Mortai Gravesend said:
Uber Waddles said:
Do I think charging $40 for a re-release of a game over a decade old is too much? I certainly do.
How would this be justification to pirate it instead of just doing without it?
Do I think you are justified to torrent a game if its DRM is holding it back, and a group of modders have removed it from the equation? I certainly do.
Are you at least expecting them to buy a regular copy? DRM isn't justification to get it for free.
To answer your first question, business integrity. Lets take the original Sonic. In its un-modified form, it can cost anywhere between $5-15. For a game thats over two decades old.
Alternatively, you can find an emulator and a ROM, and just go to town.
I used to be against such an idea, but really, I don't see why. Why should I be guilted into buying a game at an unreasonable price point, just because the developer thought "I would like to milk this cow again". This is done in increasing numbers in the industry, titles are being re-published for second, third, even fourth and greater helpings of profits, without ANY additional content being added. Thats a bit unreasonable to me, and shows no integrity on the developers part. As to your stance on "just dont play it", everything media related is something used for entertainment. Which boils down to the idea of "because I want to". Sounds like a bit of a childish arguement to make, but thats what it boils down to in the entertainment industry. So I don't think its unreasonable for a person to say "I want it, your asking too much for it, I'll find it elsewhere.". The beauty is too that with piracy, your not stealing it. Im not removing a copy from inventory that wasn't payed for. The only damage its doing is hypothetical.
As for the DRM issue, refer to the block of text above. Integrity. Ill use Assassins Creed 2 as an example. Remember when it had that DRM that forced you to be online to use it? I see no problem in pirating it, if you bought a copy or not. If you bought a copy, you are entitled to download one with the DRM stripped out of it. So go for it.
If you didn't, its a customer service issue. More of a "I will not support a company who employs this" kinda thing. Once again, one could simply go without it. I see no problem with the "I want it, your being unreasonable" arguement.
I have never pirated a game, like I said in my previous post. The only one I considered doing it for was Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix. I owned both the games it came with, they just had extras, and it is a region locked game - you can only get it in Japan. I payed for that game, I dont see why I should be excluded when the developer said "we want to milk more money from you, but wont release it over-seas". I would have gladly payed for it too.
To me, its all a customer service issue. The only reason I wanted to pirate that game was because I wanted it and it was unavailable to me. I would have gladly bought it full price, but it was not offered to me. And I look at piracy like that: I never bought AC2 for the PC because I perfer those types of games on the console, and had it on the console. If it didnt have that unreasonable DRM, and no Xbox, I would have purchased it. If I had the cash, but they used that ridiculous DRM crap, I would not buy it, but instead take it. I want it, I had the INTENT to buy it, but buying it was unreasonable. So I didnt.
Essentially, I judge the merits of pirates on their original intent, not their action. If I had the INTENT to spend the money, but the company was being unreasonable for whatever reason, I have no quarrels taking the content digitally. Like Ive said, its not stealing (in any sence of the word; legally, morally, physically), its down to copyrights.
