[INTERESTING ARTICLE; See Page 8] Discussion: Thoughts on Piracy

[Kreekakon]

Note: Since piracy is a bit touchy here on Frictional, I PM'd Traggey to make sure it was okay, and he approves.

Here's a topic that's been bugging me for some time, so I thought I'd bring it up for discussion.

Piracy. Be it software piracy, movie piracy, or music piracy, this method, I dare to say, has been used by most people at least once to acquire electronic files without properly paying for them.

So what do you all think on the subject? Is it entirely wrong? Is there a proper justification for it? Does it help, or hurt the profits for the developers? Why do we do it?

I'll start off by offering a bit of my thoughts, which in this case is why I do it. I pirate things simply because I can, and also because the thing I'm pirating is probably too expensive. I don't do it as a act of retaliation against companies, or as any form of ideal. I do not do it for any sort of "noble cause". In fact, I don't really like people who say that they are actually pirating some some sort of higher cause. It is just done. Simply put, it is free for taking, and there is hardly a risk to it, so why not?

Still, I realize that developers have taken a lot of time in making, say a game, and frankly speaking, you feel a whole lot better buying the thing, and supporting them. However, "supporting developers", and "feeling better" doesn't exactly come cheap. So usually, I will buy a game if I believe the game to be worth the very hefty amount of money. Otherwise, if I want to play a game, but think that it's worth much too much compared to my desire to play, I just pirate it. If it becomes cheaper later, and is "on par" with my wanting of the game, I might buy it then.

Also, just think for a moment: Even though piracy may shut down a great deal of profits, it is in turn generating more knowledge, and accessibility of the product to consumers. Some of these people would have never even heard of some of these products if piracy did not exist, and in my opinion will help out a company/creator in the long run now that more people have found out about them, and are willing to support them in the future, or even right away after then found out they pirated a masterpiece which deserves to be supported.

That being said though, I don't like it when people just mindlessly download stuff they love but will never support, not even if they have the money for it. To me that seems like betrayal to the people who worked hard to entertain you.

Those are a bit of my thoughts. What are yours? Discuss away.

[Robby]

My personal thoughts about piracy:

Good and bad.

Good = For people who bought a brand new PC, but never have enough money to buy a game. If you have a great PC, and you don't have any kind of game, what may you do? There are indie games, but please, they're short, unlike today's games.

Bad = Because game companies will have less buyers = less money.

These are MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS, and before you start spitting hate in my face, understand that these are my thoughts. You have different thoughts too. No reason to spit me in the face for this.

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Personally, I'm wracked by guilt over all the games I've pirated when I was younger and stupider. It may not exactly be theft and it may not even harm the developer if the pirating person never would have bought the game anyway, but it just seems like such a huge disrespect on my part towards the people who spent so much time and effort to create that game.
So what I did was, I uninstalled all my pirated games (with some exceptions, like really old games you can't buy anymore) and am now re-creating my game library by buying them all. Will take some time and money, but whatever, it makes me feel better.

That said, some publishers really seem to beg you to pirate their game. Let me give you an example: a while ago I pirated Batman: Arkham Asylum and merrily played it for while. Then the holy light of righteousness struck my brain, I threw away my ISO and bought the game on Steam.

And guess what: Their stupid SecuROM copy protection had a server problem or some shit like that and didn't let me play the game I just paid for. For WEEKS. And that's not an exception, indeed it seems to become the industry standard for big publishers. What the hell? Paying customers need the help of hackers to play the games they just bought? Am I stuck in a parallel universe or what?

Good = For people who bought a brand new PC, but never have enough money to buy a game.

Able to spend 800-1000 Euro on a new PC but can't buy a game for 50 Euros? Seems legit.

Ok, seriously now, before the shitstorm hits me, I don't think I am in any way allowed to judge other people. If someone thinks its okay for him to pirate games, eat meat or whatever it is that I personally don't do that's really none of my business. This post here is only supposed to reflect the feelings I have about my own actions, 'kay?

[Danny Boy]

Pirated games before. I even pirated amnesia. but then I discovered this community and... well my moral cricket hit me whit a baseball bat in my brain. so I bought it trough steam.

So now I generally prefer to buy games. but if I have been waiting for a game for a long long time and then I find out it costs nearly 70 euros when it will only cost 25 after a few months... fuck that! Piratebay here I go!

I mean really! why would you sell a game for 70 euros when there are things called piracy and bankruptcy?! its fucking stupid. they would gain more money if they lowered the price! its like they Want to lose money!!!

[Your Computer]

Piracy contradicts ethical commerce and the right to own property. I believe in the right to own property, and i therefore believe that the misuse of said property by those who do not own said property should be an offense punishable by law if so desired. The right to property should imply protection of said property. For would you be happy to come home one day and find all your expensive furniture missing?

I find it quite ironic for people to pirate anything simply because "the price is too high." As mentioned, piracy has the ability to increase popularity within a product. Piracy bears no limits in what can be pirated--at least on the internet--and therefore people will always lean towards the better product, which to no surprise is the more expensive product. "I pirated the software because it is too expensive," but you also maintained its popularity, therefore reduced its competition. Behold, you just took part in maintaining their high price tag by reducing competition.

Let's not entertain possibilities if you really want to argue for the so-called beneficial effects of piracy, assuming any exist. You have to bring in psychology in to the equation. Why do people pirate? Why do they pick to pirate that particular product over others? I'm sure you're bound to find that the "price was too high," or "i wanted to test out the product before buying," or other absurd statements like that are not the main reason, and are usually just statements to try and justify themselves. You will find the main reason to be "'cause its an option; 'cause i simply can."

People always want more, often to the extent of convincing themselves that a "want" is a "need." I shouldn't have to tell you that living like this is foolish. Anyone who lives beyond their means will end up living below their means. If anyone lacks such self control, i would not be surprised to find themselves struggling in life.

BTW, i know a couple of people who were paid a visit by the authorities for committing illegal activities (i.e. pirating music) on their home computers. Claiming you're safe from being caught is not true.

[Yuhaney]

What he said.

I used to pirate everything and laugh at people who didn't want to pirate because of their personal reasons.
Now I'm the one and people seem to laugh at me. But what ever, what goes around comes around. lol.

[Statyk]

Some good points YC. Me personally, not only does piracy make me feel poorly for not supporting a company/person, but I often feel its hassle is not worth the effort.

I have only pirated a few select things and that's mainly because it does not have a trial version or demo. Some people, like myself, would use piracy to TEST something before I bought it, you know? See if it will be worth the price tag. If there is a demo, I will go for that first as piracy is my last resort considering I was a teen with no income. Thankfully I have a job now so I plan to purchase the things I used piracy to demo with.

As for games, I have a problem with piracy, and it's for these reasons...
1) Indies should never be pirated. They are working solely off purchases as their game designing does not necessary involve a steady income. Buying a game could feed them for a week, you know? It means a lot. Now, I'm not saying pirating company games is okay, I'm just saying it doesn't have such a personal impact on their life as it does for indies.
2) Online. Multiplayer simply doesn't work without some 3rd party server software of some sort. And honestly... I like to keep my laptop as free of memory space as possible. The less things that are on this, the happier I am and the faster it loads. If installing a pirated multiplayer game involves having to download MORE software, I'm just simply going to buy the game. Steam always has sales, and so far, being patient has gotten me a deal for every game I own.
3) Buggy torrented software. Many of the things I torrent, games OR programs, often have something missing or they are bugged uncontrollably. Buying it seems to fix the issue. Fair enough.

I don't pirate much, only when I want to demo something that does not have a demo. I have only one pirated game (by EA, so honestly... I'm not bothered by THAT ONE) and intend on uninstalling it soon. I haven't played it in a month and I'll probably just buy it on sale on Steam if it goes on sale again. And now that I actually have a decent income, I can purchase some of the things I "demoed". Don't kill me.

[Ghieri]

I used to be incredibly bothered by it. But now that it's everywhere, I don't really care anymore. Too much to get worked up over, you know?

Personally I won't do it unless I am seriously considering buying the game, and there is no demo. Other than that, I firmly believe that Artists, Musicians, Game dev's, etc should get compensated for pouring their heart and soul into what they do just to get people to appreciate them.

[Zaffre]

I pirate things when I want to make sure that the game is good first. I'm trying to save up for a new laptop, so I want to keep my reserves going up. If I play the game and like it, I buy it. I once pirated Amnesia: The Dark Descent and liked it, so after the Wine Cellar I uninstalled and bought the real game.

I'm not sure how people feel about pirating a game you've already bought or lost. I bought the first Prototype, but misplaced the disk and haven't found it. I went on Demonoid (before it got shut down) and got a Prototype torrent, played it, and then deleted it after I found new games.

Don't get me wrong. I've spent plenty of money on games. Another instance is Penumbra. I pirated the trilogy, played part of Overture, then bought it for $5.00 when it was on a Steam sale. I think that games developed by indie studios should never be pirated. For instance, I'm getting fifty USD in birthday money coming my way. When AMFP comes out, I'm spending it on that.

@Statyk I'm downloading Mirror's Edge right now, which was published by EA. I'm not bothered by it. EA has a peculiarly large boneyard of companies they've leeched income from and left to die. Maxis is one of them, which I hate because I used to love Spore.

So, my basic thoughts: I like to pirate them to try them out and see if 1. my PC can handle it and 2. if it's a good game. I think indies should never be pirated because indies don't have a lot of budget and income can help them a lot.

[Ghieri]

Indeed, I think most of us are in agreement that Indies should be compensated for their work. I'm surprised, there's more in common with our opinions on this than I originally thought.