Poll: Does pirating a game to test it make it okay?

[fenrizz]

No it is stealing.

It is never stealing, not ever.
It's at worst copyright infringement, which incidentally is not theft.

If your asking the question "Is this morally dubious thing I am doing wrong."

Then it is wrong!

I don't find it morally dubious wanting to find out if your system can run a certain game or not.
I honestly don't see what's wrong with that.

Finding other people who will try and assuage your feelings about it does not make it any better.

Depends on the issue really.
If the vast majority thinks it is ok, then it's more likely to be ok.

If you want to play a game buy it.

As was OP's intention, as long as the system in question can run the game.

I you want to test it play a demo.

A demo is not always available, in fact they have become much rarer than they used to be.
Otherwise it's a good strategy.

If there is no demo, read a review.

A review, while providing basic information about the game as well as an assessment of quality, does not really tell if you can run the game on your system or not.

No one 'needs a game'

Indeed, that is true.
But no one wants to waste $20-$60 on something that may not even work.

If you need a test go to a store and ask.

It is my understanding that most stores do not allow you to take games home to test them, with them containing single use CD Keys and all.

 

[StriderShinryu]

No it is not (although I've found my stance on piracy to be one of the harshest on this site...basically, it's never OK unless you literally can't get the item in question due to it's age).

There are sites that you can go to that will tell you these things.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri (like this one! I'm sure there are others but this is the one I personally use)

I pretty much agree with this. While I can see some merit when the testing is actually of a "can my system actually run this" nature, I still see testing as a pretty slippery slope.

The good old slippery slope fallacy, eh?

Yep, the fallacy of those who use the "I was just gonna test it out" excuse for pirating and then decide that, well, the game was worth playing through but siuddenly not worth actually buying. Or maybe it was worth buying but not for the current price and whenever in the future it finds that magical price point they've set in their heads they somehow forget about it. Etc. The fact is, once you've experienced something for free and gotten what you wanted out of it, your valuation of it can vary greatly. Certainly, sometimes this "testing" will actiually lead to even further developer support than first planned but I'd wager that just as (if not more) often it leads to just the opposite.

But yeah, I get that you don't agree and this will just lead in circles.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Nope. I don't think piracy is ever okay. Unless the game is old(as in PS1 or GBA old) and you have no possible means of playing these games with a physical system and game, then I think emulators are free game. They aren't actually selling these games anywhere anymore, and the copies that ARE being sold are on places like or eBay or from another individual. So the developers won't be losing out on any money anyhow.

If you pirate a game then it works and you buy it, developers still won't be losing out on any money.

And if it's so bad that you don't want to get it properly, then the developers SHOULD be losing out on money. Getting rich from tricking you into a game that you couldn't run or that is secretly bad and you wouldn't want to play it after all, shouldn't be a legitimate business model.

People are greedy creatures. Not many would take the time to go out and pay money to buy a game they've already got their hands on, via pirating. Some people will take the moral high ground and get an official copy, but there are just as many people who won't.

If you can still purchase the game from a retailer and you want to "test it out," then you can just as easily rent the game for a couple bucks. My only ideology works purely with games that you can no longer purchase from retailers, or have ceased production.

 

[The White Hunter]

No it is not (although I've found my stance on piracy to be one of the harshest on this site...basically, it's never OK unless you literally can't get the item in question due to it's age).

Age ande region locking, which is why I haven';t played a fair few retro games, not unattainable by any means but they don't come in PAL.

OT: Hmmm well it's a grey area, i suppose doing that would be fine if you just wanted to test it running before buying a digital copy, you could also have googled around to see if a similar setup can run it or see benchmarks for it with your gpu/cpu?

BUt yeah, that'd be fine though I don't condone the stealing of games under any circumstance, you pay for your fun and support the dev. It's fine to do it to see if it works for 15 minutes then buying off steam but it;s not fine to, for example, pirate Skyrim, play 80 hours, then go "oh well I tried it and I don't think it's worth the money".

Also, games should have demos, especially on PC.

 

[deathzero021]

Under no circumstance is it OK. it's illegal. however i do it all the time >

you see what's wrong with people? they do bad things and try to excuse themselves. No, there is no excuse, you did something bad, admit to that or you're a spineless a$$hole.

 

[Kyr Knightbane]

I was trying to convince a friend to purchase Payday: The Heist through steam so that we can play co-op together. However, she has a pretty weak laptop (2 years or so old). She can run some older games, along some F2P games like NFS: World on Medium, or sometimes high, so I did a bit of research to see if she can at least run Payday on minimum settings. After a bit of researching, it seemed like too close of a call, so I suggested that maybe she can, for this once, pirate the game, just so that she can actually test if the game can run with a decent FPS on her computer. She would simply install the game, jump in a game, move around a bit If it was playable, and then uninstall and delete the crack. Then she would immediately buy the game. And from there on, we got into arguments about piracy, if it's okay or not, blah blah blah.

So I ask you this escapists, is pirating okay if you're planning to test a game and then later on, buy it? Is pirating ever okay, under any condition?

I would say look up her specs (I.E Ram, GPU and Processor and then go on Youtube and type in the game along with the GPU and see if you get any hits (Mine is an 8800GTS and it plays the Heist flawlessly on max, although i do have 8 gigs of ram and an OC'd Processor)

I would say the only time Piracy to 'test' a game is even remotely allowed is if its been years since a cd of it was ever made

-OR-

You just can't find it.

And Payday: The Heist is fairly cheap and i would just install YOUR copy of steam on her laptop, and test it that way. If it works, you already installed steam, have her buy the game, and yer good to go. Hope I helped ^^

 

[stupenderifous]

If you are planning on paying for it in the near future, there is no reason why you shouldn't pirate it. A friend of mine has stated that he does just that, simply because he does not have the money at the time. But once he gets the money, he pays for the game.

In this case, though, if this person does not usually pirate games and is doing it to test whether or not the game can run properly, then have at it. As much as supporting developers (especially pc game developers) is important, on the consumer side, if the game might not work, you should not have to pay for it just to see if it can run. And if this person is going to delete the cracked game after she has sufficiently tested it, then there is no issue.

 

[fenrizz]

No it is not (although I've found my stance on piracy to be one of the harshest on this site...basically, it's never OK unless you literally can't get the item in question due to it's age).

There are sites that you can go to that will tell you these things.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri (like this one! I'm sure there are others but this is the one I personally use)

I pretty much agree with this. While I can see some merit when the testing is actually of a "can my system actually run this" nature, I still see testing as a pretty slippery slope.

The good old slippery slope fallacy, eh?

Yep, the fallacy of those who use the "I was just gonna test it out" excuse for pirating and then decide that, well, the game was worth playing through but siuddenly not worth actually buying. Or maybe it was worth buying but not for the current price and whenever in the future it finds that magical price point they've set in their heads they somehow forget about it. Etc. The fact is, once you've experienced something for free and gotten what you wanted out of it, your valuation of it can vary greatly. Certainly, sometimes this "testing" will actiually lead to even further developer support than first planned but I'd wager that just as (if not more) often it leads to just the opposite.

But yeah, I get that you don't agree and this will just lead in circles.

No, I actually agree.
Most people do use that as a lame excuse to justify pirating a game, and then promptly forget about buying said game.

Still though, OP had a very specific reason for downloading (I refuse to call it pirating for the purpose he intended) and I don't think it will lead to a slippery slope.

Either way though, the problem is not that testing suddenly becomes piracy, I think.
It's more the people that use that as an excuse to pirate, and always finding some minor flaw justifying not buying the game in the end.
It is unfortunate, sure, but I doubt these people would be buying many games either way.

 

[Entitled]

People are greedy creatures. Not many would take the time to go out and pay money to buy a game they've already got their hands on, via pirating. Some people will take the moral high ground and get an official copy, but there are just as many people who won't.

That sounds something like how a teetotaler would express his fear that he will turn into a drunkard from a glass of wine.

I've always had the feeling, that this kind of law-worshipping has more to do with the speaker's insecurity about their own morality, than with the population in general. Like they NEED to follow copyright laws step by step, even when they are arbitarily restrictive and don't help anyone, because they don't really care about causing harm, or helping the industry, they just have to condition themselves into fearing the watershed line of piracy, instead of just jumping back and forth accross the line, and support the industry from their free will.

Piracy is ridiculously easy. Anyone who wants to, can get themselves a free copy anything. And in spite of that, the contet industry continues to be profitable. To me, that's good enough proof thatn on a large scale, people will end up just fine.

Even if some of us are dogmatic teetotalers, some of us are occasionally pirating, and some of us are freeloaders, the sum of all adds up just fine.

 

[unstabLized]

Nope. Why would you buy a game after you pirate it when you have the game sitting right there? There is no reason to buy it after you have the full game.

Because for some games, specially Left 4 Dead or Payday, playing alone is really boring and hard. It needs teamwork and co-operative gameplay, that's where the fun is at.

Also, to others saying that we can just watch LP's, gameplay, etc. on youtube, we did that. I linked many videos to my buddy, and she absolutely loved it. The problem wasn't that she might not like it, but that she can run it. She's not a "Gamer", but she does like playing video games, so she buys 2 games or so every year.

In regards to utilities being online to test if the computer can run the game, we went and checked with 2 sites: System Requirements Lab, and Yougamers. Both gave a negative, because the graphic card was below minimum specs. However, after I decided to lend my steam account to her temporarily so that she can test the game, she ran the game flawlessly. Not on highest specs, of course, but on medium. Sometimes, those things are not a 100%, specially when the line is this close.

 

[BooTsPs3]

I would say that it is down to the individual. Some people will "test" games for hours and then not buy it. Some will literally just test if it works and then buy.
It comes down to whether the individual is an ass about it or not. I see nothing wrong with pirating a game when it's used like this, but some people will just not buy the game afterwards.

It's not really something you can give a definitive answer to. It's more of an individual thing. If that person is going to just test it then OK. But it is still illegal. If that person is going to just pirate the game, I would prefer if they didn't use bullshit excuses and either admit they are being an ass or don't talk about it.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No, but I suppose if you plan on buying it later it makes it slightly less bad.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

People are greedy creatures. Not many would take the time to go out and pay money to buy a game they've already got their hands on, via pirating. Some people will take the moral high ground and get an official copy, but there are just as many people who won't.

That sounds something like how a teetotaler would express his fear that he will turn into a drunkard from a glass of wine.

I've always had the feeling, that this kind of law-worshipping has more to do with the speaker's insecurity about their own morality, than with the population in general. Like they NEED to follow copyright laws step by step, even when they are arbitarily restrictive and don't help anyone, because they don't really care about causing harm, or helping the industry, they just have to condition themselves into fearing the watershed line of piracy, instead of just jumping back and forth accross the line, and support the industry from their free will.

Piracy is ridiculously easy. Anyone who wants to, can get themselves a free copy anything. And in spite of that, the contet industry continues to be profitable. To me, that's good enough proof thatn on a large scale, people will end up just fine.

Even if some of us are dogmatic teetotalers, some of us are occasionally pirating, and some of us are freeloaders, the sum of all adds up just fine.

I'm not quite following you. But I get a distinct feeling that you're making an attempt to call me insecure about my own morality. To which I would say you are very wrong.

That, and what you just said is coming across as extremely confusing.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

I'd say it depends. If you test out the game and subsequently buy a copy, then no harm's been done. If you test out a pirated copy and start reasoning that hey, you've already got the stuff, why pay more - then you're treading on thin moral and legal ice.

The thing is, that's the problem. Why even bother paying anywhere between thirty to sixty bucks for something which you technically already have, and that you got for free? Having the moral fortitude to actually cave in and buy a previously pirated product is actually pretty rare, unless you've waited six months to a year and your previously free and pirated game is now available at half-price.

It's one case where you might feel like you can justify what you're doing - the old "try before you buy" custom, but what really sucks is that the disappearance of free demos is pushing quite a few people into doing this. If only the Shareware era had left some sort of habit behind, like companies giving the option to create partial "Spawn" copies of a purchased game, we might not have this problem.

Anyone remember how Blizzard used to handle things, back in WarCraft II and Diablo's days? You could install a partial version of the game on a friend's computer, and could do that as much as you wanted. They, in turn, would be stuck playing the multiplayer portion of the game with the owner of the master copy only, and had only a limited access to single-player content. Still, that was generally enough to whet anyone's appetite.

I really miss that way of doing things. I stuck with my Spawn copy of WarCraft II for months, before finally getting it on Christmas as a kid.

 

[Your Gaffer]

Morally? 100% fine. You will still be breaking the law and exposing yourself to risk of prosecution, even if the risk is very low.

I buy a lot of games, I have well over 300 games on my Steam library and over 40 games through GOG.com, as well as the Humble Bundle stuff.

That being said if I am on the fence about something and there is no demo... well I won't admit to piracy as that is probably against the TOS but I wouldn't see anything wrong with it at all. Provided you end up actually buying the game if you enjoy it.

 

[FalloutJack]

Of course, it does. The Neil Gaiman Defense compares piracy to going to the library and picking up a book. Downloading a game just for a test is the most cut-and-dry example of that idea one can think of.

 

[Tdoodle]

I'm not normally for pirating but I think this is one of the only situations where I can't fault it (I'm also all for it when there are long delays between it being released in one country and becoming available in another).

If developers aren't going to make it possible for people to try their products without having to commit they can hardly blame the customer for trying it out some other way. I've never been in game development or the industry in general so forgive me if I'm being naive, but would it be that difficult to offer a timed download of the game that gives you a couple of hours to try the full game and play about with settings then lock you out when the time is up?

Captcha: How Interesting. Thank you, Captcha.

 

[Nihlus2]

Always said there is no justfiable reason to pirate whatsoever... at all. Can't afford? Wait, save up, borrow from a friend, or miss out.

But this is a grey area question, to which I ask myself another.

"What if 'pirating' had instead been a partial copy of the game uploaded for people to try as a sort of 'artificial demo'" or said in other words, maybe taking out the first 10-20-30 min or so of a game for trial play in such a case of a demo not existing. I could see that in a better light.

We really do need more demos for games these days. For reasons such as this. Although the thing about "I will grab the whole game now, but I promise only to take a dip to feel the temperature, and then buy a completely legit copy to actually play, if this pleases me", leaves most people a bit at unease, understandably so. It sounds however like your friend did intend sincerely to buy it, just speaking in general term here.

- Speaking of the "Borrow from a friend" could she not simply have had you open your steam account on her computer, downloaded it/installed it on there and tried it out? Seems like as easy (and less morally debateable) solution to me. I am not an expert on steam, but I do believe that's possible, somewhat easily.

 

[kyogen]

Doable: yes
Understandable: yes
OK: still no

Sorry, OP, but your friend should look at specs and say "no" to the purchase or take her chances because piracy is still basically wrong, especially in this situation where the age of her laptop is more of an inconvenience than an outright barrier to entry.