AdamG3691 said:
JazzJack2 said:
But piracy doesn't make developers lose money, in fact it does the opposite, devs gain money from piracy.
do you know how devs are paid?
evidently not.
at the start of the development, the developer is given a certain amount of money, that money is what funds the game.
when the game is released, the devs get NO MONEY FROM SALES until they sell (initial budget/cost of a game) copies, after that they start to get money although most still goes to the publisher.
if you pirate or buy a preowned game, that doesn't count as a copy, and if the developer doesn't make enough to break even, they are unlikely to be hired again.
now explain to me, how is it that piracy increases the number of copies sold? because if you are going to argue that the good press from the game contributes, then you better be forcing two people to buy it full price, one to make up for your own actions, and one to allow your flawed justification to make even a tiny bit of sense.
I know
But I also know how I became gamer
I had some console experience (NES and Sega Genesis) before I got into PC gaming (a bit late, but I lived in area where gaming consoles came in late)
Cartridges were mostly cheap pirated versions
In year 1998 I got my first PC (and I had no illusions that those discs I got and exchanged from my friends were legal- 99% had cracks in them and were written on blank CDs)
In 2003 I bought my first non-pirated game (TES3:Morrowind)
Up till 2010 I had mixed game source: games I really liked I saved up money and bought, games I wasn't sure about I pirated (helped me to avoid few wastes of money- Halo:CE for example lived on my PC for ~1h)
After I got my first job in 2010 I started to buy games on Steam (and occasionally physical copies)
I still occasionally pirate games when I am not sure will I like the game
Such approach still helps me to avoid crappy games
[Captcha: don't stop]
[Thank you- not planning to

]
At this moment I have plenty of legitimate games in my library
Games from developers I support and games that deserves to be bought
I wasn't sure for example about FO:NV so I pirated it, but after playing it for few h I uninstalled it and bought on Steam, because improvement over FO3 was significant
So while piracy doesn't provide immediate income for developers, it is important source of games for new gamers who eventually will convert to paying customer
Or for those who can't spare money for games- when these customers will be able to afford games, they will buy them
BUT
All this works only with decent people
There are of course those who won't spend money on games (movies, series and music most probably too) at all, no matter of their income
And these people are scum by my book
