Poll: Is Piracy Really That Bad?

[CrystalShadow]

I don't really know. I'm against piracy as a whole, altough I think the measures the industry takes to deal with it are counterproductive and they frequently seem to make arguments based on flawed premises (Lost revenue? Really? How unrealistic are you being to say that every pirated copy is equivalent in value to one lost sale. At full price no less! - That's insane. If there was no piracy whatsoever I can guarantee you wouldn't make extra revenue equal to every single pirated copy.)

However, I'm seriously opposed to the whole IP thing (Intellectual property is a flawed concept - It encourages the thought that someone 'owns' an idea, which is unhealthy).

Copyright laws carry a seriously heavy burden. And piracy is the 'easy' argument here.
The damage copyright does to our collective culture and artistic freedom is immense, and shouldn't be underestimated.

That's why original copyright laws were an agreement designed to balance out the benefit to society as a whole for having free and unrestricted access to someone's work, against the need to provide some compensation to the creators so they'll actually bother to release their work into the public domain.

You don't 'own' your creations. You never did. You entered into an agreement with society that we'll give you the legal power to control what people do with it (for a limited period of time), in exchange for you giving your work to the public.

That was what copyright was about. Yet that's been twisted beyond all recognition.

We should not have copyright terms that last in excess of 140 years or more! that's damaging to society. Damaging to culture, and makes the sole any only focus profit, at the expense of everything else.

At the same time, piracy does harm everyone as well. Because the less financial compensation there is for creating something and releasing it to the public, the less likely anyone is to want to do so.

So my thoughts on the matter are this:
Piracy of anything recent = very bad.

However, things like abandonware and old media and software are much more of a grey area to me.
I might even go so far as to say anything over 25 years old should be pirated by as many people as possible, in protest to the total perversion of it's principles that copyright law has become.

 

[Compatriot Block]

I disagree with pirating in pretty much all context.

The WORST possible thing any pirate can do (and I know people personally who have pulled this) is make fun of the "morons" who actually pay for games.

"Oh you idiot, who actually pays for Minecraft? I pirated that like any sane person would."

Well fuck you, hypothetical pirate. If people like me didn't actually pay for these games, then there would be no more games for you to pirate.

That is the real reason I can't stand the idea of pirating. A pirate is freeloading off paying customers' work, and enjoying the fruits of others' support.

 

[JET1971]

I pirated every game I own that didnt have a demo, and I own well over 500 titles. I wont put my money down on a game unless i can try it out first. If the game is crap I delete the copy and move on. If I like what I am seeing I buy it. I dont like the idea of buying a $50-$60 game and not know if its good or not and I dont trust reviews to have the same opinion as me. is that a bad thing?

 

[sean360h]

I tend to buy the game then get a crack for it no DRM and everybody is happy i used to be a hardcore pirate but what i have found is that the hardcore pirate is becoming the hardcore purchaser
granted i still pirate things i see to be shit eg bands i kinda like but not enough to put my money were my mouth is or most modern music

 

[somonels]

I was bored, so I made this post.

1) It's illegal.

Yes.

2) It takes money away from the company producing the game.

If the pirate would buy the game otherwise, yes, but in reality a lot, if not most, pirates would not be willing to legally buy the game.

3) Very unfair to the people who purchased the game legally.

Oh boy.
You are either talking about the DRM components that would still exist to a certain degree, or you are claiming that it is unfair that others can steal and get it for free, while you had to pay for yours.

4) Could subject minors to content their parents/guardians wouldn't want them exposed too.

This is the internet. go to the search bar and type in "porno", "Bieber", "Kardashian", "Republicans." Unless the parents are more knowledgeable with computers and willing to invest more time than a determined youngster, they won't be able to stop him, not to mention everything their parents do not have direct control over.

Have you ever lent a game? At least three out of four statements you made also apply to this action.

 

[Winterfel]

There is one occasion and one only where I pirate:
The game is simply too old, it's no longer in production and I can't find any second hand way to obtain it, it simply does not leave me with much in the way of choices.
Then comes the question why there isn't an entire section on steam(for example) for out-of-production-games, I mean I have no trouble hunting down an old movie or book, but finding a game that has been out of production for about 1-2 years is a bloody nightmare.
How foolish of me, let's instead spend a retarded amount of time on useless DRM to promote piracy.
Developers and publishers are missing out on so much..

 

[Dr Pussymagnet]

It doesn't matter what anyone says to try to justify pirating. To me, it's just a simple matter of theft.

You didn't pay for it, so don't fucking take it.

how you cant steal that which does not really exist, Its my opinion that when it comes to protecting digital IP you cant do it, not that it should not be done but that its is actually impossible to do so due to the nature of data itself. You can talk about morality until your blue in the face but people that pirate will probably always do so because they obviously have no moral issues with doing so, any loss that occurs because of this would be dead weight loss and a reality of selling somthing that has an unlimited quantity.

It's not a matter of losing opportunities to sell a product because someone pirated a game, I get that there's no actual, physical thing being stolen.

It's just a simple, basic matter of taking something you didn't pay for, physical or digital.

 

[Coldster]

Going to summarize my statements from before, so: Yes, it is bad, anyone who says differently is ignorant, childish, and most likely a pirate themselves. It is one of the most selfish acts in the modern world, and it does only bad, no good. Of course, this only applies to pirating modern games, not old games that you can't get anymore.

 

[Ascarus]

3) No DRM

i am opposed to piracy as i consider it stealing, but what other players do is their business. i understand both sides of the argument, but i do chuckle when players who i know pirate games whine about DRM but fail to connect that they perpetuate that DRM policy with the very piracy they are partaking in.

 

[Snotnarok]

In a world where game demos are rare or non-existant and system requirements flat out lie to you it's almost needed to have the option to use 'alternative methods'. If it wasn't for the alt method, I'd never have played and ultimately bought Bad Company 2, I didn't know if my system could run it, and I didn't know what to expect considering a lot of mix things I was hearing. I tried it and within 15 minutes I was like, shit this game is great, and I bought it. There's no demo, it's not like I can return it either if things aren't working either.

In the end, no harm was done and I got to both test the game and find out it was amazing. Now I'm not sure who said this but it made me laugh "What if you don't like the game? You just keep it and play it then?" If I don't like the game why the hell would I keep it??

Is Piracy good? No, but I know for a fact 90% of the time the only way to demo the game is to do 'use an alternate method'. Is that good? Hell no, it's stupid and they should put out a god damn demo, or not lie about the requirements.

Lying about Requirements: I bought Black Ops, my processor could easily handle it according to the requirements, turns out I couldn't play it at any setting above 10fps. They said they would fix it, well they did, 6 months or so later. That's not really fair now is it? Mass Effect 2, says it supports dual core processors, you can play the game but without the third party patch (Mass Affinity) it takes upward of 2 minutes to load just the captains quarters, more for larger maps obviously. This is literally to do with dual core processors as the creator says. Bioware never fixed it and never linked anyone to said fix. If I didn't find out about the patch I would have never even bothered playing the game. However because of a number of things I got the C.E. edition.

So say what you want about it, I've bought games because of 'alt methods'. The only game I didn't buy was Oblivion...because I just didn't really like it, I wound up just watching my friend play his 360 version. But again, there's no bloody demo.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Bit of curiousity here, how is iTunes for movies and TV?

Because I know my buying of DVDs has slowed hugely when I realised what an awful deal I was getting compared to digital online versions.

you get a digital copy of , say a TV episode, and there's no trailers, no unskippable piracy warning, no seven different 'look at me' animations from the publishers, production companies, etc, just the damn thing you want to see.

I'd be happy to build up a digital library on iTunes if it's on a par with say, Steam, where I've got everything easily accessible, without DRM, and without a bunch of crap needlessly chained onto it.

I think the biggest problem with the movie industry isn't that people don't want to pay for it, it's that they don't want to wade thru 10 minutes of unskippable BS every time they choose to view what they paid for, and then lose it if there's an unfortunate scratch to the disc. I corrupt my steam folder, I just DL it all again free.

As the writer of Father Ted and IT crowd said, to move ahead in the current market, make your content 'better than the free stuff pirates get'.

 

[evilneko]

Piracy--as in the casual kind, your average torrent user--is not nearly as bad as the industries makes it out to be. Hell there's been more than one study showing pirates buy more media than er...non-pirates. The E/BSA/MPAA/RIAA's claims are ridiculous. Sure, piracy causes them loss. This is undeniable. Their inflated claims as to the extent of said losses? Not so much.

And then of course, there's the anime industry, which owes its very existence to piracy. Probably why they're also the most lenient.

Long, long ago on this lovely now mostly-forgotten thing called Usenet, a wise man once said, "Don't worry when they pirate your app. Worry when they don't."

 

[Candidus]

1 + 2) Allows a larger group of people to play the game, wouldn't have bought it anyway...

Yes, people who haven't paid to do so. This can never be a point in favour of piracy. You can argue that people who steal are unlikely to buy, but what you fail to realise is that it doesn't matter whether they would have or not. Every time someone boots up a developers' software without having paid the license (the "box" cost), it is a loss of revenue. It IS a loss of revenue, and a case of someone taking what they shouldn't have.

3) More and more, NO DRM as a positive is doubling up with COMPROMISED EXPERIENCE as a negative. Games are missing content, or you can't get patches, or you have to avoid developer-laid traps regarding data on item or NPC placement. This is a battle that pirates are gradually losing, fact. I couldn't be happier, even if it inconveniences me at times.

4) If I lived in Germany or Australia, I'd import or proxy to avoid draconian censorship of game content or availability. I sympathise with people who live in heavily regulated shit holes, I really do, but saying that it's fine for them to pirate is the same as saying "don't bother to challenge the censors, just go around them and hurt developers in the process". Nope.

5) Digital distribution offers you the same perks with none of the being a pirate asshole.

I think that covers everything.

 

[cgentero]

Piracy affects all forms of media and yet those industries are still around, why should it be so much more a problem for videogames?

 

[Peteron]

Its wrong. Game developers have the rights to the game. They intend to sell the game. People instead attempt to pirate the game, which does not give back to the company who worked so hard to produce said game. So, in reality, people's selfishness (in most cases) causes them to go against the wills of the producers who are just trying to earn something for their hard work. So, yes, piracy is bad. Game companies aren't giving out free samples. They expect and trust their fans will fairly purchase the game. Its more or less stealing.

 

[SonicKoala]

It's theft, pure and simple.

No, it isn't, you fucking moron.

How is it not?

 

[SonicKoala]

There ARE people who do it because they would never be able to afford gaming in the first place

I fail to see how this justifies stealing the game.

 

[DoubleTime]

I'm against pirating games for the same reason I'm against pirating movies and music. Just because you can "copy" something without having it cost tangible goods, that "copy" still costs money. Money that SHOULD be getting paid to all the people who helped make and distribute it. When you pirate, the money comes out of their paychecks, not the "Big Bad Evil Corporation." Even if they get paid, and the company loses profits, those profits would have been used to keep the corporation going by making new media, and when it tanks it takes out all the workers and the people who invested money into it.

The bottom line is someone has pay for these things, and if it's not the people benefiting from receiving the goods, then it's the people producing the goods and they're going to stop because they can't make a living doing that.

Sort of like this.

 

[Daverson]

I'd say the only time piracy could even be remotely justifiable is if you've already brought the game, but can't run the copy you've got (ie, the disk is damaged, or broken DRM (Starforce...) makes the game unplayable). Even then, questionably so...

I don't particularly agree with the idea that pirating games that aren't available in your region is acceptable... I mean, yeah, it is effectively the pub saying "we don't want your money", but there are other options, such as importing. (of course, with region-locked games, that opens up a whole new can of worms in terms of cracking and whatnot... I don't think I'll go into that...)

 

[SenseOfTumour]

There ARE people who do it because they would never be able to afford gaming in the first place

I fail to see how this justifies stealing the game.

Now I know what I'm going to say is legally and morally wrong, but at the same time it leads to a good thing, I'm not sure if the two sides balance out however.

Stephen Fry made a good point about piracy, and it reminded me of my schooldays, back then everyone was swapping home made tapes filled with games, because everything came on cassette for the ZX Spectrum, CPC and Commodore.

Of course, it was piracy plain and simple, and we were not paying for the games we were playing, and we did our part in sending some gaming companies to the wall, I imagine.

However, as children, we got our love of gaming from those times, and grew up, and got thru school, most of us doing quite well, and now the two best friends I know from school, and most of the ones I've lost contact with by now, are or were into gaming and had bought consoles or a gaming PC and were regularly buying games.

In the end, the losses of a few games, the losses of the small amount of a child's weekly allowance (and we DID buy games, you had to have something to copy FROM, right?), ended up growing into a huge, expensive habit being funded by full time careers and regular £40 purchases.

In the end, I think most people who CAN afford games will end up legally buying them, as it's just so much better to own the original, and, as my memories uphold, a real, saved up for and purchased game just gets played so much more, copying and piracy just horribly devalues games I think, when you got a tape filled with ten new games, you probably weren't going to devote a week to one of them. Buy a new game and you wanted to get every damn penny of pleasure out of it.