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

[Zaffre]

Yep. I don't feel so strongly for my parents, who used to pirate so much the Internet had high ping. Eventually we received a cheerful note from Comcast detailing what would happen if we didn't stop. Needless to say, they stopped.

They still do it again though >_>

[Kreekakon]

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.

I disagree with this a bit in terms of the loss of profit. I believe that piracy helps and encourages profit. I think that piracy can actually lead to a more fruitful and expanded industry. One common example is an album. Imagine an artist releases an album in a world where piracy doesn't exist. The people who are going to buy this album are going to be those who either know the artist previously and know that they will enjoy the music or know someone who likes them and they encourage the purchase of this album. Everyone else though, regardless if they would enjoy it or not, would rather not risk their money on what might be a sour purchase.

Now have this album released in a world with piracy. There is now no 'risk' or perceived 'punishment' (A bit though as YC suggests, though I wouldn't think it is too much) for trying something new and unknown. Sharing this album freely on the internet has basically inflated the 'word of mouth' demographic to include nearly the entire population. So now you have people who are very finicky and afraid of spending their money actually being able to listen to the album and realizing "Hey, this music is in fact worth my money!" So now instead of limiting your profits to your main demographic and their friends, you have now included everyone with an ear drum.

This being said though, the world still will require people who are very much willing to support the software/music they love after discovering it is so good, otherwise you'll just have a lot of people who love the thing, and use a pirated version of it.

[Acies]

I buy my games nowadays. I buy indie games as well; somehow it feels as if I'm supporting the companies - even though the insignificant revenue created by my purchase won't do much.

When I buy a game which I think may be fun I usually motivate myself by thinking something like this:
it's two beers in a bar versus an indie game --> Since the time I'll enjoy the game exceeds the time I'll enjoy the beers I can easily spend money on this game and skip those beers.

My music is aquired legally from Spotify. It is worth paying for music; streamed instantly - works on my mobile phone as well.

Claiming your safe from being caught is not true.

Spoiler below!

[Your Computer]

Spoiler below!

LOL... Point taken; grammar corrected.

[Kreekakon]

When I buy a game which I think may be fun I usually motivate myself by thinking something like this:
it's two beers in a bar versus an indie game --> Since the time I'll enjoy the game exceeds the time I'll enjoy the beers I can easily spend money on this game and skip those beers.

This is also why my clothes are extremely lacking in variety: I spent most of that money to buy games lol

[Damascus Rose]

What about pirating a game where the studio who made it doesn't exist anymore?

[Yuhaney]

Usually it goes on with the publisher since they, in most cases, own rights to the game.
But when time passes and both, the publisher and developer are either bankrupt, closed down or the game is being very old and not reproduced anymore, it might be counted as abandonware or in some cases officially released as freeware.

[Googolplex]

That's an interesting topic.
We can not say piracy is "good" or "bad" in general.
I gladly buy all interesting games for me. I would pay so much money for it, because I always want the original disc. Some good games I bought twice or three times, especially old games where the disc has some years of lifetime over. Money doesn't play a role for me. if the game is good, i buy it. It is absolutely worth for me!
But the only reason I understand piracy is, when a game is DRM, Online, Steam protected etc.
Because DRM and Steam obligation, where you have to connect your gamers to an account for the rest of your life, is absolutely inacceptable! Nobody is able to guarantee, that you can login to your account 50 years later. The activation servers need to exist "always" and never shoule be turned off. The question is, what will happen to your games, when Steam goes insolvent or when your account will be banned (possible in theory)?
The existance of all your games is in the hand of only one single third party software/workers.
You buy a game, but it is not your possession you just get observed when playing and are dependent of the third party existance. Otherwise your games are totally worthless.
When I buy a game, I wants to be able to install and play it without online obligation, without account login, without activation via DRM server (some games have limited installation). That's a shame!

In this way I will support piracy and I think it is absolutely correct.
Because there is no difference between piracy and DRM obligation. This protection did not protect your games, it will only plague you! Why the honest buyer should have such problems with his game and a cracker not?
I will piracy every game with online protection. And I think it is correct. Because what some publishers do is also not more legal. The problem is just that there is actually no law to forbid that.
I always wants to buy all my games, but when a game did not have an user friendly protection, I will support cracking and piracy.

But what most of the people do is not correct, so much are piracy every game, just because they wants to save money. This is even not correct. There is no "good" or "bad" in general, it's just the question why you choose this way.

In my opinion, online obligation is totally inacceptable for honest buyer, not more and not less than piracy itself.
So there is a reason for piracy, in my opinion only one.

Big Publishers need to look back at good old times.
When I wants to read a book I also don't need to ask the publishing house for permission.
And when I buy a book, I can read it so often and when ever I want, I don't need a third hand to turn next pages.
When I pay money for a game, then I want to be free in using it when ever any where I want.
Then I can be sure, that no one can ban my games account or turning off the third party servers.

So, piracy is not bad in general, but most people do abuse it.

[Yuhaney]

The question is, what will happen to your games, when your account will be banned (possible in theory)?

You keep the games and will be able to play single-player and multiplayer but you just can't log in to VAC protected servers or use the Steam forums.

I also hate the DRM since when I buy the game, digital or physical, I am expecting to actually "own" the product instead of putting me through all this nightmare of online activation, serial keys and whatnot.
However, that's why there is agreement of EULA and TOS. If you disagree, you disagree and that's it. Not allowed to use the product.
But still, actually owning a product shouldn't mean you're forced online 24/7 to use this product.

I also hate that some of PC games have Steam or Origin forced activation. After you are forced to activate the game on Steam/Origin, you can't resell nor trade the game after done playing with it unless someone wants to buy a non-usable copy of the game. That's why I usually buy the new games for consoles instead of PC. They can at least be traded for another product after done playing.

I actually miss the day when you could just plug in and play. No updates, no hassle, no nothing. Just games.

[Danny Boy]

That's an interesting topic.
We can not say piracy is "good" or "bad" in general.
I gladly buy all interesting games for me. I would pay so much money for it, because I always want the original disc. Some good games I bought twice or three times, especially old games where the disc has some years of lifetime over. Money doesn't play a role for me. if the game is good, i buy it. It is absolutely worth for me!
But the only reason I understand piracy is, when a game is DRM, Online, Steam protected etc.
Because DRM and Steam obligation, where you have to connect your gamers to an account for the rest of your life, is absolutely inacceptable! Nobody is able to guarantee, that you can login to your account 50 years later. The activation servers need to exist "always" and never shoule be turned off. The question is, what will happen to your games, when Steam goes insolvent or when your account will be banned (possible in theory)?
The existance of all your games is in the hand of only one single third party software/workers.
You buy a game, but it is not your possession you just get observed when playing and are dependent of the third party existance. Otherwise your games are totally worthless.
When I buy a game, I wants to be able to install and play it without online obligation, without account login, without activation via DRM server (some games have limited installation). That's a shame!

In this way I will support piracy and I think it is absolutely correct.
Because there is no difference between piracy and DRM obligation. This protection did not protect your games, it will only plague you! Why the honest buyer should have such problems with his game and a cracker not?
I will piracy every game with online protection. And I think it is correct. Because what some publishers do is also not more legal. The problem is just that there is actually no law to forbid that.
I always wants to buy all my games, but when a game did not have an user friendly protection, I will support cracking and piracy.

But what most of the people do is not correct, so much are piracy every game, just because they wants to save money. This is even not correct. There is no "good" or "bad" in general, it's just the question why you choose this way.

In my opinion, online obligation is totally inacceptable for honest buyer, not more and not less than piracy itself.
So there is a reason for piracy, in my opinion only one.

Big Publishers need to look back at good old times.
When I wants to read a book I also don't need to ask the publishing house for permission.
And when I buy a book, I can read it so often and when ever I want, I don't need a third hand to turn next pages.
When I pay money for a game, then I want to be free in using it when ever any where I want.
Then I can be sure, that no one can ban my games account or turning off the third party servers.

So, piracy is not bad in general, but most people do abuse it.

you do know you can turn steam into offline mode right? So you can pretty much play your games anytime you want, wherever you want...