You are killing PC gaming. (Updated)

[vede]

I actively pirate and distribute free games to my friends. Why? because they are too pour to afford it! set the prices at decent levels and I wouldnt.

If someone from my country wanted to buy an original game, he must go without paying his phone or electricity bills, because thats how much it costs (100$), whenever I meet up with friend I give them up to 17 pirated games free just to spite capitalist eggheads who act like vampires.

a 300$ windows 7 is almost 1/3 or 1/4 of a salary here(An Arabian country)! how can people afford it without starving to death? the answer is piracy. When developers become more sane and set reasonable prices then I would stop pirating(Example Valve, I never pirate them as they are concerned with the gamers, they just offered Team fortress 2 for 2.5 $ in holloween)

I am a proud pirate just to piss off blood sucking capitalists.

All right comrade, if you want games but don't want to pay ANYTHING for them, how the hell are these so called "blood sucking capitalists" going to make any further great games?

Now I'm not a dick about socialism, it can get a lot of shit done, but anti-capitalism =/= socialism.

In this massive process of free dissemination of games why don't you are least ask your patrons to pay what they can? I used to live in Abu Dhabi, I know for millions of people, especially migrant Pakistani workers, they live on incredibly low salaries for the cost of living so I can empathise with this but if they ARE starving to death why are they spending their TIME on video games? Hell, the hardware alone costs a bundle.

Your argument seems far too convenient and contrived, it is certainly unsustainable.

And where is your respect for the rule of law?

The problem with your argument is that you, like so many people here, fail to realize that game developers don't need money to make games. All the blood-sucking capitalists will stop making games, sure, but you need to open your eyes and realize that they're not the only kids on the block. They're a minority in comparison with the amount of indie developers in the world making great games and releasing them for free.

Said it before, will say it again: Game developers make games because the want to make games, not because they want to be showered in cash.

This isn't just you, either, Treblaine, this is pretty much everyone here.

The only thing piracy will kill is big game companies. People getting games for free can't possibly hurt you when the game is free anyway. And if you want to say that there's not any good or innovative free games, you need to take a look around.

 

[Littlenorwegians]

*Sigh*

Grow up, the lot of you.

 

[tsolless]

PC gaming has been "dying" for decades now.

Seriously tons of analysts and different companies have been predicting the decline and death of PC gaming for years upon years and it's still going strong.

 

[Treblaine]

I actively pirate and distribute free games to my friends. Why? because they are too pour to afford it! set the prices at decent levels and I wouldnt.

If someone from my country wanted to buy an original game, he must go without paying his phone or electricity bills, because thats how much it costs (100$), whenever I meet up with friend I give them up to 17 pirated games free just to spite capitalist eggheads who act like vampires.

a 300$ windows 7 is almost 1/3 or 1/4 of a salary here(An Arabian country)! how can people afford it without starving to death? the answer is piracy. When developers become more sane and set reasonable prices then I would stop pirating(Example Valve, I never pirate them as they are concerned with the gamers, they just offered Team fortress 2 for 2.5 $ in holloween)

I am a proud pirate just to piss off blood sucking capitalists.

All right comrade, if you want games but don't want to pay ANYTHING for them, how the hell are these so called "blood sucking capitalists" going to make any further great games?

Now I'm not a dick about socialism, it can get a lot of shit done, but anti-capitalism =/= socialism.

In this massive process of free dissemination of games why don't you are least ask your patrons to pay what they can? I used to live in Abu Dhabi, I know for millions of people, especially migrant Pakistani workers, they live on incredibly low salaries for the cost of living so I can empathise with this but if they ARE starving to death why are they spending their TIME on video games? Hell, the hardware alone costs a bundle.

Your argument seems far too convenient and contrived, it is certainly unsustainable.

And where is your respect for the rule of law?

The problem with your argument is that you, like so many people here, fail to realize that game developers don't need money to make games. All the blood-sucking capitalists will stop making games, sure, but you need to open your eyes and realize that they're not the only kids on the block. They're a minority in comparison with the amount of indie developers in the world making great games and releasing them for free.

Said it before, will say it again: Game developers make games because the want to make games, not because they want to be showered in cash.

This isn't just you, either, Treblaine, this is pretty much everyone here.

The only thing piracy will kill is big game companies. People getting games for free can't possibly hurt you when the game is free anyway. And if you want to say that there's not any good or innovative free games, you need to take a look around.

OK, name me an idie game which is not only better than Call of Duty 4 but matches the scope, quality, production values and polish and most importantly MADE FROM SCRATCH. That means it can't use the game engine made by a "blood sucking capitalist".

And the final caveat is these indie developers did not ever ask for a single penny, not one donation and won't accept any money at all. On top of that the indie developers must not have tried to use their game as a reason to get employment so you can strike them right off the list if they gain any advertising revenue or go on to make a full retail version like Alien Hominid or Garry's Mod.

It must also NOT be a remake (such as Black Mesa Source) as that took the layout and pacing ideas from a "blood sucking capitalist" nor a port.

You are incredibly naive if you think indie developers are going to spend every shred of their waking hour slaving over a game and never get a penny for it... how are THEY going to feed themselves? How are they going to pay for the hardware, equipment, mo-cap, voice actors, advertising, pension funds, insurance, other employees, food, mortgage, their kids, THEIR ENTIRE LIVES.

It's almost as if you read "indie developers" as "work for free" which is a disgusting insult to people who work SO hard just at the hope that they will eventually make it big.

I suppose you're one of "those people" who never once consider donating to indie development projects yet demand they deliver everything. How incredibly selfish.

indie JUST means independent, they want to make a living, pay for their internet connection. Who pays for YOUR internet connection?

Indie developers do what they do it for the passion of it but also hugely for the recognition, most successful indie developers go on to join developers/publishers to fully realise their game vision such as the developers of Narbacular Drop joined Valve to make Portal, same with Team Fortress.

And most indie developers are incredibly dependant on existing game engines such as Source and Id2, etc.

You know how much Braid cost to be developed? $200'000!

You expect this guy to spend one fifth of a million dollars on a game yet he should not get a penny for it? You cold bastard.

I won't pirate Modern Warfare 2, since beyond all the bullshit they have worked hard to make a seemingly great game and I won't give more ammunition to the DRM-assholes to lock it down even more.

 

[shadow skill]

I hate strike through because people can still ready what you say.

Some people pirate games to try them out before buying. Something more manufacturers could avoid by releasing more demos.

I've done this alot. I bought the Witcher, Quake 4, Max Payne 1 and 2 after pirating. Demos usually are not enough for me to get a feel for a game. I would be so there if I could legitimately rent PC games....

 

[park92]

if pc players are that mad why dont they get a ps3 and attach a mouse and a keyboard onto it

 

[vede]

I actively pirate and distribute free games to my friends. Why? because they are too pour to afford it! set the prices at decent levels and I wouldnt.

If someone from my country wanted to buy an original game, he must go without paying his phone or electricity bills, because thats how much it costs (100$), whenever I meet up with friend I give them up to 17 pirated games free just to spite capitalist eggheads who act like vampires.

a 300$ windows 7 is almost 1/3 or 1/4 of a salary here(An Arabian country)! how can people afford it without starving to death? the answer is piracy. When developers become more sane and set reasonable prices then I would stop pirating(Example Valve, I never pirate them as they are concerned with the gamers, they just offered Team fortress 2 for 2.5 $ in holloween)

I am a proud pirate just to piss off blood sucking capitalists.

All right comrade, if you want games but don't want to pay ANYTHING for them, how the hell are these so called "blood sucking capitalists" going to make any further great games?

Now I'm not a dick about socialism, it can get a lot of shit done, but anti-capitalism =/= socialism.

In this massive process of free dissemination of games why don't you are least ask your patrons to pay what they can? I used to live in Abu Dhabi, I know for millions of people, especially migrant Pakistani workers, they live on incredibly low salaries for the cost of living so I can empathise with this but if they ARE starving to death why are they spending their TIME on video games? Hell, the hardware alone costs a bundle.

Your argument seems far too convenient and contrived, it is certainly unsustainable.

And where is your respect for the rule of law?

The problem with your argument is that you, like so many people here, fail to realize that game developers don't need money to make games. All the blood-sucking capitalists will stop making games, sure, but you need to open your eyes and realize that they're not the only kids on the block. They're a minority in comparison with the amount of indie developers in the world making great games and releasing them for free.

Said it before, will say it again: Game developers make games because the want to make games, not because they want to be showered in cash.

This isn't just you, either, Treblaine, this is pretty much everyone here.

The only thing piracy will kill is big game companies. People getting games for free can't possibly hurt you when the game is free anyway. And if you want to say that there's not any good or innovative free games, you need to take a look around.

*Treblaine ranting in my general direction*

I haven't played COD4, but I believe the point you're making here is that it's impossible for indie games to be better than commercial games. Which is pretty dumb. Sauerbraten is the best deathmatch game I have *ever* played. It has great graphics, is amazingly optimized, has awesome gameplay, has one of the best level editors I've ever seen for 3d levels, is free, and didn't use an engine made by anyone but the developers of it. Battle for Wesnoth is the best strategy game I've ever seen. And it's free, and uses its own engine. Roguelikes offer the best dungeon-crawling experience you can ask for, and the vast majority of them (and the best ones) are all free.

I'm ignoring your bit about how donations make indie developers like big companies, based on how ridiculous it is. (And I have donated to independent developers, so you'd be good to stop assuming I'm some sort of terrible person.) The fact that someone might want to give the developer some money has nothing to do with the intentions of the developer. Even the fact that a game costs money at all doesn't mean the developer cares more about money than the game. Look at World of Goo. They had insane levels of piracy, but they didn't care. Hell, recently, they even had an event allowing people to pay however much money they wanted for their game, be it a single penny or a thousand dollars. A huge number of people got the game for one cent, but 2d Boy didn't care.

And you don't need to work on a game in every waking hour to finish it. A massive number of independent developers make games in their free time, because it's fun for them.

And I doubt Braid cost that much money to be developed. I know far better games that were developed for no money at all.

And I'm not going to sit here and shout at a wall trying to show you people that games can be developed without big business or without the need for people to buy games. You're all obviously stuck with the idea that game companies are the only people who can make good games, so I'm out.

 

[Treblaine]

I haven't played COD4, but I believe the point you're making here is that it's impossible for indie games to be better than commercial games. Which is pretty dumb. Sauerbraten is the best deathmatch game I have *ever* played. It has great graphics, is amazingly optimized, has awesome gameplay, has one of the best level editors I've ever seen for 3d levels, is free, and didn't use an engine made by anyone but the developers of it. Battle for Wesnoth is the best strategy game I've ever seen. And it's free, and uses its own engine. Roguelikes offer the best dungeon-crawling experience you can ask for, and the vast majority of them (and the best ones) are all free.

I'm ignoring your bit about how donations make indie developers like big companies, based on how ridiculous it is. (And I have donated to independent developers, so you'd be good to stop assuming I'm some sort of terrible person.) The fact that someone might want to give the developer some money has nothing to do with the intentions of the developer. Even the fact that a game costs money at all doesn't mean the developer cares more about money than the game. Look at World of Goo. They had insane levels of piracy, but they didn't care. Hell, recently, they even had an event allowing people to pay however much money they wanted for their game, be it a single penny or a thousand dollars. A huge number of people got the game for one cent, but 2d Boy didn't care.

And you don't need to work on a game in every waking hour to finish it. A massive number of independent developers make games in their free time, because it's fun for them.

And I doubt Braid cost that much money to be developed. I know far better games that were developed for no money at all.

And I'm not going to sit here and shout at a wall trying to show you people that games can be developed without big business or without the need for people to buy games. You're all obviously stuck with the idea that game companies are the only people who can make good games, so I'm out.

I'm sorry but as great as cube 2: Sauerbraten is it simply cannot match the likes of Call of Duty 4 or Team Fortress 2 or Portal or literally hundreds of other games that would with all likelihood never have been made as indie titles.

Now I must expose your hypocrisy, that you are willing to support indie developers with donations... why not show the same appreciation for all the published games that you pirate?

I mean PC games go VERY cheap, especially a few years after release, you could easily support them by buying a copy much later when the price falls to a a fair amount. Import if necessary.

Should it not be irrelevant that a Publisher have provided the means to make highly advanced games that include mo-cap, detailed modeling, voice-acting and the list goes on. All these things cost MONEY! I mean say you're making a shooter, how do you get the sounds of explosions and gunfire? Make noises into a mic!?!? No, you have to buy expensive sound equipment or at least hire an expert sound technician with their own equipment then go to gun ranges, bomb ranges and conduct days and days of recordings and then figure out how to implement that in a 3D world with 5.1 surround sound...

Look, I'm not advocating big business as the "ONLY" solution but you are being ludicrously naive if you think all the great games we love today can be made by just a disjointed group of people working in their spare time. As games get more advanced to match the power of hardware then more resources are needed which means why can't a group of Developers form some sort of Team and make a deal with a publisher to get the money to make the game they envision.

You state that you oppose "big business" yet you use the language of someone opposed to ALL business, as if it is somehow inherently wrong to try and make a living and dare I say earn a profit off of computer games.

What about those self publishing developers like Valve? In that case 100% of the money you pay goes to the developers.

Again I ask... who pays for YOUR internet? I ask this as YOU wail against developers who make games "for profit", who pays for the comfort you live in? Where did THAT money come from?

 

[Rednog]

Without reading most of the thread, I pirate occasionally and I for one really don't care whether or not someone looks down on me for it. You can claim it is killing PC gaming all you want, but in all likely hood it isn't. You're assuming that each pirated copy is a loss, but in reality most of the people who probably wouldn't buy the games if there was no such thing as piracy.
That and people pirate for all kinds of reasons, I personally just started in the last year and a half. Why you might ask, primarily I moved to a non english speaking country and the games sold in stores are only in the local language (why the english language is ripped out, I have no clue). I've tried to have games shipped in but usually shipping costs + ridiculous taxes nearly doubles the cost of games. Tried to use steam but downloading a game off steam is nigh impossible with a 50-90kbps connection in my home (and almost every other port is closed).
Secondly, a lot of PC versions have been getting the shaft in one way or another, bought ghostbusters for the PC, sorry no multiplayer....too bad you opened the box already.

And finally I do like trying a lot of games, I bought a copy of the witcher, my friend happened to have a copy, played about 3 hours and promptly returned it, because I thought it was a waste of money. Nine times out of ten I don't have an option to try a game like that and the game and box end up just taking space on my C drive after a few hours of play.

I fully support the games I do enjoy and those companies have gotten my money. Though, I am a bit intrigued why the internet hammer falls so hard on PC pirates, when people watch movies online, tv online, read books, etc...hell most people I know stream shows day and night instead of buying them on DvD and they have no qualm but you pirated a game OMG WTF THAT IS WRONG!

That's pretty much it in my view, whether people think its wrong or right, I really don't care, I honestly am not going to change my actions anytime soon.

 

[oppp7]

I don't pirate, although I do buy used games from Gamestop/yardsales. Last time I pirated was back in 2000-2001 when my cousin copied Rollercoaster Tycoon and Warcraft 2 on a cd for me.
Also, ninjas are better.

 

[TylerC]

Quite frankly, I am sick and tired of people thinking it's easier to pirate PC games, "but in general it is much more difficult and time consuming to open up your box, soldering shit and adding modchips." - you don't do it yourself, you go to a store, pay approximately as much as you'd pay for an expensive game, come back two days later, PRESTO, you can play any console game, as for "kissing goodbye online gaming" if you pirate on a console, it's just as true for a cracked PC game, in most cases you need the original to play online.I agree with traukanshaku,the issue of "pirating being greater on the PC" is, was, and forever will be nothing more than a shallow excuse.

PC pirating takes center stage, because you have to make no modifications to your system, or spend any money at all. As people have in this thread, they usually pirate because they are too lazy or don't have the money, but I guess in the long run getting your console modded probably pays for itself within the day you get it.

And as for the whole demo aspect of pirating, more often then not, online games will provide a demo or a (insert amount of time) length trial.

 

[Bocaj2000]

I am more than guilty of pirating. However, that's ONLY because I'm in highschool and I don't have a job. When I have a job, I have no need to pirate other than to use as a demo. Once I work up the cash, I do plan on going to game stop weekly, as I've done in the past.

Bull. Every person I know who has ever said that, then got money, continued pirating games. Why? Because they were free.

I never pirate games myself. I think it's wrong, if you owned a business, then some one came in and stole your products, would you be mad?

You don't even know who I am. I have bought games that I have played illegally before - for example I bought Guild Wars and Left4Dead after leeching off of someone else's account. I have walked out of an FYE with a CD in my hand that the security machine didn't pick up, and I walked up the escalator to give it back. Don't assume I'm a bad guy just because you know someone who is.

edit:

I hate strike through because people can still ready what you say.

Some people pirate games to try them out before buying. Something more manufacturers could avoid by releasing more demos.

I've done this alot. I bought the Witcher, Quake 4, Max Payne 1 and 2 after pirating. Demos usually are not enough for me to get a feel for a game. I would be so there if I could legitimately rent PC games....

I agree. Also, if it should cheaper to rent games -$7 for 5 days, screw that.