Do You Know Someone Who Pirates Games?

I bet a lot of the people here complaining about piracy also buy used games or trade games in, supporting the used game market.

Funny.

I rarely do but still do, game prices are outrageous in Aus. My steam list is at 224 games and I have around 50-70 games in the bookshelf for the current consoles, I don't feel bad when I am too broke and pirate the odd game. Chances are I will buy them in the next steam sale anyway.

http://www.steamcalculator.com/id/darkfox1234

In counting my console collection I just realised I have 3 copies of Fallout 3, one on each console it was released on. Man I need help.

@BaneFireLord said:

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

Not in my ring of friends. Except for a friend who oddly played a cracked version of WoW which had all kinds of crazy alterations like triple-exp and instant-flight-paths to counteract the game's snoozefest elements, which in hindsight is kind of hilarious and awesome.

@Sooty said:

I bet a lot of the people here complaining about piracy also buy used games or trade games in, supporting the used game market.

Funny.

Except buying used games is not illegal yet.

@rebgav 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.

I thought that Illusion made that game? I don't think they went out of business.

While the company is fine, I'm pretty sure the people behind Rapelay specifically were fired after that controversy a couple of years ago.

I never pirate or buy new games (~2 years old). But I'll pirate games that are like 10+ years old, if that even counts. If it's between 2-10 years old, I'll buy it though.

I'd just like to clarify that I don't condone piracy, and was in no way defending it. I just think people who look down on pirates, more often than not speak in such a condescending way that you'd think they'd get a nosebleed from being up so high on their high horse.

Before I leave for work, people who use the 'but I need to know if I can run it' crap with the PC should really learn to use google.

That was easy

http://tinyurl.com/dx3ks9k

I  don't pirate games anymore, I did probably 5 years ago but not now.  Most of my friends play console games so they don't pirate and all the PC people just play League of Legends or Starcraft. 
 
I do pirate movies, but only on extremely rare occasion. But that is only stuff not on Netflix, which sadly is a lot because American movie companies can't get their heads out of the sand and think they are being smart by not licensing their movies to be on Netflix outside the US. I'm not paying $20 for a movie I will only watch once, sorry.

@Dark: A lot of those "Can I run this game" sites are pretty inaccurate , and also if you're deciding between the PC version of a game and it's console counterpart, sometimes you just wanna see how a game looks on your machine before you make that decision.

@SlashDance said:

@Sooty said:

I bet a lot of the people here complaining about piracy also buy used games or trade games in, supporting the used game market.

Funny.

Except buying used games is not illegal yet.

Whether it's legal or not doesn't matter, used games hurt the industry probably more so than piracy does. (and download figures of a game doesn't mean they were all lost sales as a lot of people wouldn't have bought it anyway)

and buying used is easier than piracy, unless you just buy pirated 360 games from someone in which case never mind.

I know plenty, and none of them are well to do. I honestly think there really is a relationship with someone's financial standing and pirating games because if you could afford it you would just buy the game and avoid the hassle (and potential legalities) of pirating. A lot of them pirate games that they wouldn't otherwise play (obscure) and a lot of them (not all) have gone on to purchase games they really enjoyed.

Piracy. It's a thing.

Also, inb4 a mod charges in and locks the topic because they are really touchy over discussion of piracy.

i don't. i used to but these days it never even crosses my mind as an option.. like, these threads remind me you CAN pirate games. it's just become such an outlandish idea since i've gone deeper into the gaming community.

but here's a question: do you pirate music? movies? i do. and i'm a musician. so i'm not really sure what that says about me.. only that i absolutely cannot afford to pay for the albums i listen to. on the other hand, as a musician, i would prefer to get my music out there through whatever way possible. that way, my music could get passed around by word of mouth, or i would go see a band when they come here and they'd get my money that way. i want to believe the bands i listen to believe similar things. That said, i DO buy albums i realllyyy love, when i have the money. same for movies.

i guess film and music media have other avenues by which to gain revenue.. theatre screenings, shows, franchise paraphernalia. games really don't have that. not that that makes any of it right.. I just feel far less inclined to pirate a game (which is interesting, as they are 2 - 4 times as much money as other forms of media). BUT, one game goes much farther than an album or a film in terms of entertainment time. No pirating is right, morally.. But i do feel there is some gray area, somewhere.

@Unequivocable said:

@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...

........ Damn. Teach me your ways.

I knew me when I used to do it. I don't now though. So no. But I know a lot of people who would if they understood the internet well enough to do it. But they don't and I won't help them.

Can you really know yourself?

Fucksake. Not like you found out your friend is in to photographing little kids.

Okay, piracy is screwing the industry we all have a vested interest in protecting but guess what - we all know someone who pirates, you might just not know you know (you know).

I bet game developers who curse pirates to high heaven are sitting with an ipod full of dodgy mp3s and go home to watch that 720p Game of Thrones rip. 'cause that doesn't really count, right? and HBO is sooooo expensive.

I don't know anyone who pirates new games, but I do know a few people who pirate old game ROMs. But, like they say...pirating is pirating, I guess.

@Sooty said:

@SlashDance said:

@Sooty said:

I bet a lot of the people here complaining about piracy also buy used games or trade games in, supporting the used game market.

Funny.

Except buying used games is not illegal yet.

Whether it's legal or not doesn't matter, used games hurt the industry probably more so than piracy does. (and download figures of a game doesn't mean they were all lost sales as a lot of people wouldn't have bought it anyway)

and buying used is easier than piracy, unless you just buy pirated 360 games from someone in which case never mind.

I buy used games and what? I can't always afford brand new games and i'm sure as hell am not going to spend $65 for a game, only to have to pay another $45 for DLC that should have been in the game in the first place. If those greedy motherfuckers won't so greedy, maybe I would care more and try harder to purchase their products at full price. Until then, I will continue to buy used games and not give a single fuck. If I enjoy a series or respect the creators of a game or series enough I always pay full price. It's rare, but it happens.

Nope. I don't even pirate music or TV anymore (I buy Walking Dead episodes from iTunes since I don't have cable.). Never pirated a single game in my life.

@Sooty said:

@SlashDance said:

@Sooty said:

I bet a lot of the people here complaining about piracy also buy used games or trade games in, supporting the used game market.

Funny.

Except buying used games is not illegal yet.

Whether it's legal or not doesn't matter, used games hurt the industry probably more so than piracy does. (and download figures of a game doesn't mean they were all lost sales as a lot of people wouldn't have bought it anyway)

and buying used is easier than piracy, unless you just buy pirated 360 games from someone in which case never mind.

Paying full price for games hurts my wallet. I know what you mean but buying used and stealing are not the same thing.

@RazielCuts said:

@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.

tell me where I said I pirated shit. I was explaining why someone might want to pirate something to demo it to see if it works on their computer.

so how about you stop jumping to conclusions and actually read.

edit' also nice that you just say "oh usually they get all fixed", so I guess you're supposed to get fucked if a game won't work on your computer?

@Trainer_Red said:

@Sooty said:

@SlashDance said:

@Sooty said:

I bet a lot of the people here complaining about piracy also buy used games or trade games in, supporting the used game market.

Funny.

Except buying used games is not illegal yet.

Whether it's legal or not doesn't matter, used games hurt the industry probably more so than piracy does. (and download figures of a game doesn't mean they were all lost sales as a lot of people wouldn't have bought it anyway)

and buying used is easier than piracy, unless you just buy pirated 360 games from someone in which case never mind.

I buy used games and what?

Nothing, I don't care. I'm just saying that the people who complain about pirates often overlook that used games are just as bad.

@SlashDance said:

@Sooty said:

@SlashDance said:

@Sooty said:

I bet a lot of the people here complaining about piracy also buy used games or trade games in, supporting the used game market.

Funny.

Except buying used games is not illegal yet.

Whether it's legal or not doesn't matter, used games hurt the industry probably more so than piracy does. (and download figures of a game doesn't mean they were all lost sales as a lot of people wouldn't have bought it anyway)

and buying used is easier than piracy, unless you just buy pirated 360 games from someone in which case never mind.

Paying full price for games hurts my wallet. I know what you mean but buying used and stealing are not the same thing.

Piracy isn't stealing, it's making a copy of something.

If piracy meant going into stores and raiding their shit then yeah I'd consider it an awful, disgusting thing - but it's not. It's copying something, e.g. downloading a game, you aren't taking anything away.

You can argue that piracy is taking away money, but you can't prove that the pirate would have bought the game if piracy wasn't an option, so it's moot.

So, when we break it down:

Piracy = no money to the developer or publisher

Used games = no money to the developer or publisher

However, it can be argued that someone who bought a used game might buy DLC for it later on therefore benefiting the industry. (you can also argue this for pirated games on 360, as DLC is a ballache to pirate on there)

and I'm not judging for buying used, it really doesn't bother me if someone pirates, buys used, or buys new.

@Animasta said:

@RazielCuts said:

@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.

edit' also nice that you just say "oh usually they get all fixed", so I guess you're supposed to get fucked if a game won't work on your computer?

From Dust is still unplayable on PC without a 360 pad. Yeah fuck Ubisoft, and Rockstar deserved no money for GTA IV on PC at the time it came out. BORKED isn't the word.

Sure did back in the day when IRC was the way to do it. Once I got a job though I stopped. Now I friggin buy games just because they are on sale.... damn you Steam! 80% of my library are games that I bought, but never even downloaded or just never played.

Sure, I know plenty of people who pirate. Personally I don't pirate modern games because, well, I don't game on PC and I sure as hell don't want to get banned from Live and PSN. I've got tons of Roms and Emulators on my tablet if that counts.

@alternate said:

Fucksake. Not like you found out your friend is in to photographing little kids.

Okay, piracy is screwing the industry we all have a vested interest in protecting but guess what - we all know someone who pirates, you might just not know you know (you know).

I bet game developers who curse pirates to high heaven are sitting with an ipod full of dodgy mp3s and go home to watch that 720p Game of Thrones rip. 'cause that doesn't really count, right? and HBO is sooooo expensive.

I'm liking the generalizations you're making about people you think look down on those who pirate. I don't think the guy is scum, it just bothers me that he wants to steal games when he could just wait a month or two to get some games a lot cheaper.

@Sooty said:

I bet a lot of the people here complaining about piracy also buy used games or trade games in, supporting the used game market.

Funny.

not a pirate, but nothing makes my day quite like picking up a used EA game on Amazon. It's not even about the money to me anymore.

@Dark said:

Before I leave for work, people who use the 'but I need to know if I can run it' crap with the PC should really learn to use google.

That was easy

http://tinyurl.com/dx3ks9k

You should try to use your own link because those sites never work out. While it's not a problem with my current PC, a couple back I used sites like that that said I would have no problem running games with my build and I ran out to buy the game in question. When I got home the thing ran at sub 10fps. So fuck those things and fuck the system requirements on boxes. None of that means anything because of the sheer metric fuck ton of possible hardware combinations a persons computer could have. So the 'but I need to know if I can run it' crap, as you put it, is a perfectly valid reason for people with older computers.

Yeah, and they're not the "try before buy" types.

Yeah, several. I know some who claim they do it to "try before they buy", I know some who do it because they feel all software should be open source and free, and I know some who do it because they genuinely can't afford games otherwise.

Not really, no. But then again, I don't know many gamers other than myself. At least, not anybody that I talk to on a regular basis.

Sure I do. For me pirating has never been a big thing. When you can easily get any game for free it diminishes the excitement of getting a new game. So I don't really pirate.

Yup. I pirate on occasion as well as knowing other people that pirate.

Pirating a game doesn't put it on your steam account. So, no.

@Colourful_Hippie: i used to pirate everything that came out like a good warez kiddie, but i havent pirated games for yeaaars ... but i do spend alot of money on games (steam account is at $4000+) that i would otherwise have just spent on coffee/cigarettes/pot.

I still pirate tv shows and movies tho , maybe if we had a decent streaming service akin to netflix then i would stop pirating those things too.

basicly if companies cant work out how to take my money , then they dont deserve to have it.

The only game I've ever illegally downloaded was Starcraft 1. That's it... ever. I'm a good person.

Yeah sure I do. I don't know anyone who ONLY pirates games though, they usually buy a fair amount as well. It's usually stuff that they say they'd never buy in the first place but were mildly interested in. I don't really care either way.

Yep, I do.

I live in Korea. The biggest electronics market in the world is in Seoul. There's an underground alleyway about a hundred yards long of nothing but videogame stores. You can stop at any one of them and get pirated material. Chipped systems, Wiis with attached hard drives full of games, they'll burn just about any game from the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation for you. R4 and DSTT cards for your DS, fully loaded with games if you want. Legit video game places are by far in the minority. Every once in a while they make a token crack down, but it never stops anything.

If movies/music are more your taste, there are numerous sites that you can pay a small membership fee to to download just about anything.

I admit, I've got a stack of burned PS2 games, a Wii with a chip in it and a hard drive full of games and a DS with a DSTT cart. Nintendo in particular is absolutely terrible about porting games to Korea, and this was really the only way I could get most of those games short of paying exorbitant importing fees. The DS was very popular here, but Nintendo actually sold more systems than games. It's really only with the most recent generation of games - mainly Xbox360 and PS3 - that support multiple languages and are actually available for purchase at a reasonable price. I now have a stack of paid-for PS3 games. It feels good.

It didn't help that Korea had a ban on Japanese imports that was only lifted a few short years ago because of animosity between the two countries.

As for Steam in Korea, HA! I don't have a North American credit card, so am basically out of luck, which is fine for me since my PC can't run anything not-indie post 2006 anyway.

@ihateyouron said:

I'd just like to clarify that I don't condone piracy, and was in no way defending it. I just think people who look down on pirates, more often than not speak in such a condescending way that you'd think they'd get a nosebleed from being up so high on their high horse.

Bam Thank you sir now I don't have to type this!

Used to. Not anymore.

While I don't condone piracy, I think Jeff set's up a good frame of mind as to why someone would pirate games (besides money, of course) and what companies can do to compete with it:

The more bullshit registrations, limited activation and copy protection you throw in a person's face, the more likely they are to run out and pirate it.

Some guy at the place I used to work would load one of our computers up with pirated games and then "work late". He got fired in a week.

I use emulators for old systems that I own or used to own. I don't pirate current gen stuff. I don't see anything wrong with pirating something that isn't commercially available in stores.

@smcn said:

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

Right, because no one has ever been laid off because of a lack of sales due to piracy. And even given it had never happened, your argument certainly justifies the theft of someone else's product.

The worst kind of people are the ones that fail to accept responsibility and try to justify their actions based on flawed logic.

If you're stealing, just say it. "It's not bad if people don't starve."

There's a slippery fuckin' slope.

@Sooty: I find it really crazy that you claim used games hurt the industry as much as piracy. How is that even remotely true when used games sales are keeping most games stores afloat? If they only sold new games at retail there would be significantly fewer places to buy games from, which would harm the industry a lot.

I used to pirate a lot, and I still do occasionally. If I could buy every game, I could, but money is far too tight for me ALL THE FUCKING TIME. I spend a TON of money on this industry, probably too much ($3000 dollars worth in my steam account, yay!)

So what if I downloaded Syndicate? There was no way in hell I was going to buy that game anyway, unless it went on sale for like, 5 bucks or something. I just didn't find the $60 for the 5 or 6 hours of semi-enjoyment that game gave me to be worth it. I might have been compelled to head to the redbox if there was any chance of finding it there instead.

Yeah, these days I pirate a game about... once a month or so. And it's usually just short mindless shooters that I'm not really invested in, sandwiched in between releases I'll actually enjoy.

EDIT: Also emulation. All day every day. I've played so many classic and influential games I never would have otherwise.

@yinstarrunner: You don't really have to wait long for cheaper games. Syndicate was $5 on Amazon for black friday.

@OllyOxenFree said:

Do iOS and Android games count? If so, then yes. A lot.

Yes they count, and you are starving Puerto rican babies directly because of your habits.