Piracy Numbers

[dochmbi]

Your grasp of the human being is about onpar with that of communism. That is, completely flawed.

I'm speaking hypothetically, I don't actually believe it could happen just like that, but it will happen gradually, perhaps.
Communism is not enforcable, you can't deny people the right to own physical goods, but cultural freedom surely is self-enforcing, because the moment you try to sell something people will just get it and post it on the internet for everyone to get for free.

I don't see how my proposed system would be at odds with human nature, would you care to enlighten me?

 

[Gincairn]

The only game i've ever downloaded from a torrent was Fallout 3 and that was because after buying the PS3 version (twice, one standard one CE for the bobblehead) and all of the DLC I got sick of the PS3 version freezing every few minutes on Point lookout and Zeta.

Bethesda were asked so many times to fix it and it fell on deaf ears, the way i figure it, there was no way I was giving them more money to play a game that I would have finished on PS3 had it not been broken by their DLC.

 

[benoitowns]

I am totally not a jerk, I just dont have the money to buy a game every month.

So play the same game for two months.

And this is relevant how?

 

[DeadlyYellow]

In a lot of cases, yeah, they can. I torrented Psychonauts, The Longest Journey, and The Witcher, games I would not have bought had they not been "freely" available, and have since purchased all three of them. I got ICO for the PS2 since acquiring it "legitimately" through eBay would have cost at least one hundred USD more than retail price, precisely 0% of which would have gone to the developers.

Psychonauts was freely available for the PC for a long time via GameTap, though it worked more like a prolonged rental. Plus my nature is one of disbelief in regards to your claim. Old Missouri blood I suppose.

Curious now. If ICO receives its PS3 port, will you purchase a copy?

 

[polygon]

This site's moral superiority complex over pirates is really starting to ride on my fucking nerves.

 

[anyGould]

Couple thoughts..

- just how are they measuring "piracy"? Is that how many people downloaded it (which means you have to account for the folks who grabbed it because it was there and never turned it on). The iPhone example would be the most telling, if they'd supplied one additional piece of information - how *many* scores were submitted by each group, as opposed to how many machines? Did that 90% actually account for 90% of the play? (I'm gonna guess "no"). Also, I'll admit to basic skepticism for unexplained stats from biased sources.
- disc checks didn't stop pirates, because you only need one person to automate the process. (I remember in school where the software to fake the disc-in-drive came *with* the cracked game. I needed it because my computer at the time didn't have a CD drive . It's like the old "ask a question from the manual" DRM - people just photocopied the manual. Which leads to..
- no matter what trick the developers come up with, someone will break it. And they`ll do it just to see if they can. It`s the same mental incentive that brings us hacked iPhones, souped-up custom sports cars, and folks climbing mountains. They`re putting something out and saying it`s impossible to do this. OF COURSE someone`s going to do it, just to prove a point.

 

[dochmbi]

Your grasp of the human being is about onpar with that of communism. That is, completely flawed.

I'm speaking hypothetically, I don't actually believe it could happen just like that, but it will happen gradually, perhaps.
Communism is not enforcable, you can't deny people the right to own physical goods, but cultural freedom surely is self-enforcing, because the moment you try to sell something people will just get it and post it on the internet for everyone to get for free.

No, it will never happen.
Who wants to work for free? Who wants to volunteer 120 hour work weeks so everyone else can flip burgers at mcdonalds and download their new game or new movie for nothing? No one's going to do that. And yes, some people in the games industry do work at times those sort of work weeks. Movies, television, games, none of these are 9 - 5 jobs. They're a hell of a lot of work. Any good game you've ever played is probably good because the people have basically spent 2 years of their life making the thing with little to no personal time outside of work.

And then some wanker who works at McDonalds or some other minimum wage job steals their game or their movie or whatever off the internet and thinks its justified because the 60 bucks it costs would be better spent on pot.

Point being, NO ONE is going to live that sort of lifestyle without monetary reward. Volunteer my whole life making a game? No thankyou. People have kids to feed, a wife or husband to support, car and house payments to make because even if there were some screwed up world where anything downloadable was free, nothing else in the world would be, so why would anyone spend their time making that crap when in turn they couldn't feed themselves?

There are plenty of people with lots of free time on their hands. Haven't you seen all the free games, mods, music, comics and other works of culture out there? Nobody would be forced to work for free.
In addition there would also be donation funded development, there would have to be, since demand would be great.

Another idea for how to develop work intensive games in my hypothetical world: Since there would be no need for secrecy, a game could be developed by hundreds of people from all over the world, each doing a tiny bit of work.

 

[Gincairn]

This site's moral superiority complex over pirates is really starting to ride on my fucking nerves.

I have no problem with piracy in general, in fact what i have a problem with is the anti-piracy adverts on DVD's etc. I think it's disgusting that allegedly all piracy funds organized crime, drug trafficking and so on. One of the only dvd pirates I ever knew, the money he made from it? It went on new blank discs, ink for his printer and the occasional pack of ciggies. Oh yeah he was a regular mafia druglord all right.

 

[polygon]

Point being, NO ONE is going to live that sort of lifestyle without monetary reward. Volunteer my whole life making a game? No thankyou. People have kids to feed, a wife or husband to support, car and house payments to make because even if there were some screwed up world where anything downloadable was free, nothing else in the world would be, so why would anyone spend their time making that crap when in turn they couldn't feed themselves?

There we have it, folks: this man has just proven that no one has or will ever make a game without promise of monetary compensation.

 

[benoitowns]

I am totally not a jerk, I just dont have the money to buy a game every month.

So play the same game for two months.

And this is relevant how?

You say you don't have enough money to buy games every month, presumably to justify piracy, if that's the case then simply play less games. Either play the same games more, or play less games over all.

Or rent more games. Renting is cheaper, and most games only last about 10 hours anyway. Easily finishable on a weekend. Only buy the games that you know you'll be playing multiplayer or what have you for a long time.

Everyone wants more than they can afford, but that doesn't mean your justified in stealing what you can't afford.

Not using it to justify, using it to explain why I do pirate. Im not saying it is good for the world for me to pirate or anything, if I had the money I would buy it, but since renting sucks I think Im gonna keep the PC games that you aren't able to rent.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

How many pirates are jerks?
100%

What about the people that pirate old games that cost a bazillion bucks on E-bay?

Still jerks, just ones that would rather be a jerk then play a bazillion dollars. (aka Smart)

 

[TOGSolid]

Make all the excuses you want, piracy isn't helping anyone at all. A company puts opressive DRM on their stuff? Then:
Don't
Buy
Their fucking
Games
It's that easy. By pirating their stuff, you're just making the problem worse. The excuse that you're "sticking it to the man" is self-deluding horseshit. If you're not sure about a game purchase and no demo or rental exists, then do some research. Ask around, check metacritic. You don't need to pirate it just to "check it out." Reviews exist for a reason. If you don't have money to afford the games, get a job. Get a second job. Games are a privilege, not a right.
I'm tired of seeing the PC Gaming scene get gutted out because of all the snot-nosed spoiled brats that think they deserve to play the new games coming out. I've paid for every single game I have and knowing that the PC Gaming industry is taking a hit because of all of you dildos that think you're entitled to games is starting to piss me off. Why should I, a paying customer who's supported the industry for years get shafted just because of all the cheapassees and hipster twats that think they're making a statement by pirating?

wow... I just spent a long time reading all the comments.

My conclusion: I will stick with console gaming.

Piracy is rampant on the consoles, it's just a lot easier for the publishers to pretend it doesn't exist.

 

[sunpop]

I'm getting real sick of the amount of drm being used, I get the idea that they want to make money but really pirates will always get past the drm then the only person being annoyed by it is the legitimate consumer. If they wasted less time and money on making and implementing drm and more time making a game worth playing they could possibly make more money.

If a developer wants the people on there side make a stand against drm and make yourselves look like the good guy in all this.

 

[Hallow'sEve]

Fuck morals
Fuck ethics
Fuck the industry
Fuck YOU
Take what you can, give nothing back [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeNDzbFv2f8&feature=related]

And if it leads to the downfall of civilization (which it won't), then I'd at least rather ride the bomb than ***** on the ground.
Have a wonderful evening.

 

[TOGSolid]

Fuck morals
Fuck ethics
Fuck the industry
Fuck YOU
Take what you can, give nothing back [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeNDzbFv2f8&feature=related]

And if it leads to the downfall of civilization (which it won't), then I'd at least rather ride the bomb than ***** on the ground.
Have a wonderful evening.

Bet you don't have the balls to do real shoplifting and theft. Way to go internet tough guy.