Does Piracy Really Bother You?

**VOP2288** · May 21, 2009, 07:59 PM

With the recent leak of The Sims 3 and the thread on that along with another thread here talking about letting your friends borrow games and software, I'm wondering...who here is actually REALLY against piracy or copyright infringement? I'm curious as to why people here on TWC defend something like a copyright so furiously sometimes...how does its infringement truly effect you and why are you so against it (beyond the fact that you can say it's "wrong")?

Let's try and keep this within the ToS concerning the subject matter plz

My view:

I honestly don't see what the big deal is. Sure, I can be self righteous and say that I don't like it b/c it's "wrong" and "illegal" but that doesn't seem to really work IMO. Game prices have steadily soared over the last decade - heck I remember when a brand new game used to be maybe...$40 on day of release. Now we have games going for $60 - $70 brand new...and the quality of these games (I'd say) has severely declined in that time. Add that with an economy that's on the decline (USA) where money is short - you just can't go out and buy a game for that much as easily as you used to.

Plenty of people still buy games though - enough to severely outweigh the number of people who pirate these games. I'd say a ball park figure would be something like 5 - 10 people who purchase the game for every one that pirates it. No companies are being severely hurt by piracy...they're still making plenty of profit off their games anyway.

I just think piracy and it's popularity is a reaction to the video game industry's current incarnation - prices are up while quality is down, and it should be seen as a lesson for developers and publishers to either equal out the price and quality or increase the quality while lowering the price - b/c obviously, a good amount of gamers are not seeing the new line of games here as worthy for their money.

**The Black Reaper** · May 21, 2009, 08:02 PM

obviously since most of my gaming is done on a 360 i don't pirate any games because i don't want to mod my 360 just so it can run games i dled

**D.B. Cooper** · May 21, 2009, 08:09 PM

This will surely turn into a mainstream corporate media bash and how they screw the "little guy" (pirates). Oh and new games are terrible and aren't worth getting legitimately...just watch. Haven't we discussed this thoroughly enough?

Anyway, I don't dislike pirating, but I don't think it's the right thing to do either. Developers need to get their share of profits for their hard work. I don't think people download because of the quality (or lack of), but because it's now extremely easy to do it.

And,

well so many people buy games so the effect of pirating is barely noticeable so it's right

is just so wrong. Real stats please? And even if it is true, that doesn't make it any more okay to do.

**VOP2288** · May 21, 2009, 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by Count Flip

obviously since most of my gaming is done on a 360 i don't pirate any games because i don't want to mod my 360 just so it can run games i dled

That and Microsoft will supposedly refuse repairs to anyone who has a modded a console...

@DB
Where are you pulling that quote from?

**D.B. Cooper** · May 21, 2009, 08:14 PM

Originally Posted by VOP2288

That and Microsoft will supposedly refuse repairs to anyone who has a modded a console...

I heard they can actually shut it off completely, lol.

**The Black Reaper** · May 21, 2009, 08:46 PM

Originally Posted by VOP2288

That and Microsoft will supposedly refuse repairs to anyone who has a modded a console...

@DB
Where are you pulling that quote from?

that plus the fact that i suck at doing anything like modding a console

**Theseus1234** · May 21, 2009, 08:14 PM

piracy doesn't bother me, as there are some games which truly should not be worth the 50+ dollars they charge.

*looks longingly at the $19.95 pricetag on age of mythology*
*starts playing*

**C-Rob** · May 21, 2009, 08:23 PM

it'll bother me more when I'm making the stuff getting pirated. Right now I don't care.

**roy34543** · May 21, 2009, 08:32 PM

What happened to dont do unto others as you do unto you? if you ever make a game with all the hard work involved do you want everyone to just pirate it so you end up poor even if you did great work? And if noone has a problem with piracy noone will buy games, and that seems to be the trend, so its not an excuse that enough people are currently buying games, why should we let something that could ruin games tommorow get ignored today.
Personally i just think the market will shift to better and harsher security techniques in time though, when piracy gets really bad it will become worth it to get extreme in that respect.

**★Bandiera Rossa☭** · May 21, 2009, 08:33 PM

Personally I think pirating is fine as long as it is not to make money..

**vizi** · May 21, 2009, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by Slurricane

Personally I think pirating is fine as long as it is not to make money..

Free exchange of information. At the expense of the people that work for the company, of course.

However the prices of games, along with the quality does come to mind when you start to talk about piracy.

Obviously it is considered illegal. But I do not know if it is wrong, in some causes. Who wants to pay for a crappy game or for that hard to find old game that people are selling on eBay for $100 bucks.

Piracy does not bother me. Mainly because it is a natural reaction. In a free market some people want to get things for free. Others are willing to pay for it.

**★Bandiera Rossa☭** · May 21, 2009, 08:46 PM

Exactly, I do not pirate new games either. I may torrent a very old game such as The Bards Tale (the old one) that I am unable to otherwise obtain but I am not going to be pirating a tw game or anything.

**Timefool** · May 21, 2009, 08:49 PM

I do not pirate full games, only the occasional demo, and they are never online.

Games are a different thing entirely. You are more likely to be caught with a pirated game than any other form of media, since the file sizes are much larger. I do not support it for games that you can afford but are too lazy to spend the money on, but think its okay if its hard to find, is old, or is of such a poor quality they do not deserve the income (new Star Trek game anyone?).

Post edited. Do not pass off or promote illegal activities as acceptable.

**Thanatos** · May 21, 2009, 09:00 PM

In the last three minutes, I've had to issue more than several notes and warnings.

Promoting illegal activities, and/or passing them off as acceptable, is NOT allowed.

Thread closed.