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

[Catalysis]

SWIM pirates because demos are what they want you to see, not the actual game. If SWIM likes the game, swIm buys it. Same goes with movies and music.

Funny, if I go to a library and check out a book nobody thinks twice. If I check out a game I'm an insidious pirate.

 

[Infinatex]

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.

lol That's my favourite excuse that pirates use. If they didn't pirate everything that gets released then the insane DRM measures that are in place now would not exist. They've done it to themselves!

 

[vxicepickxv]

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.

Yes I pirate stuff. I pirate all kinds of stuff that isn't made anymore. I also happen to own most what I pirate, either before, or after I pirate it. Digital media has quite a few advantages to physical media. It's a lot easier to move a 1Tb hard drive that it is to move the equivalent in books, DVDs, CDs, and whatnot.

I refuse to pay 250 dollars for a book that's out of print. The original author and the company they published for isn't going to make anything off of it. Who am I hurting by pirating something that I can only get off of ebay for that much?

EDIT:The going price is down to 150. Still not worth buying used.

 

[sivlin]

IMO, Piracy isn't bad. The amount of merchandise I have bought BECAUSE of piracy far outweighs the amount of merchandise I would have bought without it. Piracy is free advertising for developers.

 

[bojac6]

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.

Yes I pirate stuff. I pirate all kinds of stuff that isn't made anymore. I also happen to own most what I pirate, either before, or after I pirate it. Digital media has quite a few advantages to physical media. It's a lot easier to move a 1Tb hard drive that it is to move the equivalent in books, DVDs, CDs, and whatnot.

I refuse to pay 250 dollars for a book that's out of print. The original author and the company they published for isn't going to make anything off of it. Who am I hurting by pirating something that I can only get off of ebay for that much?

I gotta know, what out of print books are you pirating that cost 250 dollars? I mean, most books with a high price tag, it's not that the book is out of print, it's that a certain edition is rare. A Gutenberg Bible is worth millions, but the Bible isn't out of print. So you've really piqued my interest, what books are you getting?

 

[niglett]

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.

my town dosn't have a library anymore ),:

 

[Queen Michael]

I read manga on the Internet, and I also buy on average two manga books every week, so there might be some truth in the "Pirates buy more" theory you present.

 

[vxicepickxv]

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.

Yes I pirate stuff. I pirate all kinds of stuff that isn't made anymore. I also happen to own most what I pirate, either before, or after I pirate it. Digital media has quite a few advantages to physical media. It's a lot easier to move a 1Tb hard drive that it is to move the equivalent in books, DVDs, CDs, and whatnot.

I refuse to pay 250 dollars for a book that's out of print. The original author and the company they published for isn't going to make anything off of it. Who am I hurting by pirating something that I can only get off of ebay for that much?

I gotta know, what out of print books are you pirating that cost 250 dollars? I mean, most books with a high price tag, it's not that the book is out of print, it's that a certain edition is rare. A Gutenberg Bible is worth millions, but the Bible isn't out of print. So you've really piqued my interest, what books are you getting?

It's an RPG supplement for the 7th Sea game called The Swordsman's Guild. I still have no idea why this book is so expensive, especially compared to the rest of the books in the game series.

 

[Vaccine]

I live in Australia and sad to say, I've had to resort to it -sometimes-, simply because game prices are literally insane here. I am not paying $100-$120 for a new release game, no way in hell, that can easily be a weeks worth of groceries for 1 or maybe 2 people depending how much they eat.
Books I usually always buy, if I don't I borrow them off a friend.
Media, I always go to the movies maybe every second weekend, I rarely pirate movies unless I require them for class(I study film) and then delete them after.

 

[LooK iTz Jinjo]

What do I pirate? Movies, Music, TV Shows. Ok so I rob bands and producers of their money, but who makes money from me watching How I met your mother on TV anyway? I don't pirate games because part of the reason I pirate is because it's less effort than going to the movies or going and buying a CD, but seeing as I am a console gamer that is more effort than it is worth in my opinion, considering that Microsoft could ban my 360 at any time if I do it wrong. I do occiasionally download some crappy game but very rarely and it is generally less than $20 off steam anyway.

I've already mentioned one reason I pirate, the other is obviously because I don't have the money to see 1TB worth of movies a year, or to buy 6000 songs worth of CD's.


Oh as for this ad, Yes if I could download a car I WOULD steal it... Just throwing that out there...

 

[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.

Yes I pirate stuff. I pirate all kinds of stuff that isn't made anymore. I also happen to own most what I pirate, either before, or after I pirate it. Digital media has quite a few advantages to physical media. It's a lot easier to move a 1Tb hard drive that it is to move the equivalent in books, DVDs, CDs, and whatnot.

I refuse to pay 250 dollars for a book that's out of print. The original author and the company they published for isn't going to make anything off of it. Who am I hurting by pirating something that I can only get off of ebay for that much?

EDIT:The going price is down to 150. Still not worth buying used.

I really highly doubt thats all you steal... errr, pirate. Like I said, having it on a digital format is not an excuse for the act. Just because you can't afford it doesn't mean it is free picking, save up your money and purchase it.
Isn't more fun to try to find a real copy of a rare book just to say "I X book that is no longer in circulation."?
As for CD's and DVD's, if you look hard enough you can get a copy, CD's you can just go on Itunes for Amazon and same goes for DVD's.

 

[Corven]

Because it's free,any other reason is just an excuse.

I especially hate the excuse where people think that being pissed at the dev or publisher (for whatever reason) justifies pirating the game.

 

[ShoopDaToaster]

I misunderstood your thread and thought it was about this-
Pirate and free,get it?
yeah.
But i think people just pirate stuff cause its free.

 

[SomebodyNowhere]

back when I had my dealings with piracy sometimes it was to get items I couldn't very easily and sometimes it was a way to expose myself to some shows I was interested in, but never really got to watch. I can think of a load of DVDs that I never would have bought if it weren't for piracy.

 

[bojac6]

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.

Yes I pirate stuff. I pirate all kinds of stuff that isn't made anymore. I also happen to own most what I pirate, either before, or after I pirate it. Digital media has quite a few advantages to physical media. It's a lot easier to move a 1Tb hard drive that it is to move the equivalent in books, DVDs, CDs, and whatnot.

I refuse to pay 250 dollars for a book that's out of print. The original author and the company they published for isn't going to make anything off of it. Who am I hurting by pirating something that I can only get off of ebay for that much?

I gotta know, what out of print books are you pirating that cost 250 dollars? I mean, most books with a high price tag, it's not that the book is out of print, it's that a certain edition is rare. A Gutenberg Bible is worth millions, but the Bible isn't out of print. So you've really piqued my interest, what books are you getting?

It's an RPG supplement for the 7th Sea game called The Swordsman's Guild. I still have no idea why this book is so expensive, especially compared to the rest of the books in the game series.

Oh that makes sense. Yeah, old RPG rule books are a pain and super expensive. Especially ones that were never that popular. I spent years trying to find the core rule book for the original Crimson Skies. Ending up getting it of eBay for $40 bucks. Saw another copy a few days later for $150. Really glad it happened in that order, because I would have been so tempted.

 

[Ria Almeida]

I know there is the excuse of being broke as hell.

 

[crazypsyko666]

I do it kind of because it's free. You see, I'm dirt poor. I have no way to support my gaming habit. So, like many broke teenagers I know, I turn to piracy. It sucks, but it's just what happens.

 

[photog212]

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.

Actually, pirating books was the the first form of piracy. Going waaaayyyy back. Think printing press=Napster. Piracy goes back to the invention of the printing press in the 1500's. Notable victims of piracy include Charles Dickens and Cervantes.
http://www.adrianjohns.com/piracy/

 

[Canid117]

Thats the reason for some but many pirates are just dicks.