When is pirating ok? (discussion)

[Rydian]

On the other, as a computer can technically produce any file possible, it may not be fair to copyright files to begin with

This is partially why the EU has no software patents. They've realized that the way people have thought about goods for hundreds of years just doesn't work when you get to computers, where you can duplicate data as many times as you have supplied power and storage space.

Bioshock 2 comes to mind. It was $100 when it first came out for the special edition. I think I paid 5 bucks for a sealed copy from Best Buy not too long ago for one.

I for it for like, $5 on steam I think. I usually prefer to wait for games to age a while so I can do this. If I had to buy everything at $50+ a pop, I'd just pirate instead... but I have no problem with $5-$15 for an older game.

Piracy is never "okay" - you "acquire" software which you are not entitled to use, that's the gist of it.

It's more along the lines of sneaking some photos of your sister's diary?

I'm wondering. I can remember GBAtemp having at least a list of releases in the scene. But now I don't see them having this list anymore. Did GBAtemp opt to not show a list of releases anymore? And if so, why?

Everything broke when the site got hacked and decided to switch forum software, the releases weren't considered important enough to be one of the main things brought back. Ask! is still gone, are are blogs, etc. The main communication methods (forums, shoutbox, IRC) were the focus.

So, if you bought a guitar, you do not have the right to reproduce any part of any song without accept that you're not playing, you're pirating ?

What does the song have to do with the guitar? They're two separate things. A guitar is a tangible good, a song is an idea (often recorded).

$60 a pop for a game, and you get less than you ever did before.....no pretty box, no disk, no instruction book, just a download. May as well just pirate it.

That has more to do with lots of companies running digital stuff not having any fucking clue what they're doing.

Or, if you have a different mindset, they DO know what they're doing, and they're still charging that because people are still paying that.

Ok then go pay for your games and in 20 years of paying u will have wasted like 20.000 dollars on games have fun with that.

There's two other options.

1 - Buy your games at lower prices. I get stuff like Mass Effect 2 at $5 on a semi-regular basis from Steam, and sales even bring recent games down to $20 or less.

2 - Play free games. There's lots out there.

2 - Don't play games. I mean it's like you assume that people HAVE to play games.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

in the country that i live they're about $80, $90 bucks, and most of people earn about $400/month.

What country do you live? If it is Brazil it is not true at all. Avarage income here was $1049 in 2011, probabily it is even high now in 2013. A game here, for example, Mario Kart 7 is U$63.95 / GBP 39.60 (or R$ 129.99). So I dont get your point. For me this value is not so high.

Your argument was valid back on 1994, when the minumum wage was R$ 70.00 per month and a game was R$ 60.00, but now things are VERY different. But on MS Dos times, piracy was a rule, at least here.

 

[RodrigoDavy]

For me pirating is okay when the game is no longer being sold. Pirating is also ok when you already bought the game before.

About people complaing about people complaining about games prices... What is the matter in complaining about games prices? People can complain about it if they want to, the same way one can complain about the price of a movie session, a CD album, glasses and any other good. A game is not any more of a luxury than the other items I cited, just saying...

 

[RodrigoDavy]

What country do you live? If it is Brazil it is not true at all. Avarage income here was $1049 in 2011, probabily it is even high now in 2013. A game here, for example, Mario Kart 7 is U$63.95 / GBP 39.60 (or R$ 129.99). So I dont get your point. For me this value is not so high.

Your argument was valid back on 1994, when the minumum wage was R$ 70.00 per month and a game was R$ 60.00, but now things are VERY different. But on MS Dos times, piracy was a rule, at least here.

Don't you mean avarage income in here was R$1049 instead of $1049? Also, you're not considering many people have families, so it's not like it's R$1049 for just one person

 

[synce]

I grew up in an age where buying a game gave you complete control of it. We had cheat codes, save files weren't tied to an account, and you weren't limited to X number of consoles or whatever (currently this only applies to digital games). More importantly there was nothing cut from the game to be sold at a later date. So I think it's fine to pirate anything with DLC or DRM, doesn't matter if it's $60 or $6.

 

[Janthran]

1 - Buy your games at lower prices. I get stuff like Mass Effect 2 at $5 on a semi-regular basis from Steam, and sales even bring recent games down to $20 or less.

2 - Play free games. There's lots out there.

2 - Don't play games. I mean it's like you assume that people HAVE to play games.

You said 2 twice. Just thought someone should point that out.

 

[Originality]

Just think of all that money I saved by pirating over the years! Literally tens of thousands of games downloaded (illegally or otherwise) since not long after the invention of the 56k modem. All those games that could have costed me up to $60 each (ok, many of them are available for 69p on the iOS app store, but that's not the point of this). Someone cook up some random numbers relating to average wage, multiply by how many years it's been since the 56k modem, and you'll know roughly how much money I saved by being a pirate.

Now look at how many games are on my Steam list (238 for those who don't know my Steam account). Look at the number of installed apps on my iPad (196 for those who care). Look at the number of games in my Vita case (7), my 3DS case (13) and my bookcases (I have 2 in my room, one full of books, the other full of games and anime, and another full bookcase downstairs with older games and some BluRays). And that number rises every month.

I hereby declare that by my being a pirate, it has enabled me to buy more games than other kids/students/workers in my age group (under 25)! One could even say it has had a positive effect on the gaming industry for bringing the cashflow to the devs that deserve it the most! Long live piracy (and the revenue it generates for the GOOD game devs)!

 

[benbop1992]

I pirate games, only cos i love gaming, but i just can't afford to pay for them. The only things i pirate for is DS and PSP.

 

[KingBlank]

Pirating is fine, if you can bother going through all the effort to do it.
KingBlank - A wise man

 

[jimskeet2002]

There's two other options.

1 - Buy your games at lower prices. I get stuff like Mass Effect 2 at $5 on a semi-regular basis from Steam, and sales even bring recent games down to $20 or less.

2 - Play free games. There's lots out there.

2 - Don't play games. I mean it's like you assume that people HAVE to play games.

Well I want to play the game when I see it out I wont wait couple of years to play it. And since I can, I will. None and nothing will stop me. As i said If price is regular I dont have problem. Bought the new CS recently 5.50 on Steam... 2 Copies of it. One for me and one for my bro. But 50$??? lol no...

 

[jimskeet2002]

I grew up in an age where buying a game gave you complete control of it. We had cheat codes, save files weren't tied to an account, and you weren't limited to X number of consoles or whatever (currently this only applies to digital games). More importantly there was nothing cut from the game to be sold at a later date. So I think it's fine to pirate anything with DLC or DRM, doesn't matter if it's $60 or $6.

What are the digital games? Do analog games exist too?

 

[ShadowSoldier]

Ok then go pay for your games and in 20 years of paying u will have wasted like 20.000 dollars on games have fun with that.

I'm sorry but it's statements like that that is just plain fucking retarded beyond all belief. That's like me saying "Have fun wasting money on a car and gas, and in 20 years you'll have wasted 50,000 while I walk and ride my bike for free.

You're not entitled to gaming at all. Stop acting like you are. If you're so hellbent on saving money, get rid of your internet, you don't need it.

60 bucks for a game isn't expensive at all especially if it gives me hours upon hours upon hours of gameplay. Borderlands 2, I'm glad I paid 100 bucks for the special edition because that game is still giving me hours of gameplay even after I beat it twice, I'm having a blast with it. And even then, 60 bucks isn't anything. For me it's no more than 4 hours of work. Stop making it sound as if companies are ripping you off and that you're being fucked.

 

[jimskeet2002]

I'm sorry but it's statements like that that is just plain fucking retarded beyond all belief. That's like me saying "Have fun wasting money on a car and gas, and in 20 years you'll have wasted 50,000 while I walk and ride my bike for free.

You're not entitled to gaming at all. Stop acting like you are. If you're so hellbent on saving money, get rid of your internet, you don't need it.

60 bucks for a game isn't expensive at all especially if it gives me hours upon hours upon hours of gameplay. Borderlands 2, I'm glad I paid 100 bucks for the special edition because that game is still giving me hours of gameplay even after I beat it twice, I'm having a blast with it. And even then, 60 bucks isn't anything. For me it's no more than 4 hours of work. Stop making it sound as if companies are ripping you off and that you're being fucked.

well for me is like 3 days of work here in greece also the statement about the car is not valid... Car is a product that is used for work, and stuff that are needed for life... Gaming is an amusement.

 

[Sychophantom]

What are the digital games? Do analog games exist too?

Yes, if you consider "analog" to be the opposite of digital.

However, with the term "digital" now meaning everything from software to cellular signals to "found on the internet by monkeys"..... It just doesn't have that ring to it.

 

[jimskeet2002]

Yes, if you consider "analog" to be the opposite of digital.

However, with the term "digital" now meaning everything from software to cellular signals to "found on the internet by monkeys"..... It just doesn't have that ring to it.

was just trolling man... every video game is digital... there is no analog video game.....

 

[xist]

was just trolling man... every video game is digital... there is no analog video game.....

Analogue can be defined as a physical object or quantity, so analogue gaming as opposed to digital would equate to discs/carts vs data.

 

[Sychophantom]

was just trolling man... every video game is digital... there is no analog video game.....

Leave the trolling to the professionals.

I do remember early consoles using analog bits and bobs, but it was still a digital (if low-tech) signal being sent to the screen.

http://www.bitrebels.com/geek/first-analog-video-game-in-a-cardboard-box/ is likely the closest to a true analog video game, but there's no real video in the box.

The case could be made that those pinball games that had TVs in them with graphics could be an analog game, especially if hitting the ball into certain holes switched things on the screen. There was a pizza place near an old apartment that had one, but I spent more time trying to fuck the owner's daughter than playing the game.

 

[ShadowSoldier]

well for me is like 3 days of work here in greece also the statement about the car is not valid... Car is a product that is used for work, and stuff that are needed for life... Gaming is an amusement.

Exactly, so why should you be entitled to play them if it's just amusement? You don't need the internet but yet you pay for that.

 

[ReBirFh]

Fist of all, I pirate and also buy a lot of games and would buy more if the price was better.

One thing that bothers me when I see all the talking about how piracy hurts the developers is that the Devs and Publishers still have a very limited vision of the world, they could have a lot more income if they tried to to expand their markets to emerging countries with reasonable prices instead of staying converged on the exactly same regions since the early days of gaming.

Only now I'm hearing talks about games being dubbed to portuguese (other than soccer games) and I can say for sure that I didn't see a single official tv advertisment for games on the last 13 years (it was for the Dreamcast) we (all the countries ignored by the publishers) like games, we want to consume and buy their games but we are completely forgotten by the game industry.

Even if the absurd prices of the hardware were kept the same they could offset that with better priced software, I dont see any reasonable reason to be able to buy a brand new just released Blu-ray movie from Sony for $30/$40 or the just released Windows 8 for $35 but have to resort to pay $100 or more for a single game on the same media and we don't have the benefit of bargain bins,buy 1 get 2 or discount coupons, all the support Nintendo gave me for buying the Wii, Nintendo DS, acessories and games was "Sorry, you can't redeem our Nintendo Club prizes because we don't send to Brasil" and if your expensive console malfunctions, good luck resorting to some shady and expensive place to fix your game because offcial support is nonexistent.

It's very easy for people from countries that always had games easily available to them to point fingers but you just need to look over you shoulders to the Anime/Manga scene to see people from these same countries having to resort to piracy through fansubs and scanlations because the content they want to pay for isn't easily available for them.

I pirate with no guilty and even do some marketing job for free if the game happen to be good (no need to pay me devs, I do it for free)

 

[Nurio]

Leave the trolling to the professionals.

I do remember early consoles using analog bits and bobs, but it was still a digital (if low-tech) signal being sent to the screen.

http://www.bitrebels.com/geek/first-analog-video-game-in-a-cardboard-box/ is likely the closest to a true analog video game, but there's no real video in the box.

The case could be made that those pinball games that had TVs in them with graphics could be an analog game, especially if hitting the ball into certain holes switched things on the screen. There was a pizza place near an old apartment that had one, but I spent more time trying to fuck the owner's daughter than playing the game.

Early consoles output video through composite cables, right? That's an analog signal, if I'm not mistaken. But you're probably talking about a different kind of analog? Really, analog can mean so many things...
Anyway, I think jimskeet2002 didn't really understand the digital/analog thing. When people are talking about digital games, that's referring to anything not on a disc or cartridge or similar (meaning a downloaded copy). ...but xist already pointed that out.