Jimquisition: Piracy - Trying To Kill It Makes It Stronger

[babinro]

In my upbringing, I've come to learn that the majority of people I know will pirate until which point the DRM makes piracy to risky or challenging to overcome.

I feel that removing DRM, would simply lead to far more piracy than ever before and even less sales. I'm sure some people would end their boycotts and buy legit...but I would imagine far more people would quickly learn that there are no 'true' barriers and lots of savings to acting illegally.

Jim brings up an excellent example when using the music industry. But piracy of something that costs $2 can't be compared to something that costs $60.

I have no solution to the problem. There are clear issues with DRM and online subscriptions. But I also don't think that publishers are as stupid as Jim makes them out to be. Companies are out to make money and grow as a result. They wouldn't knowingly spend all this time and resources on DRM if they knew it was going to lead to fewer sales.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

I love how Jim can say things about piracy on his show that would get someone banned if they said it in the comments. :/

 

[Amaror]

In my upbringing, I've come to learn that the majority of people I know will pirate until which point the DRM makes piracy to risky or challenging to overcome.

I feel that removing DRM, would simply lead to far more piracy than ever before and even less sales. I'm sure some people would end their boycotts and buy legit...but I would imagine far more people would quickly learn that there are no 'true' barriers and lots of savings to acting illegally.

Jim brings up an excellent example when using the music industry. But piracy of something that costs $2 can't be compared to something that costs $60.

I have no solution to the problem. There are clear issues with DRM and online subscriptions. But I also don't think that publishers are as stupid as Jim makes them out to be. Companies are out to make money and grow as a result. They wouldn't knowingly spend all this time and resources on DRM if they knew it was going to lead to fewer sales.

Removing DRM would make games easier to pirate?
That's stupid.
Even with DRM nearly every game is availible to download illegaly at release date, sometimes even before.
And the most "Work" for the people who download the game is just to copy one data.

And that's the proplem that jim described. The People who buy the game have to do more work to play the game, than the people who download it illegaly.
So pirated games are not only "cheaper" but even more comfortable to use, and that's really stupid.
I don't say they should remove any copy protection, but they should design it, so that it doesn't causes problems for Paying Customers.

 

[Sylveria]

I think we're too far past the point of these companies to adapt. They've simply decided they don't want to adapt and they can blame all their problems on piracy. Poor sales? Piracy. Poor scores? Pirated copies. Poor support? Cause there was too much piracy for them to sustain service.

It's a panacea for all their failures now. Even if SOPA and ACTA and FUCKYOUA all passed and piracy did indeed cease to be, we'd still be hearing about it. Every time some AAA title bombed, they'd make up some fictional piracy numbers and say that's why. It's the perfect scapegoat. It makes them look like the victim, which keeps their stockholders from wanting their heads on a pike.

When the day comes that the consumers finally say "enough" and companies like EA and Ubisoft do go under cause people stopped putting up with their shit, with their dying breath's they'll blame it all on piracy.

 

[Samus Aran but a man]

The best service in the pirates' eyes will always be the free service.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Too. Fucking. Right.

The evidence is there as you said, but they don't want to listen!

I hope EA actually goes bankrupt, I really do.

Thank god for you Jim, you have made yourself so popular on this website, I sincerely hope you continue to spread truth across the web.

 

[tippy2k2]

BULL-SHIT

I'm so sick of people trying to justify piracy like it's their right to enjoy the product. You don't like the service that's being provided? Don't buy the game. You don't have a right to ride the ride if you don't pay for it because the operator is a d-bag. You are not Robin Hood, stealing to right the wrongs of the game industry; you're somebody who just doesn't want to pay for something and will look to any string of an excuse to justify it.

"Well I'll just buy the game and crack it afterwards" the "moral" pirate says to themselves. That equally doesn't work because you're giving money to the company whose system you hate enough that you need to pirate the game to get around.

There are games that I either skipped or waited until they plummeted in price due to the restrictions (Battlefield 3 and it's online pass in my case for the 360).

 

[ACman]

you forget that the reason we're getting this crap DRM stuff imposed on us in the first place is because of the pirates.

I dispute this. Companies put DRM on their products because they want control over their paying users. Any competent individual can plainly see that DRM does not stop piracy. Pirates remove the DRM and distribute that ironically providing a better product in the process.

What publishers get out of DRM is constnt control on how pay users uses the software, info on what hardware users use the software on, how long the user gets to use the software. DRM has nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with contolling paying user behaviour.

Why would companies bother with expensive DRM measures that do nothing to stop piracy?

 

[kurupt87]

The actual fuck. You're from Bexleyheath? They shut the Rat and Parrot, it's a Chinese now. So that's good.

Does the bus to Amadeus still go from there? It was several years ago now, but it was definitely an interesting experience...

We're really coming out of the woodwork tonight.

Last I heard Amadeus had shut down too, though I'm not as certain about that. I last went a few years ago now, when I was about 21 I think, and I felt like a granddad it was hilarious. It was great when I was a younger but that last trip killed it for me.

 

[Ninedeus]

snip.

Because a few days of no pirating means a few days of people purchasing at the retail stores, and considering that stores only look at the first week or so on the shelves to decide whether they want to order more, those few first days are the important ones.

Good point, they have to make those days count to earn as much as they can. The problem is this still means that whatever DRM or anti-piracy measures they add, usually is persistent. The inconvenience and headaches will persist even when these measures have long been broken. True, they will try to loosen the noose what happened in Spore but still it is THERE.

Game makers should reap the fruit of their labors, but the way in which these companies do it is just atrocious. So much misdirected hostility from companies really ruins not just the trust of customers but the gaming experience as well.

 

[CapitalistPig]

Quite profound. First time I'll say it so take it for what it is. Thank god for Jim. I especially like the pokes at Ubisoft. They are a really bad company. Like really really bad. Only reason I bought From Dust is because Yahtzee gave it a mildly successful review and Ubisoft was selling it for $5. But even that (in a drunken stupor) was a well weighted decision involving the swallowing of my pride and plenty of beer. I want to play Anno 2070 but im sorry Ubisoft I don't pay $60 dollars for... anything, oh and the demo sucks. Unless...........well I don't know maybe if its 4 pairs of brand new jeans, or gas? Cause thats what $60 looks like. And even for that I could get a scathing beatdown from true bargain bin divers.

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Guys, please stop blaming devs.
Yes, they are those who create and use DRM, but in the end, it's the decision of the publisher.
The publisher is ALWAYS at fault. Even if China nukes Russia, Russia -> Iran and because of that Iran -> USA, it's still the fault of EA. Trust me, I'm an expert.

No seriously, almost all problems with games come from publisher. Publisher are guys who have no idea how this medium works, don't want to learn about it jet they want to use the same business methods as with other mediums. That CAN'T work! You can't sell bread the same way you sell a Mercedes.

And of course, the developer have no saying in that.

 

[CapitalistPig]

you forget that the reason we're getting this crap DRM stuff imposed on us in the first place is because of the pirates.

I dispute this. Companies put DRM on their products because they want control over their paying users. Any competent individual can plainly see that DRM does not stop piracy. Pirates remove the DRM and distribute that ironically providing a better product in the process.

What publishers get out of DRM is constnt control on how pay users uses the software, info on what hardware users use the software on, how long the user gets to use the software. DRM has nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with contolling paying user behaviour.

Why would companies bother with expensive DRM measures that do nothing to stop piracy?

Quite agreed. I haven't bothered with any of this stuff in a long time. I only liked abandonware anyway. but I know plenty of people who have pirated software where the hackers even left patches to improve the software/game. The idea that DRM is even remotely successful is a total laughing stock. It only promotes users to more successfully pirate the software. Its a source of vile abuse of private information. THAT is the only true use that has come out of it. Anything else has been reported falsely.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

There are a few things you can usually trust people to do: Disappoint you, and wander mindlessly into danger if its more convenient than the alternative.

 

[SandroTheMaster]

Huh, Jim really is improving. I find myself less and less only agreeing with the first half of his episodes (as in, agreeing with the problem, completely disagreeing with his solution).

 

[Granny Smith 07]

I love jim's arguments, the fact that he said watching jeff dunham shows is a crime makes me want to marry him

 

[beniki]

I think the first step in dealing in piracy is to get rid of region locking. Let people use their credits cards to buy stuff online all over the world, and piracy rates will drop substantially... particularly in the Far East. The people out here are willing to pay huge amounts of money on games that are actively trying to con them... I don't think $60 for Battlefield would bother them that much.

Heck, just look at Steam's success in Russia...