Poll: What piracy is actually doing

Marter

Elite Member
Legacy
Oct 27, 2009
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Serioli said:
Then why not just say 'I want to play it without paying for it'? We're on the internet, it's not like anyone's oging to track them down. Why go with 'I wouldn't buy it anyway' (But I will spend hours or days downloading and cracking it...)?
Well, not just on the internet, but these are my friends in real life that are saying that. I think it's just them trying to justify it to themselves to be quite honest. :)
 

ethaninja

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Oct 14, 2009
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The devs are still making plenty of money from it all so, I hardley see it as a threat. Hell that Indie Humble Bundle earnt over a million USD by letting their customers pay for the products at whatever price they chose.

Maybe if Ubisoft chose that way or lowered their prices a bit or got rid of that stupid constant online DRM security of theirs, there might be a bit less pirating.

So, is piracy a real threat? Kind of, if you ask me its up to the developers to choose how much money they loose from piracy. Thats my two cents for ya ;)
 

Serioli

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Mar 26, 2010
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marter said:
Well, not just on the internet, but these are my friends in real life that are saying that. I think it's just them trying to justify it to themselves to be quite honest. :)
I suppose that's what it boils down to. Just hoping for some interesting further justifications from people. (If the corporations stopped acting so corporationy... and so on)

EDIT Agree with the chap saying excessive DRM loses sales (I have not bought Splinter cell conviction and Settlers 7, possibly Ass creed 2 as well, due to the DRM. I rent accommodation most of the time and sometimes go 6-9 months at a time without personal internet access)
 

Flying-Emu

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Oct 30, 2008
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More importantly, what is with the recent outbreak of piracy threads?

This has been done to death, no one ever changes their mind, and it generally devolves into brutish flaming.
 

The Thief

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Apr 24, 2008
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Nobody knows how much piracy hurts the industry, and anybody who says they do are lying.

Personally, I doubt it has a significant impact on the new game market, and if piracy was somehow stopped forever the pirate's money would more likely go to the used game market, which is possibly hurting the industry more than piracy is.
 

JC123

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Apr 10, 2008
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Serioli said:
I've heard the logic of 'wouldn't buy it anyway' a few times (not picking on you) and am intrigued about it.

If [John Smith] wouldn't buy game X anyway, why waste the time and bandwidth downloading it and however much time (minutes, hours, days or more) playing it?

Anyone?
Quick answer: Potential gain versus potential loss.

Longer Answer: There's a big difference in cost to the consumer between $110 for a brand new game, and the time required to do one quick search on a torrent site, wait a day for it to download, and then unzip the files. And yes, it is a quick unzipping most times. For PC, I haven't had to use a difficult crack in years. Unless you're after a new DRM heavy title, it's not "a lot of work" like people make it out to be. I've had more difficulties with legitimately owned games not playing on my system correctly and having to find work arounds and patches for those than I have with finding cracks for pirated games.

I'm not going to waste a ridiculously-overpriced-portion of my limited income on a game unless I know I'm going to enjoy it. I've been burnt far too often by shoddy products - dodgy sequels to good games, reviewers spouting praise because they're being paid for their score, games with great intention destroyed by poor design, or games I didn't even get to play at all because they wouldn't run on my system for some unknown reason. If the game is "free" so to speak, I can try it for an hour with very little risk to myself. If I hate it, I've wasted at most a few Gb of my monthly download and about an hour and a half of my time. That's a loss I can bear. I can try all those "classics" that I keep hearing about without worrying that nostalgia is the only reason people are recommending them. I can check out obscure cult favourites, eastern european indie games, that one PC game from the early 90's that sticks into my friend's head as "the best game ever." Whatever I hear about, I can give it a quick try. If it's rubbish, I delete it. If it's great, I play it through, and usually I end up buying a legal copy, I buy sequels, I buy games by the same developer.

Occasionally you can get a good demo that'll serve the same purpose. Try the game for a few levels ripped directly from the actual game, or for a few hours to play from the start. But often it's a piece of crap unrelated to the game (see the Res Evil 5 demo) or there isn't a demo at all. A cheaper game can do just as well too - if I see a title I've heard about for $20 or less on Steam, I usually give it a go. I'm willing to lose that much on the chance a game is good. $80 on the other hand...

There's also the fact that after initial publication, it's extremely hard to find most games unless they were popular enough for a large production. If you can find a legit copy, it's heavily marked up due to demand, or it's a second hand item. Buying a game second hand gives no benefit to the creator of the game, they see none of the money. What good is paying $50 for a 5 year old game so some guy gets all the profit?

Personally, I like the view of a developer/musician I read[lost the article :(]. "Pirate my games/music, and buy a t-shirt from my website instead."
 
Sep 14, 2009
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Aby_Z said:
...Or people pirate because it's more convenient and they don't have to pay, regardless of whether or not they support the company. It hurts companies because that's one more sale that company is making and last I checked, loosing money on a sale isn't good for a company.
this. most of the people i know who do this, are video game mongers and they are the cheapest people around, they buy games they like, but if they know of a cracked or easier way to get it for free, you bet your ass they already have it or are about to get it for free instead, some people dont realize that they HAVE NO MORAL care in the world about the company or anyone else, as long as they get the game the cheapest possible way they couldn't give a rats ass, and 99% of the time its games fresh off the market, so i think it is hurting it a bit, yeah, it is probably equally hurting the normal consumer who actually works hard and pays for the games though too due to crappy DRM and whatnot
 

camazotz

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Jul 23, 2009
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Serioli said:
marter said:
I don't think it's doing all that much damage. Most of the people I know who pirate the games would not be buying them anyway, and the company is not losing a sale. It isn't doing any damage to the companies in this case.
I've heard the logic of 'wouldn't buy it anyway' a few times (not picking on you) and am intrigued about it.

If [John Smith] wouldn't buy game X anyway, why waste the time and bandwidth downloading it and however much time (minutes, hours, days or more) playing it?

Anyone?
It's also a sand-kicking move to the face of the artists and creators of this content. It's like going to an art gallery and taking a video camera along, recording it all and then blaming the artist for not giving away their paintings and sculptures for free.

The problem I see with pirates is they are a bunch of worthless, whiney self-serving gits who feel they are entitled to other people's work and justify their actions on the slimmest of excuses. I'm not sure they impact the industry as much as suggested....though they might!....but it is the principle of the issue as I see it. These bastards simply don't deserve the self-serving privileges they grant their sorry selves.
 

slowpoke999

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Sep 17, 2009
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Heres the steps to making gaming better in general:
Give instrusive Drm the boot>Give rip-off DLC the boot>Give subscription fees the boot>Give paying for in game items the boot>Make every game have a demo that lasts forever>Having every single gamer magically smarter so they are smart enough to know not to feed their money for cookie cutter games thus giving the money they are willing to spend to people who do deserve it>everything else>stomping out piracy

Not only is stopping Piracy going to do hardly anything it will be the least likely to ever happen
 

epunk35

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Oct 5, 2009
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The defense for pirates is "they wouldn't have bought that anyway", if I pirate a song that I really love, then I pirate the rest of the album the song is from, then never buy a record from that artist. They have lost a sale, because I liked their music a lot obviously, but piracy was free and easy. Had the option not been there I would have had to suck up $10 and buy the album. Same with the game if I wanna buy Metal Gear Solid but I pirate it instead and I play it. Sale lost because I don't need it since I've played it.
 

Kiefer13

Wizzard
Jul 31, 2008
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I don't think it's nearly as much of a threat as the ever-increasingly intrusive DRM we're seeing.
 

slowpoke999

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Sep 17, 2009
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epunk35 said:
The defense for pirates is "they wouldn't have bought that anyway", if I pirate a song that I really love, then I pirate the rest of the album the song is from, then never buy a record from that artist. They have lost a sale, because I liked their music a lot obviously, but piracy was free and easy. Had the option not been there I would have had to suck up $10 and buy the album. Same with the game if I wanna buy Metal Gear Solid but I pirate it instead and I play it. Sale lost because I don't need it since I've played it.
Not everyone in the world has the same logic of thinking as you do
 

Serioli

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Mar 26, 2010
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JC123 said:
Some very good points, I can see many of them. Still don't agree with piracy though.

Also not sure the 'pirate my material and buy a t-shirt' model would work with a game due to the production costs compared to those involved in music.
 

squid5580

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Feb 20, 2008
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SultanP said:
Piracy isn't much of a threat, especially not compared to the new DRM schemes that Ubisoft and EA are using. Those do mean lost sales. I really, really want to play Settlers 7, but there's no way those dicks are getting my money when they screw paying customers like that.

I have pirated before, it has lead me to buy games that I wouldn't have bought, had I not tried them beforehand, so sometimes pirating leads to sales instead.
So then piracy is a threat. If the developers have to use DRMs to try and stop piracy which in turn affects thier sales even more how is it not a threat? They keep taking shots at each other but after every shot they shoot thier own feet.
 

Zannah

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Jan 27, 2010
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After the debacle that was ACII (which was unpirateable for the first month, the time span where 90% of sales take place), it is proven fact, that piracy does not hurt sales.

As to the poll - yes I spend all my disposable income on hookers and charity. because I have none. Where two young people, living alone, getting fuck all support from home, and student funds are hardly enough to cover rent. Basically, it's 'buy a new, totally overpriced game, that is nothing more than a dvd in a box' or 'eat a week'. I really don't feel the decision is that hard. (And besides, if there's a title we really liked, we still buy it - swallowing your pride and going to a 'cooking for the poor' charity still sucks, though)
 

jultub

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Jan 18, 2010
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This guy has a valid point.

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People pirating once they can't afford the games I can understand. People who spend all their money partying or something and the pirating without ever sending money into the industry is a bit harder to forgive. It ain't a free ride where you can pay if you feel like it. But I can clearly understand why'd you want a second run despite only being able to pay for the first.

Edit: I should probably add that I know he ain't being serious, but he's cool anyway :p
 

SultanP

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Mar 15, 2009
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squid5580 said:
SultanP said:
Piracy isn't much of a threat, especially not compared to the new DRM schemes that Ubisoft and EA are using. Those do mean lost sales. I really, really want to play Settlers 7, but there's no way those dicks are getting my money when they screw paying customers like that.

I have pirated before, it has lead me to buy games that I wouldn't have bought, had I not tried them beforehand, so sometimes pirating leads to sales instead.
So then piracy is a threat. If the developers have to use DRMs to try and stop piracy which in turn affects thier sales even more how is it not a threat? They keep taking shots at each other but after every shot they shoot thier own feet.
You would think so but you'd be wrong. Take Stardock, for example. Last time I checked they were still doing alright, and they have no DRM on their games.

DRM isn't a necessity, problem is most of these big publishers have this screwed up idea in their head that every pirated copy is a lost sale, when in fact it isn't. There are loads and loads of people out there, who buy games even though they could easily pirate them, and there is no excuse to treat them like dirt.

DRM doesn't stop piracy, it might hinder it, but the people who end up not pirating aren't necessarily the people who end up buying it instead. Look at Assassin's Creed 2, as far as I know, from sources on this site, it took exceptionally long for pirates to crack the game, but still the game didn't sell very well.

P.S. Hope that wasn't too messy, I just woke up like five minutes ago.