doesn't mean deserving. How is any child that is bought something by their parents, or buys something with money gotten from their parents, deserving of what they get? I know some royal cunts that have money coming out their arse, while some pure legends have very little.

Also, while I'm not saying that this is true for @KingTiger, someone who has a lower standard of living surely needs the entertainment more than those who have money to burn, and therefore it'd be morally wrong of us to deny them their pirating of games which, as I said in my previous post, makes absolutely no difference to the producer of the game, or anyone at all.

This is all in reference to those that can't afford the games. For those that can and still pirate, I have no respect for and feel that they should be held accountable for their actions.[/quote]

I know the law isn't correct in every aspect, I know there have been many laws that are plain out wrong, but this isn't one of them, this is as simple as someone not willing to work for what they want and taking it, and that is wrong.

With the "getting a better job and improving your living situation" thing I know it is a very hard thing to do, I have been poor before and getting out of it is not an easy thing, but it's not impossible and should be worked on before trying to get free entrainment your not entitled to.

I get that everyone needs entertainment and there are options for everyone, they don't all need to game, and they defensibly don't need to steal, even if you have no money there are still librarys in most countrys, cards, board games, running, basketball, and a ton of other cheep ways to have fun that isn't breaking the law. honestly I have no respect for people who steal period because there are always better ways of getting something you want.

 

[Cody211282]

With your car reference the pirate would go out and take a car anyway and drive it even though they didn't buy it thus they are not entitled to it, and the fact that they think they are is rather insulting to people who work hard to be able to buy something.

love how you ignored everything else i said and picked up on a sort of bad anecdote.

It's a talent I picked up from games, find the glowing weak spot and hit it until it dies, also I would just be stating what I already have before but I will again.

Lost sale or not the person now has something they didn't pay for, they stole a copy thus they don't deserve to have it, gaming isn't a right, it's not something you entitled to, it's something you do for fun to pass the time, and if you don't have the money to buy the game then you should get a better job or take up another hobby, as I said before as much as I like fast cars I don't have enough money for any, and that doesn't mean I can just take a car and go joyriding anyway.

I never said it was a right. I don't agree with pirating. But I'm just saying that people can't use "THE DEVELOPER IS LOSING MONEY" as a defence as to why they don't agree.

I understand that but that's not what I was trying to say, I was saying that it was wrong to steal it, and they are no way entitled to free games.

 

[lasherman]

I have been thinking about this for a while now and can't seem to come up with a good reason why someone would pirate a game. My line of thinking is since you didn't pay for it your stealing, and well stealing is wrong and a criminal action thus don't pirate game. But there has to be a reason so many people pirate games, maybe I just don't get it or haven't heard the right reason, "Because I can" "I don't have the money to spend on games/don't want to spend money on games" are the ones I hear most and they are not even that good of reasons to do it.
So I was wondering if anyone else had an incite or have heard a good argument for it?

A good argument? Well, simply put, it isn't stealing. If I go out and steal a car, then I am taking a car away from someone else. If, however, I pirate a game/movie/song, the company that made it isn't losing anything, I'm just not giving them my money.

Sure, if you have the money to pay for the game, go ahead and pay for it and support the company that made it. But in a situation like mine, where your choices are either spend your food money on video games, don't buy any new games, or download a copy of it for free, then (I hate using this term) it's a victimless crime.

Once I have the time to get a full time job, and can afford more than the very basic necessities, I will go back to paying for my games in an effort to ensure those companies will keep making games, but until then I will pirate without regret because of the knowledge that I'm not hurting anyone or anything in doing so.

 

[Soviet Steve]

For your first 2 I would say just don't buy the game then, it's a rather easy solution.

Indeed, hence why some pirate instead.

As for the polarizing games that just means the person will have to spend more time researching before they buy it, something I do to almost every game, and know that in the end it's a gamble and that's the chance you take.

Some people with wallets that aren't throbbing with cash (Kids or poor people for instance) aren't as keen on gambling with their cash as people like me would hope however. I'm not branding all poor or underage gamers as pirates but these groups would tend towards being picky about what they dish out cash on.

As for the research bit, some people might not realise all their options in this regard and one point that cannot be argued is that the best and most personalized research would indeed be to play the game. The best alternative I can think of would be the let's playing combined with a test of the demo (if available), but that still falls short of the lure of piracy.

Finally there's the 'lol i anti-establushment i kool!!!' or the LIAEIK effect amongst youngsters which also draws them to piracy.

 

[Skullmaster123]

If it's no longer made. it's perfectly damn fine.
The companies won't lose any money, so you're not hurting them.

 

[esin]

Why buy the cow when you can have someone secretly clone the cow and then give you the clone for free?

Oddest, yet most accurate analogy I've heard so far.

 

[Cody211282]

I have been thinking about this for a while now and can't seem to come up with a good reason why someone would pirate a game. My line of thinking is since you didn't pay for it your stealing, and well stealing is wrong and a criminal action thus don't pirate game. But there has to be a reason so many people pirate games, maybe I just don't get it or haven't heard the right reason, "Because I can" "I don't have the money to spend on games/don't want to spend money on games" are the ones I hear most and they are not even that good of reasons to do it.
So I was wondering if anyone else had an incite or have heard a good argument for it?

OH HERRO AGAIN! And I'm just gonna say this once more (okay I will say it many more times) but there's no such thing as good and evil, everything is opinion, so there ya go

Yes there is stealing something that is not yours is evil, killing in cold blood is evil, saying that there is nothing that is evil is just an excuse to make it so you sleep better at night.

Lawl, my friend you make me smile, looks like the got to you too, too funny, just cause something says something doesn't make it so, like for example, Let's say someone says a flower smells nice (roses) and the next person says the roses smell awful, who's right or wrong? Neither, it's all based on opinion, to person A he is right and the flowers smell nice, to person B he is right and that the flowers smell bad, it's the exact same thing with this, for another (more extreme example) lets look at 9/11, to you and all other people (mainly those who aren't terrorists) thought it was awful and terrible, to the terrorists it was one of the best things to ever happen, but again who is right or wrong? Neither because it's all based on opinion also a reason you only believe things are evil is because you've been told they're evil for so long you probably wouldn't believe otherwise.

I also sleep so well at night because I don't think much at all (when I go to bed) my bed is also very cozy and I'm usually VERY tired so when I go to bed I usually hit the pillow pretty hard

Well considering I rate the 9/11 terrorist as evil as Stalin and Hitler your not making a good point and your making me think your morally bankrupt, there is a set of things that are right and wrong, stealing is wrong, killing is wrong, rape is wrong. You sir should have known this by know.

 

[kurupt87]

I have been thinking about this for a while now and can't seem to come up with a good reason why someone would pirate a game. My line of thinking is since you didn't pay for it your stealing, and well stealing is wrong and a criminal action thus don't pirate game. But there has to be a reason so many people pirate games, maybe I just don't get it or haven't heard the right reason, "Because I can" "I don't have the money to spend on games/don't want to spend money on games" are the ones I hear most and they are not even that good of reasons to do it.
So I was wondering if anyone else had an incite or have heard a good argument for it?

OH HERRO AGAIN! And I'm just gonna say this once more (okay I will say it many more times) but there's no such thing as good and evil, everything is opinion, so there ya go

Yes there is stealing something that is not yours is evil, killing in cold blood is evil, saying that there is nothing that is evil is just an excuse to make it so you sleep better at night.

Err, no it's not that simple. While yes, things like theft and murder are generally accepted and thought of as bad, it's because it inconviences/causes harm to people, and so we are brought up to see these things as wrong.

They are not good or evil in themselves, they are an action that someone has taken. Peoples opinions of the action though, that is what makes something good or bad, and the reasons behind those actions.

I know, I'm bringing up Hitler, but w/e. Killing Hitler before he came into power, that'd be an undeniably good thing to do, right? Imagine the untold millions of lives that would be saved.
Hang on, what about Hitler himself? He sure as shit wouldn't see this as a good thing to do. Neither would Germans of the time before the war, or alot of the world when looking at it morally. He had good policies and ideas when he came to power and was trying to drag Germany out of the shit it was in from after The Great War.

Stealing all the guns from the people that mean us harm is an undeniably good thing, right?
Again, think of the suffering that you'd stop.
From their perspective though it'd be bad, for whatever reason they would have to think that they are in the right, "they" have a reason for opposing the eponymous "us". It's a difference in society at some level, and what the societies hold dear, and it doesn't come down to what is "right", and never will. Such a thing doesn't exist. It comes down to whoever has the biggest stick, and is willing to use it.

 

[Nerdygamer89]

Pirating has commonly been labeled "stealing" because publishers want to milk the consumer for all the cash they can (so that everyone buys their worthless crap for an exorbitant price), and thus try to appeal to people's all too often logically incorrect sense of morals by associating it with a real crime. Again, a logically incorrect association. The code in, say, a video game is infinitely copyable, so how do you manage to steal something that can be copied infinitely, for absolutely no cost? The only way to do so would be to copy it and then delete all source code belonging to the company. Stealing necessitates that someone loses something from the theft -- when there's no loss, there's no theft.

Piracy is a moral gray area at best so get off your soap boxes, moral crusaders. Oh and for the record, I never pirate anything, I just don't see anything morally objectionable about it and hate seeing people running around trying to impose their feeble grasp of morality on others by brow-beating them for a non-existent crime.

 

[PunkyMcGee]

this may or may not have been covered but here is my opnion: i don't illigaly download games OR music i may only have 3000+ songs while some of my friends have 100,000+ songs. but i suport the music and game industries.

 

[Cody211282]

I have been thinking about this for a while now and can't seem to come up with a good reason why someone would pirate a game. My line of thinking is since you didn't pay for it your stealing, and well stealing is wrong and a criminal action thus don't pirate game. But there has to be a reason so many people pirate games, maybe I just don't get it or haven't heard the right reason, "Because I can" "I don't have the money to spend on games/don't want to spend money on games" are the ones I hear most and they are not even that good of reasons to do it.
So I was wondering if anyone else had an incite or have heard a good argument for it?

A good argument? Well, simply put, it isn't stealing. If I go out and steal a car, then I am taking a car away from someone else. If, however, I pirate a game/movie/song, the company that made it isn't losing anything, I'm just not giving them my money.

Sure, if you have the money to pay for the game, go ahead and pay for it and support the company that made it. But in a situation like mine, where your choices are either spend your food money on video games, don't buy any new games, or download a copy of it for free, then (I hate using this term) it's a victimless crime.

Once I have the time to get a full time job, and can afford more than the very basic necessities, I will go back to paying for my games in an effort to ensure those companies will keep making games, but until then I will pirate without regret because of the knowledge that I'm not hurting anyone or anything in doing so.

Well as i stated before it is stealing, you taking something you didn't pay for I know your not physically taking something from the company but the idea is the same, you think you deserve something you can't pay for and take it upon yourself to commit a theft and take the game you want. I don't have much money now, so I don't buy games ether, what I do is look for a job and wait until I have the money to buy what I want.

 

[Criquefreak]

If you're expecting a good reason for it, you're in for a long wait. Petty crimes are largely perpetrated on pathetic lack of rationale and casual ease. Doesn't help the situation much that a company attempting to take legal action on an individual will wind up costing them more than the product being stolen.

 

[Cody211282]

For your first 2 I would say just don't buy the game then, it's a rather easy solution.

Indeed, hence why some pirate instead.

As for the polarizing games that just means the person will have to spend more time researching before they buy it, something I do to almost every game, and know that in the end it's a gamble and that's the chance you take.

Some people with wallets that aren't throbbing with cash (Kids or poor people for instance) aren't as keen on gambling with their cash as people like me would hope however. I'm not branding all poor or underage gamers as pirates but these groups would tend towards being picky about what they dish out cash on.

As for the research bit, some people might not realise all their options in this regard and one point that cannot be argued is that the best and most personalized research would indeed be to play the game. The best alternative I can think of would be the let's playing combined with a test of the demo (if available), but that still falls short of the lure of piracy.

Finally there's the 'lol i anti-establushment i kool!!!' or the LIAEIK effect amongst youngsters which also draws them to piracy.

I understand the not having money thing, I don't have a job so I know the temptation of wanting to take something that isn't mine because I feel it's not fair that I can't have it, well I don't because it's wrong and when I get the money I can buy it. As for turning to piracy because you don't like the DRM or the company making it I'm sorry you ether buy the game and support something you don't agree with and have fun, or you don't make sure the people don't get your money for something you don't think is worth it and just don't play the game, there is no option 3.

 

[jasoncyrus]

snip

Because they charge too much for games that are of a low standard compared to the technology available. If I'm gonna be paying close to $80 for some games I want Final fantasy the spirits within type graphics, where EVERY HAIR is animated. Not some crap twaddle that of year 2000 standards.

People feel they are getting seriously ripped off for the standard they are recieving, thus why they have not ill feelings towards making unliscenced copies.

EDIT: You wouldnt buy a Lada for £20k would you? Or hell even a ford escort for £20k either, hell not even a brand new Skoda costs £20k.

 

[esin]

there is a set of things that are right and wrong, stealing is wrong, killing is wrong, rape is wrong. You sir should have known this by know.

Moral relativism FTW. What if you killed someone who was highly likely to cause more death and overall human misery than you ever would just by killing him alone? At its core an action is just an action and 'good' an 'evil' are arbitrary tags tacked on by an observer from their skewed perspective or unique definition.