Jimquisition: When Piracy Becomes Theft

[SonOfVoorhees]

Whether the bike/game is for sale is not relevant at all. No difference if you obtain the copy from a friend or online. Your picture example is interesting, I have no answer.

Your last sentence is bullshit, you shouldn't go around calling people pirates just because they have a different view than you.

The opinion doesnt matter. Im calling a person a pirate cos they copy, not buy, something that isnt theres. Its not a one off loan or copy of a friend in which you do the same for him. Its a site that copies it to thousands of people. Strangers. Your only reason to go their is because you want it for free.

You say my last sentence was bullshit but you still wouldnt be happy with people copying something you made for free instead of paying you for it.

 

[Epona]

When did theft come to mean that somebody lost something?

You go in and add a bunch of zeros to your bank balance, then buy a bunch of games on debit.
The bank didn't lose anything, no physical object was transferred, the store got paid. Are we going to argue there was no theft there.

Theft has been widely understood, since basically the dawn of history, of someone taking something that doesn't belong to them.

That the other person no longer had it was simply a side-effect of physical reality, but was never the point of theft.

Not until pirates started thinking, "How do I justify my douche-baggery?" anyway.

You need to re-examine your example. How did the bank lose nothing AND the store get paid?

 

[Stickfigure]

From a non-legal standpoint, I'm not certain what makes people so insistent that piracy not be called theft. From the perspective of someone who is not prosecuting or defending anyone in a legal battlefield, the sentiment is still the same. You take something that is being offered one specific way by a developer, tell them that you know better than them when it comes to how their work is distributed, and then create a scenario where they receive no recompense for their work. While the specifics don't necessarily fall in line with theft, the spirit of harming someone else financially for one's own personal benefit is still fairly similar.

Really guys, you're not in court, and while you can perhaps defend certain acts of piracy, things like this can't be gussied up by changing the word.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I dont care what any of you do. Download whatever you for free, i really dont care. Just dont make out its a moral crusade against capitalism or against big business. You just want it for free - i can understand that. Not all the bullshit reasons you all give for it.

 

[Epona]

Whether the bike/game is for sale is not relevant at all. No difference if you obtain the copy from a friend or online. Your picture example is interesting, I have no answer.

Your last sentence is bullshit, you shouldn't go around calling people pirates just because they have a different view than you.

The opinion doesnt matter. Im calling a person a pirate cos they copy, not buy, something that isnt theres. Its not a one off loan or copy of a friend in which you do the same for him. Its a site that copies it to thousands of people. Strangers. Your only reason to go their is because you want it for free.

You say my last sentence was bullshit but you still wouldnt be happy with people copying something you made for free instead of paying you for it.

You basically called ME a pirate and that is bullshit.

 

[Beryl77]

It's the sad truth of our society that there will always be people who are going to pirate it, just like there will always be people who steal things from shops etc. We can only try to reduce it but it's nearly impossible to stop it completely.

You have to try and make people want to pirate it less, something that DRM won't achieve.
If I recall correctly, the humble indie bundle made quite a lot of money, despite that some pirated it or just paid 1 cent. Many paid a good sum as far as I remember.

It seem a bit hypocritical to call this theft and the other not. I'm still calling in copyright infringement, indie or not. But imo, it's morally worse than pirating from big publishers. At least, that's how I see it.
Another thing, the indie bundle is far, far more worth than 1 cent and I don't really see much of a moral difference whether you pay 1 cent or pirate it. Yes, they allow it, doesn't mean that you have to take advantage of it.

 

[GeorgW]

Love the new intro/outro.
I've been saying it since the first video, those bastards that pirated HiB deserve whatever they get. It's mind-boggling how cheap/evil they are.

humbel indie bundle: DON'T PAY ONE CENT. they will lose money

What if I have 20 friends, and I like 5 of those friends more of the others, so I buy 15 $.01 bundles (and always make sure it goes to humble bundle) and 5 $20 bundles? I would love for them to add that option, it makes me feel so bad every time I see that "Need money for food" picture >.<
But yeah, you're right, don't pay $.01, they deserve more.

 

[Yopaz]

humbel indie bundle: DON'T PAY ONE CENT. they will lose money

Unfortunate but true. Just paying one cent is worse than pirating the game because paying them the one cent loses them money while pirating it doesn't.

Still a shit thing to do? Of course, but the lesser of two evils in the Humble Indie Bundle's case.

Though this just goes to show you that people will use any backwards ass logic they can get their hands on to validate piracy. Even if the games are good, cheap and DRM free they'll still come up with some BS excuse about why they NEED the game but can't be asked to pay for it.

Actually the bundle was pirated and downloaded from their own servers so they did lose 1 cent less from people paying 1 cent. One of those working with it actually asked people to be kind enough to find a torrent and get the games that way rather than wasting their server capacity while ripping them off at the same time.

 

[Epona]

From a non-legal standpoint, I'm not certain what makes people so insistent that piracy not be called theft. From the perspective of someone who is not prosecuting or defending anyone in a legal battlefield, the sentiment is still the same. You take something that is being offered one specific way by a developer, tell them that you know better than them when it comes to how their work is distributed, and then create a scenario where they receive no recompense for their work. While the specifics don't necessarily fall in line with theft, the spirit of harming someone else financially for one's own personal benefit is still fairly similar.

Really guys, you're not in court, and while you can perhaps defend certain acts of piracy, things like this can't be gussied up by changing the word.

Terminology is important even if you aren't in a courtroom.

 

[Gabriel O'Brien]

Sorry No, Indie devs are not special and copyright infringement doesn't become theft when it involves an Indie developer.

In fact, I place a lower value on Indie games because most are ugly, simplistic and repetitive. I don't pirate them though, I watch them on YouTube and decide to skip them. I guess this show was required though, given the anti-piracy stance of the escapist.

BTW, when I hear people talk about castrating and torturing people (I guess only males are pirates), I assume they are not to be taken seriously.

Clearly no open mind here... not only did he reference that people cracked a downloadable bundle that is for charity... that alone is nothing but pure dickery. And on top of that he said "cock and balls or vagina" not only are you 100% wrong... you are just plain stupid. I garuntee alot of people love indie games because they are new innovative and really surprise you for their prices... it's much better than AAA games charging 60 bucks for a ducking re release... (see battlefield modern warfare... the list goes on) so anything that promotes these new game developers we should all be 100% behind because thats the future of the gaming industry. BTW if you didn't read this far then you are truly a hypocrite and proved me right.

 

[Epona]

I dont care what any of you do. Download whatever you for free, i really dont care. Just dont make out its a moral crusade against capitalism or against big business. You just want it for free - i can understand that. Not all the bullshit reasons you all give for it.

I think you're not as smart as you think you are. People have a variety of reasons for most everything they do. Grow up a little and learn that not everyone has the same motivations as you do.

 

[Rednog]

Meh, at the end of the day piracy/copyright infringement/whatever you want to call it is simply douchebaggery of people who take shit for free just because they can. And I honestly can't find any justification in anyone who is a gamer and says they can't afford games; sorry but you somehow can afford a console/tv or a gaming pc but can't afford to buy a game? Bull. You just don't want to allocate your resources to games, why sacrifice that starbuck's coffee you get every day to pay for a game when you can have the game for free and the starbuck's coffee?

 

[josemlopes]

Ohhhh After Effects.

SOMEONE'S rolling in money

or they y'know pirated it...

Dont worry, Adobe wants the average consumer to pirate their software, the more people know how to work with their stuff the more companies will buy the licenses to use it since all their workers only know how to work with Adobe stuff.

 

[Epona]

Sorry No, Indie devs are not special and copyright infringement doesn't become theft when it involves an Indie developer.

In fact, I place a lower value on Indie games because most are ugly, simplistic and repetitive. I don't pirate them though, I watch them on YouTube and decide to skip them. I guess this show was required though, given the anti-piracy stance of the escapist.

BTW, when I hear people talk about castrating and torturing people (I guess only males are pirates), I assume they are not to be taken seriously.

Clearly no open mind here... not only did he reference that people cracked a downloadable bundle that is for charity... that alone is nothing but pure dickery. And on top of that he said "cock and balls or vagina" not only are you 100% wrong... you are just plain stupid. I garuntee alot of people love indie games because they are new innovative and really surprise you for their prices... it's much better than AAA games charging 60 bucks for a ducking re release... (see battlefield modern warfare... the list goes on) so anything that promotes these new game developers we should all be 100% behind because thats the future of the gaming industry. BTW if you didn't read this far then you are truly a hypocrite and proved me right.

Tip: Don't call me stupid and then misspell guarantee two words later.

Anyway, I know that many people like Indie games but then I never said that my opinion applied to everyone. You'll notice this part:

I place a lower value on Indie games

I never said everyone, I said I.

Why the fuck do I have to enter captcha for every post????

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

If I steal your bike, then you lose a bike. That's theft.
If you copy one of your games, you lose nothing. See the difference?

Erm that bike wasnt for sale so its theft. A game is for sale, legally. So what is that? Also a difference between a friend letting another friend copy a game and the internet to download for free. Big different.

Ok, you make a picture to sell. Ten people walk in, photocopy it and walk out. Is that theft, after all you still got the original copy. Just admit you dont want to pay for stuff.

Actually its not.

Otherwise there would be no pictures of paintings ect on the internet

I doubt I will be charged with theft for this

Spoiler

or

Spoiler

This

LOL. Again that means nothing. How can you compare works of art to someone selling something for money? That is hilarious and what I expect. Them pictures are public materials, games are not. They are property owned and illegally taken and copied and then others copy them. Yes you are just using a service by others but still you are pirating a game. Same like buying a game down the pub....its still cheap bit you know its stolen. If you didnt buy it in a legal fashion then is theft, regardless of whatever reason you give.

This is why shit like SOPA and DRM around today.

 

[Elyxard]

Urgh, people still trying to argue that piracy is not theft again?

Definitions are pointless, they were created before the digital era even began. Yes, it's not physically stealing a product, but you are stealing a service. It's like going into a massage parlor and leaving before you pay a check. If that's not called theft, then it should be. I don't care about technicalities, you are a criminal if you play games you didn't pay for (I make exceptions for games that are far out of print or from developers that don't exist anymore, those titles need to stay alive regardless of ethics).

Just cut it out with the justifications. If you hate a developer then don't even play the damn game, have a backbone for gods sake.

Those people who pirate have no one to blame than themselves if the internet gets taken over by the government or corporations. Those guys are looking for any reason to do it, and you're all not helping. I'll know who to blame when we turn into China.

 

[Epona]

Ohhhh After Effects.

SOMEONE'S rolling in money

or they y'know pirated it...

Dont worry, Adobe wants the average consumer to pirate their software, the more people know how to work with their stuff the more companies will buy the licenses to use it since all their workers only know how to work with Adobe stuff.

This is also why Microsoft offers Student Editions for Office for much lower prices. Companies get college grads who know Office and companies in turn invest in Office.

 

[Rad Party God]

I'd love to have Jim as our all powerful and omnipresent leader of the world. God bless him.

Really, there's no other word to describe these assholes, I mean, I don't advocate piracy in absolutely any sense, but it's simply not the same to pirate, say, Anno 2070 to circumvent it's shitty DRM (3 machine activation limit that's hardware bound, meaning that if you change one single thing from your PC, be it a ram stick, video card, CPU, etc., you need to reactivate the fucking game) to download an Indie Bundle that you can buy for 1 fucking cent (or 30 cents if you use Google Checkout). That's just the shittiest thing one person can do.