Piracy: When is it ok?

I will admit to downloading movies but only the ones I already own (usually Blu Ray movies) for my laptop. 

I never pirate films or games but I think i've paid for about 1% of my entire music collection. While I know it's not wrong, I, as a person, feel ripped off when I pay for something which I can get homogenously for free somewhere else. If I download a film, it's rarely perfect DVD quality and it won't have the commentary tracks or the special features. If I download a game, I know I probably won't be able to play online and the stuff involved getting it to play on my 360/Wii/DS/whatever is normally too long winded or expensive for me to be interested in. Meanwhile, I download a CD and i'm missing nothing besides liner notes which are usually up on Wikipedia or somewhere within a day or two.

I've never pirated anything, but I ever do, it will only be because the game is impossible to buy anymore.

"I don't ever pirate things. If I don't want to pay for something, I will ask it from a friend, or, for music, get a CD from the library and rip it. I actually asked the librarian about that and they said that it is fine. I hope so because I have done it a lot."

"RHCPfan24 said:

"I don't ever pirate things. If I don't want to pay for something, I will ask it from a friend, or, for music, get a CD from the library and rip it. I actually asked the librarian about that and they said that it is fine. I hope so because I have done it a lot."

I loled."

"brukaoru said:

"Never."

What if:

1.  I pirate a game to protest against being screwed over by developer and/or publisher. Especially in cases of heavy censorship in my country
2. There is no legal way for me to buy the game, because there's no national release, for example.
3. I pirate a game, then like it so much that I convince several other people to buy a legit copy, providing the developer and publisher with double and triple sales where they would otherwise not have received even one.

Is piracy still wrong, then?

"

"

Azteris said:

"Maybe you should read more instead of looking down on everyone else."

Would you care to elaborate? Perhaps point me to some of these readings? As far as "looking down" on people, I don't think I really am, as for old games being pirated is concerned. The action of pirating games that are in current circulation is something I don't like, of course... I think every person does something that shouldn't be done (not just piracy), we all make mistakes and we all do things we should not do.  I don't agree with the act of pirating games, but I don't necessarily dislike the people who do. I have a few friends that pirate games. "

I do a games design course at college and part of the course involves playing arcade games and old games on emulators stored on one of the college servers.

Personally I consider it OK when pirating doesn't harm the industry, so pirating old games is fine with me, then again I download games for my DS and PSP, but if I had more money I would probably buy them.

I think it's ok if you don't have the money to buy video games. You need money for food, house, family...

But if you're going to buy a game I've come to conclusion that you should support the small guys. They're dieing out. Especially if the small guy produces and excellent product. You want them to keep going wouldn't you?

I think piracy is fine as long as their is no other way to get the product in a manner that the sale will contribute to the original publisher and developer.

"

Thread over.

lol

"

Always.

Things like T.V shows and older games are spread around more by stuff like piracy. They gain a fan base that is dedicated enough to want to buy their games. People should know if they go out of their way to prevent this stuff they are missing out on greatly spreading their fanbase. Like If I wanted to play an old snes game but I don't want buy it I should be able to do some kind of rom downloading to play it. Say if it was a game like Chrono Trigger, I play it a little then they rereleased it on ds, Ok cool I know something about the game so now they got my purchase. Whatever. Its the companies fault if they think its wrong.

"Always.

Things like T.V shows and older games are spread around more by stuff like piracy. They gain a fan base that is dedicated enough to want to buy their games. People should know if they go out of their way to prevent this stuff they are missing out on greatly spreading their fanbase. Like If I wanted to play an old snes game but I don't want buy it I should be able to do some kind of rom downloading to play it. Say if it was a game like Chrono Trigger, I play it a little then they rereleased it on ds, Ok cool I know something about the game so now they got my purchase. Whatever. Its the companies fault if they think its wrong."

"thabigred said:

"

Thread over.

lol

"

PASTAFARIANISM LEGITIMIZED."

Piracy is wrong. Just dont do it, its very easy.

"MasturbatingBear said:

"Always.

Things like T.V shows and older games are spread around more by stuff like piracy. They gain a fan base that is dedicated enough to want to buy their games. People should know if they go out of their way to prevent this stuff they are missing out on greatly spreading their fanbase. Like If I wanted to play an old snes game but I don't want buy it I should be able to do some kind of rom downloading to play it. Say if it was a game like Chrono Trigger, I play it a little then they rereleased it on ds, Ok cool I know something about the game so now they got my purchase. Whatever. Its the companies fault if they think its wrong."

If you actually think piracy contributes more than it harms, you are crazy. The people that pirate NEW games, movies, etc. aren't going to go out and buy the next one when they know they can just pirate it like they did the original."

Pirating costs the devs money. But, as a side note, according to most EULAs, it's perfectly legal to backup your own legally purchased software for your own person archives and peace of mind. When you purchase a piece of software legally, its yours to do with as you please, so long as you don't resell it or distribute the data.

It's never okay.  The question is at what point do you stop caring whether or not it's wrong.  People usually think it's suddenly okay when the demands for getting a game legitimately are unreasonable.  That's just the point when they decided that it's not worth it to get something by any means other than stealing it.

i agree never. its the first thought that came to mind and notice others were saying the same (which surprises me) but the truth is we all do it. but can you blame people. its right there out in the open ALL OVER THE PLACE. i mainly download music free, but never games (except emulators on my macbook so i can play sega and nintendo classics)

"It's never okay.  The question is at what point do you stop caring whether or not it's wrong.  People usually think it's suddenly okay when the demands for getting a game legitimately are unreasonable.  That's just the point when they decided that it's not worth it to get something by any means other than stealing it."

On a deeper note, I think every person in this thread that said the concept of pirating is never okay is profoundly dumb.

Screw paying if you can get away with it. Pirate as much as you can and have no remorse!

Its always ok. even though im too lazy too pirate a game (takes too long)

"Shadow said:

"It's never okay.  The question is at what point do you stop caring whether or not it's wrong.  People usually think it's suddenly okay when the demands for getting a game legitimately are unreasonable.  That's just the point when they decided that it's not worth it to get something by any means other than stealing it."

Who are you stealing it from if there's nobody to give the money to?"

"Jayge said:

"Shadow said:

"It's never okay.  The question is at what point do you stop caring whether or not it's wrong.  People usually think it's suddenly okay when the demands for getting a game legitimately are unreasonable.  That's just the point when they decided that it's not worth it to get something by any means other than stealing it."

Who are you stealing it from if there's nobody to give the money to?"

For everyone with a response like that....its pretty obvious they don't actually know shit of what they're talking about and its pointless trying to get them to realize their stupidity."

"i agree never. its the first thought that came to mind and notice others were saying the same (which surprises me) but the truth is we all do it. but can you blame people. its right there out in the open ALL OVER THE PLACE. i mainly download music free, but never games (except emulators on my macbook so i can play sega and nintendo classics)"

"pause422 said:

"Jayge said:

"Shadow said:

"It's never okay.  The question is at what point do you stop caring whether or not it's wrong.  People usually think it's suddenly okay when the demands for getting a game legitimately are unreasonable.  That's just the point when they decided that it's not worth it to get something by any means other than stealing it."

Who are you stealing it from if there's nobody to give the money to?"

For everyone with a response like that....its pretty obvious they don't actually know shit of what they're talking about and its pointless trying to get them to realize their stupidity."

Me or him?"

Like almost everything in life, I feel that this is a grey issue.

You could look at it in a black and white sort of way and say, "Piracy is stealing, and stealing is wrong." But if we're talking about movies that are only playing at like 10 theaters in the country and the only way you could see it is by downloading, then I don't have a problem. The production company isn't losing any money because they wouldn't have gotten any from you anyway. And if it's a good movie, then they're getting word-of-mouth advertising when you come on message boards and tell everyone how great it was.

Piracy has also helped commercial albums become more successful. "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" was downloaded 22 Million times and that album went on to sell over 12 Million copies. I also point to "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears. One of the most downloaded songs of all time, and that album has gone 14 times multi-platinum.

Now I'm not saying all entertainment should be free, or anything like that. But to say that it never helps or always hurts is ignorant.

Its okay as long as you don't get caught

Edit: I just had to post this:

1.  If you feel screwed over then don't even play their games Mr. Gandhi
2.  Where do you live.  Anyways when there is a will there is a way.  Email your congressmen.  Find some other somewhat unconventional way other then stealing it.
3.  Lol that's a hoot.  You are going to tell your friend that hey look at this game i pirated isn't it awesome.  And they will ask where can i download it.

If a company doesn't try to sell me something I'll obtain it through other means
I don't see whats so criminal in trying to enjoy something made by someone who wont even give you a price

Think of it as running a red light. Now when its the middle of the day with lots of people around, of course its deemed illegal by everybody; but what if its in the middle of the night at say 3 in the morning; and there is nobody on either side?

Same thing here really; what if there is no more support fort he game, what if I can't get in it stores, etc?


Say whatever you feel like you need to say to make yourself feel better; the fact is unless they had declared it shareware/freware, they can always sell the rights to the game as an asset to the company. It is still theirs and pirating is still illegal. Of course like with all things in life, petty crimes like that mostly get ignored; but that doesn't make it any less of a crime. Just don't try to justify yourself if someone does push charges against you because it still is against the law.

When I wanted to play peggle and didn't have 20 bucks yesterday.

for me, it's okay when it's an old game that I used to own but no longer have the install discs for.  or if a game I had/have has been damaged over time via scratches or oxidation or some such.

same goes for my music.  I've lost/damaged a lot of CDs in the past.  I see no sense in re-buying those albums.  I feel like I own them (in fact I do) and I'm only downloading them to listen to them again.

I'm ok with downloading a PC game to check if it will actually run on your system *cough* GTAIV *cough*.
Also, nobody makes money from buying retro stuff except the people you buy it from second hand.
On one I occasion I did download GH3 on PC because I was at uni without my 360 version but had the guitar with me. I consider that OK because there was no way I was going to buy GH3 on PC when I already own a copy. And I'm glad I didn't because it was a crappy port ¬¬

Rather than naively catagorise all piracy as being morally wrong, I try and think of the actual consequences of what I'm doing. Of course there's always the danger that one might start downloading games they might have bought instead, and that's an issue. But personally I have more of a moral obligation to purchase games and support the industry.

Oh, and piracy of Death Magnetic is fine until they release recordings of it that don't have shockingly bad production. Sorry Metallica, but it's not acceptable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wRxfz_6E7o

Piracy is never OK

Piracy is okay only if there is no reasonable way to purchase the game due to international publishing rights.  There are some games in Japan that just won't ever find their way to our shores.  Under those circumstances, you are going to need some heavy post-release help from the online japanophile community to make it run anyway.  I suppose it's an iffy rational at best, but there is still some truth behind it.

On another note, as far as the publisher is concerned, what is the difference between pirating a game and buying it used?  If a game is bought once, and then is resold via Gamestop, Ebay, and whatever 5 more times, how is that different, to a publisher, than if it was illegally downloaded 5 times.  Sure, in all likelihood a console game will only trade around a few times before finding a more stable home, however this is not true for PC titles.  One PC torrent can service hundreds of players.  Perhaps, that is one of the problems with the PC market.  If players could buy cheap used copies of PC games, they wouldn't pirate as many from the net. The publisher would still only get that initial purchase, but knowing that a gamer can get back some of their money on trade-in, might convince gamers to take a chance on unknown PC titles.