Poll: Do People Pirate Because it's Free? Or is There Something More to it?

[Skorpyo]

People pirate for many reasons. Service, daring, price...

There are too many reasons to name. I don't see how pissing off the RIAA or others is worth it, so I don't.

Awesome avatar, BTW. It's the first to give me a good laugh in a while.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Mostly because it's getting something for free. Think about it. Pirates, how much of your library would you have paid for instead of getting for free. Did you eventually buy it? If not, why?

Obvious answers are so obvious.

 

[Craftybonds]

Mostly because it's getting something for free. Think about it. Pirates, how much of your library would you have paid for instead of getting for free. Did you eventually buy it? If not, why?

Obvious answers are so obvious.

Completely disagree with this. I almost always buy the DVD's and merchandise that belong to a TV show or movie that i enjoyed, that i pirated. If i didn't buy it, it's because i didn't like it. I believe in a society where we only pay for the things that we like. this prevents studios from putting more shit on the market, and working harder to create better works of art.

Also, most pirates would have never ever seen the majority of the things they have pirated, if they were forced to buy everything. I'd say 80% of my library consists of media that i would have never paid to see, and would have never experienced without piracy, but i liked them, so i bought their respective merchandise.

 

[Johnnyallstar]

Mostly because it's getting something for free. Think about it. Pirates, how much of your library would you have paid for instead of getting for free. Did you eventually buy it? If not, why?

Obvious answers are so obvious.

Completely disagree with this. I almost always buy the DVD's and merchandise that belong to a TV show or movie that i enjoyed, that i pirated. If i didn't buy it, it's because i didn't like it. I believe in a society where we only pay for the things that we like. this prevents studios from putting more shit on the market, and working harder to create better works of art.

Also, most pirates would have never ever seen the majority of the things they have pirated, if they were forced to buy everything. I'd say 80% of my library consists of media that i would have never paid to see, and would have never experienced without piracy, but i liked them, so i bought their respective merchandise.

Right, but why did you pirate that stuff that you wouldn't have paid for beforehand? Because it was free. You could have checked out a lot of that online, on say youtube, or what have you to see what other people thought. But you didn't, for whatever reason. It was free to pirate and then decide if it was worth buying or not.

 

[Infinatex]

It's because it is free. Pirates don't seem to understand that things cost money to make, therefor you are charged a price to own/use that content that was created. Just because you can't afford something does not give you the right to steal it. I mean I can't afford to buy my own home yet, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start living in your place until I can. If you can't afford all the latest games, films etc. then go do something about it. Get a better job, work harder or even better, start your own business (and see how it feels when people start pirating your stuff).

And the whole "Oh well, *companyX* have piles of money so I'm not paying for this" argument is just as stupid as what pirates are doing. All companies are out to make money because it costs money to run the business. Your $60 bucks for a new title covers all of the wages of the devs, research, marketing, office space etc. etc.
The more people pirate, the less money the companies have to put towards new projects meaning less content for everyone.

/end anti-piracy rant

 

[The Procrastinated End]

I usually torrent things that are hard to get a hold of by other means. Movies I usually go see or rent, and I haven't added that much music that is available on itunes or local stores.

 

[child of lileth]

Usually it's impossible to get what I pirate otherwise. Not my fault they don't make physical copies anymore.

 

[SturmDolch]

I don't pirate anymore because while stealing might be necessary sometimes to survive, stealing from artists is just dishonourable. And there's no one else you could be stealing from when you pirate. That movie you downloaded in an hour took someone millions of dollars and thousands of hours to make. That song took hours upon hours of practice to produce. That book took years of experience.

 

[mega48man]

it's a combination or being to cheap and lazy to buy thing and these two things; the avaiability of an item on the market (ex: it's not anywhere in stores or even on itunes, i can only find it on the pirate community) and not wanting to pay for something because they don't feel it worth paying (ex: would you honestly pay $19.99 for the 1995 Judge Dredd movie? or 20 bucks for the expendables? hell no, not worth the money)

 

[Craftybonds]

You pirate BOOKS!? That puts you just above panhandler on the cheap fuck scale. I've never heard of pirating books. How low can you go? Honestly. It's called a library if you want free books. At least the author still makes money when his books are in the library. Pirating books... Honestly. It takes a lot to be that incompetent at life.

I don't pirate anymore because while stealing might be necessary sometimes to survive, stealing from artists is just dishonourable. And there's no one else you could be stealing from when you pirate. That movie you downloaded in an hour took someone millions of dollars and thousands of hours to make. That song took hours upon hours of practice to produce. That book took years of experience.

I don't understand your logic here. books are free through the library, and books are free to pirate. what's the difference? the library doesn't profit off of me renting the book; their budgets are determined by population size, not the rate at which the community rents them. Also, it's called an amazon kindle. you can't exactly rent books for those.

 

[mega48man]

It's because it is free. Pirates don't seem to understand that things cost money to make, therefor you are charged a price to own/use that content that was created. Just because you can't afford something does not give you the right to steal it. I mean I can't afford to buy my own home yet, but that doesn't mean I'm going to start living in your place until I can. If you can't afford all the latest games, films etc. then go do something about it. Get a better job, work harder or even better, start your own business (and see how it feels when people start pirating your stuff).

And the whole "Oh well, *companyX* have piles of money so I'm not paying for this" argument is just as stupid as what pirates are doing. All companies are out to make money because it costs money to run the business. Your $60 bucks for a new title covers all of the wages of the devs, research, marketing, office space etc. etc.
The more people pirate, the less money the companies have to put towards new projects meaning less content for everyone.

/end anti-piracy rant

actually, that would be lovely if you could stay at my place until we get you back on your feet.

lol, no. you bring up a good idea, i'm gonna pirate every disney product, EVERY ONE (except pixar, i love them) and i'm gonna sell copies so that disney will loose money then in turn will cause them to make finacial sacrifices or desperate frenchise attempts (ex: finally stop the high school musical shit and camp rock gayness OR make 4 sequels for both of those in the same year to try to rack in money but then in turn looking stupid to the community of people with common sense).

xInfiniteX, you're a mad genius, and i will need to borrow you laptop when you crash at my place, you're gonna help pirate all 200 billion pieces of shit and some 20 or less masterpieces from my childhood.

 

[The Lost Big Boss]

Just because one thinks something isn't good doesn't give one the right to steal.
Shits costs money to make, just because it's not in a physical format doesn't mean it's not stealing.

 

[mega48man]

Mostly because it's getting something for free. Think about it. Pirates, how much of your library would you have paid for instead of getting for free. Did you eventually buy it? If not, why?

Obvious answers are so obvious.

Completely disagree with this. I almost always buy the DVD's and merchandise that belong to a TV show or movie that i enjoyed, that i pirated. If i didn't buy it, it's because i didn't like it. I believe in a society where we only pay for the things that we like. this prevents studios from putting more shit on the market, and working harder to create better works of art.

Also, most pirates would have never ever seen the majority of the things they have pirated, if they were forced to buy everything. I'd say 80% of my library consists of media that i would have never paid to see, and would have never experienced without piracy, but i liked them, so i bought their respective merchandise.

Right, but why did you pirate that stuff that you wouldn't have paid for beforehand? Because it was free. You could have checked out a lot of that online, on say youtube, or what have you to see what other people thought. But you didn't, for whatever reason. It was free to pirate and then decide if it was worth buying or not.

that's right, and instead of illeagaly watching it, you can to HULU and watch almost anything for free without the fear of FBI agents literally trying to kill you.

 

[Craftybonds]

Mostly because it's getting something for free. Think about it. Pirates, how much of your library would you have paid for instead of getting for free. Did you eventually buy it? If not, why?

Obvious answers are so obvious.

Completely disagree with this. I almost always buy the DVD's and merchandise that belong to a TV show or movie that i enjoyed, that i pirated. If i didn't buy it, it's because i didn't like it. I believe in a society where we only pay for the things that we like. this prevents studios from putting more shit on the market, and working harder to create better works of art.

Also, most pirates would have never ever seen the majority of the things they have pirated, if they were forced to buy everything. I'd say 80% of my library consists of media that i would have never paid to see, and would have never experienced without piracy, but i liked them, so i bought their respective merchandise.

Right, but why did you pirate that stuff that you wouldn't have paid for beforehand? Because it was free. You could have checked out a lot of that online, on say youtube, or what have you to see what other people thought. But you didn't, for whatever reason. It was free to pirate and then decide if it was worth buying or not.

that's right, and instead of illeagaly watching it, you can to HULU and watch almost anything for free without the fear of FBI agents literally trying to kill you.

I would watch a torrent filled with commercials before i would watch something on hulu.

 

[hollowminds]

Usually it's impossible to get what I pirate otherwise. Not my fault they don't make physical copies anymore.

If i ever do its due to this, and if i ever find a place to purchase it afterwards i do. As for the question of piracy, id say yes.. or else they would buy it.

 

[Kollega]

Piracy has three main reasons.

- Reason #1, the main one as far as i'm concerned: You don't have to pay, thus it's really useful for cheap jerks who don't care about developers and for those who don't have the money but still want a new game every now and then.

- Reason #2: Convinience. You don't even have to get off your ass in order to pirate - it's all on screen. You wouldn't believe how much in the desire to pirate can be attributed to sloth. But luckily, digital distribution services (Steam, iTunes, etcetera) possess this benefit too.

- Reason #3: No Export For You. Do you think it's easy to find Earthbound in the United States? Do you think it's easy to find Larry Niven's novels or the aforementioned Scott Pilgrim in Russia and neighboring countries? No it's not. And don't even get me started on Affrica, Southeast Asia or South America. Actually importing those things is much harder than torrenting them, not to mention prohibitively expensive. Those acts of piracy are not really lost sales though, as the artists couldn't distribute their stuff in those countries in the first place.

 

[bojac6]

Pirates like to think they have other reasons. They like to say it's a protest to DRM or because they just wanted to try something out and they'll buy it if they like it. But they don't. Or they do a few times to assuage their conscience. But in the end, they're just thieves.

There is nothing different between downloading something and just shoving the disks under your shirt and walking out of the store.

 

[Vilcus]

that's right, and instead of illeagaly watching it, you can to HULU and watch almost anything for free without the fear of FBI agents literally trying to kill you.

HULU is only available in the U.S.A., so that kinda screws people in other countries (not that I care, DVR allows me to watch all of the shows I love whenver I want... and there aren't many shows I really care about).

OT: I don't pirate, and I actually hate pirates a lot (I hate all thieves in this world). Anyone who takes something without paying for it, or that doesn't belong to them is simply a cheap bastard who is too lazy to legitimately obtain what they stole.

There is no other reasoning, you cannot deflect by saying you don't wish to support the people you stole from, because that makes you a hypocrite. If you don't wish to support them with your money, then you don't deserve to have their product unless they themselves give it to you. They put hard work into what they sell, and if you think it isn't good enough to purchase, then you shouldn't have it.

I think all pirates are the lowest form of life, and I have always thought this. However, if someone ceases to be a pirate, then I will actually forgive them very quickly. While I may hate pirates, I do understand the allure of being one, and I realize that people make mistakes in their lives. So I'm quick to forgive pirates and thieves of all kinds as long as they renounce their stealing ways... and get rid of everything they stole (or return it to its rightful owner).

 

[omgct]

Personally, i buy what i like also, games, movies, shows, etc, id rather spend my excess money n stuff id actually watch a second time instead of buying a movie like Blade just to realize its a heap of ****. i think this is a good way to induce survival of the fittest within the media industry, the best stay and worst die out, if u understand what i mean

 

[Infinatex]

Usually it's impossible to get what I pirate otherwise. Not my fault they don't make physical copies anymore.

If i ever do its due to this, and if i ever find a place to purchase it afterwards i do. As for the question of piracy, id say yes.. or else they would buy it.

Give Amazon a go. I'm in Australia and anything I can't get there I get from there. They pretty much ship everywhere (eBay too).

snip

I believe in a society where we only pay for the things that we like. this prevents studios from putting more shit on the market, and working harder to create better works of art.

We do live in that society. If I don't like something I don't buy it, but that doesn't mean they will stop making it. Look at pointless unfunny (my opinion) movies like 'Scary Movie' and the 200 other films like this. They still exist even though I don't buy into them. The flaw with your idea is that media is subjective. All art is. If you think it's terrible then chances are you are just not the target audience.

snip

xInfiniteX, you're a mad genius, and i will need to borrow you laptop when you crash at my place, you're gonna help pirate all 200 billion pieces of shit and some 20 or less masterpieces from my childhood.

I don't have a laptop at the moment, but by your logic I'm sure you won't mind if I steal yours..?