To anyone who thinks piracy is ok

[Chewster]

Have you ever seen a movie trailer that looks full of awesome action and yet something just doesn't feel right about it?

They actually have techniques that are designed to fool people. Jarhead, while an excellent film, was not the action-packed thrill ride that the trailers suggested.

Oh and cheers for the kind words. Too often these debates devolve into one side hollering at the other. We should take a reasoned approach the issue and have a proper discussion, but before that can happen, we have to recognize some fundamental differences between media goods and material goods, otherwise, there is no way to move forward.

Whether that product is material or immaterial is irrelevant.

Actually it isn't irrelevant in the least and if you wish to be taken seriously here, you'd do well to educate yourself on the issues a little bit. This entire discussion revolves around issues of copyright infringement and hypothetical damages, and the whole copyright creep thing and if you cannot recognize that and the nature of "intangible" media products, then there is no point in engaging in debate with you.

Why do you think pirates are committing copyright infringement and not theft? Because the two are not the same, no matter how hard you will it to be so.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Yep. Remember World of Goo and Demigod? Two great games, by all published accounts. No DRM. Low price points, created by indie developers... and both with a 90% piracy rate. That means the game was good enough that a bajillion people wanted it, but 90% of them decided that "no DRM" meant "Go ahead and take it for free!"

On the indie thing. Remember The Humble Indie Bundle?

It basically let people pay whatever they wanted for a pack of 6 frankly genius indie games. A lot of people paid $0 for it.

Some good Samaritans, however, paid upwards of $200 for it.

World of Goo is probably the only example I can think of, of a game that so deserved top sales and got pirated. A lot of games get pirated all the time and all I think is, "eh, sucks to be them." But World of Goo... it makes me sad.

 

[Mijojo]

You dont by a game just to support the programers,story writers and voice cast anyway, they get payed even if no one buys the game. The money just goes to the big companys and it's not like they are lacking money and will go bust just cus a X number of games is being downloaded.
You buy a game cus you want play it or you download a game cus you want to play it.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

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.

In Australia, CoD4 is still $80 new. And some second-hand retailers feel they can get away with making us pay $70 pre-owned. That's flat-out extortion.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Yep. Remember World of Goo and Demigod? Two great games, by all published accounts. No DRM. Low price points, created by indie developers... and both with a 90% piracy rate. That means the game was good enough that a bajillion people wanted it, but 90% of them decided that "no DRM" meant "Go ahead and take it for free!"

On the indie thing. Remember The Humble Indie Bundle?

It basically let people pay whatever they wanted for a pack of 6 frankly genius indie games. A lot of people paid $0 for it.

Some good Samaritans, however, paid upwards of $200 for it.

World of Goo is probably the only example I can think of, of a game that so deserved top sales and got pirated. A lot of games get pirated all the time and all I think is, "eh, sucks to be them." But World of Goo... it makes me sad.

Pay what you want but if you pay $0 then we will call you a pirate? Is that the way it worked?

Nah, it was "hey we have these games! You can pay whatever you want, even $0! We don't care, name your price, go nuts!"

I'm sure they all cried a little inside when they saw all the zeros pop up, but that's why they called it the "Humble" bundle. I myself paid $20 for it, I already owned World of Goo and really just wanted Gish. But it was an interesting marketing experiment and I think in the long run it paid off.

 

[Jroo wuz heer]

they should stop calling it piracy. it makes them sound badass

 

[Signa]

Oh and cheers for the kind words. Too often these debates devolve into one side holler at the other. We should take a reasoned approach the issue.

I do my best to be practical in this issue. I see everyone being so full of shit that it pisses me off to no end. We have the whining publishers, the staunch anti-pirates, the free-loaders saying "wutevar, I do wha' I want!" and the occasional retard who thinks DRM and high game prices are actually something to do with pirates.

I've said before what you said in your previous post that it's really about control, and even the pirates are so enchanted with the fact that they are getting things for free that even they don't realize it when asked point blank. It's a perfect example of a weapon of Mass Distraction.

 

[4173]

Nothing justifies their greed. They want to sell games to you piece by piece and then they want to demonize those who refuse to play that way.

It is their product, so they can sell it however they want. That`s all the justification they need.

 

[Signa]

Nothing justifies their greed. They want to sell games to you piece by piece and then they want to demonize those who refuse to play that way.

It is their product, so they can sell it however they want. That`s all the justification they need.

so back int he 1900's, it was ok for sugar companies to sell sugar with sand added as a filler? It's their product and our choice to buy it, right?

There is a reason why we have consumer protection laws. It's a shame they haven't extended to software yet.

 

[4173]

Nothing justifies their greed. They want to sell games to you piece by piece and then they want to demonize those who refuse to play that way.

It is their product, so they can sell it however they want. That`s all the justification they need.

So anything goes if you are selling a product then?

Beyond selling a product they know is unsafe, or being deliberately fraudulent (by law), yes

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

I found an article, its 10 pages long, but is the most in depth look at piracy i have ever seen.
He takes a very unbiased look at it, and i plead to anyone who still pirates games to go read it.

http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_1.html

i too have a good article about that topic:

http://www.tessmage.com/forum/index.php/topic,55587.0.html

check it out if you want.

 

[Kermi]

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.

If you don't think the game is worth the price of entry, don't play the game. Quality is not justification for piracy.

 

[cystemic]

you guys think you got it bad in the US? 60 bucks for a game? Try 110 for a brand new copy of modern warfare 2 when it first came out. If you wanna buy games in Australia, prepare for bankruptcy.