Editor's Note: The Broke Gamer

[Russ Pitts]

The Broke Gamer

You might be broke as a joke, but that doesn't mean you have to stop gaming.

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[Gxas]

I definitely feel it right now. I have $74 to my name, haven't started my new job yet, and owe just about $373 in taxes still. Luckily, my parents are backing me up with the taxes and everything, but it does leave me very short for games. I've resorted to going to my friends' houses and rifling through their game libraries for something I might borrow for a while. Just got Castlevania: Lords of Shadow from my buddy, which will keep me occupied for quite some time.

It is an expensive hobby, thats for sure. Piracy makes it seem easier, but, as I've found out from an attempt or two, its much less a hassle to find the money and buy the game. I have about six virtual drives on my desktop trying to run the same .iso and it still won't work. (Can't even get legitimate .iso files to run. Installing the school copy of Windows 7 was a pain in the ass for sure.)

I've looked into selling games I'm finished with, but I tend to be attached to my games and find it hard to sell any back. I'm still hanging on to The Orange Box for my xbox with absolutely no intention of ever putting it into my console again, yet I just can't bring myself to go to the store and sell it.

Ahh well, at least my buddy is nice enough to allow me use of his second WoW account (now my account since the inception of Battle.net 2.0). I'll always have at least one game to play.

 

[koeniginator]

Stop calling piracy stealing.
When you people learn?

 

[pejhmon]

technically it's impossible to game for free since you will always be paying for electricity (and to an extent internet) unless you are playing solitaire on a laptop that you will never recharge again but I see your point.

I've grown to the point where I will only buy a PC game if it's on a Steam sale and haven't bought an xbox game since September, although that's mainly due to the fact that I don't see my xbox much with it being at home and me at uni. I made the mistake when I first got a debit card to preorder every game that I thought would be decent and getting fairly disappointed most of the time (why the fuck did I get Halo Wars and WET .....) so I also vowed never to pre-order unless I know that it will be amazing ... or in a time frame where I will actually have time to play it (why did Portal 2 get released in the middle of exam revision time ...)

that, and I have a backlog of games from packs I bought in last summer's sale ....

 

[Dora]

After watching Extra Credits and learning how many full price games my favourite developers typically have to sell to break even, I feel guilty waiting for sales. After all, it's not like I don't ever think these games aren't "worth" the sixty dollar price tag new; think of all the money and man hours that went into its development! It's just thriftiness on my part... everyone loves a bargain. So way to go, James, Daniel, and Allison; you have officially guilted me into pre-ordering LA Noire and Catherine. I hope you're happy to touched my conscience.

Still a big fan of cruising by yard sales/flea markets for older used games though. Picking up an old Gamecube/PS1/PS2 title for ten bucks beats buying it off eBay and paying for shipping any day. In general, I do not care about the quality of the manual or the box; as long as it plays with no issues, I'm a happy duck. Ditto the "bargain bin" games you find at malls and Best Buy; I've found some surprisingly awesome games in those for barely any cash. I will tell you that I bought Order Up! for seven dollars and I got way more than my money's worth of enjoyment out of that. "OH MY GOSH HONEY LOOK AT THIS I AM TOTALLY USING THE WIIMOTE TO MELT BUTTER IN A PAN AAAAAAA SO IMMERSIVE."

Yeah, I don't care who knows I'm a dork.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

a lot of pc gaming elitists don't know just how expensive it is to get into that. especially in the hard times like what Russ described.

 

[SleepsAnyWhere]

Well well,
pirate them Borrow without permission with no intent of paying, That's how I get by.

I get heaps of benefits paying regular users go without. Really other than Portal 2 I see no game worth buying this year anyway, most releases (this year) have been rather disappointing imo.

There have been some great games released of late but if a beta sandbox rip of infiniminer can beat most generic console trash then something is wrong. I know they work long and hard to produce these games but it's not meeting the standards it could, we should expect better from them.

I could go on about Sony's customer treatment, piracy law suits and such but not today.

A better alternative is open source games, there are many good open source fps's and just engaging with the community to build something wonderful is a much more filling experience then paying $70> for average game that requires you to pay for DLC.

tl:dr Less cash cows more good games.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Stop calling piracy stealing.
When you people learn?

Taking something without paying for it...preeeeetty much the definition of stealing. Granted, in some parts of the world, you quite literally have no choice but to pirate.

 

[Something Amyss]

a lot of pc gaming elitists don't know just how expensive it is to get into that. especially in the hard times like what Russ described.

Or just don't care.

Given how often the "I can afford it" logic comes up, I'd assume a good chunk of PC elitists are entitled kids.

 

[Russ Pitts]

Stop calling piracy stealing.
When you people learn?

Piracy is stealing. Get over it.

 

[thecoreyhlltt]

i know full-well the effects of being broke on my gaming addiction (not that i don't love every second), this might seem crazy or hard to believe and you might wonder how i haven't gone insane. but i only have a ps2 i've had since before xbox came out, and i've been playing the same 13-14 games, and on the off chance i get a new game, and by "new game" i mean been out for at least 3-5 years/ used/ bargain bin...that kinda new

and i have to say, if it weren't for those lil cheapo games on addictinggames.com and other sites of the like, i would've gone insane. they should get an award or something.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

a lot of pc gaming elitists don't know just how expensive it is to get into that. especially in the hard times like what Russ described.

Or just don't care.

Given how often the "I can afford it" logic comes up, I'd assume a good chunk of PC elitists are entitled kids.

i can't agree any more. no wonder they have no idea how expensive their hobby is or why they claim 500 to 600 dollars is cheap

 

[Mister Benoit]

I stopped buying games for a while, at least on a regular schedule and happened to pick up comics.. They are way more expensive than games >.<

Going broke caused me to sell my mint complete edition of Earthbound along with just about every Snes RPG I owned.

I figure when the day comes that i'm financially secure i'll give myself a treat and blows 2-3k on a backlog of games that give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

 

[Russ Pitts]

As for piracy ... well, I don't like to talk about that. I'm not proud of it, but I would never have played Medal of Honor: Allied Assault any other way. That was one of two games I've pirated in my life, and I regret to admit I didn't "pay for it if I enjoyed it" as so many thieving pirates claim they'll do.

What was the other one?

You know, I don't actually remember. It was an older title, something I pulled straight off the net before torrents and sharing services made it easy. And well before I had any morals to speak of. I'm pretty sure I did it, then, just to see if I could.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

Piracy is

/snip/

Illegal: Yes.
Wrong: Depends on your own moral code.
Stealing: No.

Actually at least in the US distributing software without the copyright holders permission is copyright infringement and is a civil tort, not a criminal offense. It only becomes criminal falling under the fraud category of selling counterfeit goods if the copy is sold for profit.

And to anyone who says copying software is illegal (in the US) please point out which law is being broken? Or please link to an arrest report of someone charged with "software piracy".

In some countries (Spain) courts found downloading for personal use to be perfectly legal. In Canada downloading copyrighted music for personal use is legal because of a tax on blank media which is distributed to rights holders.

The staff of this site get their paychecks form content publishers so they aren't allowed to present a nuanced view of the subject but the reality is a lot more of a gray area.

 

[Russ Pitts]

Y'all are in the wrong shop if your aim is to legitimize piracy. The Escapist never has and never will condone the practice.

You can draw as many funny pictures as you like, but taking a commercial product without paying for it is immoral, illegal and detrimental to the industry as a whole.

Bottom line: If you love games, pay for the games you play.

if you can't appreciate the wisdom of that sentiment, then you're hopelessly amoral and not worthy of the time and attention game developers spend trying to make you happy.

 

[Russ Pitts]

The staff of this site get their paychecks form content publishers ...

I'd like to see your evidence of this, or else I label you as guilty of misrepresenting the facts as you seem to think are those suggesting piracy is illegal.

 

[Badwolf14]

*snip*

You rang?

Anyway they only claim its "stealing" to try to guilt you that little bit more. Not only is it stupid but does anyone think that pirates give half a rabbits anus what others think of them? Seriously.

Piracy is not stealing.[footnote]Well technically piracy is stealing so technically using the word "piracy" when talking about file sharing is incorrect. But that is a issue for another day.[/footnote] This is not a topic for debate. They are two entirely different crimes. If you are not going to use the correct words then maybe you should get someone to spell/grammar/language check your articles before they go up.

Illegal: Yes.
Wrong: Depends on your own moral code.
Stealing: No.

Anyway, some of my best gaming, book and movie purchases have been made using the bargain bin.
Shit I would never have touched otherwise but only picked up since its like $2 and the cover was pretty so why the hell not.
And some of the free MMOs I have played have actually been pretty damn good. Some are even on par with WoW.
[footnote]Btw, doesn't the escapist tend to suspend people who admit to pirating stuff?...[/footnote]

By copying property that doesn't belong to you (especially when it has a copyright to it which says who can copy, distribute and adapt it) you are still in the end taking that property that doesn't belong to you, some people call that stealing, regardless if you pass it on or not for free or for profit because you copied property that doesn't belong to you. Just like saying that piracy is a form of guilt to make people buy games, it seems like "file sharing" is a way to make people feel less guilty because even though the games were copied without permission from the owner they are giving them away for free.

But about the article, I am basically broke on a day by day basis so I know the feeling of diving through the bargain bin pretty well. Many games that I play today, I probably wouldn't have known about if I could afford all the games I wanted. Same goes with other things like movies and books.

 

[MercurySteam]

I always thought that when people at The Escapist say 'keep out of the basement' they meant that you should never talk about piracy on the forums or admit to it, lest a mod find you and unleash their wrath upon you. To me it seems a bit childish (hear me out). Yes, piracy is a stain on us as gamers, but sometimes it's a subject we need to get out in the open and discuss, much like the many 'Verses Threads' we've all seen here. We've all committed piracy at some point (yes, even me), some more than others though some of us feel guilty and some of us do not. Any guilt I may have had burned out long ago as I've invested thousands of dollars into my hobby (as Russ mentioned, it's a damn expensive pastime) and have gotten to the point where I'm indifferent about it, as I've been through all the phases; having no money for games, having some money for games and having plenty of money for games. It's not hard to see the appeal when you've go nothing left, like how a blunt sounds like a good idea to someone in a lot of pain. I guess I expected people to be used to idea instead of cramming it in the 'basement' so to speak, and calling it off-limits. But I suppose that the more you talk about it the more touchy people become about it.

Moral: Yes it's wrong, but not everyone is able to dismiss it as a foul taboo as most people do.

Man, I needed to get that off my chest.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

The staff of this site get their paychecks form content publishers ...

I'd like to see your evidence of this, or else I label you as guilty of misrepresenting the facts as you seem to think are those suggesting piracy is illegal.

Here is my reasoning for the statement but feel free to correct me if anything is wrong.

This site is supported by advertising. A large percentage of purchasers of this advertising space are content publishers.

If a staff member prints any opinion other than "piracy is illegal, immoral, and anyone engaging in it is a dickbag, end of story" then it increases the possibility of a content publisher thinking the an official statement condones piracy. Since content publishers hate and fear losing control of "their" content/golden goose they will rabidly penalize anyone who doesn't actively and enthusiastically toe the party line.

Therefore even if a staff member personally feels there is room for discussion they can't express their opinion as a staff member. However the staff members that are actually in lockstep with the publishers against copyright infringement can express that opinion freely.

This isn't a slight against the staff or the publication, that is just the nature of advertising supported media. The ones who pay the bills are the ones who call the shots.