Indeed.
Do You Know Someone Who Pirates Games?
I download some games to try them out since companies are not keen on releasing demo versions. And yes I do make a decision based on hour or two with the game to see if I'm going to buy it. Can my pc run it without dying? Has the formula changed enough? Does this amazing idea translate well to a game or is it just hype? I'm not buying a 60 bucks lottery ticket.
I support dev's where I can but as long as they ain't putting out demo's they can't expect me to jump in blind with some titles. Especially not when you're not earning much and have lots of more important stuff (medical bills) to take care off.
I emulate older games on a regular basis. At this point, the hoops one would have to jump through to buy and run that software on the genuine article are so unreasonable, and it's so far past the point where sales of those games benefit the publishers in any way shape or form, that I see nothing wrong with it.
I have pirated games before but that generally stopped once I started working.
I find it interesting though that the sticker of "legal" can change the stance of some people. The event that sticks out to me the most is when EA messed up and had that $20 reusable coupon. People reported abusing it for over 20 games and I noticed a number of those people (not necessarily members of the GB community) were ones who would generally frown upon piracy. I mean clearly there was no money going to developers but it's still considered ok? Another instance was Humble Bundle 4 where you could get away with paying $0.01 for Steam keys and people certainly did do that so they could get more of the "holiday achievement present" stuff that was going on. I noticed it again with the current THQ bundle, a lot of people already had Saints Row so they reported to only paying a dollar to get steam keys for everything else, others will top the average by just a few cents. If someone gives their money to charity/humble bundle and none to developers, what distinguishes them from someone who pirates games and also gives to charity? I'm almost sure if people could get away with paying nothing and still get steam keys they would.
Maybe about 10 years ago, buying pirated game copies was pretty much the only way for us to get games. Actual new copies are just not as available as we would want. Maybe it's because how expensive they are when converted to our currency (because of differences in living conditions etc I guess). Our family seriously had no idea where to get some. Pirated games weren't a big deal anyway. Buying pirated stuff was like buying new underwear or something, nobody cared if it's bad or not because it's normal, and so the decision between having video games and not having video games is pretty easy to make. We did have real copies of some games, but that's only on the rare occasions when our parents went overseas and bought them for us, and only when we couldn't find them locally. I don't want to condone pirates (esp. those who sell the games, that's just bad), but I don't regret pirating those games because I wouldn't have played them otherwise.
Now that I've moved and cheap games are readily available pretty much anywhere with internet, I've bought most of the games I pirated then. I don't even have the time to finish all the new games I bought! Wanting to help the industry is a factor in changing my gaming habits, but convenience is really the tipping point. Steam is pretty fucking great is what I mean by that. I do still have friends who pirate games, but I'm getting better at guilt tripping them into buying a new copy or just not playing the game at all.
Virtually everyone I know pirates games. Its also impossible to convince them otherwise, since they have been doing it for many years, and its pretty easy.
When I worked at Gamestop as a manager the PSP was still relevant. Two employees in that store "pirated" (I actually hate that term since its incorrectly applied) every PSP game was had in stock to play on their PSPs. I didn't find out about this until after I quit, but it didn't really surprise me.
I also know people who pirate everything they play. I have a huge lack of respect for people like that, especially when they use the excuse of "I have no money".
If you count emulation as piracy, than yes but only for older games that companies are likely not making money from anymore.
@Ducksworth said:
I'm almost sure if people could get away with paying nothing and still get steam keys they would.
Of course they would, who wouldn't? I know if you told me right now that I could steal a brand new car with no consequences, I would be outside right now making that happen, and I know I'm not alone when I say that... If not a car, I'm sure everybody has something they'd steal if they knew they could get away with it. I think morality barely factors into the equation at all, most people just don't wanna be labeled as criminals because they downloaded a couple dodgy .avi files, or mp3s.
Piracy will forever be a problem, and there will forever be a stigma attached to it. It never ceases to amaze me how often these arguments get stirred up in the gaming community. As people have stated before in this thread, this shit has been "hurting the industry" since the medium's inception, and many game developers (Tim Schafer included) have fully admit to being pirates in the past.
No amount of chiding, or being a dick is going to do any good in reforming pirates. Either they will realize what they're doing isn't exactly "the cool thing to do" or they won't... Regardless it shouldn't even factor into the discussion between two friends just talking about what games they like.
I can't understand any form of pirating, at all. I know at least 3 people that pirate, and we always get into an argument about it.
From the "I don't have enough money" to "I'm just trying it out," it's all a bunch of bull, and you're still a thief.
Am I being a little extreme? Yeah, probably, but whatever. I don't pirate, so I'm holding people up to the same standards I have for myself.
More PC companies should put demos up for their games. I wanted to buy Costume Quest on the Steam Sale but my laptop is terrible and barely runs any games. So I pirated it to see if it would run. It ran like crap so I deleted the downloaded version and didn't buy it. Similar situation with Overlord, but they had a demo so I didn't need to bother going to find a torrent.
If there's a publisher or series that I really like I'll attempt to buy the game new, or directly from their website. Otherwise I buy a lot of used games. Since I got into the current gen so late most of the games I wanted had been out for years so it's hard to really support the developers.
I know people who pirate games and have pirated games myself. If I want to try out a 13 year old never released in Europe playstation or GBA game for 5 minutes then I'd rather emulate it than pay a dude on ebay £100+.
@LikeaSsur: Try applying that same logic to every other aspect of life, and I think you'll end up being a pretty lonely person.
Back when I was addicted to achievements in early 2008 I pirated a few purely for the sake of racking up 1,000. Most of them were games I already owned on 360 and just wanted the PC equivalent. Regardless, I definitely don't do it anymore. It's certainly not right and I wouldn't consider someone who engages in pirating routinely as a gamer.
@MikeGosot said:
Yeah, all of my friends does that. I do it a lot, too. My PSP is full of pirated games, my PS2 exclusively played pirated games and my 360 still has a lot of them. Games are extremely expensive here and... You know what? Fuck it. There's no way in hell i could justify that, and trying to do that is just wasting my time. I buy games when i can.
@Trainer_Red said:I pirate 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 pirate 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. SEE!?@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.
You're comparing stealing to buying discount products after it's already been purchased at full price. Buying used games is nothing like pirating. If so then stealing a pair of jeans at the mall is the same as shopping at a thrift store, which it isn't. Every single type of business is subject to having their products purchased through other vendors used or discounted and they are doing just fine so please spare me the "The Game Companies can't afford to have their products purchased used" argument, because it's been happening to every single type of business since the end of the bartering system. Stealing is wrong and shopping smart isn't.
If he really can't afford it, the way I see it it's not really a lost sale for the developers. He should buy the game later on when he can afford it though. That said, buying it second hand is basically just paying to pirate the game anyway, because it gives nothing to anyone but Gamestop or some other dude.
@Trainer_Red said:
@MikeGosot said:
Yeah, all of my friends does that. I do it a lot, too. My PSP is full of pirated games, my PS2 exclusively played pirated games and my 360 still has a lot of them. Games are extremely expensive here and... You know what? Fuck it. There's no way in hell i could justify that, and trying to do that is just wasting my time. I buy games when i can.
@Trainer_Red said:I pirate 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 pirate 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. SEE!?@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.
You're comparing stealing to buying discount products after it's already been purchased at full price. Buying used games is nothing like pirating. If so then stealing a pair of jeans at the mall is the same as shopping at a thrift store, which it isn't. Every single type of business is subject to having their products purchased through other vendors used or discounted and they are doing just fine so please spare me the "The Game Companies can't afford to have their products purchased used" argument, because it's been happening to every single type of business since the end of the bartering system. Stealing is wrong and shopping smart isn't.
Well, legalities and morals aside, buying used and pirating leads to the same end: the publisher does not see money from the acquisition. Also your clothing comparison is lacking due to one big flaw with the video game industry: the latter spends way too much money creating a product that they charge too little for. Clothing has a much larger profit margin than video games, I would suspect, if for no reason other than video game prices have not exactly kept up with inflation while video game budges have blown the hell up for AAA titles.
@Jack268 said:
If he really can't afford it, the way I see it it's not really a lost sale for the developers. He should buy the game later on when he can afford it though. That said, buying it second hand is basically just paying to pirate the game anyway, because it gives nothing to anyone but Gamestop or some other dude.
That's my reasoning too, he can just wait for a sale and save up and it's not like he's going to be getting used games because he's made the switch to PC.
@Colourful_Hippie said:
@Jack268 said:
If he really can't afford it, the way I see it it's not really a lost sale for the developers. He should buy the game later on when he can afford it though. That said, buying it second hand is basically just paying to pirate the game anyway, because it gives nothing to anyone but Gamestop or some other dude.That's my reasoning too, he can just wait for a sale and save up and it's not like he's going to be getting used games because he's made the switch to PC.
Why not save up for a sale in the future, but pirate a copy of the game now? Same amount of money goes to the publisher.
@Turambar: Dude has no money, only thing he can do is wait for a sale.
Oh now I see. That's kind of a slippery slope cuz I can see him not wanting to pay anything after finishing the game. Either you play when you pay or just quit being impatient and wait till you can afford it.
I can bet 99% of the time, someone who pirates a game because they don't have the money for it right now, will not buy it when they do. Why? Because more than likely they are finished with it already and will either A) just buy a newer game or B) they will still say they don't have money for it (probably because they bought something frivolous).
Sure I do. I don't know anybody that exclusively pirates games but I do know people that do it occasionally. It's a moral grey area for sure. Is it wrong? Yeah, maybe? Is it harmful to the creators? Yeah, maybe? Technically it is theft as it is taking someone's property without their consent, but it is hard to place the notion of property on an intangible good.
A similar action would be sneaking into a theater to watch a movie or concert without paying for it. You're not taking the show away from the theater but you are enjoying the benefits of it without the creator's consent, i.e., paying for admission. Do software pirates think that action is wrong? Would they do it too or is it too much work, too much risk involved?
Yes, I do and I don't support it, but it's none of my business anyway. The guy doesn't play game that often and as far as I know he doesn't pirate very often, not that it's right.
As for me, I've never pirated a game unless you count using emulators for 16-bit era games.
What?the only frequent pirate i know, his excuse is "why should i have to pay for singleplayer games?" so i copied every aspect of his youtube account and he was bitching about how i was breaching copyright even though the videos he posts are games he pirated, except cod.
I mainly had consoles growing up so pirating games for them was really hard and awkward, plus I never had a good gaming pc or laptop so even if I did pirate, the games were unplayable anyway.Although I do Pirate old games ,that I did buy but they got lost or broken so I think that's ok.
Not sure what's allowed with that mod comment... oh well.
I've been pirating for what seems like a decade. More convenient... cheaper... and less invested? I dno I feel pressured to play it when I buy it. Though generally i've noticed that I only pirate high risk games. Games that i'm on the edge about buying. For instance if I pirated a game and liked it, chances are I will buy the sequel. So anyway I don't consider it to be harmful to the industry since its games I would not have bought anyway + if I enjoy a game I am very likely to tell lots of people about it(a friend just bought dishonored after me telling him how awsome it is). So skeptical if I can say more but here's my general view on IP if anyone is interested: diomavro.wordpress.com
Sure, I know a few pirates. Actually, pretty much every friend I have who plays video games also pirates a lot of them. They also buy a lot of games legit. Well, most of them do. I have one friend (or former friend rather) who's of the mindset of "Pirate all the things!", but he's a terrible person overall. Personally, I believe there's definitely a place for piracy. I just got into serious PC gaming about a year ago and was shocked by how many full priced (like $50-60) games came out completely without demos. That's ridiculous to me. In fact, I recently had trouble deciding whether I was going to buy Hitman Absolution or not, because there were so many claims of it running poorly on nVidia hardware and there was no demo I could download and try. I ended up using Amazon to get it for about $30 and figured I'd take a leap of faith, which actually paid off. I shouldn't have to make a leap of faith when purchasing a game though. That was a really crappy situation and I couldn't help but think how much easier it would have been to just pirate a copy, try it out, then make a purchasing decision later.
On a similar note, how do you guys feel about pirating games that are pretty much impossible to acquire by normal means? For example, American McGee's Alice was out of print for years, with copies randomly showing up on ebay worth approximately all of the money. It recently got a rerelease as a pre-order bonus with the sequel, but before then the only way to get it without going helluv crazy in the process was to just pirate it. There're still a lot of games that are super hard to find without resorting to piracy.
Piracy is not right by any means. I know that, but saying that buying used is better is just foolish, in my opinion. But i would love to be proved wrong. Also, sorry if at any moment i offended you or something like that, sometimes i am an asshole in the internet.
Is pirating really any worse than buying used? I went through the change of buying everything when it came out, to waiting for it to be $20 bucks cheaper used and now I have a backlog of 50 or so games so I'm only letting myself buy a used one after I finish 3 out of my backlog. As far as hurting the industry goes I can't see pirating being much worse than that.
@fallen_rock2 said:
Is pirating really any worse than buying used? I went through the change of buying everything when it came out, to waiting for it to be $20 bucks cheaper used and now I have a backlog of 50 or so games so I'm only letting myself buy a used one after I finish 3 out of my backlog. As far as hurting the industry goes I can't see pirating being much worse than that.
Yeah but that's still not an excuse for someone to try justifying piracy with.
@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.
No matter what you say, it doesn't make it right. No one is entitled to these things, if you cannot buy it, you should not own it, simple as that.
Nope. I probably know a couple people who download games they haven't paid for, but I don't know anyone that makes unlicensed copies of games and then sells them for monetary commercial gain.
Also, when people grow up and have an income (with disposable income), they tend to pay for their stuff. There are exceptions, I'm sure, but at a certain point, $50 is no longer a huge deal for a lot of people and the benefit of having legitimate copies of things (no music ripped out of the thing, no trojans to deal with, etc) becomes worth it.
Please Log In to post.
Log in to comment