To anyone who thinks piracy is ok

[Something Amyss]

And for all the thrasing on piracy we have no problem with gamestops used games-campaign. Although it presents the same economical problems only legal.

A lot of people won't defend the Gamestop model, but used gaming does not provide the same economical problems.

Among other issues, the primary problem is an effective infinite supply of the game provided in a relatively easy-toacquire format. This isn't true in either the Gamestop format or used games at large. Used games actually do have the end result of putting money back into the environment they take from. The same cannot be said for piracy.

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

youre right that its not right to do so. but what to do, when a (new) game costs the third of your monthly sallary? just dont play? or play one game in half a year? remember, you have to buy all the other progz for the pc to work.

That's how a market economy works. Where does this sense of entitlement to the latest game releases come from? Yes, if you can't afford the price that a game is marketed for, "just dont play". Why is that outrageous?

 

[Snotnarok]

*Snip*

I know and I honestly wish more people acted like that. That's probably the best and only acceptable form of piracy that I have heard so far. I'm sorry if I offended you at all by it.

It's hard to offend me honestly. I'm not saying this to bolster a "holier than thou" sort of things I'm only stating that anyone who thinks piracy is wrong 100% of the time is wrong.

 

[SovietSecrets]

Well I know I am going to get suspended for this most likely, but fuck it.

Spoiler

 

[Slavik_91]

As long as game prices keep fucking my wallet (I've to pay 1.62 for each 1 dollar due to currency conversions , now put that on a 50/30 dollar game) I'll keep doing it. Oh yes and when it's not that its like what Blizzard (actually Activision, I think it's the publisher that decided that?) did, released SC2 for around half the price but with a limited time, like a god damn MMO.


Though I do buy things through steam now, lots of discounts.

 

[daavisb]

youre right that its not right to do so. but what to do, when a (new) game costs the third of your monthly sallary? just dont play? or play one game in half a year? remember, you have to buy all the other progz for the pc to work.

That's how a market economy works. Where does this sense of entitlement to the latest game releases come from? Yes, if you can't afford the price that a game is marketed for, "just dont play". Why is that outrageous?

because if I dont play, I dont play playing makes me satisfied. why do I explain this to you, if you are registered in the escapist, and possibly play yourself? or are you here just for the intellectual debates wich this server has so widely to offer?

 

[Atmos Duality]

Even though you completely misunderstood, I would like to suggest that even your off-topic argument is wrong.

An experiment was done on the effects of financial incentives in mental tasks and creativity.

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

Hmm. It's good to see evidence about supporting something other than greed for once.
Still, if this were true, then why isn't it being deployed more consistently in society?

Oh, and the only nitpick I have to make is that it referenced Steve Jobs, a man whose company is worth 51 billion dollars explicitly because they overcharge their customer on hardware.

I don't see this sort of thinking being deployed in my lifetime though; and I would certainly feel stung if someone took my work, made a couple of adjustments, and then claimed it entirely as their own (which has been done before).

 

[chronobreak]

'Free Information'? I hope you don't mean every game/program/script should be free.

Would you spend hundreds of hours learning C then C++/Java or what have you, then working full time to develop an application only to give it out for (to quote Ned Flanders) NOTHING AT ALL! NOTHING AT ALL! ?

I learned how to play several instruments, made albums, and gave them out for free, just because of my passion for music. Imagine a world where designers made games simply for passion, not monetary gain. Those would be games I would certainly like to play, and even if the whole genre of games went away, what would we lose? If nobody was willing to find the passion to make them, they are better off not being made.

 

[barash]

I pirate games. But not in the way one would expect, you see, if a game I'm interested in is available on the PC, I'll download it illegally, if I like it, I then legally purchase the game. But only if I like it, for example, I didn't purchase Civilization V after pirating it, because it was painfully dissapointing, it was obvious they half-assed it. However, I did purchase Fallout: New Vegas, Cryostasis, and STALKER: Clear Sky after playing them and experiencing their awesomeness.

Basically, if I want to support the developers for taking the time to make a great game, I will. If I want to say 'fuck you' to a developer for half-assing the game and releasing it either half-finished or with and overall lackluster feel to it, like Firaxis did with Civ V (Seriously guys, what the fuck were you thinking with that!? Were you on goddamn crack when you were developing that!? What the fuck!?).

I also download the game if I've already buyed it, but want to play it right now, for example, I just ordered Fable 3, it's going to take 30 DAYS for it to arrive, if it was available, I'd download a pirated version to play while waiting.

Also, just a little bit of interesting information, pirates aren't getting their games for free, the internet costs money, and downloading things adds to the original cost, especially when it's a big download. So you're still paying, just a little bit less.

Thank you for typing all that down, saves me the minutes. Even your examples was spot on.. *eerie silence & angsty glances*

 

[MasterOfHisOwnDomain]

playing makes me satisfied. why do I explain this to you, if you are registered in the escapist, and possibly play yourself?

I like playing games, of course I do. But why does that make me entitled to own them and play them without paying a cent to the people who made it? Life doesn't work on the basis of getting everything you want.

I learned how to play several instruments, made albums, and gave them out for free, just because of my passion for music. Imagine a world where designers made games simply for passion, not monetary gain.

That would be a lovely world. Unfortunately, for many people their creative work puts food on the table for them and their family. If you take piracy to the extreme, then creative work becomes pointless; I can take what you do, your album and work, and distribute it free to everyone I want, whether you like it or not. You then receive nothing for your labour, and then, how could you continue to produce as much creative work when you have no living?

 

[barash]

One reason people pirate is that new games are just utter sh*t rehashes of older games e.g. Fallout New Vegas is buggy as f**k and the same as Fallout 3. Now why should someone pay £30 for the same game?

If it gets patched into something that won't crash on my PC every 5 minutes I'll buy it. But not a minute earlier.

For all their faults, Obsidian has so much potential if they just postponed their releases a few months and focused solely on squashing bugs -.-

 

[ImprovizoR]

Let me tell you something about piracy. Whoever bought Assassin's Creed 2 for PC is a fuckin' idiot, myself included. What Ubisoft basically did is this: they released a buggy unfinished product with Draconian DRM that only hurts the loyal customers and they charged you the full amount of money for it. And there was no warning on the game box about the DRM. What if someone without the connection bought the game? Anyway, everyone who wanted to play the game like a normal person had to download an illegal crack. And as most of you know if you use a crack you're breaking the terms of EULA so you are a criminal as much as any pirate. The only difference is you PAYED to be treated like a criminal and eventually to become a criminal. So why not just skip the paying part and become a criminal right away.

Also, look at Mafia 2. Every games could see that Mafia 2 is a butchered game. 2k should be sued for fraud! They released trailers and screenshots with levels, features and gameplay elements that are not in the final game. So, instead of releasing the full game they decided to make a few DLC's, that you have to pay for of course.

Piracy may be theft, but releasing unfinished, buggy, butchered games is also theft. It's just not punished by law, but it doesn't make it any more OK. It's even worse than piracy!

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

These threads are always painful to read...why must we pick a polar extreme?

To my mind, 2 very important things to consider:

- The law as it stands is by no means "moral truth".

- We don't need to let the entertainment industry define the issue either.

We're quite capable of thinking for ourselves...

I'm a single-and-working twenty-something, I have stacks of legit dvd's, games and albums...it's almost embarassing how much money I throw at shop-clerks and internet companies for this crap. You would be hard pressed to find someone who spends more...is what I'm try to communicate.

The biz still disapproves of my behaviour though. I do:

- Send the odd track from an album I've bought to a friend(copyright infringement? Shit!...I'm such a baddy)

- Watch copyrighted material on youtube, which is copyright infringement again. Seriously...what is wrong with me?

- Let my brothers/friends borrow my games when I've finished with them, and get similiar privilages in return. Which according to some people, definitly means lost sales that the developers are definitly owed.

I think that's perfectly acceptable behaviour.

True, but companies have to take a pirated copy to equal a lost sale, or else they really are stumbling around in the dark with it. Higher piracy figures makes it worse off for us real customers too - DRM was born from piracy.

No, they really don't. Mixing numbers and assumptions, and then trying to make authorative claims based on it is disingenuous...and is basically a surrendering of credibility.

Completely OT: I don't like the article...it's too freakin' preachy and assuming.

edit - If this issue was truly about developers seeing money for each play of their creation. There should be alot greater focus on the 2nd hand market operating in legitimate retail branches. If that is truly the framing for the argument for why it's so "wrong", sure...the filesharers are petty criminals. But in turn, the legitimate retailers are frickin' mafia.

 

[Sporky111]

Let me make a nice flow chart:

You buy a game
v
The developers and everyone involved makes money
v
They take this money and use it to make more games​

Now, that would be nice and all. But this is what really happens a lot of the time.

You don't buy a game
v
The developers and everyone involved don't make money
v
They take this loss as a lesson to take less risks​

So, to anyone who pirates: I don't want to hear a single one of you complaining about DRM, or the low quality of games lately, or the neglected indie developers, or anything like that. If the industry weren't trying to fight against you, they'd be working on making better games.