To anyone who thinks piracy is ok

[YukoValis]

If they started pricing right I wouldn't consider piracy. 60$ for medal of honor? 50$ for front mission evo? 40$ for dead rising 2? These games are not worth the price, and I've gotten ripped off way to many times. Oh and for anyone who says "you can wait for the prices to drop" take a look at CoD MW 2. Still 60$ after about 2 years, and it's only half as good as CoD 4. Price them reasonably and sure I'd buy it. The only time I wouldn't pirate ever would be for companies just starting.

They cost too much is no excuse. If you think game companies are asking for too much money, don't buy their games, you can clearly get more use out of the money you've saved.

That's no reason to pirate, is it?

Yes it is, and that is my opinion. Any quality game I have bought for full price. I have over 300 steam games to prove that. That includes 3rd party and growing companies, but those that skimp on their games, those that destroy franchises because they made garbage only to sell at full price don't deserve to be paid. It PAINS me to know there will not be another front mission game because the last one was so horrible, and what's worse I had to pay to see it.

(a) If a game sucks, then why are you playing them in the first place? Like the article says, if you're willing to play a game, then you derive at least SOME enjoyment from it. Don't kid yourself by saying that you only steal games if they suck--if you really thought that they weren't worth it, you wouldn't want to play them in the first place.

(b)Besides, do you not realize how much games cost to make? Medal of Honor costs $60 because of the millions of dollars of development costs which need to be recouped by paying customers. In fact, pirates can be blamed for driving prices up: if you paid your fair share for these games, then the overall cost per customer to make up for the development costs would be lessened and therefore prices could be lowered to make games easier to afford (so thanks for making my wallet suffer for being a legitimate customer).

(c)Furthermore, THIS IS SOMEONE'S JOB. This is how they make money. Imagine that you took a taxi ride and refused to pay the driver upon reaching your destination. Technically, you're not stealing something physical, but you're taking up time and fuel that the driver had expected to be paid for. Now, to make the money that he or she needs to make a living, they'll need to adjust prices to account for people who expect free rides.

(d)Finally, who the fuck are you to say whether or not someone deserves to be paid for something? Why the fuck are you the arbiter of whether or not something should be able to be taken for free? This is not your call. They made something, it's theirs, and YOU don't get to tell THEM what to do with THEIR stuff.


Sorry about the rant, pirates just piss me off. Arrogant assholes who steal games are...

[sub]Must remain calm... Must remain calm...[/sub]

First of all I never said "I" pirate I am explaining why I don't think it's as bad as people make pirates out to be.
A: you don't know a game sucks or not until you play it, and recently many people have been feeling ripped off at franchise killing garbage that they bought for full price.
B: Pirating DOES NOT drive prices up, because no one can keep track of it. Companies can and will make piracy an excuse for not doing as well, which goes hand in hand with their overpricing.
C:if it is someones job and they phone it in then should they really get the money they do? This is not about piracy as much as game companies slacking off and still expecting full price. If said taxi driver crashes you into the river should you still pay them? lol.
D:I am me, and this is my opinion. If you don't like it that's prefectly fine, it's not like either of us are going to change anything by talking in this forum.

 

[drummond13]

I buy all my games used. Every. Single. One. So, essentially, I'm giving the people who made them no more money than pirates are, but I'm not breaking the law. Is there a ten page article about me?

 

[Wow they sure are generous with the usernames]

Yeah right, catering to pirates would never result in 50 cent games.

The point is why should they decide what an adequate price is for a video game? As opposed to the people who actually, you know, spend time and effort and vast amounts of money creating the game in the first place. One of the most important features of the very essence of capitalism is getting to sell your products for your prices.

There is a difference between cater to and respond to. If the developers catered to the pirates there would be no DRM and games would cost 50 cents and presumably come enclosed with 4GB worth of porn. But what we have ended up with is similar to a fight between two very immature children. Both are in the wrong, and neither one will stop until the other stops first. The only difference is one party is acting legally.

Sorry, but since when has DRM bothered pirates in the least? I don't recall the last time a game had new DRM that wasn't cracked within a day or two prior to release of that game. The only people it hurts are paying customers with compatibility issues. I suppose it hurts the developers as well because they pour tons of money into it only to quickly discover it was wasted.

The publishers are in a tough spot. They are aware that their games are being pirated in significant numbers, and in order to appease their investors they have to resort to putting in some form of DRM. Otherwise many companies would lose capital, which would result in less money to invest in new games.

 

[some1stolemyusername]

I have shopped both sides of the line, usually end up buying full version if the game is exceptionally well done. If I stop playing after a week, then I'm not going to sink cash into a game I don't like.

I understand the arguments against, but your going to have give me something other than a trailer to prove worth. I'm not going to go out and buy a car based on manufacturer's claims and advertising. (not that car thieves test drive their targets...)

Furthermore, prices in Australia are beyond a joke. We are almost at parity with the self proclaimed all-mighty USD, but still being charged out our arse for games.

Case in point: http://www.steamprices.com/au/topripoffs

 

[Vrud]

Don't worry, guys. They still have DLC.

 

[Motiv_]

Not gonna get into this argument, as I see quite a lot of feelings getting stirred up and I'd rather not get involved, but allow me to say this piece and go.

I'm not against piracy, nor am I for it. It's someone else's decision and I could give a flying fuck. But when you're about to hit download, ask yourself this.

"It this game really worth going to prison/getting sued for?"

Yeah, you might not think you'll ever get caught, but I bet that lady who ended up being charged a little over 1.7 million dollars for I think.. 4,000$[footnote]Completely pulling these figures from memory, they're probably wrong.[/footnote] worth of songs thought.

 

[Wow they sure are generous with the usernames]

The DRM is designed to fight used game sales. To control how you play and to ensure that you cannot resell your game. The DRM is doing it's job, they just don't come right out and tell you what job it is doing. Well, I guess Project 10 Dollar is telling you.

First of all, how are they in the wrong by enforcing a legal rule that applies to medium such as movies (remember that whole FBI Anti Piracy warning that always pops up)?

And second of all I just want to point this out.

To control how you play

You are exceedingly paranoid about this.

 

[flying_whimsy]

Ignoring the fifteen pages of comments before mine (well, mostly, although some of them are easily addressed with "did you actually read the article?"), I have to say that was probably the best bit of discussion I've ever encountered regarding piracy. I'm grateful the OP shared it and I feel bad about my badmouthing of securom, although I still disagree with DRM in principle I have long ago acknowledged the need for it; I had no idea piracy was quite this rampant.

See, if I made a wonderful game instead of working a less risk-laden job to put food on the table, I'd like to be paid for my efforts, too. I know a number of computer programming people, several of whom have turned down very lucrative jobs in the tech sector to pursue a chance at gaming or furthering their education for more interesting jobs at less pay while the others toil away at soul-crushing jobs for what we generally call 'the man.'

That said, I used to pirate, but then I got a job and built some character.

EDIT: Also, stop killing my favorite gaming platform, that bit about pirates destroying the pc market makes me want to punch a lot of people in the face.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

has anyone seen that video thats says "would you steal a car?", "would you steal a handbag?". piracy is stealing

erm ive just bought this film legally so why are you telling me this?

in all seriousness if they charge £8 to watch a film and a further £6 for a snack and beverage and stop you from bringing your own then they are the criminals

They charge £8 for tickets there? Damn, I thought I was being ripped off for 8 USD.

 

[ninja51]

Yep. Anyone whith a different opinion is simply wrong. Our current laws are the perfect infallible moral rules of the universe.

I'm not sure I need to scour the universe to know that stealing is immoral. But as we're on a solar theme, what planet are you on to think the opposite?

I want to get money for the dance I just did in front of my computer, did I get any? No.

Your analogy is flawed. If you spent time and money creating a dance routine and filming it, I would think you entitled to sell it and make money from it. It's how supply and demand works. Do you think people should not want to profit from things they should produce?

Piracy =/= stealing. I'm not hurting for cash, but if I was, I could definitely see pirating being an acceptable way for me to get my gaming fix. If you were never going to be able to afford a game in the first place, and you pirate it instead, that doesn't translate to a lost sale because you were never going to buy it regardless. So you aren't actually taking anything from the developer in that case.

Please explain to me how that is stealing. Back in the days of floppy discs and the early CD-rom era, me and my friends would copy games from each other all the time. Nobody told us it was wrong, or that we were stealing. Not even the discs themselves had warnings about copying. The only reason that this has become an issue at all is because developers now feel like they have to spend ludicrous amounts of money on development costs, even if the resulting game is trash. So it takes a lot more sales to recoup those costs. And when they don't get that high amount of sales, it's easy to blame piracy.

So if you were hurting for cash, and you wanted a car, would you see stealing that car as an acceptable way? Just because you wouldn't get the game if pirating around, doesn't make pirating acceptable.

Furthermore, even if you are stupid enough to think its ok in that case, the fact that the resources to pirate exists for people to use in that case, means it also exists for people who are just greedy and have some childish sense of entitlement who could, and would, buy the game but because of pirating they decide not to give the developer/publisher their business.

If you are too poor to buy the game then you won't be buying it, this is not a lost sale. Since pirating doesn't actually take someone elses disc, then it is victimless (since you also would not have bought the game).

You can't compare stealing a car to it.

If you are too poor to buy the car then you won't be buying it, this is not a lost sale.

Also try to not ignore 90% of posts you try to refute, it just makes you look dumb. Having the resources available means that people who can buy the game, who would have bought the game, who are a lost sale not buy the game.

Read my post. If you're too poor to buy a car, and steal it, then somebody else is still losing a car. If you're too poor to buy a game, and pirate it, nobody else is missing a game.

What if you steal it from the plant, where no dealer or owner has purchased it?

It is a terrible analogy but if you cannot disprove something as simple as it then your other point is complete rubbish.

You cant compare stealing a car to pirating a game. You cannot go to the most extream example and still expect it to be the same thing. Your arguement kinda reminds me of people saying if gays get married people will be able to marry animals and all that crazy stuff. A game and a car are not the same thing, so as a rule, "stealing" either one is not the same as stealing the other

Oh and just another thought, developers need to STOP putting in those shitty "security" programs into their games. Really, pirates have that shit hacked and broken down withing a day, and all it hurts is the people who actually do buy the game. Even with games like Empire: Total War, it forced Steam, which I personally hate to death, it tried so hard to keep itself tough to pirate, but that stuff is still up and available. I dont know how to try and combat piracy, or if it even should be done, but throwing up rediculous things like that are not the answer, it makes people actually turn to pirated compies because it fucks with their computer. People will ALWAYS buy games, piracy is really popular right now and with the internet, it always will be. Developers and film makers really only go on a crusade against it when they sink rediculous amounts into a product and its not that good. Red Dead Redemption, a game that cost millions, made its money in a big way, and it was pirated by a fair percentage percentage of people. That game was amazing, case closed. Xmen Origins, pirated before the film came out, had a fair percentage of piraters, film was aweful, they blamed sales on piracy. If a product is great, people buy it, that is how the world works. If it is not so great, people will still buy it, but people more often torrent it, or dont get it at all. Spore was pirated, but still made its money, even though it was an average game. The idea that piracy will kill the industry of entertainment is ludacris, people will always pay for whay they want to see or play and for what is good, pirates will always exist, and you can bet a good chunk of them still pay for 4 entertainment related products, for every 1 they pirate

 

[Wow they sure are generous with the usernames]

wow. way to over think that

Since you're evidently not a fan of thinking here's something simple for you. You have no right to buy a game. It is not like health care or legal representation. You are given the choice to by game developers and you can take it or not. If you do, hooray you now have a game. If you don't, you save some cash. Why should you pirate it.

 

[Slangeveld]

erm ive just bought this film legally so why are you telling me this?

xD Couldn't agree more.

But yea, I used to be really "F**K YOU" against pirates. I was pissed that they steal the hard work of developers like that. Of course, now Developers don't seem to do shit. So now I only get angry if someone I know pirates an Indie or Bioware title. For the rest, I don't really care anymore. Don't do it myself though. Probably never will.

(3 of my friends pirated Mount&Blade Warband... I can't even p4wn them in multi-player for it :S)

It also caused Rockstar not to release Red Dead Redemption on the PC... Dx At least not yet. They'd say the cost of porting it to PC is barely worth how much copies they're actually gonna sell. Smells like a bad excuse to me, but still it gave them one.