On downloading games illegally

[individual11]

I think a major problem that needs to be addressed is the misrepresentation of piracy in the mainstream media, as well as the kneejerk reactions from certain small island nations towards the subject. I vaguely remember Ubisoft blaming poor sales of the original Assassin's Creed on piracy, despite the fact that, at the time, THE GAME HAD NOT BEEN CRACKED.

Personal opinion: times and markets have changed, developers and publishers need to evolve, or die - not turn people wanting to try before they buy into criminals. It's not the coked-up 80s anymore, a lot of publishers appear to be trying to still act as though it is.
A pirated game was never a guaranteed sale, trying to pretend it was is fraud.

Any test drive of a vehicle is not a guaranteed sale. If you are impressed, you may buy it, or look forward to the next model. Without the test drive, you are relying on increasingly pretentious advertising or word-of-mouth from people who may or may not know what the flying fuck they are talking about.

As for the 'high end PC', my specs were laughable in 2007, now they are antique, older games hold a greater appeal anyway, GOG aside, I don't have the time or the inclination (read: credit card) to go hunting for the classics that have been out of print for five years, thanks to my locale being the middle of bumfuck nowhere after massive devastation.

 

[GeneWard]

I've downloaded Battlefield 2 and Battlefield Vietnam because my discs are broken from overuse. I don't really think this is all that bad, as I used my original serial code to play online. Feel free to reply with an opinion, but I wouldn't even call it piracy.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Honestly, if you pirate games I think you are beyond the lowest form of scum. I think you are the lowest of the low and the worst of the worst. There is on excuse. And the "I couldn't afford it" excuse isn't legit. If you couldn't afford it then just save up for it. If it isn't avaliable in your country, import it. Seriously, piracy is theft in its purest form.

lowest form of scum?
lower than rapists, murderers n pedo's?
lower than those who perform genital mutilation?
lower than people who beat their spouse?

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

I'm afraid I haven't read the vast majority of this thread due to chronic laziness so please forgive me.

But from personal experience when I illegally download it is usually something old such as Worms: Armageddon. If I were to go to a shop to buy this game, I'm sure my best bet would be to pick it up second hand for some small change. So is it wrong for me to download then, since the people who originally made and distributed this game would not benefit from my purchase? Or does it still harm the game industry because it doesn't help to fund second hand game shops or companies which specialise in distributing 10 year old games?

well... GOG.com is one answer, i'm sure money would go to whoever held the rights to that old game (although this is speculation on my part)

 

[orangeban]

Ah, god, once again it seems I have to repeat. By pirating a game you are stealing and commiting an illegal act. By buying a used game you are, perfectly legally, providing a legitimate business with money in order to recieve an item you want. One is theft, one is a legal business practice that much of our economy is based on (buying and selling in general, not used game sales.)

That's the fuggin' difference.

Also, I pirated a game once. I felt guilty for a few days until I gave in and bought the game on steam. (the game was Plants vs Zombies)

 

[thelonewolf266]

I have a library card, so it really doesn't matter to me. According to the White Knights of Corporate Profits that roam these forums I'm already as bad as a pirate anyway.

>yes, our library has movies and console games

You lucky bastard, I mean that in a respectful way.

 

[Mausthemighty]

I always buy my games new at the shop or digitally at Steam. Downloading games is for losers.

 

[mgirl]

I have never pirated any game. If it's a game I'm not sure I'm interested in, I just wait a while for it to be on sale somewhere, see if I'm still vaguely interested, then buy it. The only thing I would ever even consider pirating, would be old games that are no longer available, and I mean the really old games, the kind that were originally released on floppy discs.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'm with this guy in just about every way.

If Mr Fry can't convince you, then the creator of Father Ted, Black Books and the IT Crowd would like a few words too:


(Carpool is pretty good btw, 'Kryten' from Red Dwarf gives interesting people a lift and just has a relaxed chat as he drives them where they want to go.)

I think he makes a particularly good point that if you're a Pixar fan in the UK, and you know 'Up' has just come out in the US, you're likely to torrent it, because you're human and you so want to see it, knowing it's available, just not near you, then when it's released over here you'll see it in the cinema, because you love their movies, then you'll buy the special edition blu ray, because you have all the others!

Sure there's pirates who download everything and buy nothing, but I think there's a hell of a lot of people who just want to see stuff when it's out, rather than wait months for regional releases.

Hell I'd probably pay $10 a month for access to the Daily Show site, to see it when it happens.

I do realise this doesn't apply so much to gaming piracy, but I stil l think they both have pretty good points.

Don't most of us have our games, dvds, music etc proudly and neatly displayed on shelves in full view of visitors? We want to own things, to show what we're into, a scrappy list of what we've downloaded and burned onto DVDRs isn't nearly as nice as actually owning the box sets.

 

[NerdElf]

I agree to piracy. Not everyone lives in a country where all games are available. That is why, in some cases, piracy or second hand buying is the only way how some people aquire games to play.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I've downloaded Battlefield 2 and Battlefield Vietnam because my discs are broken from overuse. I don't really think this is all that bad, as I used my original serial code to play online. Feel free to reply with an opinion, but I wouldn't even call it piracy.

Nope, you're buying a licence to use the software, they can't have it both ways, and there's zero reason you should have to repurchase the game.

I know Steam has good and bad sides, but I'm very pleased with not have about 200 more discs in my flat because of it, and being able to lazily just click 'download' instead of backing everything up and reinstalling it.

I do think any company that's saying used sales are on a par with piracy are just admitting they don't give a shit about the morality, or whether it's a form of theft, it's purely about the cash. Which is entirely fair enough for a business. Just don't expect too much sympathy when you keep screwing your paying customers with more DRM, always online checks, having to create accounts with games for windows, origin, or whatever else.

I know Steam is DRM, but it's the right kind, you click, you pay, you click again, it downloads, you click a third time, you're playing it. ( So long as the makers haven't shoehorned in extra levels of DRM because they don't trust Steam ).

Also, when I'm paying £3 for a 2 year old game, makers, can you please patch the DRM out? most people aren't torrenting those games!

 

[Cridhe]

I personally don't have one crap to give on the subject. What you do with yourself on your time is just fine and dandy. Just please don't shove your ideals down my throat.

Buying used games at Gamestop, or from someone personally is the same as piracy IMO. The devs aren't seeing any of THAT money-cake.

Excuse me, I'mma go get Dead Island now.

 

[Xanthious]

I have a library card, so it really doesn't matter to me. According to the White Knights of Corporate Profits that roam these forums I'm already as bad as a pirate anyway.

>yes, our library has movies and console games

Yeah ya gotta excuse most of the people that come off strongly against used sales, piracy etc here on these forums. You'll find at the heart of it most of the people that come out strongly against any of these around here either work in the gaming industry in some capacity or are looking for a career in the gaming industry down the road or are just swilling the the Kool Aid passed around by the likes of EA, Ubisoft, and their ilk.

At the end of the day it separates around here into the people working in the gaming industry, those wanting to work in the gaming industry, people that are drinking the industry Kool Aid and those of us that can look at the issue objectively and with an open mind.

 

[Sansha]

I have a friend who always pirates stuff, from games to applications to his fucking operating system. I hate it, and he's actually pretty rich - his bank account is in the thousands and constantly grows. He's not saving for anything and his income overshadows his living expenses.

I have a theory that developers shit out sub-par games because the piracy problem is so rampant that they don't have the funds they deserve from previous titles to actually give it their all, and in the end game developers are employees working to support themselves, so I do what I can to support them.

Downloading games illegally... you're just stealing. There is no way around that - whether you can't afford it, or don't think its worth the investment, you're still stealing and you shouldn't fucking do it.

 

[Jake Lewis Clayton]

I have a few reasons I'll pirate: (please wait and read through the whole list and way up the reasons. I buy about 80 brand new games a year)


1. abandonware
2. No local version of game
3. I already own it and want a drm free copy
4. A game I own is now unplayable (problem with letting family play my games)


Now here is one which mostly ties into 3, but isn't always 100% inline with it, as I sometimes pirate first with games which are incredibly heavy drm and an unknown. (incase they screw up my pc, or are unplayable even though my rig far exceeds the required)

5. Origin style snooping (there's no reason I'd allow anything any program to see all my data on my pc nevermind a games publisher who I hate, but quite like their games)

[less likely to take a punt on an EA game with heavy drm than other publishers, so I generally pirate and when the games downloaded and runs, I'll send for a new copy off amazon and never install the retail copy]

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

Buying used games at Gamestop, or from someone personally is the same as piracy IMO. The devs aren't seeing any of THAT money-cake.

Nope. They ALREADY saw money when the game sold for the first time, dear reader.

Further, take a game like Dragon Age 2. A person buys it, plays it, and doesn't like it. So they sell it back to Gamestop. Person 2 buys it. They like it, and decided to keep it. They also buy DLC for it. Had person 1 heald on to that game, person 2 would have never bought any add-on

Further, if your line of reasoning is "Devs see no money" then you must also think that lending games is just as bad as piracy. Or that libraries are just as bad.

 

[floopdawoop]

I think I'll go with piracy being direct thievery and used game buying as indirect 100% legal thievery. With piracy the downloader is responsible, with used games its the distributors who are at any fault.

 

[Retardinator]

And if you knew you could download PC games illegally without any fear of repercussions, would you steal all your games?

In Croatia it's not called 'piracy', it's called the standard. Absolutely no repercussions, which makes the place a giant pirate free-for-all.
You might also want to know that without piracy, I never would've gotten into gaming and become a regular paying customer.

 

[Chainsaws_of_War_2]

Doesn't really matter what people say or think about the issue. In the end it is illegal to do and as such doesn't warrant much of an argument.