Game Piracy

[spike010]

This is an interesting point someone brought up on another forum:

I wrote this small topic just to point out that I've noticed that people think that pirating games might be wrong and should be stopped at any costs.
I've heard many stories about governments pursuing this problem and arresting people, not only in Russia, where I live, or USA, but in a number of other countries. This. Is. Stupid.
I agree, sometimes publishers get less money. But making games isn't ONLY about getting money, it's about passing stories, feelings, emotions to other people! If I were to make games, I would like people to pay as much as they want. Yes, even if it's 0$. Pirating games helps not only pass news about games, but also let others taste this game, savor it. It gives them just enough time to think whether they like this game or not. Is it interesting? Do they like the graphics? Is story thrilling enough? Will they buy it?
It also helps preventing people berating any games. Like Starbound. Have you seen Steam community? These people couldn't play the pirated version and bought it, thus paying money for a BETA of a great game. The BETA warning wasn't enough for them, so they started talking about how horrible this game is. I'm sure you are aware that some developers stopped working on their games after receiving too much criticism. If people like this game - they buy it. If not - they don't buy it and don't post bad reviews. Publishers - get money. People - experience and new feelings.
So yeah, please, don't say that pirating is bad. You just sometimes don't understand the full picture of situation.

I replied with this:

Personally, I don't pirate games, but I do the so with music. There is one band I absolutely love, pirated almost all their music. After I downloaded them, I felt bad and ended up buying the albums.

Music, along with games are for enjoyment, passing messages and feelings, as <ForumMember> said. However, I think that piracy should still be discouraged; a lot of work (usually) goes into these things. Work that needs time, money and skill. I believe that these things should have a price tag, due to the effort needed in the creation and, as was mentioned above by <ForumMember>, is a career for some people.

 

[Dallen]

I think there are a lot of factors involved. If someone pirates a game is that a loss of money? That person might not have payed for the game anyway and so there is no real loss. I will admit that I am not very adimate about this topic but that's my point of view.

 

[BevsForBros]

It's funny how that guy says he would even sell a game he made for $0. No, no he wouldn't. It's one thing to say but another thing to experience. I was one of the main creators of the adventure map, and I consider that to be pretty equivalent to creating a game. We made the map, the story, the mechanics, everything. It took hundreds of hours. Sure, seeing people enjoy what you created is a good feeling. But is putting hundreds of hours into creating with no repayment a good feeling? No it isn't. I think the developers deserve every cent they get for creating the games. However, that's not to say that there aren't some shady companies out there that do questionable things (*cough* EA *cough*). I would say some companies deserve the compensation, and others don't.

The other point he makes about pirating a game because it lets you get a taste of it before you spend your money is ridiculous. That is no excuse to pirate a game. There is something called a game review that hundreds of people post online so you know the product you are getting.

Here is a perfect example of why pirating shouldn't be done:
Think about how everyone on MCME felt when we found out that server stole most of our major builds. Were we all indifferent about it? Were we just excited they got to experience our map? Hell no. We were pissed. People on this server have put so much time into this map, and then someone just came along and spent a few hours downloading our locations?

It just doesn't feel good to get your stuff stolen without any compensation. Simply put yourself in the developer's shoes.

 

[Will_Slams]

I have not met one person, ever, who pirated Minecraft and hates it. And what they need to think about is this: when you cheat Mojang, and download the "free version" of their game (and that's another thing!) they are losing money to be spent on developing it and making it better. If everyone pirated it because it's so great and they think they shouldn't have to pay for a game that has made many Mojang workers' careers, Minecraft would be dead.

Now, the other thing: I cannot describe how angry I get when people ask, "Oh, do you have free or premium?" Sorry, pirater, but there is no such thing as "free Minecraft" and "premium Minecraft," there's illegal Minecraft and legal Minecraft. And when you say "I bought it," the response I usually get is "Huh" or "Why would you waste money on a computer game?" This REALLY gets me mad. I don't see the logic in buying a $60 Xbox game, then cheating your way into getting a free, illegal version of a $26 dollar game. Also, if they think Minecraft would be a waste of money, they must just be telling themselves that, or hate the game. And as @BevsForBros said about them wanting to see the game before buying it: there's a little thing called the demo. Does anyone, ANYONE here, really think that everyone who pirates the game, buys it later? That may be the case sometimes, but unfortunately, it's like 1/100 of the time.

Unfortunately, you can't reason with someone who is unreasonable.

"You think the rules don't apply to you because you disagree with them!" -Christopher Pike, Star Trek: Into Darkness

 

[CEFKILLA96]

I don't think pirating should ever be the first resort for someone who wants a game. I have pirated games before I bought them many times because I do want to get a taster to say that this is not an excuse is retarded. Yes it is an excuse, people want to play games, and developers continue to sell them at stupid prices. I'm not sure about USA or anywhere else but in the UK a new game can cost up to £50-£60 (aka $85-$102), and this is just for standard version. Look at something like the watchdogs special deals or the call of duty prestige editions, they cost around £100, yeah $170. It's insane that developers go out of there way to shovel more and more shit down peoples throats and dish out more and more of slashed in-game content to get more people to buy their shitty games before they come out AND they continue to raise prises on games to the point that even pc games are costing the same as ps4 and xbox games now. I don't see how you can say that they completely deserve my money. I will quite happily pirate it, play it and if I really like it, I will go and buy it. I used to have the whole "piracy is always bad KILL THEM ALL" kind of attitude but I realise how silly that is. You are acting as if it's plain theft...but it isn't. I recommend watching the jimquisition on this issue from early 2012, http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/5342-When-Piracy-Becomes-Theft . This will explain it allot better.

ps: I find it dickish to pirate indie games though. I mean, they are usually made by small teams who probably need the money to make more great games (and to eat at that). Oh and if you ever buy a humble bundle for 1p, fuck you.

pss: If you use adblock you are just as bad in your logic. You are viewing content that someone made to make money so that they can live and you get it all for free. Pretty sure the average youtuber lives of a lot less than the exec's and programmers at EA and Activision.

 

[BevsForBros]

I'm not sure about USA or anywhere else but in the UK a new game can cost up to £50-£60 (aka $85-$102), and this is just for standard version.

Sweet Jesus on a stick, that is absurd. This is what I mean when I say companies do shady things. The people who create the games deserve compensation, these big companies that sell them do not. That price is way too high, no game is worth that much. Even a $50-60 dollar game here isn't really worth it for me, which is why I don't really buy new games hardly ever. When companies do this by all means, pirate it. They don't need the money.

What I hate even more is the new trend with pre-orders and releasing alphas/betas of their games. I feel like these are ways the company knows that they can get your money in their pocket before they even finish the game. When they reach that point they don't necessarily need to put effort into the game anymore. You already paid them. They know people just want to play their game as soon as possible, and these tactics work very well when a game is hyped up. And if the game sucks, they just use the "it's in alpha, we have more content to add" excuse and there isn't much you can say.

 

[Dallen]

I think until you write a game from scratch you can never understand how difficult it is. If you think battlefield didn't take a hell of a lot of work then you go try to write a game anywhere as large. Developers deserve every penny they get for making games.

However, releasing alfas and betas at full price is stupid. Minecraft did it right where the earlier releases cost less and as the game expands the
Price goes up.

 

[Fornad]

To add: DayZ, which is still in alpha, is in the Steam sale right now. I can't understand how the industry has reached the point where releasing and even discounting (as if it's a full price game) unfinished games is considered normal.

 

[BevsForBros]

To add: DayZ, which is still in alpha, is in the Steam sale right now. I can't understand how the industry has reached the point where releasing and even discounting (as if it's a full price game) unfinished games is considered normal.

I hope if you pay for the alpha you at least get later versions of the game for free.

 

[Sulyeon]

I pirate and I dont feel guilty - simple as that. Games are one of the few pleasures I allow myself. Some games next to my wage are unbelievable. And not only for my wage in Bulgaria which is around 150 a month but also in the UK. Ive been searching for a part time job for a student and in the cinema they pay you 6.40 p/h and you have around 4 shifts a week b/w 6~8 hours which means you will get around 220 p a week do you think with food and rent you can pay for it :/ I have bought a few games but when it comes to point where its b/w should I get something like clothes and food or pay a bill next to buy a game for 25pounds i would so pirate it. I dont feel guilty and I would never do. I feel more guilty for asking my mum to buy me Sims 3 when it was 100 since now its just sitting on my shelf. There is this picture online saying 'you wouldnt download a car'FUCK YEAH I WOULD IF I COULD! If I could I would download if that means my life would be at least a little bit better. So screw everyone who goes all against piracy. My life would be so much worst if I couldnt play games especially in high school. I have a friend from Russia who was being bashed for being gay and I showed him how to torrent games now he moved to germany and leave great life - he probably would have committed suicide if it wasnt for that. So yeah ..

 

[Antecedence]

In before people posting links to games...

-- NO ILLEGAL LINKS ALLOWED --

Continue discussion.

 

[imtheproof]

To add: DayZ, which is still in alpha, is in the Steam sale right now. I can't understand how the industry has reached the point where releasing and even discounting (as if it's a full price game) unfinished games is considered normal.

Steam Early Access really should force developers to do 2 things:

1) Pick a deadline. Give them any date up to maybe 1 year from release to have it marketed as "early access".

2) release at least 1 update per month.

If they don't release content/bug updates within that frequency, fine them.

Look at the daily deals for Steam Summer Sale today. They are almost all 'early access' games. Great idea and all - but when a game literally has no release date, it's unhealthy for the whole industry. Every other software development in the world has deadlines unless it's some group of script kiddies in a basement. AAA games have deadlines. Why is it allowed for games to be 'early access' with no guarantee that the developers will continue working on it?

I pirate and I dont feel guilty - simple as that. Games are one of the few pleasures I allow myself. Some games next to my wage are unbelievable. And not only for my wage in Bulgaria which is around 150 a month but also in the UK. Ive been searching for a part time job for a student and in the cinema they pay you 6.40 p/h and you have around 4 shifts a week b/w 6~8 hours which means you will get around 220 p a week do you think with food and rent you can pay for it :/ I have bought a few games but when it comes to point where its b/w should I get something like clothes and food or pay a bill next to buy a game for 25pounds i would so pirate it. I dont feel guilty and I would never do.

I'm not all against piracy, but I will never understand that point.

When you go and get clothes and food, what do you buy? Designer (high-end) clothing and eat out at expensive restaurants, or order that steak that costs more than any other 2 items on the menu?

Probably not - because they are out of your price range. For multiple reasons they cost more, whether it's the material cost, the expertise of whoever made or cooked it, etc.

Games are similar in that aspect. While I agree that some games are priced ridiculously, they do cost money to make. When a development company hires 50+ people at $40+/hr to develop that game for the next 3 years, the costs add up. They then find some way to make money back (because they are a business) in order to remain profitable. No profit = no game. Simple as that.

People in general can't afford everything, that's how the world works. If you can't afford a game, don't play it. You're not entitled to be able to play something that a company spent millions of dollars developing - it's a want, not a need. There are plenty of games out there that are free to play or extremely cheap (hey, look at the summer sale!) so when you say you'll pirate any game without guilt, I just don't understand it.

 

[07smithle]

 

[nevik45]

Yes, one of my friends got the "free" (illegal) minecraft, and he wanted to play on my server, but he couldn't join because of some certain thing I didn't download, and he got pretty mad, but I just said, "if you want to play minecraft, play it legally." I don't like game piracy, because making games takes work (I've never done it, but I've made simple websites and *whew* that's hard), so the people who put the work in should get their money off of it. Also, most of the time, I wait until games get older, so (I'm in the USA), instead of being $50-$60, they're around $40. I mean, most games are going to have trailers and demos, so if you don't want to buy the game until you know how good it is, just play the demo or watch the trailer! Or, of course, some games are going to have cheaper/free knockoffs, and they're going to give you an idea of the game.
Also, if you pirate a game and say, "Wow, this game is great, I can wait for the second one to come out!" If too many people pirate the game, the producers won't make enough money. This has happened on an insanely large amount of games/movies that I like.
Also, that guy who said pirating isn't bad, and that we don't see the whole picture: NO. HE/SHE doesn't see the whole picture. He's going in with his selfish aims and trying to come up with an excuse for doing something that should't be done.
Now, if the game was made by a company that went out of business, and it's a different company making money off their game, I still wouldn't do it, but I wouldn't really mind it so much. Making money off an idea that isn't yours is cheap.

Oh, on another note, one of my friend's (not the aforementioned one) brothers was downloading illegal games, and lots of the websites had viruses, so the computer crashed and lost its memory, and my friend and his brothers weren't allowed to play games anymore, except for their getting-older Wii games. So, while people may be like, "piracy is a great idea!" just wait until you get a virus that destroys your memory, then see if it seems like such a good idea.