An excuse for Piracy.

[Aurgelmir]

1. Outside of a game no longer being in production, or downloading a copy after yours is wrecked/has ridiculously restrictive DRM, there are no excuses for piracy. And especially don't try to make ridiculous arguments about "try before you buy" when it comes to music. You youtube that shit and check out the songs on there. If you like, you buy the album. If you don't, well, you obviously don't buy the album. Simple, no?

2. I've only heard a few of the songs and I'm not a fan. It's not often that I'll hear something I don't like, and their new album seems to be one of those few times. It's fucking terrible is what it is.

The issue with pirating "as backup for own copy" is sort of not a bad argument, untill you look at how you get your copy: TORRENTS

Because you are always doing something illigal when downloading through torrents, even though you own a million copies of the file; you are uploading/distributing this file.

In a lot of countries it's usually not the act of downloading that is illegal, its the act of uploading.

 

[Sparcrypt]

There is NO ARGUMENT to say piracy is OK - you are taking other peoples products and not giving them payment for it.

Grow up and just admit you know it's bad but you just don't care.

There, that was hard.

 

[Aurgelmir]

You pirated civil war!!!!!!!!

its awesome isnt it!!!!! i love it so very much (i brought it but whatever
the punishers appearence is so so awesome

I was given it to me by a friend (so yes I pirated it)

And it is what made me a Marvel nerd And is why I buy american comics at all

But yeah its a great event, and a good starting point for a new reader of comics.

 

[Nevyrmoore]

The issue with pirating "as backup for own copy" is sort of not a bad argument, untill you look at how you get your copy: TORRENTS

Because you are always doing something illigal when downloading through torrents, even though you own a million copies of the file; you are uploading/distributing this file.

In which case the answer is simple: you turn off your uploading capabilities. It's quite simple to do, you just change the settings to stop uploading at a download:upload ratio of 0:0. This allows you to get hold of a backup copy (if you're allowed to do so) without distributing it to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.

 

[HeySeansOnline]

There is no excuse, it's bad, it's wrong. It's overblown in soem scenarios, and is in a way the marijuana or gay marriage of the internet, but is still bad. It has detrimental effects on the large level it is executed. And I do it.

Granted I only pirate SNES games, why? Because I don't feel like surfing ebay, and hooking up an old console just to play Megaman X. But I'm still taking money away from the game companies by not buying that Super Ghouls and Ghosts remake, or not downloading A Link To The Past on the Wii. Sure that's my excuse, but it doesn't make it right.

 

[Kyogissun]

So Escapists, I pose you two questions.
1. What is your excuse for Piracy?
2. What did you think of Linkin Park's new album? It's alright you can say it's bad.

1. There really isn't one in my opinion, it just boils down to 'You're a cheap/impatient fuck' and really, that's all there is to it.

If you had wanted to hear how bad the album was, why not go listen to it on a radio channel somewhere or some youtube offshoot. But if you've deleted the album from your HDD or whatever, then really there's nothing to say further on it. However, if you KEEP it then you're only making yourself look worse saying 'Yeah, it's a shitty album but I'm gonna hold onto these MP3's I obtained illegitimately'. >_>

2. Don't give a shit, never cared about them, never will.

As for piracy on a whole, I've 'truly' pirated like, 3 or 4 things. Two were the F.E.A.R. expansion packs (Eventually bought them to make up for it), one was a video game sound track (Which I eventually deleted because I didn't really care about it) and another was an SNES rom of Super Metroid (which like the FEAR expacs, I made up for by eventually buying Super Metroid on the Virtual Console).

I don't like pirating, it just feels icky. If I want something bad enough, I either go through a rental method to get my hands on it (Gamefly/Netflix) or I eventually buy it later on.

 

[J3llo]

i just like men with wooden legs and parots!

 

[FallenJellyDoughnut]

Well there is one excuse for piracy here in my country. Here most Games, Movies and Albums cost much more!
Australians complain but they have it VERY EASY there.
The average person here gets 300-400 leva (1 euro is 1.94 leva) and the average PC game is 80 leva. 80...
A console game is 120-130... Thats why no sane person buys consoles, get a gaming PC for 1300 leva and game BETTER.
Its unfair with movies too, and most albums.
I do not pirate, but I understand the reasoning.

Thats actually only about $10 more for games than Australia has it, but that still is a fair bit to pay. You poor, poor bastard.

Thats not so funny when the average amount of money a person makes on a month is 360, is it?

Its not funny regardless of how much money one makes. And seriously? 360? I must say this is the first time anyone has made me feel better about living in Australia. Which country is this anyway?

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

You're cheating them of sales. Obviously, if everybody was blessed with the knowledge that you now have (that knowledge being that Linkin Park sucks now, though I'd go one step further and say that's always been the case*), they wouldn't sell nearly as much.

[sub]*Okay, I liked Reanimation. But that's it.[/sub]

 

[General_Potatoes]

1. One of my friends pirates games but i don't really care anymore. Free games.
and 2. They just got worse around minutes to midnight when they didn't do awesome loud music just wussy quiet music.

 

[f0re1gn]

1. Mmm, nope. Piracy has very few legitimate excuses; just about the only morally acceptable one is pirating something after you bought it because the DRM is INSANE *coughassassinscreedcough* and won't let you play something that you paid good money for just because you don't have a reliable internet connection.

2. Linkin Park has never been good. Terrible emo rap layered over weak metal does not good music make.

also:

Well there is one excuse for piracy here in my country. Here most Games, Movies and Albums cost much more!
Australians complain but they have it VERY EASY there.
The average person here gets 300-400 leva (1 euro is 1.94 leva) and the average PC game is 80 leva. 80...
A console game is 120-130... Thats why no sane person buys consoles, get a gaming PC for 1300 leva and game BETTER.
Its unfair with movies too, and most albums.
I do not pirate, but I understand the reasoning.

Ummmm... those are pretty good prices, honestly. I realize that the cost of living and salaries in general are probably lower in Bulgaria, but those prices come out to about $48 for a console game and $31 for a PC game... Which is much cheaper than they are here in the US, much less Australia or the UK.

Check how much percent an original game takes from the salary in Bulgaria and how much it takes from people in the more well-off countries. Even if the person gets 400 leva, one game is basically 20% from that. 20 percent. That's one fifth. Provided they have to pay the rent and other bills.
Here my mom gets around 600 bucks a month. 300-400 is paid for the rent and bills, and we got 200 left for food. That's a pretty big sum of money if you want to buy, let's say, two games for $60-70. Then you get $100-50 left for food. I'm not saying we live in the ghetto, but people like us here just can't afford games if they or their parents aren't in the government earning $4000 a month+random stolen money. Those guys can even buy themselves an xbox. I still have to wait around 4-5 years to start earning more money so that I could buy myself a good ol' console and maybe a game per month. That's my excuse for piracy. Living in countries where you can survive with $200 per month on food, but at the same time owning a PC and internet. I in no way support piracy, but for some people here there's no other way, basically speaking.

And I haven't listened to LP's new album, but as far as I've heard, they've turned into something awful.

 

[Alakaizer]

1. I really only torrent old TV shows that I can't find any other way, but really want to see. Most, if not all, of the ones I get were on broadcast networks initially, and as such, were free to watch anyway not counting cost of the TV set or electricity use.

2. Linkin Park has pretty much been done with since they mashed up with Jay-Z. They had a song in each of the Transformers movies. Think about that.

 

[Chaosninja89]

If i really want something, I buy it.
But if I'm just mildly interested in it I download it, if I can't download it that doesn't mean I'll buy it, I'll just give up on it since I don't consider it worth buying. Nothing lost, nothing gained.

 

[Gunner 51]

I guess it depends upon what is being copied.

Music: When it's OK.
It's fine if you cannot get the music easily. Or when it is horribly overpriced. Most of the music I like seems to be only available in London, and it would be a huge pain in the bum to pay £50+ for a train to get there. (Though Camden market totally rocks out.)

Viewing on Youtube - it's not like I can download the video or anything then convert it into an MP3 or anything.

Music: When it ain't OK.
When it's very easily available to you and when the price isn't extortionate. The trouble with prices is that one man's cheap is another man's rip-off - so price is something of a moot point.

Games: When it's OK.
When they require emulation, such as the old 8 and 16 bit games. To a lesser extent games from the System Shock and System Shock 2 era. (Because they aren't sold in shops, and they require a metric ton of old drivers and stuff to work properly - which counts as emulation software IMO.)

Games: When it ain't OK.
Anything current gen, easily available and affordable. However, Call of Duty games are in danger of becoming an exception to this due to the over-greedy actions of a certain Mr Kotick.

While I personally haven't pirated anything in years, I am of the opinion that if it's worth downloading and keeping - it's also worth paying for.

But when it comes to the attitude that pirates = scum, I say whoever has never stolen anything in their lives or listened to music on Youtube, please feel free to cast the first stone.

 

[Tibike77]

"What is your excuse for Piracy?"
Hmm... I don't know... do you have to have an excuse for an "unlawful" behaviour ? Certainly temporary insanity and mistreatment as a child will not fly, so how about some halfway creative arguments... let's see what we can concoct here out of the blue...
DISCLAIMER : none of this is necessarily close to any of my viewpoints, I'm just playing devil's advocate here.
Also, trying to be at least remotely funny. But I don't think it's working.


...


So, possible excuses for pirating music/movies/books/games:

* "It's not worth the kind of money they're asking, and they would get no money if I bought it used, so why even bother buying used at all anyway instead of directly pirating."

* "If I'd had to pay any money for it, I simply would not buy/use it at all, so for them it's the same thing anyway."

* "It's not available here yet and I just can't wait."

* "If I _really_ like it, I'll buy it. Why rely on 3rd party reviewers if I can be my own reviewer ? Hell, they should PAY ME money for using their product and spreading the good word. Or for shutting up about how bad it is. Or the other people should pay me for warning them about how bad it is. Either way, I shouldn't have to pay for it if it's not what I wanted."

* "I can't afford to pay money for it, because I am listening to // watching it // playing it instead of working extra hours to afford paying for it. It's their fault I'm pirating them, not mine !"


...


Possible excuses for pirating (some) games:

* "The official version has very nasty limitations."

* "The official version would not work on my hardware."

* "I already have this game on a different platform."


...


Possible excuse for pirating music/movies/books (not games though):

* "I could just wait for it to come up on//at the radio // TV // library and get the same end effect, so might as well just skip the wait."

 

[guntotingtomcat]

Piracy's illegal! If you really support a band/film/game you should spend money on it!!!
And hey, if your not sure you will like it, here's an idea. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET IT!!!

 

[deathandtaxes]

1. Outside of a game no longer being in production, or downloading a copy after yours is wrecked/has ridiculously restrictive DRM, there are no excuses for piracy. And especially don't try to make ridiculous arguments about "try before you buy" when it comes to music. You youtube that shit and check out the songs on there. If you like, you buy the album. If you don't, well, you obviously don't buy the album. Simple, no?

2. I've only heard a few of the songs and I'm not a fan. It's not often that I'll hear something I don't like, and their new album seems to be one of those few times. It's fucking terrible is what it is.

The issue with pirating "as backup for own copy" is sort of not a bad argument, untill you look at how you get your copy: TORRENTS

Because you are always doing something illigal when downloading through torrents, even though you own a million copies of the file; you are uploading/distributing this file.

In a lot of countries it's usually not the act of downloading that is illegal, its
the act of uploading.

No not true, the person downloading the file is the one who is breaking the law as they should have a legal copy of the file. You could simply be acting on the good faith assumption that they have bought a copy. This may not be so in the U.S. but then that's the US and your laws are about as sane as Peter on the road to Damascus.

 

[deathandtaxes]

Piracy's illegal! If you really support a band/film/game you should spend money on it!!!
And hey, if your not sure you will like it, here's an idea. YOU DON'T HAVE TO GET IT!!!

So is prostitution in the U.S while here in Australia it's legal, something being against the law does not make it wrong. It simply makes it against the law.

 

[UberMore]

If you feel you need an excuse to do something then you probably shouldn't be doing it.

I agree with this statement. Then again, I do manage to often find the Grey between the Black and White, so I do often have to use excuses...I shouldn't do a lot of stuff.
Damn! Now I have to question and re-think my actions in life!

 

[KaiRai]

Because I hate WMG for what they've done to youtube, the childish bastards. So I'm middle fingering them by listening to my music.