Is piracy bad when you don't have a choice ?
- Thread starter Krelias
- Start date
It's interesting. I would say yes that it is wrong. I would also say that it's a funny thing though, I know a friend who pirates a lot of music. She could never have afforded all the music she has, though she does try to buy when she does have money to spend. Through her though, I've discovered great music I probably never would have anywhere else and bought it from the artist. So the question then becomes her having that music whether by legal means or not has earned the artist money from me because I heard it through her. Interesting to think about huh. So while my answer remains that yes it is always wrong to pirate, it is a more complicated issue then that.
Speaking as a part-time pirate here (I pirate some games, and buy them later if I enjoyed them, and some games I just plain buy immediately), I'll repeat what others have said, here: There's always a choice. Gaming IS a luxury, and people who can't afford it can do without and seek a less expensive form of entertainment. Give a hoot, read a book!
The issue here, I think, is entitlement. People who can't afford games think they're entitled to pirate them, and that's just plain wrong. No one is entitled to steal anything. And it doesn't matter if the price is $50 or $50,000, theft is theft. I pirate games myself, but I don't come up with bull**** entitlement to do so. I know I'm stealing when I do it. There's a level of guilt involved for me, and it should be that way for everyone else that does it, too. Even if you do end up pirating, if you enjoy it, you should put up the money to fund that particular studio by buying a legit copy. Otherwise, you're just a scum-sucking parasite, and there's no one that should be proud of that or think they're entitled to be that.
The issue here, I think, is entitlement. People who can't afford games think they're entitled to pirate them, and that's just plain wrong. No one is entitled to steal anything. And it doesn't matter if the price is $50 or $50,000, theft is theft. I pirate games myself, but I don't come up with bull**** entitlement to do so. I know I'm stealing when I do it. There's a level of guilt involved for me, and it should be that way for everyone else that does it, too. Even if you do end up pirating, if you enjoy it, you should put up the money to fund that particular studio by buying a legit copy. Otherwise, you're just a scum-sucking parasite, and there's no one that should be proud of that or think they're entitled to be that.
I completely agree.FutureJarhead16 said:I love being a pirate. I do what I want because a pirate is free. I am a pirate ARG!
Edit: Hmm people talk about feeling "guilty" I feel no such feelings. Is this stange?
People need to realize that your opinion is not how things should be. Its just your opinion. I have friends that pirate console games like crazy. I don't knock them and I do not care. It's just not me. I don't mind giving the publishers money for their work.
So its like this, if you can pirate it. Do it! If you like it and are willing to pay for it. Do it! If you want to keep your money, then keep it! Everyone who pirates should give less than a hot damn what anyone else says. Everyone has moral limits and a line. Mine is not pirating console games. Would I make myself look like an idiot and down those that do?
Heck no. I don't care.
Perfect example.
Red Dead Redemption just came out. I was hoping the Pc version would come out so I could get a copy and try it out. Mind you, I didn't mean pay for it. Then I found out the game was not coming out on pc for months. After reading more into the game, I realized I would really like it so I just bought it today. I have several friends that had the game over the weekend by pirating but I bought mine today.
In other words, mind your own business and stop thinking you are better than anyone else.
"For those of us who live in countries with download limits steam really doesn't work for most mainstream games"
Sorry but I couldn't quote this.
I just wanted to say that this is a fairly stupid statement in my opinion. Saying that you can't use steam because you have a download limit and then going and downloading from torrent sites...
Sorry but I couldn't quote this.
I just wanted to say that this is a fairly stupid statement in my opinion. Saying that you can't use steam because you have a download limit and then going and downloading from torrent sites...
I suppose I'm rather on the pro-piracy side of things, at least philosophically. I personally pirate games very rarely (if ever, excepting games I can't get legally, such as certain older titles out of stock), but my take on it is that for something to be theft, or be ethically questionable, someone has to suffer a loss. If someone from a poorer country, who has no financial opportunity to buy the game either way, downloads a pirated copy, I fail to see who loses. There's no income lost for the game developer, as there wouldn't have been made a sale in the first place. The person pirating the game gains. I have a hard time getting the ethical problem around this.
Now, if you decide to pirate a game that, without that opportunity, you'd buy? That's unethical, and could at the very least be equated with theft.
Now, if you decide to pirate a game that, without that opportunity, you'd buy? That's unethical, and could at the very least be equated with theft.
Piracy IS theft. You are taking away potential profits from the company that owns the copyright for that product.REPLAY13 said:
here's another question, what if the game is so old there's no way to buy the game from a provider because no one is making the game anymore. older games like the original diablo or Total Annihilation that aren't being sold or made by the companies anymore and the only way o buy them is to get into a monster bidding war on eBay and potentially pay several times their actual value to get them.
I would pay to play those games if I could, except they aren't being made by their companies, no one sells them anymore, and the new computer game copywrite law states, in Canada at least, that businesses cannot sell or buy used computer games as they can be easily copied and returned to seller and thus made worthless.
so is it wrong to download and play games that are both a) very old and not really played anymroe and b) not being manufactured and sold so no one is going to benefit from sale or be hurt by piracy (if it is not wrong for example: pirating Starcraft is wrong because despite how old it is there are still new copies being made and sold in places today but pirating dungeon siege 2, which is newer than Starcraft, would not be wrong to download because it's not being made to sell anymore)
I would pay to play those games if I could, except they aren't being made by their companies, no one sells them anymore, and the new computer game copywrite law states, in Canada at least, that businesses cannot sell or buy used computer games as they can be easily copied and returned to seller and thus made worthless.
so is it wrong to download and play games that are both a) very old and not really played anymroe and b) not being manufactured and sold so no one is going to benefit from sale or be hurt by piracy (if it is not wrong for example: pirating Starcraft is wrong because despite how old it is there are still new copies being made and sold in places today but pirating dungeon siege 2, which is newer than Starcraft, would not be wrong to download because it's not being made to sell anymore)
There's only one reason that justifies Piracy.
Digital Data is a very very very near post-scarcity resource. You are literally paying for nothing.
But jobs are going to be lost if no one pays for videogames you might say?
Well, noone shed a tear for the millions of manual labor workers when the industrial revolution made their jobs obsolete. The only reason people ***** and moan is because the big guys got their pockets touched and they can't accept it.
It is the industry the one that must change to satisfy the consumer needs, NOT vice versa.
If standard games are overpirated then stop spending so many million of dollars in games.
-Graphics are overrated, they are going to be out of fashion in 1 to 3 years anyway.
-By all means, hire famous people as voice actors, I'm sure noone will mind when you botch their performance with an absurd unrehearsed recording schedule, I'm also certain noone will mind that you hired 2 guys and 1 girl to make the whole NPC voices.
-Give people something actually worth paying for. Cut the normal editions, make Collector Editions the standard, slash the prices for digital download games. as Extra Credits said, "you can't compete with someone that already offers a better service and support, for free".
EDIT: Damn, I posted on the wrong thread.
Digital Data is a very very very near post-scarcity resource. You are literally paying for nothing.
But jobs are going to be lost if no one pays for videogames you might say?
Well, noone shed a tear for the millions of manual labor workers when the industrial revolution made their jobs obsolete. The only reason people ***** and moan is because the big guys got their pockets touched and they can't accept it.
It is the industry the one that must change to satisfy the consumer needs, NOT vice versa.
If standard games are overpirated then stop spending so many million of dollars in games.
-Graphics are overrated, they are going to be out of fashion in 1 to 3 years anyway.
-By all means, hire famous people as voice actors, I'm sure noone will mind when you botch their performance with an absurd unrehearsed recording schedule, I'm also certain noone will mind that you hired 2 guys and 1 girl to make the whole NPC voices.
-Give people something actually worth paying for. Cut the normal editions, make Collector Editions the standard, slash the prices for digital download games. as Extra Credits said, "you can't compete with someone that already offers a better service and support, for free".
EDIT: Damn, I posted on the wrong thread.
Well of course, that goes both ways!krazymouse said:
LIFE IS NOT FAIR - PEOPLE PIRATE!
Get over it!
Also, to all-anti-piracy-shortsighted-(im)moralists: I'm sickened by your cultural bias and shortsightedness. Basically this boils down to pro-pirating non-US/EU citizens VS anti-pirating US/EU citizens. It's getting both political and cultural and everything else. If you people can't understand the issue at hand, then don't. Eat your videogames for all I care.
P.S. We're not poor, you dimwits, we have cars and cell phones and computers and all, but for some reason videogames cost a kidney here! Jesus...
EDIT: And no, it's not theft because 1) it's a copy and nothing is lost, 2) no sales are lost, 3) US laws don't apply everywhere hence in some countries it's not theft (dammit!), and 4) it's a videogame lasting at tops 60 hours and it should cost accordingly - NOT a month's wage (unless you absolutely adore it at which case you'd try and make it up to those who made it by other means), and 5) guess what: it's not a kidney.