If a company doesn't provide a demo for a game is it ok to pirate it?

[DrSpoy]

-snip-

Actually, Just Cause 2 has a great demo. it drops you in an area and gives you about 15 minutes(if I remember) to do whatever you want in that area. I even found a grenade launcher in the area and had fun with that.

As for pirating a game for demoing purposes, legally wrong but if you set certain boundaries for yourself when you're demoing it then that, in my opinion, is morally fine. Any other way is just not demoing its down right piracy. The limits have to be limiting though. Like an actual demo.

With a game like JC2 it's easy. Just limit the area and time and give the player things that he can have the most fun with. Mafia 2 did that, but then I played the actual game.
Dear. God.

So here's a little tidbit:
You pre-ordered the game/collector's edition, but the pirated version came out a day, two or three before. I don't see any problem with that since, you know, you already paid for it.

Yeah, but for Skyrim I assume they could like make all the skills automatically at 50 give X amount of skill points and drop you infront of a decent sized dungeon.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

So I had this come up in a debate with my friend, if a gaming company doesn't provide a demo for a game is it ok to pirate it, to try it out for yourself?

Really, that idea came up in a debate? Man, that must be the first time! I don't think anyone has ever had that thought about piracy in the history of the internet! Certainly there wouldn't be several threads already about such an idea! Not on this website, at least.

Oh wait. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/global/search/?q=piracy+demo&cx=005672590579257297818%3Amkmrjhvsnwa&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&sa.x=0&sa.y=0&sa=Search]

But, since you asked: nope.

How about a rental? How about gamefly?

If you want more demos, here's an idea: don't buy it, and then tell the publisher/developer why you didn't buy it.

That will give them an incentive, that is a demonstrable lost sale that they can do something about.

Turning around and pirating it only adds to the statistics of piracy that they allocate time and resources on (that could go to other things, like demos). Pirating "for a reason" only reinforces the developers and publishers to continue those "reasons" because they can't tell who is pirating for what reason.

 

[Retardinator]

Yeah, but for Skyrim I assume they could like make all the skills automatically at 50 give X amount of skill points and drop you infront of a decent sized dungeon.

Perhaps, but then you just get to see A dungeon. There are lots of them in the game and each one is different. Besides, there's a lot more to show aside from skills and dungeons in Skyrim, so a demo would probably have to be too big to even be called a demo.
As I stated, it's just not showing off full potential. Think Mirror's Edge, the demo was basically the whole game in a nutshell. Or I dunno, Worms demos basically represent what the whole game is about. Torchlight as well.

And since Elder Scrolls is already established as a franchise, you don't really need a demo. You have a basic idea of what to expect. But for some first-comer this is not the case.

 

[ResonanceGames]

In short, piracy is good, especially is there aren't demos available. Because spending $60 on a complete mystery is stupid.

Then rather than acting like a spoiled child who thinks he can justify flagrant copyright infringement just by throwing together some spurious logic, how about you do the actual logical thing and NOT BUY IT?

You don't have a right to a demo. You don't have a right to play games. Saying that games cost 60 dollars does not entitle you to get the game for free to try it. It's not a difficult concept.

Ferrari's cost a lot of money, but I don't hotwire one so I can test drive it, then call people idiots when they point that what I did had absolutely no justification.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I have said it many times. I will say it again.

If you have to ask yourself if piracy is wrong, then it is not something you should be doing.

The entire point of being a PIRATE is having little to no moral compass and therefore, have no problem stealing things.

Piracy is almost always wrong. It is always illegal. Pirates do not care about these things. If you do, don't pirate.

 

[DrSpoy]

Yeah, but for Skyrim I assume they could like make all the skills automatically at 50 give X amount of skill points and drop you infront of a decent sized dungeon.

Perhaps, but then you just get to see A dungeon. There are lots of them in the game and each one is different. Besides, there's a lot more to show aside from skills and dungeons in Skyrim, so a demo would probably have to be too big to even be called a demo.
As I stated, it's just not showing off full potential. Think Mirror's Edge, the demo was basically the whole game in a nutshell. Or I dunno, Worms demos basically represent what the whole game is about. Torchlight as well.

And since Elder Scrolls is already established as a franchise, you don't really need a demo. You have a basic idea of what to expect. But for some first-comer this is not the case.

Yeah, and in the case of elder scrolls, unless you're unwilling to part with like 10 dollars(don't remember off the top of my head) then you can pretty much try oblivion.

 

[nymz]

Playing through a pirated game, then buying it because you liked it is morally fine, but not legally.
Playing an hour or something to try it out, then either buying or discarding it is morally fine, but not legally.
Playing through the game and not buying it afterwards is neither morally or legally fine.

And people going like "OMG you cant try this 1 dollar candy, and you still cant steal it", thats just 1 dollar, and it's a totally different thing. Most times you already know what kind of chocolate you like. For example, you always get to try out and look at TVs, cars, cellphones, furniture, houses and I could go on and on. And if someone mentions movies, some things just can't be previewed, because watching it is what you pay for.

This is my opinion.

 

[Micalas]

Why do people feel the need to validate what they do? Do whatever you want and try to give money to the companies 99% of the time. I know there are reasons for pirating and you do too. Who gives a shit if people aren't able to jump onto your train of logic. 90s Adventure game creators sure didn't.

Oh and I can't help at lol at you people. I don't understand how people still don't know the difference between physical theft and copyright infringement. I bet they're the same people who were (wrongly) pissed at Bethesda over the Scrolls thing because they can't seperate their idiocy from fact.


Also, just a disclaimer because I don't feel like getting banned. I'm not advocating piracy.

 

[Highlandheadbanger]

Of course its not ok, what kind of self-serving iD reliant person would rationalize themselves being justified robbing someone just because they weren't given a smaller version of the product already?

 

[Redryhno]

I say that it really depends on the situation, I mean, if you're just trying the game out and there's no demo and no way to get a rental, then yeah, I do think that you have a right to find out what you may or may not be paying for.
Me, I mostly just buy RPG's and the sort since they normally have at least 30+ hours of gameplay and any game that makes you adapt to the gameworld, but the few FPS's and anything that doesn't have alot of stuff to do in it like with what I do buy normally I haven't found demos for them before they hit the shelves and where I live, there isn't a rental "agency", for lack of a better word, within fifty miles and my car can only go about twenty before I have to stop for an hour or so to let it cool off and I just don't have that kind of time, so yeah, I'll pirate a game every once in a while to try it out and see if I like it or not, and then delete it because of not wanting to play it anymore or I've bought the game and don't need the extra space being filled, and also I've never trusted anything I either didn't make myself or bought from a some-what respected company. and if my disc gets broken, then I might pirate it again, although normally I just outright forget about it.

 

[CoL0sS]

SNIP

I agree with this, it's a moral gray area. Legality of the act should never be questioned though (IT'S ILLEGAL!). Coming from an environment where piracy is a pretty common practice, I've heard all kinds of excuses and they are rarely justified. Pirating a PC game for purpose of demoing (to see how it runs on your machine, check game stability etc. => see also ID software's Rage) is fine in my mind, as long as there are boundaries. Also pirating a very old game, that can't be acquired by any other means is acceptable I guess. However there are ways to counter this, mainly gameplay vids/LPs and gog.com or other sites. Being pretty desensitized by this subject I can see where both sides are coming from. I am bothered by idiotic "solutions" publishers are using in battling piracy.

 

[IDS3Remix]

You know, back in the day, I would of been completely opposed to pirating games in any form. However, back in the day, developers and publishers put out demos constantly, to make you aware of how awesome their product MIGHT be. In this day and age, major publishers don't even bother with putting out demos, because they know that no matter how bad their game may be, if they market it right, they'll make a lot of money simply off of hype alone.

In the age where demos can be downloaded to our videogame consoles for free, I personally feel like there is no reason for a publisher to just put out a game, tell us to buy it, and expect us to without even giving it a try. I was very skeptical when Arkham Asylum put it's demo out, but after playing it, I felt like it was worth my money, which I cannot say holds true to a lot of games.

Due to this, I am 100% for pirating a game, if you honestly in good faith want to demo it out. I pirated my copy of Amnesia, but after getting about a half hour into it, and seeing how good it was, I immediately went to the developer's webpage, and bought the full game. Publishers and developers don't seem to give the users the luxury of being able to demo games like they used to, and with as tight as money is now a days, I'm not going to spend my hard earned cash, on something I'm unsure of. They need to make me want their game, not tell me that I need it.

 

[wyrmslayer1991]

nope. Pirating is stealing. No matter how much the twats want to make themselves sound cool about it, they're just common thieves.

 

[ckam]

There's no excuse for piracy unless it's not sold anymore or lost in the ravages of time. So, no it's not OK.

 

[kyogen]

No. It is not ok, especially not when there are legal avenues for evaluating game content. Read reviews, watch let's plays, ask forum users, etc. You should be able to make a relatively informed decision if you put just a little time into your research.

 

[Ziame]

Lot of you guys said "rent it". Cool idea, except not every country has this option. For example there are no game rentals in Poland.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Just so we are clear, legally you are never ever allowed to pirate games, even if you own them you cannot be part of an unlicensed distribution process, you can make bazillions of copies but you can never share.

Morally however it's up to you, just understand this holds no water in court if you ever get there...
Personally I won't frown my nose at you if you get a preview with the intent to buy, or if you already bought the game and it somehow went to shit, or if it simply isn't available anymore.

 

[Draitheryn]

Are you playing it only as a demo then buying it? I did that with Anno 1404, loved the game so I went and bought it, and because I did I will now be buying anno 2070 today

 

[Vault Citizen]

No, they don't owe you a demo.

In my opinion the only time piracy is ok is when the company you are pirating from would not get any money from you even if you paid for it legitimately. This includes if it is not available in your area.

As those annoying adds in dvds keep reminding us, piracy is stealing.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Well, anyway, I agree. Wanna try it out? Rent it, not pirate.

There's no rental place over here, and I don't really have gamer friends either. So where does that leave me?