Video game piracy

[Axeldeath]

Not my point at all, I was just saying that that arguement was invalid because it would still hurt the gaming market.

 

*EDIT* Got the message Sinister

[jempm55]

Not my point at all, I was just saying that that arguement was invalid because it would still hurt the gaming market.

 

*EDIT* Got the message Sinister

 

I was just kidding, lol of course piracy is still piracy no matter what.

[Bjossi]

A video game, or any data for that matter, has no tangible value. At all. Those who compare illegal downloads to stealing a physical copy from a store fail to see that a download is no loss to anyone, it is a neutral action. Data can be copied n number of times for free. As was previously said illegally downloading something doesn't mean a lost sale either.

 

I think piracy can not be eliminated, but it can be minimized; by offering a product people want to buy. Publishers should stop treating their customers like criminals and drop the DRM bullshit already, and actually supply a demo so people won't have to pirate to try the product before buying. Only those with deep pockets would find an excuse to blindly spend dozens of dollars on a game.

 

There are two types of software pirates in the world; those who pirate no matter what, and those who pirate because they are underserved customers. The former group should not be counted as lost sales because they wouldn't buy a game even if it was DRM free and in the bargain bin, they copy data neutrally and therefore have no impact on the industry. The group publishers want to focus on winning over to the good side are the underserved customers who pirate because they do not want to deal with DRM and/or they want to try a game before buying it. That problem can be solved easily; stop using DRM and supply a demo.

 

Worse still, publishers and developers never actually release patches to remove DRM once it has been cracked, which rarely happens more than a week after release. Once the game is cracked it will be up on torrent sites the same day. Therefore the pirates get to enjoy the game without the bullshit while the honest customers need to needlessly live with the DRM for as many years as they will play the game. I would be less bothered by DRM if I could actually feel safe in the knowledge that it gets patched out once it is rendered useless. If publishers do not have the decency to consider this then perhaps there should be a law that enforces the release of a de-DRM patch once certain conditions are met (Number of sales and time since release, for example.).

[Alyxx Thorne]

As Bjossi states in his post, anti-piracy measures such as DRM only leads to increased piracy. It does more damage than it prevents it.

[Kirkreng]

So I guess it's okay to pirate games from bigtime companies, since it won't hurt their money flow? lol

Like infinity ward? They earn a ridiculous amount of money they really don't deserve.

[BTGBullseye]

But I think piracy nowadays is slowly dwindling down, with all of the games' measures to prevent such things. I predict that 5 years from now, almost all games will be digitally distributed, thus making software piracy a challenge.

This made me lol so much... Piracy of games/movies has actually been on the steady rise due to the US's failing economy, and digital distribution is no harder to pirate than a normal hard copy...

 

Now on to the topic at hand. Most of what I torrent I either owned in the past, or can't find anywhere else... (eg. Cyberstorm 2, Earthsiege)

 

The rest I test to see if they're worth buying. These are the ones I will otherwise never purchase, and therefor is no loss to the company. Torrenting a copy of AC2 is the only reason I bought it, the original AC, and pre-ordered ACB.

 

The same goes for movies. I torrent movies as though I was checking them out from the library, and plan on buying most of the ones I didn't already own. (Tron Legacy is not one I'll buy)

 

Music is usually hard to find outside of torrents, (at least for what I listen to) and there are even some artists that have albums released only through a free torrent. (eg. Steal This Album by System Of A Down) Many are realizing that piracy is inevitable, but not necessarily a bad thing.

 

I'm open to any criticism, questions, and will clarify on any point if you like.

[Axeldeath]

So my friend that would buy Battlefield 3 for his PS3 who is instead pirating it for his PC... They're not losing a customer there?

[Bjossi]

That depends on what the word 'would' implies in your post. What was he looking for in the PS3 version that isn't present?

[Jek Jek Roo]

Okay, I confess, Im against piracy. I can copy a CD from my friends, but not for money. When I play a game, and I like it, I go to buy it as original CD.

[The Scoutman]

its more like a market issue, more piracy = increased prices to make profit;increased prices = more piracy because more people will get pissed of with the price and more "pirates" using that to get money.The problem gets worse with the government tax,for instance,on my country 1 physical original copy costs almost 80 dollars while a pirated copy costs only 6 dollars,since i dont want to stop playing console games,but i also dont want to spend ridiculously high amounts of money to buy games that i beat in less than a week i usually buy pirated copies,also,with pirated copies i can easily record them on another DVD if the first copy is braking.Usually i dont pirate games that have an affordable price,and most of the times i dont download the games from a turrent site (i know its safer now but i dont want to risk it),1 of the few copies i actually downloaded from a turrent site was a game that was released only in Japan.

[BTGBullseye]

i usually buy pirated copies

And that part I thoroughly dislike. I would never pay for a pirated copy, nor do I ever condone it. That is actually taking profits from the company IMO.

 

Free = OK, $$$ = don't.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I like pirate games in of themselves, like obscure hacks and bootlegs of unreleased games, they are fun collecting, but I'd never buy a pirated version of a real game that is easily available. I just don't see how you can justify that.

[The Scoutman]

i wasnt trying to

[xxxxxxxxx]

I like pirate games in of themselves, like obscure hacks and bootlegs of unreleased games, they are fun collecting, but I'd never buy a pirated version of a real game that is easily available. I just don't see how you can justify that.

Like when Pearla got leaked, everyone at my school had that in about a day.

 

Still not sure if I ever posted here, so my stance on piracy is pretty much the same as BTG's.

[Alyxx Thorne]

I once found a site by a guy who is making real cartridges of Starfox 2, a Super Nintendo game that was never released but was actually more or less finished. A patch is out there that finalizes the game and even translates it. I actually sort of endorse that sort of piracy because there is obviously no other way to get it played on a real console, as I seriously doubt Nintendo has any plans of ever releasing it officially.

[xxxxxxxxx]

I once found a site by a guy who is making real cartridges of Starfox 2, a Super Nintendo game that was never released but was actually more or less finished. A patch is out there that finalizes the game and even translates it. I actually sort of endorse that sort of piracy because there is obviously no other way to get it played on a real console, as I seriously doubt Nintendo has any plans of ever releasing it officially.

That's that "grey area" where piracy and modding intertwine. People release mods for Fire Emblem 7 and Pokemon like it's nobody's business, but there's all this minor crap where you can't use the same names and places, but you can use the original pictures and stuff.

 

I agree, I like those kinds of Pirates.

[Bjossi]

I support piracy when the holder of the distribution rights is not willing to make the game available again. Like EA and System Shock 1 & 2, for example. Why is it not on GOG? No reason, they just don't care, and yet they care enough to shut down remake projects relating to these games.

[BTGBullseye]

System Shock 1 & 2

Available on TPB...

[Bjossi]

And EA hardly makes money from that.

[Axeldeath]

That depends on what the word 'would' implies in your post. What was he looking for in the PS3 version that isn't present?

 

I don't quite understand that post. He was going to preorder the game for PS3 at EB games when it became available but then he found out about torrenting so instead of using his money on the game he is just going to torrent it when it is released. Correct anything you think I've misunderstood because I'm not quite sure what your saying.