# Think piracy isn't that big of a deal?  Think again!



## Rayder (May 2, 2009)

I found a very eye-opening article on piracy that I think everyone should read.   It is a very long read (and I mean VERY long, 10 rather large pages), but everyone should read it.  It is very well written, non-biased and extremely informative. It mainly focuses on PC piracy, but it does talk about consoles too.  Piracy is apparently a hell of a lot more rampant than previously thought, especially on the PC.  Read it for yourself before even bothering to comment.

PC Game Piracy Examined - by TweakGuides.com

Not saying it will change my evil ways though.  
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 But it does help to explain the sorry state of PC gaming......and if you read between the lines, the DS also.


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## zidane_genome (May 2, 2009)

I am on a pirated version of XP (I hate vista), running a pirated version of AVG (good till 2018), with many pirated programs (photoshop, office, video encoders, and other various programs).

If I were to add up the total cost (not including xp), it would be around 4-5 thousand dollars, since alot of the programs are over $500 each.

Will I stop?  No.
Do I care?  No.
Is piratebay and demonoid my friends, hell yea!


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## Satangel (May 2, 2009)

Will read this when I have absolutely nothing to do, thanks for the link!


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## nutella (May 2, 2009)

i have read through some of it. he seems very thoughtful instead of simply using thousands of irrelevant statistics. very interesting find. i will read this after doing an assessment


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## FAST6191 (May 2, 2009)

I read it a few weeks back and aside from the beginners masterclass at the start of the article I did not go it, I would not accuse the guy of bias just yet but I would say that he does not explore the "anti piracy" arguments in as great a detail or subject them to as great a scrutiny as the counter arguments which does not sit with me. He also appears to have almost a numerical points list rather than a weighted one and dare I say it appears as though he thinks at some level there is an entitlement (business is inherently risky in my opinion and I will also mention the term "loss leader"). He also seems to make the mistake of thinking that steam is somehow near flawless from a protection standpoint when the exact opposite would be the case (there are centralised "pirate" steam servers in existence, outside of the scene proper (as in FTP sites) I do not think I have ever seen such a thing other than perhaps xbins).
Same with his XP vs Vista article (my opinion I can tweak both to make a "good" operating system but to do it to XP is quicker and easier with any and all advantages of vista being obtainable aside from DX10 which nothing worth mentioning really uses) and to a lesser extent his general PC tweaking guide. His game tweaking guides are top notch though.
In the end a commendable attempt but could have done better, this being said I would be willing to debate the what I presume to be a bell curve (probability vs actual cost) idea he hints at as the "cost" of such things.
I will say though those people that call the tech support, I am not sure I can come up with an insult/witty remark able to do that one justice.

@zidane_genome I have to ask but most of those apps have a free equivalent and now having played with most of them I actually prefer them (certainly video encoders but I can see how a debate as to the other apps could be had).


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## Captin (May 2, 2009)

I have previously used any software I could download.

But recently I came to the realisation that there is some extremely excellent software for free.

I buy software from little peeps (shareware) that I think is worth it. I dont line the pockets of big companies that are just out to fleece anyone they can.

I have a legit Windows Vista x64. 
I use Thunderbird for email (with birdiesync to sync with my mobile). 
Gimp for photo editing (better than photoshop IMHO). 
Audacity for sound editing. 
Open Office (more featues than MS Office 2007, check out the comparison on the open office web site).
Imageburn for burning EVERYTHING (it's not just for ISO images).
Picasa for picture browsing.
Firefox for web (plus I've tried chrome, opera too).
Total Commander for file copying (plus a million other uses way way wy better than windows explorer).
VLC for video playback.
Grabit (for newsgroup downloading).

And the list goes on. For every paid for program there is 20+ free (or very nearly) equivalents. Most of the free/cheap software is written by peeps who actually want to make useful programs instead of companies that churnout generic crap with tons of "have to pay for" upgrades.

Music and DVD is another matter, I wouldnt pay for 80% of the crap films I watch, and I download US TV shows cos we dont get them here in the UK.


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## Maz7006 (May 2, 2009)

zidane_genome said:
			
		

> *I am on a pirated version of XP (I hate vista), running a pirated version of AVG (good till 2018)*, with many pirated programs (photoshop, office, video encoders, and other various programs).



i have the exact same thing running on one of my desktops over here xD

I totally agree and understand your viewpoint, and like i've said before, piracy will ALWAYS be around, no matter what the case, however i will read that article, thanks for the link Rayder


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## Rayder (May 2, 2009)

Personally, I don't download movies and all our OS's in the house are legit.  But everything else...... 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I do buy some PC games (GTA4, Devil May Cry, all the Flatout games, Psychonaughts, Silent Hill, Need For Speed, etc.) but the greater percentage is downloaded.

And of course DS games are all slurpies too.


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## Djay187 (May 2, 2009)

Thanks Rayder that was a really interesting article, quite eye opening.


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## Anakir (May 3, 2009)

Gonna read it tonight. Need to kill some time anyways.


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## triassic911 (May 3, 2009)

zidane_genome said:
			
		

> I am on a pirated version of XP (I hate vista), running a pirated version of AVG (good till 2018), with many pirated programs (photoshop, office, video encoders, and other various programs).
> 
> If I were to add up the total cost (not including xp), it would be around 4-5 thousand dollars, since alot of the programs are over $500 each.
> 
> ...


That's cool and all, but I don't think it's smart to directly admit that. I personally don't care, but there might be someone who is an anti-pirate and yeah......


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## golden (May 3, 2009)

triassic911 said:
			
		

> zidane_genome said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


what if someone is? what are they gonna do? somehow track that post and take a flight to his country and knock on his door and personally punish him? If someone is an "anti pirate" they are probably trying to stop bigger things like ROM/Music piracy sites and Torrents rather than a GBAtemp member.


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## FlatFrogger (May 3, 2009)

I could have sworn that article wasn't new at at all and there was flaws with it. If I get time ill read through again and pick them out again.

I think some of it was outright wrong/a crock of shit other parts blatantly ignored certain things, etc.

IMO the only sorry state PC Gaming is in is the OVER emphasis on piracy and it being used as an opt out card to "convert" a game over and an excuse when poorly "ported" games sell awful. If companies actually paid attention to whats going on in the market and adapted properly instead of moronic draconian approaches like securom + activations they might actually get somewhere, but no. Instead they sloppily port games over or make a classic game franchise so diluted and "easy mode" not even a 5 year old would struggle through it then have the cheek to attach activations to it. To top it off cry piracy when it sells like trash.

Its not just state of PC gaming due to piracy its state of the gaming industry over all cutting down games (so they are shorter and easier) to push them out faster on consoles and make a bigger buck on DLC for them (which was probably cut from the final game no less).


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## golden (May 3, 2009)

FlatFrogger said:
			
		

> I could have sworn that article wasn't new at at all and there was flaws with it. If I get time ill read through again and pick them out again.
> 
> I think some of it was outright wrong/a crock of shit other parts blatantly ignored certain things, etc.
> 
> ...


why so serious?


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## Midna (May 3, 2009)

Who cares? I know if everyone stopped downloading right now, the economy might do a bit better, and we might get better games. But the couple hundred dollars (Canadian) worth of games that I've downloaded has virtually zero impact on the welfare of the video game industry. There's nothing I can do.


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## epicelite (May 3, 2009)

I don't feel bad about pirating things I could not afford to buy anyway. EX:
3DS Max
Photoshop
Other insanely expensive programs only meant to be purchase by professionals with large sums or cash.

I mean, I either steal it or do not have it. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	





I also don't feel bad about pirating games that are no longer produced/sold by their developer. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



NES ROM's and such.

I do feel bad about pirating GOOD games that are new/still being sold, but I have no job so fuck it.


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## golden (May 3, 2009)

midna25 said:
			
		

> Who cares? I know if everyone stopped downloading right now, the economy might do a bit better, and we might get better games. But the couple hundred dollars (Canadian) worth of games that I've downloaded has virtually zero impact on the welfare of the video game industry. There's nothing I can do.


Ya that's what everybody says "the games I've DLed have no impact on the economy" or "I haven't downloaded that much to have a negative impact" but since everyone has that mindset it adds up fast so you are actually contributing to it.


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## Midna (May 3, 2009)

golden said:
			
		

> midna25 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Firstly, I didn't use stupid abbreviations and had perfect grammar and spelling. Secondly, my first sentence stated I already know what you just said. My point was that "I" can't do anything. If we all stopped, we could make a difference, but really, I can't do anything on my own.


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## zeromac (May 3, 2009)

nice article, but like many here would say, of course u would buy the programs but u would dl the insanly expensive ones that professionals use


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## Frederica Bernkastel (May 3, 2009)

Well...
If people priced software at reasonable prices, then noone would be bothered to pirate.
But, come on CS4 $3000? Noone uses it that much anyway! Even the professionals.


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## Maz7006 (May 3, 2009)

Good point Antoligy, Photoshop is something overrated IMO, GIMP, Maya, Coral Draw, can do the job just as well.


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## zidane_genome (May 3, 2009)

let me rephrase my post... 

I have a pirated version of WinXP (since my computer came with Vista, and I wasn't going to pay to downgrade to a more stable OS).  I am running a pirated AVG because I paid for it for it once, but due to it not detecting one virus on my HD, I had to install it a number of times after wiping my HD... used up all the installs for my key... And since the computer came with the trial version of Office, I just tossed in a pirate key to unlock it... hey, they gave it to me for free, why not use it.

As for photoshop, it's what I was taught on, and what I will always use.  I'm sorry if i don't make $3000 in disposable income to buy it... they should start teaching GIMP, or what other free software is out there...

And for the video editing software, I edit home movies (not adult home movies) to put on DVD for my family... so no one is really losing any money buy me selling professional made dvd's, and I'm not having people pay me to make them... no harm no foul


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## jalaneme (May 3, 2009)

let me guess it's a article about someone ranting about how piracy is wrong and he goes on and on how he is perfect and doesn't pirate e.t.c? ah well i guess i don't need to read it then.


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## notnarb (May 4, 2009)

zidane_genome said:
			
		

> As for photoshop, it's what I was taught on, and what I will always use.  I'm sorry if i don't make $3000 in disposable income to buy it... they should start teaching GIMP, or what other free software is out there...


I talked with a couple teachers about this and the answer is more or less the same - the grant money given to the learning programs is in large part supplied with companies like adobe who want people to know their programs and thus, down the line, buy it (or, more likely, be prepared to use it in a professional environment).  Most "graphic design" classes aren't so much graphic design classes, as "how to use photoshop" classes.  For the time being, the sort of polish on these programs is necessary to be used in professional environments (a stellar example is office's integrated VB scripting), so open source applications aren't quite viable to be taught as training for a profession... _yet_


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## updowners (May 4, 2009)

.


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## Hopawarty (May 4, 2009)

Hehehe.

Windows Vista: Home Basic
Windows Vista: Home Premium
Windows Vista: Business
Windows Vista: Ultimate
Windows Vista: Enterprise

Which are by the way all shit.

Adobe Photoshop CS1
Adobe Photoshop CS2
Adobe Photoshop CS3
Adobe Photoshop Elements
Adobe Photoshop CS4
Adobe Flash CS3
Adobe Flash CS4
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4
Windows XP: Professinal
VMWare Workstation Ace Edition
Microsoft Office: Home
Microsoft Office: Ultimate
Microsoft Ofice: Enterprise
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware
Camtasia Studio 6
Mac OSX Tiger (10.4) Jas.AMD.Intel
iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 3
iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 4
WinRAR
Magic ISO
Power ISO
Halo Combat Evolved
Halo Custom Edition 
Nero Suite
HyperCam
Google Earth PRO

Your all lame excuses for pirates.........


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## SpAM_CAN (May 4, 2009)

PIRACY IT NOT STEALING!
IT IS PIRACY!

Stealing is taking the original,
Piracy is making a copy of the original.


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## wchill (May 4, 2009)

Bah that's nothing, you forgot Mac OSX Leopard (10.5)!


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## Domination (May 4, 2009)

SpAM_CAN said:
			
		

> PIRACY IT NOT STEALING!
> IT IS PIRACY!
> 
> Stealing is taking the original,
> Piracy is making a copy of the original.



LOL. But this case, its making MORE copies than the original if you upload it onto the web...


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## SpAM_CAN (May 4, 2009)

Yup!

If piracy is illegal then quoting someone on a forum is also illegal, as it is a copy of the original! The law has ZERO logic.


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## Captin (May 4, 2009)

SpAM_CAN said:
			
		

> PIRACY IT NOT STEALING!
> IT IS PIRACY!
> 
> Stealing is taking the original,
> Piracy is making a copy of the original.



The piracy of software isnt in the stealing of the program (or copying it) it is in the making it work IE: keygens or cracks.

As for the "I've been taught how to use photoshop so thats what I'm using" argument doesnt mean you dont have the ability to learn something new.

AVG's key can be used on any computer you own and isnt limited to the number of times you use it.

I'm not against piracy/cracking/keygen. I just have the intelligence to make a choice to find a legal free alternative that sometimes is also better/less cluttered/easier (open office is both free and way better than MS office 2007, so good it even opens MS office 2007 documents/spreadsheets/databases, and lets you make PDF's which office 2007 doesnt).

There are alternatives for every piece of software ever written. As for learning a new piece of software you dont need to look any further than youtube. there are tutorials for tons of programs, including gimp, office and many others ether done by professionals or gifted enthusiasts.

As for the statement "I ether steal it or I dont have it" would you apply it to you neighbours car or some house you like that belongs to someone else. Surely it would be better to say "I ether look for an alternative or I dont have it".

I can understand people pirating films, music and games because you cant find alternatives. But as most of them aint worth the money they cost their piracy will never end.


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## Maz7006 (May 4, 2009)

SpAM_CAN said:
			
		

> PIRACY IT NOT STEALING!
> IT IS PIRACY!
> 
> Stealing is taking the original,
> *Piracy is making a copy of the original.*



In which you are then taking, and in the end not paying for it, so you have taken something that is not yours and that is stealing.

I Still pirate on certain occasions though


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## Rayder (May 4, 2009)

I've always said this, "So, is sharing good or isn't it?  I was always taught to share, now when I do it, I'm told I'm breaking the law.  WTF?!"

But seriously, I'm what the dude in the article calls an "honorable" pirate.  You know, the "because I can" type.  I don't try to justify what I'm doing by making up excuses, I do it because free is better than pay. Simple as that.

And to people who *think they know* what the article is about.....I said not to comment unless you read it. You're just making yourself look ignorant by saying you won't read it and just "guessing" what it's about.


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## Maz7006 (May 4, 2009)

I read through some of it

Page 1: Introduction
Page 4: The Scale of Piracy

It was enough to prove that piracy is indeed a problem, but yet again ill say this really bluntly, there are some occasions when games/software etc. are just not worth it. I generally buy most if not all PC games, and on some occasions PC software. I also spend money on quality PS3 and 360 games, but in the end, i always go back to pirating certain things, things that can be enjoyed just the same way as buying the real thing itself in the 1st place.


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## Rayder (May 4, 2009)

One thing the dude never commented on was the fact that many PC games that used the StarForce protection ran BETTER when using the pirate version that had the StarForce protection stripped out of it.  Personally, I think that means a lot to people who's PC's were just barely able to run the game in the first place.


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## Maz7006 (May 4, 2009)

Good point Rayder, i guess StarForce was a frivolous to stop piracy when it comes to PC gaming. No matter what companies do to prevent piracy, people always find a away, it's a shame really.


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## Sao Mortel (May 4, 2009)

Being a Christian this is something I have put a lot of tough of... 

Anyways copying something is absolutely not against gods rules.
Stealing is wrong but look at stealing in the dictionary.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stealing
In short you have to remove something from someones possession without his consent.

Smart people have made laws to make it illegal therefore make money with it.
However man made laws are not always fair.

If I had something to copyright (an idea, code or whatever ) it would get stolen (again check the definition) very fast by money making compagnies if I was not careful.

Be not a sheep but a wiseman.


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## triassic911 (May 4, 2009)

Rayder said:
			
		

> I've always said this, "So, is sharing good or isn't it?  I was always taught to share, now when I do it, I'm told I'm breaking the law.  WTF?!"
> 
> But seriously, I'm what the dude in the article calls an "honorable" pirate.  You know, the "because I can" type.  I don't try to justify what I'm doing by making up excuses, I do it because free is better than pay. Simple as that.
> 
> And to people who *think they know* what the article is about.....I said not to comment unless you read it. You're just making yourself look ignorant by saying you won't read it and just "guessing" what it's about.


You remind me of that old gum commercial. "Sharing is caring, it can be fun. I'll give you some when you have none."


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## notnarb (May 5, 2009)

Sao Mortel said:
			
		

> Anyways copying something is absolutely not against gods rules.
> Stealing is wrong but look at stealing in the dictionary.
> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stealing
> In short you have to remove something from someones possession without his consent.
> ...


I hope you are just a lame excuse for a troll.  I would not be surprised if that was just a list of software straight from a most downloaded torrent list on any random torrent site.  All I see is "HURP DERP DERP LOOK HOW WELL I CAN DOWNLOAD TORRENTS GUISE"


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## Hopawarty (May 5, 2009)

Nope.
I Could get you my program files


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## Hitto (May 5, 2009)

I'm an artist and I condone piracy.
Shlub, shlub


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## kjean (May 5, 2009)

I'm a master thief. Muhahah! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





And piracy IS stealing.


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## Hopawarty (May 5, 2009)

kjean said:
			
		

> I'm a master thief. Muhahah!
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I dont care if its stealing.
Its free shit.


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## FAST6191 (May 5, 2009)

OK then I am bored so a workthrough of the points/review/counter essay is coming up. Page by page breakdown is the method of choice.
Page 1 is just an intro so skipping to
<b>page 2</b>
Wikipedia links aside (word to the wise wikipedia is an inherently untrustworthy source and there are many more reputable sources of information) the focus of the page is purely on the personal side of copyright as opposed to the rights of works and skips over patents and software patents (a non-existent entity in much of the world and applicable in some cases to modding communities) which is acceptable although possibly missing out the hacks/mods and such (come under derived works and/or trademarks). I would not suggest the page for someone new to the issues surrounding intellectual property on the basis that it makes very little attempt to explain the various angles (copyright, patents, fair use, design right, exceptions) which form much of the backbone of the debate to come.
Interestingly it takes the rather curious stance of using the hypothetical rationale behind intellectual property and mentioning of some of the various laws that could be considered counter productive to the purposes (the DMCA analysis at <a href="http://www.doom9.net/" target="_blank">http://www.doom9.net/</a> is a good start), in simpler terms this would be divide between the "morally justified" and the "legally justified". I would attribute this to the "general" nature of the document and the fact it covers multiple legal jurisdictions although there is the risk of it being perceived as something different.

For the sake of clarity
Intellectual property, it was recognised a great deal of time ago that the creation of a work or method of doing something that does not truly "exist" in the sense that the table in front of you does can well take considerable resources to pull off and this then warranted the creation of intellectual property laws. In all cases they create a time limited monopoly which can be used or sold or in some cases left to rot.
Broadly there are two types of intellectual property.
1) Right to a work. This would be copyright and how the owner can then license it out to various people, it should be noted that licenses may indeed be unenforceable or even invalid (in several places a license presented after the point of sale/download is invalid).

2) Right to a method of doing something.

There are hybrids of the 2 things but this is more of a localised issues (see design right ( <a href="http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1073791344" target="_blank">http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/actio...emId=1073791344</a> ) and registered design ( <a href="http://www.ipo.gov.uk/design.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ipo.gov.uk/design.htm</a> ) in the UK), in addition to this you have the likes of trademarks which also come into play in these circles (the tetris company being a major one and there have been several cases of fan mods/remakes being shut down on such grounds).

There are however many exceptions to both, common cited exceptions include education, criticism and review purposes and in the US and to some extent Australia you can patent software methods while in the Eu you are presently unable to do such a thing.
Nobody can get it right first time so these base laws have been amended in actual laws and in case law (court cases that have clarified a given point or created new ones).
Noteworthy point intellectual property is usually the matter of two individuals/groups/coalitions and so any matters that make it to court are handled by the civil courts rather than the criminal/state/country courts.

Methods. A passable summary although I would replace torrents with peer to peer and then place emphasis on torrents if necessary.

<b>page 3</b>
One problem with any of these arguments is that they assume such if things would vanish then "this is what would happen", the main problem I always see with such things is that it is impossible by the laws of physics or more realistically that for a computer to function in any worthwhile way it has to have freedom of input, perhaps incredibly crudely summarised "if it can be made it can be broken (and seen as all our machines are made to be free at some level that just becomes easier)". As such it can never be stopped and while it does not render arguments null and void it adds and incredibly complex set of variables to any estimates which would then make my argument that it becomes almost incalculable.
An example of sorts would be the argument relating to ease of access/use and how things have got "easier" and so more overt than the past, assuming ease can be quantified you then have factors like genre (at the risk of generalising are RTS fans more technically capable than FPS fans and then what about stuff like Halo Wars (an RTS set in a universe of a popular FPS game)) and familiarity with computing; 15 years ago a PC was perhaps not rare to find in a home but it is unlikely there would be more than one (a popular line of thought at the time went along the lines of a PC is the third biggest expense after a house and a car for a family, keyword being "a") whereas today it is far from unlikely to find a family with a PC for every member which folds into familiarity by way of it not being a little toy but an essential tool of sorts.

Points with the first section: two examples of "badly" cracked games are cited and while it is a valid point I would accuse it of being one sided at this point by way it citing the developers (admittedly there is the issue of no cohesive "pirate voice" which will crop up again and again in any debate) and assuming that the problems did indeed play an effect that could be considered substantial, considering we are still effectively in the introduction part of the essay it does set the tone somewhat.

Points with the second section, for clarity the section deals with the "free rider" problem which in short goes the tendency of man is to minimise costs even if it is to the detriment of the society/group as a whole.
I take issue with the following statement
"various methods used within piracy.....Usenet for example requires monthly subscription fees to access; FTP piracy requires login details to monitor and prevent abuse; file sharing services limit the amount of free downloads and require payment for full access"
The reason is because it appears to misconstrue the entire idea behind the pricing, how these methods work and who gets anything from it.

A further more subtle point further down suggests that torrents may "collapse" due to lack of incentive, a situation it seems which it seems could not be further from happening (which indeed is even pointed out in the very same section; "most popular piracy channel"). The anecdote of the RELOADED releases brings up a further issue of how to clarify "pirates" and indeed what "counts" underneath it all (is a person who cracks a game in a few hours* inherently more valuable to the community that someone who gathers and presents information or indeed the people providing the underlying hardware/software and mechanisms.

*for my own anecdote I will cite many of the NFOs bragging about speed or indeed the the 0day nature of various things.

Further down
"evidence related to tech support requests by pirates"
My argument here is that it provides a seriously flawed sample (what person calls tech support and indeed of those that do who how do they know who is doing what and who is lying; how hard is it to disguise things?) and as such is invalid.

<b>Page 4</b>
As an insight it works but as anything more I take issue by way of known arguments
Alexa, he already disparaged them and there are no further points that need making.

percentage (volume) of traffic. This is murky territory, leaving aside the issue of what volume of the volume of the given method is "illegal" it has to be asked how good of a metric is volume: counts of titles are what generally matters and what things are generally priced in and it would be folly to assume that traffic volume in bytes can be used as a metric (even with "scene standards").

Rates section, we just spend the last few hundred words stressing the need for impartiality and how data is inherently unreliable and then we have pictures of guesses from those with vested interests, bravo.

Game specific section. No real attempt is made to challenge the validity of the data (how many are fakes, redownloads for propers and the like, updated versions, partial downloads, how are downloads measured, they are torrents but how many share info), later on we also deal with a time frame (0day section) and no mention of this is made. In the comparison I am also curious (although it is justifiably not mentioned) what level of difference (percentage wise) there is between torrents and other methods, in my own experience (which is invalid for anything other than an anecdote) much of console stuff is shifted to usenet and similar methods (you need only look around this site (a general site if ever there was one) to try and get a feel for how it is done).

He mentions DRM, again we spent about 3 pages now explaining how it is a multi faceted issue with no clear cut answer and then he tries to pin issues to one factor (in this case DRM/similar).

I already did the tech support metric a little while back.

<b>page 5</b>
Quotes (cherry picked) from developers stating piracy as a major issue. 3 points here, developers are people too and read the same news, the perception/use of PCs has changed drastically in the last 10 or more years (a question to the audience now in their 20s; how many of you had to beg borrow and steal to get a PC as a kid, now look at your younger siblings/similar) and as part of said shift consoles have risen somewhat compared to previous generations ( <a href="http://vgchartz.com/hwtable.php?cons" target="_blank">http://vgchartz.com/hwtable.php?cons</a>[]=Wii&cons[]=PS3&cons[]=X360&cons[]=PSP&cons[]=DS&cons[]=SC&cons[]=XB&cons[]=GC&cons[]=GBA&cons[]=WSC&cons[]=PS2&cons[]=WS&cons[]=PockSt&cons[]=DC&cons[]=NGP&cons[]=N64&cons[]=PS&cons[]=SAT&cons[]=SNES&cons[]=GB&reg[]=Total&start=32621&end=39929 )

Continuing on, I like the idea of measuring graphics cards as a metric but I am not convinced it is a good idea to use it as a sole base and instead should factor it into another metric; I (I know it makes this a personal anecdote but by way of my having now seen about 1000 offices/libraries/schools/hospitals/similar across Europe and the US as well as sales data and disposal data I believe it to be valid) see hundreds of office (both home and cubicle) machines that could be suited to a gaming role (your average dell machine is likely sporting something quite nice under the hood) and nowadays graphics cards do that little bit more than they used to (video encoding and output by multiple methods, stuff like CUDA, CAD apps and other design stuff)

<b>page 6</b>
Again I am not entirely convinced torrents (especially from public trackers) are a good measure for large software. Films, TV (if indeed it can be), cheap and cheerful software, older (smaller) games and music perhaps but large software.
Quality: metacritic and the like have been nicely put to rest elsewhere: <a href="http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/mind_over_meta" target="_blank">http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/mind_over_meta</a> although that is perhaps missing the point.
Prices, at the risk of starting the second hand debate up I will mention the perceived value of a second hand game, depreciation certainly features in any mindset. It is also a good starting point about things like Steam of which a second hand steam game has next to no worth.

The anecdote about crysis, I seem to recall it became a meme of sorts regarding the demands of the game so I am not sure it is an entirely valid one.

<b>page 7</b>

I will mention two terms: loss leader and margins. Loss leader could best be summarised by the line from Jay and Silent Bob strike back "You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture. But then sometimes you gotta do the payback picture because your friend says you owe him.", car companies do the same thing (small runs of cars/concept cars) and I could pick many other industries with similar concepts.
Margins: here I talk about the "Of those 20% that are finished and released to the market, only 20% of them will ever realize a significant profit"
If any other industry tried the same thing and they would be laughed at.

<b>page 8</b>

The DRM debate. The first part of the article shows a misunderstanding of sorts (I need not point any further than the GBA and the DS) and also what I will deem a pointless look back to the past; consumer grade electronics and the level of low level kit and knowledge available has shifted over the last 5 years let alone 24 (nes was released in 1985).

Were I to feel like it I might make a comment about the "ethereal" nature of intellectual property vs the physical nature of discs and how that is conveniently forgotten, also worth mentioning is the rise of drive emulators, multi rom image flash carts, hard drive loaders and the like which is notably completely omitted.
The next section is an anecdote from the author's life (pointless to compare against), a note on the massive rise of the internet and a setup for the next paragraph comparing DRM to timed protection.
The argument could be made that comparing physical and copyright "theft" is different in law, mindset and perception but I will skip over that in favour of the rest of the page:
World of Warcraft and subscribers. The hundreds of private servers thing is serious downplayed which is odd and it also gives the perception that Steam is somehow more resistant (hint; it has never been easier than with steam).

Anecdotes abound in the next section, cherry picked again although it is perhaps the only way as there is no "data from the other side".

Sales rates. The "static" nature of the data from pages past, however weak it can be considered, appears to have been forgotten although I will leave it to stand.

Onto DRM, I would like to debate "freedom of the machine" but that is a fairly washy area so instead I will talk numbers (the numbers appear to be plucked out of their ass but I will use them as hard numbers) 99.8% of 1000000 (1 million) is still thousands of people and pissing off thousands of people is not something that is generally wise to do (not to mention it could feed back into perceived tech support).

<b>page 9</b>
Hysteria over various systems reached uncharted levels without question and I can see most of it being based on unfounded science. The points stand on a technical basis (no major problems) but I will dismiss them on basis of good usage of a PC (keep it clear of all things that ultimately do not need to be there, please do not confuse this with "I am free to do whatever"). In the end I do not have much to say about this page, it is fairly solid.

<b>page 10</b>

The final page. I found this page quite interesting, skipping straight to the culture section
I find the culture thing rather interesting (this site alone is a good example) if only because of the perception thing, even taking the numbers earlier as valid I doubt people could point out that many people in the "political" struggle.

business section. A bit one sided (for instance in the now updated page the pirate bay trial was mentioned with none of the backstory), I say there are always those out there but it does not necessarily represent them all.

<b>My conclusion</b>. First I think PC games represent the best way to play games if you have the hardware, time and the knowledge to pull it off although I freely admit that such a thing is quite hard to do. Secondly the perception is that games are a fixed medium, this could not be further from the truth as modding and multiplayer communities exist. Thirdly the best versions of any game are usually the pirate versions so hybridise it if necessary.
The original article states that thinks are changing and not necessarily for the better, I say the opposite and that things are changing but for the better (the spec wars have more or less ended now which is a good thing, modding is on the rise, more interesting things are being done with design (which feeds back into everything).
Scale: no doubt it is worth looking at.
Cost to business: hard one, would have to be done on a game by game basis and it could swing either way of positive or negative.

Suggestions:
if you want time lapse protection make it so
if you sell based on price make it either worth it second hand or drop prices accordingly.
For the future: survival of the fittest, keep going as it is and whatever succeeds should be there until it does not.


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## SoLuckys (May 5, 2009)

Hopawarty said:
			
		

> kjean said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


whoo. did you copy&pasted or something? i would take hours for me to write so much shit


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## Noobix (May 5, 2009)

"You pirates are a disgrace to blackbeard"  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Back on topic I must agree that piracy might be getting a bit out of hand.  In the good old days it was pretty rare and exclusive, whereas nowadays almost everyone with access to the internet is at it.    
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




I still remember copying spectrum 48k games tape to tape with my friends, and over the years it has just got even easier! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




At the moment almost everything on my PC apart from Windows XP has just been downloaded off the net. (I also have just about every OS ever made, but the Windows is legit 'cos I got it with my Dell XPS. )  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




In the future you'll probably have to use a fingerprint or scan your eyeball to run software.

Anyway it's only a matter of time before someone comes up with a "proper" way to prevent piracy, but until that day I'll keep downloading 24/7.    

I love being a pirate!!!


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## D1Tremere (May 5, 2009)

So long as business leaders follow the "profit at any cost" model people will continue to pirate.
There used to be a desire on the part of business owners to provide a useful service at a fair price, and if you made a profit at the end of the day everybody won...Now the desire is to take advantage of peoples base qualities and sell any thing you can regardless of quality at as high a price as you can convince people to pay, I mean seriously a game costs a bit to make but in the end with the price mark ups there virtually printing money with each sell...


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## notnarb (May 6, 2009)

D1Tremere said:
			
		

> So long as business leaders follow the "profit at any cost" model people will continue to pirate.
> There used to be a desire on the part of business owners to provide a useful service at a fair price, and if you made a profit at the end of the day everybody won...Now the desire is to take advantage of peoples base qualities and sell any thing you can regardless of quality at as high a price as you can convince people to pay, I mean seriously a game costs a bit to make but in the end with the price mark ups there virtually printing money with each sell...
> I can't help but feel that you didn't read the article
> 
> ...


It's a big issue and some people have strong feelings about it.  If I had the time (AP testing  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




) I would probably write something overly long too on my thoughts on the points he brings up.


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## godsakes (May 6, 2009)

gr8 article - after reading it i feel kinda bad about pirating the decent games i might have considered worth buying (but that's only a few thankfully), i'm still indifferent with regards to games i consider subpar or were never released in my region.

one of the good points made was how the torrent/pirate sites were making a decent income from ads on their sites. Perhaps someone should start a co-op torrent site which donates a portion of their income to developers (half joke, they’d be the first to get sued to death)


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