Do You Know Someone Who Pirates Games?

Like a close friend or acquaintance?

I sold my GPU to a friend when I upgraded to a 660 ti and he managed to have a small list of games to try out. He recently told me about how much he's liking the PC version of AC 3 which he then later said that he pirated it. Now I know the guy has been short on money because of living costs and college so it must suck for him to have a good GPU but not have that many games to run but I just feel weird knowing that he pirates games. I already told him that that shit is wrong and he should try saving up for the upcoming Steam Winter Sale and he said he still plans to buy some games from there but that doesn't mean he will stop pirating games. That's his call because I can't tell him what to do but it just sucks knowing that my friend pirates while I enjoy supporting games that I like with my money.

Anyone else have a similar situation like this?

[MOD EDIT BY SWEEP: Discussion of illegal activities such as pirating games is against forum rules. Any comments advocating piracy, providing material that may allow piracy, or in any way aiding piracy in general, will be removed and users may be subject to moderation. Tread carefully, folks.]

sure; I used to, and I was part of a community filled with under 16 year olds who had no disposable income to speak of.

and if he can't buy games then by not pirating he wouldn't really be supporting them anyway.

The guys at work were passing around copies of some older racing game the other day... I honestly don't let it bother me (they're amateurs anyway, too stupid for torrents.) All I can do is my part, getting on their case isn't going to change anything.

I used to know a lot of people who did. I used to. Everyone used to.

I only know a couple people who still do today but I don't really care.

I think I'm the only person I know who doesn't.

Pretty much my entire sphere of friends. We all used to pirate like fucking NUTS when we were in our teens.

Now that we have money we buy our stuff, but old habits die hard so it still happens occasionally.

I know at least 2 people that pirate 360 games on a regular basis. Funny enough I dont know any PC pirates any longer, but that was different when I was younger.

I used to, but decided to stop. I know some people who still do, but they're admittedly not very good people.

Personally, I don't think it matters how many heartfelt internet posts you make about how expensive games are in your country, it still doesn't justify it.

I used to pirate quite a few PC games till I noticed I never really play any of them. Now I just buy all kinds of cheap games on steam and not play half of them. Seems like I haven't learned anything. Some emulator use still but I usually feel bad after which explains why I'm thinking about buying a Sega Saturn. *sigh*

I pirate a lot of overpriced Japanese porn games. Does that count?

A few. Generally people who want to keep up with the zeitgeist, but lack the funds for it. I don't overly approve, but it is what it is (generally they'll pick titles up down the road in sales I've noticed) I don't think the industry helps itself much by piling on a lot of releases in a short period of time tbh. If they spread the one of two 'must have' titles out more evenly throughout the year they'd probably do themselves a favour in terms of piracy rates I'd say.

"I can't feed my children because someone pirated my [video game|movie|album]" - no one ever

I like to get the free version of games every now and then. Well I don't like to pirate games its just that I don't like to spend money. I sometimes do it for new games. Mostly older titles like Blood Money, Alan Wake, Max Payne 1/2. A recent use of my bandwidth went to Far Cry 3 though. I wanted to just try it out because it had already came out in Europe but I ended up playing it for 10 hours. I swear I was going to buy that one. Well I might still. Best free game I played this year though is The Walking Dead. I know. I am a horrible person. I do buy lots of games though. Steam says I have 190 games.

Ya, I know plenty of people that pirate a whole bunch all the time. I do not really care sure it hurts the industry and all that but whatever.

I live in Brazil, and the culture here pretty much says that you're smart when you pirate and really stupid when you buy it, so yes.

I knew a guy who pirated everything, still does I think.

I used to be that guy too, but then I got a job. Then I lost it, but I have a healthy backlog now and have another pretty much waiting for me. As someone with enough anxiety issues I don't need to become weirdly paranoid about black-suited G-Men raiding my Internets.

I used to do it a lot some years ago, but now I'm an adult with money and I like purchasing my games. I have a healthy 238-game Steam account, around 20 or so Xbox 360 retail games and 20 XBLA games (I don't play much on consoles) and a handful of selected DS/3DS games. Plus everything I've ever had but ended up selling. I don't usually do it nowadays, but from time to time I still pirate a game or two. It ends up being more hassle than just buying it on Steam: no need to crack it, no need to worry about patches or backups. Plus, you've got the Cloud and Workshop and Achievements and all that jazz.

And most of the time, if I really liked the game after pirating it, I buy it. Just recently, I bought Assassin's Creed III on PC, even though I had played the whole series on 360 and, really, I didn't have to buy it... if you know what I mean. uPlay is poopy, by the way.

One of my friends, though... He barely knows the concept of buying games. Games are extremely expensive in his country, though. I try to gift him as many games as I can, to balance it out :P

The people that I know who pirate games, movies and music also buy way more games, movies, music than the people I know who don't pirate. It's the people that buy used that really annoy me.

I used to. Crazy bastard's even got an account on here, but he dropped the habit around the same time he got a job a few years ago.

@Bocam said:

I pirate a lot of overpriced Japanese porn games. Does that count?

but all of those hardworking Rapelay employees....

Yeah, but in his defense he's poor as fuck and only downloads a couple games. I don't think he'll continue once he has some income.

A friend of mine just admitted to pirating Far Cry 3 to me and a few other friends. He got a stern talking-to.

I did during the ps1 era, the funny thing was I never played any of the games, I just did it for the thrill when I was a kid, all of the games I was really interested in I bought.

I don't even have time to play the games I buy lately, and with all the crazy sales that happen now, it seems like a real waste of time to pirate, things were really different even just 10 years ago, games hardly ever went on sale, I remember buying Baldur's Gate over a year after it came out and it was full price, these days, almost anything is easily found for 60% or more off within 6 months of release.

I do and thank god. 
At least it means I won't be playing online with those kinds of people, ugh. 

Uh yeah, pretty much everyone. Not just games, but anything that can be obtained online.

Rule 3 of the forum rules -

NO discussion of illegal activities: Includes but not limited to the discussion of illicit substances, circumvention of copy protection, and piracy of video games or any form of media. If you have a question as to whether something may be illegal or not, contact the moderators and we will let you know.

You people are making me seethe with anger at the discussion of 'yeah whatevs, doesn't hurt nobody' and its the very reason shitty Ubisoft DRM gets enforced, using piracy as a 'demo' is a not an acceptable 'cool' either.

@Colourful_Hippie said:

@Bocam said:

I pirate a lot of overpriced Japanese porn games. Does that count?

but all of those hardworking Rapelay employees....

I think those guys went out of business. But they had the gall to charge 250 bucks for a rape simulator, so fuck them.

@RazielCuts said:

Rule 3 of the forum rules -

NO discussion of illegal activities: Includes but not limited to the discussion of illicit substances, circumvention of copy protection, and piracy of video games or any form of media. If you have a question as to whether something may be illegal or not, contact the moderators and we will let you know.

You people are making me seethe with anger at the discussion of 'yeah whatevs, doesn't hurt nobody' and its the very reason shitty Ubisoft DRM gets enforced, using piracy as a 'demo' is a not an acceptable 'cool' either.

so what are you supposed to do if you get a game that you can't run?

@RazielCuts said:

Rule 3 of the forum rules -

NO discussion of illegal activities: Includes but not limited to the discussion of illicit substances, circumvention of copy protection, and piracy of video games or any form of media. If you have a question as to whether something may be illegal or not, contact the moderators and we will let you know.

You people are making me seethe with anger at the discussion of 'yeah whatevs, doesn't hurt nobody' and its the very reason shitty Ubisoft DRM gets enforced, using piracy as a 'demo' is a not an acceptable 'cool' either.

so what are you supposed to do if you get a game that you can't run?

@Bocam said:

@Colourful_Hippie said:

@Bocam said:

I pirate a lot of overpriced Japanese porn games. Does that count?

but all of those hardworking Rapelay employees....

I think those guys went out of business. But they had the gall to charge 250 bucks for a rape simulator, so fuck them.

What?

@Animasta: Wouldn't system requirements be enough for that?

@smcn said:

"I can't feed my children because someone pirated my [video game|movie|album]" - no one ever

That's really not true though...there's plenty of musicians nowadays who have a following and make money but probably not enough to start a family. These same musicians would probably be without money troubles if it was the 90s. Piracy has COMPLETELY changed the music industry so in a way it does affect them. Big games, I see your point...but the guys on the fringes it can definitely effect.

Yep, me.

I do, myself included. If someone has a way of playing fan translations of games that does not involve piracy, I'd love to hear it.

@Colourful_Hippie: Porn is ridiculously expensive in Japan

I know this one guy that Pirates damn near everything, is way richer than me and is a tight assed bastard all the time when it comes to money.

He's my friend, but I do not like him.

I buy shit, cause I'm a good boy and I also have anxiety issues so I can't deal with being any kind of illegal. Not pirating stuff is only annoying in situations like Persona 4 Golden, where it doesn't fucking exist in the UK right now.

@Colourful_Hippie said:

@Bocam said:

@Colourful_Hippie said:

@Bocam said:

I pirate a lot of overpriced Japanese porn games. Does that count?

but all of those hardworking Rapelay employees....

I think those guys went out of business. But they had the gall to charge 250 bucks for a rape simulator, so fuck them.

What?

@Animasta: Wouldn't system requirements be enough for that?

that's not what I meant, though system requirements aren't exactly the most... correct information (some games can run under the minimum, some games can barely run at the minimum) but more that a game which just happens to have had a bug that meant it wouldn't run on your machine for whatever reason.

I did it all the time. Mostly movies or tv-shows but occationally games. Basically because I didn't have any income and couldn't possibly pay for any of it. Then I just stopped. And apologized to everyone obviousy

...I forgot you could pirate games up until JUST now.
 
...oh my god THAT'S why people play PC games isn't it!? Jeez, I am an IDIOT for buying all these games!

@mosespippy said:

The people that I know who pirate games, movies and music also buy way more games, movies, music than the people I know who don't pirate. It's the people that buy used that really annoy me.

Likewise.

I "Pirate" old obscure games that I wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. That's right... im a pirate hipster.

...I forgot you could pirate games up until JUST now.  ...oh my god THAT'S why people play PC games isn't it!? Jeez, I am an IDIOT for buying all these games!

A while ago, talking pre-2000 it was much easier to find games by pirate sites than in the stores. Today with the advent of modern services and broadband internet there is not much reason to do it much and even risky.

@Animasta said:

@Colourful_Hippie said:

@Animasta: Wouldn't system requirements be enough for that?

that's not what I meant, though system requirements aren't exactly the most... correct information (some games can run under the minimum, some games can barely run at the minimum) but more that a game which just happens to have had a bug that meant it wouldn't run on your machine for whatever reason.

So you're 'fighting the good fight' by pirating games because in the past some have had bugs? Grow up. Usually any 'game breaking' bugs get ironed out in patches these days, poor excuse.

Oh no! Do you know people who smoke weed? I found out my friend smokes weed. It's his choice, but it just makes me feel weird. It sucks.

:P

Yes. I do know such people.

No, never done it never will. Can't understand how someone will hurt the industry they love it so much...

@Trainer_Red said:

I "Pirate" old obscure games that I wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. That's right... im a pirate hipster.

I was pirating old games on my Apple IIe before the internet existed, back when pirating was cool. Kids these days just don't appreciate what pirating used to mean with their 'torrents' and their 'internets'. Back then when it was real I got that shit on a 5.25" floppy with the game's name scrawled in bad pencil on the front, and the loading screen would tell me it was 'Cracked by The bEASTMasTER' or some other super-cool hacker name. And then I would copy that floppy using Locksmith and watch each byte copy across in hex and half the time it would crash.

Now I buy everything.

Sigh. Things just aren't the same anymore...

@Tylea002 said:

He's my friend, but I do not like him.

I've got a few of those.

@vonFlampanker said:

@Tylea002 said:

He's my friend, but I do not like him.

I've got a few of those.

I don't really understand how that works.

I've personally been guilty, especially if you count ROMs for NES and SNES games. For some people the value proposition just doesn't add up, or they just aren't as invested in games as much as you are. I know I haven't really pirated any games since I've had my own disposable income, but personally I don't mind paying $60 for games, even ones I don't like all that much.

A recent example for me would be Assassin's Creed 3, I enjoyed that game well enough while playing through it. After finishing it I felt pretty negative about the whole experience, and even though I don't know that I'd recommend that game to anybody at $60, I don't feel like I was burned in that situation. I was able to experience the game at release and be a part of the zeitgeist surrounding it. For me that was satisfactory enough.

As a counterpoint I'll admit that I occasionally pirate movies. When I watch a movie it's more of an impulse thing, and they're generally older films that are harder to find through traditional means without having to resort to Amazon or Ebay or something. While it doesn't excuse the act of piracy, I'm just not as enthusiastic about movies as I am with games. So regardless of how I feel about video game piracy, I know I could never speak ill of those that pirate games as I'd be a pretty big hypocrite. I won't even get started on music...

In general though when I have pirated a game, I almost never end up finishing them. Perhaps it's just the nature of the medium coupled with the fact that I feel personally invested in the games that I actually purchased.

In the end, I don't think it's worth getting worked up about. So what if your friend pirates games? Is it right? No. But it's more of an annoying habit type of thing, than any sort of revelation. It's not like you found out he was secretly a pedophile or something. Take pride in the fact that you're doing your part to support the medium you love, but don't think you're somehow morally superior than those that pirate games.