Need some piracy advice....

[launchpadmcqwak]

One of my friends pirated Skyrim recently (like a day ago). I am really, really irrated about it, I spent a whole hour almost ranting at him about how cruel it was to Bethesda's workers who poured so much work into the game for him to just pirate it.
He said that he was completely justified in taking it at as he did'nt want to pay for it, which in my opinion is a terrible excuse.

Now I don't hate pirates, some times it is fair. Like situations like no demo, trying before you buy it, it's an EA game(lol half-joke) or it is'nt available anymore to buy; but just taking a product for the sake of WEYHAY FREE SHIT!!111!! just does not sit well with me.

Anyway I need some advice, is their any system that I can report this to secretly? Cause I really think I need to make an example of him, and he is the kind of person that if he does it once an gets away wih it, he will do it again.

So fellow escapists any suggesions?

p.s Don't turn this into a Skyrim vs Oblivion thread plox. WUV U <3

Edit. I don't like the idea of snitching on him but there is no other way I can think of were he would get the message that theiving of deserving companys is unacceptable. I f anyone has a suggestion I would love to know .

Some friend...

 

[Your Fearless Captain]

That is a really shitty excuse but at least he's honest about it.

 

[Vegosiux]

.

Either way, here comes the clarification of my point:

Piracy is theft, because it is the taking of something without legal right, in this case, the license to play a specific game. The only legal way to obtain the license is to receive it in exchange for due compensation from the original creator, i.e. buying new, or to have a previously legally obtained license transferred to you from a third party, whether permanently, i.e. buying used, or temporarily, i.e. renting, or borrowing.

*sigh* I'll just say that laws are usually pretty clear about the thing. And piracy generally falls under copyright laws. There's no "my" or "your" definition of theft, only the definition in our law books. And I know that here, piracy falls under copyright violations, not larceny.

I don't have a clue why some people insist that by correctly calling it "copyright infringement" instead of "theft" makes it look "okay" though, I really don't get it. Because the expression seems more vague, less emotionally packed?

As for weak arguments for piracy? Yes, I agree, most are weak and quite easily shot down, because they're self-serving semi-justifications. There are a few particular ones where I'm on the fence, though.

 

[CaptDom]

As bad as piracy is just remember it could be worse.
Your friend could be a proper judas who betrays & fucks over people he personally knows & even thinks of as friends.

This and also "I am very dissapoint" etc

You really expected to get what, sympathy? People to cheer you on?

Or did you really need the response of everyone currently logged in to tell you this is a bad idea, because what, you couldn't work it out for yourself?

Or are you just tr... oh!

*stops posting in troll thread*

 

[GoaThief]

Hi, I remember seeing this comment on a different forum, and thought it was worth copying and pasting over

It's really not as it's flawed from the get-go.

The biggest thing stolen is arguably the reproduction value of the product from the owner (publisher/developer, in this case).

An interesting read;
http://amberargyle.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/book-piracy-is-stealing.html

 

[Aprilgold]

Wow, you're a real jerk, I don't know what to say.

no personal attacks please. it's not really needed.

Its a jerkish action. More then likely, he will have a massive fine and have to pay that off and the world keeps on spinning, pirates keep on pirating and all that. If anything, he'll eventually or will fall into debt over it.

Lets face it, when movies used to say that if you were found with this being a pirated version you could be fined a hundred thousand dollars, how many of us have that money available in any way?

Its ultimately dickish to do that, and over the fact that he was one of the fucking millions to pirate skrim. Its fucking Skyrim, which is made by a company with so much money they could literally feed a whole state for a month.

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Honestly, piracy is not even a issue because we can't scale the problem. If I buy something and never play it then is it really worth anything to me? And if I pirate it is it and play it does that mean that I would have bought it? Does this mean that piracy is actually worse then say what Gamestop does or what GAME did?

Honestly, what Gamestop does is worse and far more trackable then Piracy.

 

[Aprilgold]

Honestly, piracy is not even a issue because we can't scale the problem.

Doesn't mean it's NOT an issue, it's just an issue that we don't really have a good means of measuring how big an issue it is.

And doesn't change the fact that piracy is legally and ethically wrong.

Calm down and read what I said instead of doing what everyone against the retake mass effect movement is doing and fucking THINK!

Ethically wrong? Morals are subjective, not set in stone, therefore it very easily can be ethically correct in one mans eyes. Religion thought that slavery and woman being objects with man ruling over all else was correct and it turns out that they were wrong.

Piracy isn't a problem because every download does not equal a lost sale. Like I said before, and you probably just decided acting a little crazy and not reading what I said and knee jerking towards anyone that didn't think piracy was a sin that everyone who has ever copy-right infringed ever so be killed on sight. Piracy downloads doesn't mean lost sale, nor does a purchase mean that it has any worth towards you.

If I download a movie illegally doesn't mean that I would have went to see it ever, and if I saw the movie doesn't mean I would have enjoyed it.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

Yeah, you're friend's a lazy. self-centred git. Sadly, I don't think there's a whole lot you can do to stop him that won't result in a legal battle and probably hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.

 

[GoaThief]

Uh-huh. I must be joking! And if I'm not, I am stupid! Amazing argument. 10/10, would read more.

I certainly didn't call you stupid, youthfully ignorant of economics and the situation at hand... maybe.

You realise the ones who crack a game had to get access to a retail copy in order to do that, right?

Did they pay for that retail copy? Even then, cracking =/= piracy; you do realise that, right? Moving on...

Piracy is the same as buying used, just on a much bigger scale as far as the producers are concerned.

*Ahem* [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.372608-Need-some-piracy-advice?page=6#14379051]

 

[Vegosiux]

Also, I've been wondering lately, if I only purchase a License and a Disc and have no ownership of what is actually on the disc, shouldn't I be able to ask for rent for my disc space that company X is using? It is my Disc Space afterall and they have their stuff blocking it.

That's...awesome. I mean, it would never fly, but it's awesome troll logic, and my hat is off to you for this one.

 

[Aprilgold]

Honestly, piracy is not even a issue because we can't scale the problem.

Doesn't mean it's NOT an issue, it's just an issue that we don't really have a good means of measuring how big an issue it is.

And doesn't change the fact that piracy is legally and ethically wrong.

Calm down and read what I said instead of doing what everyone against the retake mass effect movement is doing and fucking THINK!

Ethically wrong? Morals are subjective, not set in stone, therefore it very easily can be ethically correct in one mans eyes. Religion thought that slavery and woman being objects with man ruling over all else was correct and it turns out that they were wrong.

If I can't say that it's ethically wrong, then for the exact same reason, you can't say that it's ethically right.

Piracy isn't a problem because every download does not equal a lost sale. Like I said before, and you probably just decided acting a little crazy and not reading what I said and knee jerking towards anyone that didn't think piracy was a sin that everyone who has ever copy-right infringed ever so be killed on sight. Piracy downloads doesn't mean lost sale, nor does a purchase mean that it has any worth towards you.

If I download a movie illegally doesn't mean that I would have went to see it ever, and if I saw the movie doesn't mean I would have enjoyed it.

Yeah, justify all you want, call the morals into question all you want, piracy will still be a CRIME.

So if there was a law where you had to shoot all the old people you ran into contact with is it correct? Was the philosphy of Logan's Run right. To kill off the old so that society wouldn't be burdened, and thus people enjoy their lives longer then normal. If it is right in the eyes of that society to kill anyone who reaches the age of thirty will it always be that piracy is illegal?

Just think on that, laws aren't set in stone THIS IS BAD all across the world. In some places there is little or very little the government can do if your convicted of piracy, and sometimes just don't care. Whats illegal in one place is perfectly legal in another. Arrogant to think otherwise.

Morality, and I can't believe I have to say this again, is subjective. If you find something morally objectionable, such as homosexuality in this instance, just because thats still happening, and I supported it thinking that it was morally right, we would be at odds. Morality is like your taste in food, or music, you may dig something that someone hates and vice-versa, so I can very easily say that Pirating is morally right and you might think thats its morally wrong.