# If piracy disappeared



## Zetta_x (Jan 20, 2012)

If piracy disappeared, do you think movies/games/others would start selling more?
What would happen to gaming websites, will they shrink in size or become less used?
Would the prices of games go up given higher demand or no longer needing to compete with piracy?

Post what you think would happen and give reasons why you think so. Be creative, non-original stuff is rather boring.

This is a hypothetical situation, do not post: "It will never happen so blah blah blah"


----------



## Thesolcity (Jan 20, 2012)

An absence of DRM maybe? But IP rights are still in effect even without piracy so anti-piracy would still exist in a form. So I guess businesses would find a way to protect against that which didn't exist. Of course I'm only being cynical, maybe quality content would be delivered to the consumer for once with no DRM restrictions.


----------



## thegame07 (Jan 20, 2012)

I wouldn't pay £15-£20 for a blu-ray film ever! They should be £6 max imo ... 99% of them you buy you will only watch once.

It would suck when it came down to music. I'm a big music fan but having to buy every single song you listen to would be insane and very pricey. I think not being able to download music would effect people the most out of anything else. Everyone does it even people who don't know much about computers etc.

I've been converted to pc gaming now and I buy all my pc games 100% of the time, I've bought over 700 in the last year etc (most on sale and in steam packs. Far to much I know but hey gaming is my hobby. Also isn't as expensive as it sounds with the insane deals you get on pc games. I don't think piracy being stopped would effect me gaming wise anymore unless it came down to handheld games or playing a game I can't get my hands on/that's not released in europe. I nearly pirated Batman Arkham city due to the shitty drm they added into the game but ended up just forgetting the game completely, Shame I was going to pay full price for it until I seen the activation limit crap.
.


----------



## Zetta_x (Jan 20, 2012)

Totally agree... I have watched maybe 1 or 2 DVD's more than once out of the 50 I own.

No DRM sounds nice


----------



## Hells Malice (Jan 20, 2012)

If there was absolutely no piracy, Ubisoft could get their self respect back by not ruining games with shit DRM that destroys the games for everyone except pirates.
S'bout it though.

I think game sales WOULD rise, but not by a huge margin. Most pirates pirate because they don't want to spend money on the game to begin with. I pirate all the time, but I still buy games I find to be worthwhile.
Hell sales might even stay the same, since piracy does actually promote sales sometimes. I was skeptical of Valkyria Chronicles at first, but of course I finally pirated it and ended up loving every single second of it. I bought a brand new sealed copy as soon as I could to support the game (and left the game unopened, I might add. it's shiny). 999, Corpse Party, Fate/Extra...the list goes on. I pirated a ton of games, only to buy them afterwards. Demos just don't cut it.

The only thing I think would happen, aside from no DRM, is less pointless multiplayer. Games seem to try tacking on multiplayer in an attempt to slow down piracy. It doesn't work, mind you...but they try. Though hell, it is fun sometimes. Bioshock 2 multiplayer was actually incredibly fun...mostly because I kicked serious ass at it.


----------



## VVoltz (Jan 20, 2012)

Good question, I would think sales would go up. I mean just think about the games that you currently didn't pay for, I'm guessing would would like to play at least one of those, right?
I would. 
However, I would also think market prices would drop, App store style, since more consumers will be buying those profit margins would remain high.
Quality would also drop, as less budget would be require to make those margins go up, in the end I think high quality, long developed games, like Skyrim would die or become extremely expensive so only SOME people would be able to buy those.


----------



## jurassicplayer (Jan 20, 2012)

End of the world as we know it. Everyone's head would asplode. On the other hand, the largest haven for piracy would be removed...stupid school, copying valuable information and redistributing it for the low cost of succumbing to society. At least flashcarts are a one-time fee.


----------



## omgpwn666 (Jan 20, 2012)

More suicides because people who are broke are very depressed since they have nothing to do. Games/movies/music sales would go up, and maybe the economy in America would begin to fix.


----------



## Hop2089 (Jan 20, 2012)

Wouldn't affect me in the games department but music is another story, because Japanese music like with games and anime are expensive and unlike the other two I have less incentive to buy CDs unless it's from artists I really like overall.  I import 1-3 anime each season if I like series in that season enough, many Japanese games each year, but only 1-2 CDs each year if even that, I did get 4 character CDs last year though.


----------



## Nah3DS (Jan 20, 2012)

I would be abble to play just 2 or 3 games per year


----------



## KingVamp (Jan 20, 2012)

After more people are in jail (while some people that should be jail are free mind you) eating up our tax dollars, stuff would probably relatively stay the same for the most part with money since people don't magically get jobs or money for taking it off the net. Things well will start to get boring much faster. You would have to pay for any content or information you use.Want to make a meme? You have to pay for it first.

Internet would possibly just be terrible...


----------



## VVoltz (Jan 20, 2012)

I guess if piracy would not exist we would have to create a new taboo.


----------



## awssk8er (Jan 20, 2012)

Personal:

I wouldn't really be effected because I only play my 3DS now. My Wii wouldn't have any games, but I really only play Zelda on it now.

I would have a ton more room on my hard drives.. that's for sure.

Global:

Sales would go up, and people would be limited to less games a year. I feel that developers would try much harder on games because in a world with no piracy, the better the game, the more copies sold.

With piracy, obviously the same thing is true, but also more copies downloaded.


----------



## DrOctapu (Jan 20, 2012)

I'd assume a lot of services like spotify or netflix would pop up, and the price of higher quality media would drop by a bit to cope with the lower prices. Anime would be significantly less variant, but probably more abundant on english speaking TV because there are things weeaboos haven't seen online now. With the monthly fee music streaming, music would probably get cheaper to distribute on smaller platforms, and as a consequence smaller artists and shitty bands would be easier to find. Popular music would sound pretty indistinguishable due to the inability to get unpopular or new genres into the limelight with the abundance of artists out there. This'd cause large scale recording companies to produce masses of shit that sounds the same and sells insanely well, only changing when a new band somehow manages to spread virally around the interbutt and rise in popularity. Hardcore anime fans would be very uncommon due to the requisite of learning Japanese to actually understand what you're watching. Indie gaming would probably get significantly more popular because indie games tend to be free and people still want free shit. 
That's what I think, anyway.


----------



## nunavat2010 (Jan 20, 2012)

Topic was motivated by mega* raid?

Personally, it would do lots of good. I would not hang around hacking forums that much. I don't buy music, 'cause I don't listen to anything other than car radio. Movies, no I would not buy will wait until netflix. Hopefully, they will start making better movies.


----------



## DinohScene (Jan 20, 2012)

If I was desperate to pirate I'd go to the second hand video game store and ask a mate if I could borrow a few games.

Then rip them to whatever console I want and play the backups, returning the originals.

No loss for me.


----------



## spotanjo3 (Jan 20, 2012)

Zetta_x said:


> If piracy disappeared, do you think movies/games/others would start selling more?
> What would happen to gaming websites, will they shrink in size or become less used?
> Would the prices of games go up given higher demand or no longer needing to compete with piracy?
> 
> ...



Yes but the piracy will never disappeared at all. I know that you said do not post but I am going to say it anyway. Never will as long as consoles, portables, and movies existence.


----------



## wasim (Jan 20, 2012)

TBH i can't imagine a world with piracy.
No music, no full version softwares ! 
i'm just 15 and i don't wanna spend my money on these.

And i'll have to buy most of the things online, cuz nothing's available here. :\


----------



## Youkai (Jan 20, 2012)

Well depends if that would ever happen i might really lend me every single game before i buy ... and would hardly ever buy any new music at all XD

I have like 500$ worth of Japanese CD's here but i would have never bought them if i could not have pirated them before to hear if they are really worth all this money and hell they are ^^


----------



## rockstar99 (Jan 20, 2012)

I would disappear aswell


----------



## jarejare3 (Jan 20, 2012)

A world without piracy would mean that Original games will be much more cheaper since piracy forces people to buy the real things. Will definitely bring prices down.

Homework will be a lot harder, since information gathering is impossible using the internet, So kids will actually have to find Real People to get information about certain things, and they will have experience in talking to adults and will have a better social status and thus avoid social issues. Not to mention more hardworking

There will be less hackers as since piracy stopped most people won't be interested in hacking as it is better to do the original way since it's CHEAPER, and goverments will not have to suffer losses to minor hacking issues.

People looking for partners through online dating will no longer be cheated as the internet demands the REAL information of the people, therefore the world population will increase.

Amateurs protestor use Facebook or other social networks to bring out the word of whatever agenda they may have, therefore with less protesting and Fake bullshit Propaganda by people or the goverment the lives of people will be more Educated and also more organized.


*OR IT COULD GO THE OTHER WAY AROUND*


----------



## CrimzonEyed (Jan 20, 2012)

A world without piracy is impossible 

But if it didn't exist in the first place I guess I would be much more careful with my money, buying less snacks/candy/soda/energy drinks and so on and save it all for games.


----------



## Densetsu (Jan 20, 2012)

I don't know how old any of you guys are, but I lived the majority of my life not even knowing what piracy was.

I had never heard of the word or thought of freely downloading games, music, movies or books until I was 20 years old.  Up until that time, I paid full price for everything I ever wanted.  If I couldn't afford it, I simply did not get it.

When I was in college, broadband connections started to become mainstream.  Then CD/DVD burners, along with better software, made ripping and burning music, movies and games really easy.  Once I caught on to pirating, I didn't pay for a single book, music CD, movie or game for a period of about 7 years.

Then I started paying for things again.  I realized that pirating really isn't the way to go for me.  I try to curb my spending by buying games and movies when there are good deals on Amazon (I usually buy my stuff for 40%-70% off retail price).

If piracy disappeared, life would go on.  If anything, life would probably be better.  We'd spend less time at home watching movies and playing games and more time doing shit outside the house and _*gasp*_ interacting with people.  Not to mention, the quality of games would probably be a lot better if game companies were more motivated to put hard work into their IPs, knowing that more people will buy their titles.

And no, I don't support SOPA/PIPA.  I'm against just about anything Congress tries to pass these days, those greedy, incompetent bastards.


----------



## gorolink (Jan 20, 2012)

jarejare3 said:


> A world without piracy would mean that Original games will be much more cheaper since piracy forces people to buy the real things. Will definitely bring prices down.



I remember I bought SNES games for 85 US$. Do you imagine paying 85$ in 1995 (Nowadays it would be more money) for playing Batman Forever, and then discover it's a piece of sheeeeit (like would say Clay Davies from The Wire)?
And of course, you could only play the games the store wanted you to play. Forget about importing and enjoy Japanese games.

They were bad days for videogamers, and SNES piracy was just a joke.

If piracy disappears, if a game costs 60$, companies will keep it 60$. No sales for us. Because they love money, as we do. And why to earn 45$ if gamers have no choice but buying it at 60$.


----------



## DinohScene (Jan 20, 2012)

gorolink said:


> jarejare3 said:
> 
> 
> > A world without piracy would mean that Original games will be much more cheaper since piracy forces people to buy the real things. Will definitely bring prices down.
> ...



If we where to buy that SNES game now with today's inflation etc. it would cost roughly $200~

Thats almost the same price if not more then a new console.....


----------



## jarejare3 (Jan 20, 2012)

gorolink said:


> jarejare3 said:
> 
> 
> > A world without piracy would mean that Original games will be much more cheaper since piracy forces people to buy the real things. Will definitely bring prices down.
> ...


We won't know man. We won't know, and i think we will never know, it's just a hypothesis of the good things that could happen if piracy was blocked. 
It's a double edge sword, where there is a bad there will always be a good.


----------



## xist (Jan 20, 2012)

Independent musicians, and the sheer range of choices we have in genre's and music would pack up almost overnight. We all would be subject to whatever is most popular, rather than being able to discover and then love random bands we'd never heard of before. So long as "piracy" isn't the only step in the chain (i.e, you purchase things based on the knowledge gained, you educate other people on how great certain things are) the war against piracy is a self defeating one.


----------



## pyromaniac123 (Jan 20, 2012)

This thread took a long time to load because I was pirating.


----------



## Nujui (Jan 20, 2012)

I had a weird way of find out about piracy. My dad gave me a computer and said that there were a bunch of games on their I could play, I didn't know at the time that I was playing on a NES emulator at the time, but slowly I started to go back to my other systems like the n64, ps1 and ps2, psp etc. For the majority of my childhood I didn't know what piracy was.

Then my friend broke my PS2, leaving me with most of the games I was playing, I couldn't finish because we didn't have the money to afford another ps2. Couple days later, I found out about a n64 emulator, and started playing Super Mario 64 all the time till I got another ps2. Then years went by and I started doing that more, learning about how to mod a psp, ps2, wii, xbox, etc. I've pirated and barely paid for anything. Though recently now that I'm almost old enough to get a job and money of my own, I've wanted to start buying again, because I missed the feeling I had when I only had like 1-3 games for my system and played the crap out of them, and then how happy I was when I got a new game, instead of now where I have unlimited access to pretty much any game known to man for free.


----------



## Telal (Jan 20, 2012)

I'd have to disagree with all of you; I grew up in a time when you had to pay for $10 for a cassette to hear one song, or later $20 for a cd for the same thing. You'd pay $18 for a VHS tape of a movie that you find out actually sucks. People would get away with doing this over and over again because we had no real alternative. The same can be said for all the shitty NES and SNES games I purchased... 
Now I have the option to pay for one single song, or watch a movie online before I decide whether or not it was actually worth my money (The same can be said for gaming). Look at all of the small developers who get overlooked and then make a ton of money simply because people pirated their game and then liked it and paid money for it later.
I have pirated many many games over my life, and have purchased all of the ones I actually enjoyed (Many of which I left unopened for months because I had already played and finished the game) the same can be said for movies: I have well over 300 dvds in my collection (Which I'm now repurchasing in Blu-ray) and most of these movies were movies I wasn't able to see in theatre so I watched them online.
If I were to imagine a world without piracy; I would imagine a place where there was a huge mark-up on garbage media and people had to pay it or be left unaware as to whether or not it was something they would actually enjoy. Small indie groups would start to die out because nobody would recognize their names and be willing to shell out money on such a large gamble. Why wouldn't they charge $100 for a game? If there is no other way you're getting your hands on it, what's to stop them?

This is why I appreciate artists and designers who say : 'Pay us what you think it's worth', this forces them to constantly strive to make better media and widens their fan-base whilst still bringing in money. Bottom-line: Piracy stops people from getting away with making money off of half-assed products and forces people to make better stuff if they want our money.


----------



## Lube_Skyballer (Jan 20, 2012)

Im a pirate. I used to pirate most of my games, but the last couple of years I buy most of my games (even on PC yeah). 
Hell, I even started collecting games for a lot of (older) game systems (from Atari 2600 to PS3 and from Gameboy to 3DS). Fellow collectors know how it feels to have the actual, physical package.


----------



## AlanJohn (Jan 20, 2012)

If piracy would disappear then I would feel a lot safer when traveling near the west of the Indian Ocean.


----------



## Telal (Jan 20, 2012)

Alan John: You sir, are a champion!


----------



## Zetta_x (Jan 20, 2012)

I feel that the popularity of games/music/movies would go down quite a bit. While they may make more money in the beginning, the amount of people playing games being so much lower would be a huge turn-off.


----------



## nunavat2010 (Jan 20, 2012)

I am a clean pirate (as oppose to filthy one). I pirate movies, not to watch just to collect, hoping to watch it one day. My pirated/used ratio is something like 20:1. I pirate games, just because I hacked my wii; in there pirated/used ratio is 15:1. 

I am in Canada (but the province is more American than some of the American states) downloading movies and games are not illegal. I think we are going to have a law pretty soon to curtail everything including electronic/digital lock breaking (hacking).


----------



## Erdnaxela (Jan 20, 2012)

Less piracy don't mean more sales, people who pirate game mostly don't have enough money to buy it, or even if they have, wouldn't buy it anyway.


----------



## ScarletCrystals (Jan 20, 2012)

Exactly, I buy most of my 3DS games from craigslist.


----------



## nando (Jan 20, 2012)

if piracy disappeared, lots of people would have more time to do better things with their lives. i would probably go back to drawing, practice music and maybe start playing soccer again.

what would not happen in my case - i wouldn't start buying any media i didn't buy before.


----------



## Shadow&Light (Jan 20, 2012)

nando said:


> if piracy disappeared, lots of people would have more time to do better things with their lives. i would probably go back to drawing, practice music and maybe start playing soccer again.
> 
> what would not happen in my case - i wouldn't start buying any media i didn't buy before.



It isn't just a matter of lifeless ppl who watch their screen the whole day... I think it'd no change at all, okey, the prices would go up, since there will be more demand, but, it also could be the oposite, price would explode at a point wich we would have to slave ourself to buy everything that we want(maybe even that could be something vital... No, im not talking about downloading just a game it is vital, i mean about educational problems, like getting a book too expensive)... In any case, the piracy it's just a way to say "I am free, i can choose my options", Laws like S.O.P.A. just want to make those options less... free.

It could be something good, just as all could go to hell


----------



## PriMieon (Jan 20, 2012)

i used to pirate... i stopped... i only buy now... i even collect them now... if i buy a game used i NEED box and manual..but i only pirated games to test if they were good... like dragon quest 9, golden sun or ghost trick
i liked them and then i bought them... i got like over 40 pokemon games at home ( not pirated )... my last games i pirated were final fantasy V and VI ...fantastic games... i am trying to get them on ebay... so they even made money with me pirating games.. but like i said i stopped
games i bought be cause i pirated them: ghost trick, dragon quest IX,
-zelda: wind waker, twilight princess, spirit tracks, phantom hour glass, skyward sword, links awakening(eshop)and ocarina of time 3d (i only pirated twilight princess... that was the 1st time i played zelda and i fell in love with it...but i had not pirated twilight princess i would not play zelda) -
PLANTS VS. zombies ds, final fantasy IV gba and i think that is it... but they made money with me pirating  them


----------



## PriMieon (Jan 20, 2012)

wasim said:


> TBH i can't imagine a world with piracy.
> No music, no full version softwares !
> i'm just 15 and i don't wanna spend my money on these.
> 
> And i'll have to buy most of the things online, cuz nothing's available here. :\



i can't imagine a world with piracy.
guess what we live in it


----------



## gorolink (Jan 20, 2012)

Erdnaxela said:


> Less piracy don't mean more sales, people who pirate game mostly don't have enough money to buy it, or even if they have, wouldn't buy it anyway.


THIS.

And I also agree with the system "Pay if you think it's worthy" people said.
Sometime when I click a link, a pop-up appears, and say something like "Download a free Mike Patton ringtone". And I think to myself "I wouldn't do that, even free".
That's the spirit I believe in. Sometimes we download things only because they're free. And we don't really care if they're good or not. If games cost about 5-20$, they are cheap enough so most of us could pay it, and if the game is a bad one, hey, life's hard, and you are not losing your house for paying 15$. But if costs 50$, these same people wouldn't risk to buy it, so I think developers would prefer sell cheaper a game, that simply no selling.


----------



## The Real Jdbye (Jan 20, 2012)

If there was no piracy, I would never discover new great games, unless most/all games on all platforms had a demo with a decent length. I only buy games in franchises I love, or if the trailers make me want the game badly. Usually I can't tell from a trailer if I'll love a game or not.
After I got a DS flashcart/Wii modchip, trying new games became a lot easier and I discovered new games I love like Ace Attorney and Tales of Symphonia.
Though at least in my case, I bought more games when I couldn't pirate them, but only in franchises I know and love like Mario and Zelda. Rarely did I buy other games.

But it's true that when I started pirating I didn't have a lot of money to buy games with, most of the games I got were gifts or bought with money I got from gifts.
However it's not so true anymore, so overall I'd say that piracy is a bad thing for game sales, even though not everyone buys less games because they can pirate and a lot of people (mostly kids) couldn't afford games anyway, most who could afford it probably won't buy a game if they can pirate it, with a few exceptions like if someone really loves a game or it's a franchise they like to support.

I would hope the game prices would go down if there was no piracy, since if they sold more they could have a lower price and still make more money.
On that note, it's kind of weird that console game prices are so much higher than PC game prices (at least where I live), since logically it's a lot more common to pirate PC games, since it's easier.


----------



## Gahars (Jan 20, 2012)

If piracy disappeared, so too would the constant DRM squabbles between companies and their customers; that would be just fine with me.


----------



## Veho (Jan 20, 2012)

If piracy disappeared, nothing would happen, because the effects of piracy are horribly overrated.


----------



## xist (Jan 20, 2012)

Veho said:


> If piracy disappeared, nothing would happen, because the effects of piracy are horribly overrated.



The music scene would be ravaged...so many niche independent artists that survive by word of mouth and trading (such as those in the Black, Death and Doom Metal communities) would fade into obscurity. Diversity would be that much more difficult to commit to.


----------



## Veho (Jan 20, 2012)

xist said:


> The music scene would be ravaged...so many niche independent artists that survive by word of mouth and trading (such as those in the Black, Death and Doom Metal communities) would fade into obscurity. Diversity would be that much more difficult to commit to.


Music and works shared under the Creative Commons licence aren't pirated. Indie artists would still be able to distribute their music. "Piracy" is copying something the author would rather you didn't.


----------



## Majorami (Jan 20, 2012)

Who can say really about the effects of piracy.

To me, they seem to have almost no effect. Take the Nintendo DS for example, the real reason that 90% of us are even here for. It seems that Piracy on the NDS is worse than any other system in history. Its so cheap, easy, and cost effective. However, games like New Super Mario Bros and Pokemon still manage to sell tens of millions of copies.

Nintendo sells more copies of the Soul Silver and Gold remake, than the originals. Mario Kart DS is still one of the best selling games on NDS, and also one of the most pirated, 5 years after its release. Pokemon 5 sold a million copies in its 1st day. I would argue that piracy does so little harm to the video game industry, that it costs more to fight it, than it does to simply let it run its course. Dragon Quest 9 managed to sell 5 million copies worldwide by the time it released in the states, and I don't expect it to have done better if piracy wasn't a thing.

Piracy or not, ALL great games ALWAYS turn a profit, and the great games that don't sell well, have nothing but to blame themselves because their producers and marketers didn't market their product well enough. I mean do you remember all those English Okami and Okamiden commercials and magazine ads? Oh you don't? Thats because there were none. Its no wonder that Okami has the guiness book record of best critically acclaimed game that didn't sell well.

Whether its DS, video games, music, or movies, when you read articles that say "x industry loses y amount of money" its 99.9% means that they just "lost profit" that they only "predicted." The truth is they already made millions in profit, that the industry is BOOMING, and that they're butt-hurt that they didn't make more money.* Its like if you won $75 on a scratch off lottery ticket, and then curse God that you didn't win the $100 prize.* Coming out better off than you were before is a good enough concept for most of the people on this Earth, but does not fly right with buisness. Its all about making more money, more profit, to buy more advertisement in order to make more money. The fact that "they" don't make as much money as they predict/want, is enough to blame lack of success (even though they are successful) on piracy. Its like mom's who blame music for troubled teens, they just want a punching bag to point fingers at.

_____________________

Nintendo DS piracy argument asside, its actually been proven that the effects of Napster and other media sharing services had NO impact on the music/record industry. In fact, it actually went up until the point that iTunes and like-services started offering digital downloads that could be sold by song rather than albumn.

________________

And personally, as in my experience with piracy, I would have NEVER even tried or given Golden Sun the time of day if it weren't for Visual Boy Advance. Golden Sun Lost Age was my 1st Non-Mario and Zelda game on GBA. I also would have never got into Final Fantasy for that matter. Before ROMs, I had no interest in RPGs, and since then, I've purchased more RPgs than any other game. I would have never bought Shantae's Risky Revenge if it weren't for pirating Shantae on GBC. Because of piracy I've learned to like, want, and buy other game franchises out-side of Nintendo. Playing the N64 Animal Crossing Rom was a factor in buying it for NDS.

______________________

Lastly, its hardly ever mentioned that piracy affects the Now, not the Then. Lets say you played Klonoa 2 back in 2002. If you bought Klonoa 2 then, surely your money would support future decisions to bring more Klonoa games in the future. However that game has been out of print for sometime. So even if you buy it "new" or used, your money goes to the seller, it does NOT contribute to the developers. Its in this instance that piracy DOES ABSOLUTELY NO HARM FOR SURE. Whether your copy of Klonoa is physical or digital, it sure as hell wasn't going to contribute to the developers if the game has been out of print. Developers only make money off the copies THEY distribute, so if THEY stop distribution, then THEY cut off ties to their income. Its in this example when piracy is ok is not only morally acceptable, but I myself just full-blown advocate it. Its not a crime if there are no victims.
_____________________
Also, if this topic has anything to do with SOPA, SOPA's focus is not just to stop this kind of piracy, but any and all forms of copyright infringement. Like turning Anime Music Videos into a federal offense. We already have laws that are supposed to fight the other methods of piracy listed above. They're there to stop the distribution of unauthorized distribution of medias for commercial purposes. But the media industy has never been satisfied with clarifying whats "right and wrong" whats "legal and illegal." SOPA and PIPA are just revised propositions from last year's fiasco, which was then a revised thing of 2002's fiasco, which was then revised from several other legal fights dating back to the way early 1900's

I mean there used to be campaigns to outlaw/ban VHS and cassette players because they could be used to record. The media industry spent millions just to demonize VHS, and now they're spending millions to billions of dollars to turn any form of "copy" like an anime music video into a crime.

Anyways, done typing. and semi-unrelated and outdated, this is an interesting video for the semi-uniformed http://www.ted.com/t...a_bad_idea.html
Luckily SOPA is over for now, but it will come back soon-ish in different clothing. We'll be fighting the fight against sopa-like threats for the next 100 years or more until the point that they either win, or they give up on us giving up (very unlikely).


----------



## chyyran (Jan 20, 2012)

"If piracy disappeared"

It wouldn't.

Even if it did, all those IP organizations (MPAA, RIAA to name a few) would still find a way to either 

a. Rip you off
b. Sue your ass off

They'll find a way, it's what they live for


----------



## xist (Jan 20, 2012)

But in some of the genre's i mention the bands are signed to small labels. The bands themselves are almost reliant on the trading and ignore it to a degree, whilst the labels themselves see it as a problem. You could lose count of the number of obscure Black Metal labels there are putting out stufff....it's piracy if the band themselves want to publicise their  stuff but the labels haven't come round to the idea of wider distribution methods yet.

Certainly Funeral Doom and Avantgarde Black Metal would suffer.


----------



## Veho (Jan 20, 2012)

Record labels know the value of marketing. Large ones can count on their media clout and don't like unlicenced copying but smaller ones know the value of word of mouth and many of them encourage sharing the stuff, if it means larger concert revenue and possible record sales. If they aren't complete morons that is.


----------



## xist (Jan 20, 2012)

Veho said:


> If they aren't complete morons that is.



Sadly some are more concerned with the idea of ownership than the bigger picture.

And as far as larger label's go, the only example i can think of off the top of my head is Thursday who actively encouraged file sharing whilst they were signed to a major. It's because the idea of word of mouth and "tape trading" has such a nebulous implication upon financial return that publishers view it as such a risk.

Honestly i think piracy effects different industries in different ways. It'd be better for some than others if it were eliminated.


----------



## Oveneise (Jan 20, 2012)

IMO, They'd sell significantly less. If it weren't for piracy, me and many others wouldn't have gotten into anime and manga - which I have a crapton of. But, you can't really say for sure - this whole subject isn't all black and white, it's one of the few true grey zone subjects I'd say.


----------



## Gahars (Jan 20, 2012)

@[member='Majorami']

That's not entirely true. The developers of a game have no control over how the publishers decide to promote their game (if they even promote it to begin with). Many great games have been mishandled into consumer oblivion because the guys in charge of promotion had no idea of what they were working with.


----------



## Oveneise (Jan 20, 2012)

Gahars said:


> @[member='Majorami']
> 
> That's not entirely true. The developers of a game have no control over how the publishers decide to promote their game (if they even promote it to begin with). Many great games have been mishandled into consumer oblivion because the guys in charge of promotion had no idea of what they were working with.


System Shock II instantly comes to mind.


----------



## Zetta_x (Jan 20, 2012)

RockmanForte said:


> Yes but the piracy will never disappeared at all. I know that you said do not post but I am going to say it anyway. Never will as long as consoles, portables, and movies existence.



I'm not saying it's possible or impossible to happen, I'm saying imagine some foreign world where it didn't occur when it once occurred.
Obviously the idea of piracy cannot be destroyed without drawing blood.

I like the responses of this thread. Pretty cool insight on people's opinions and how they view what would happen


----------



## Majorami (Jan 20, 2012)

Gahars said:


> @[member='Majorami']
> 
> That's not entirely true. The developers of a game have no control over how the publishers decide to promote their game (if they even promote it to begin with). Many great games have been mishandled into consumer oblivion because the guys in charge of promotion had no idea of what they were working with.


Yes I know... I didn't really make sure or clarify that Developers make the games, but its the publishers that push the money/funding around that determine their budget, as well as the games production and marketing. Though that really isn't necessary in the point I tried to make about piracy, in my opinion, seems to have no effect on anything, and it only effects the now; that pirating older games is a victimless crime.


----------



## RchUncleSkeleton (Jan 20, 2012)

I wouldn't be able to play earthbound unless I got really lucky because I'm not about to pay $100+ for a copy.

I would probably also only play 1 or 2 games a year and would probably never know about a lot of awesome
games because they either didn't get the promotion they deserved or they weren't even available to me.

As far as movies, I only buy Movies that I've previously watched and that I know I would watch it again multiple
times.

When it comes to music, there are a ton of bands I would have never even given the chance or even heard of
if it weren't for piracy.


----------



## Wizerzak (Jan 20, 2012)

Companies wouldn't make any more money IMO. If piracy stopped the companies would be just as 'poor' but we'd also have a load of whiny people all over the internet complaining that they can't afford the latest CoD or w/e.


----------



## jonesman99 (Jan 21, 2012)

If it did disappear, it would mean a couple things:

1) People might be able to afford games,

2) People would not invest their time or energy in experimenting with homebrew, as some consumers and businesses would say that it correlates with piracy.


----------



## Thesolcity (Jan 21, 2012)

In a pratical sense, since piracy = copyright infringement, how would you make it disappear? Would we have to adopt communist principals and abolish copyright that way? In that sense, nothing would be "pirating" because no one holds the rights and its public domain. Look to any communist country to see how that works out.


----------



## Ace Overclocked (Jan 21, 2012)

if piracy disappeared many people would lose their jobs in 3rd world countries like tunisia, there are stores selling pirated games and modding consoles for a very high price because there are no copyrightz, it's really bad to do that stuff so they would deserve it, but original games there are very overpriced so they are needed.


----------



## NES SNES V.B. N64 G.C. Wii WiiU (Jan 21, 2012)

If piracy disappeared Console manufacturers would start losing money in poorer countries, as they can't afford to buy games. Otherwise not much.

Second-hand sales are a bigger problem than piracy.


----------



## CCNaru (Jan 21, 2012)

I only buy games because I can't pirate it.

Unless it was on Steam.

so I bought a bunch of Steam games and PS3 games (4.00OFW)


----------



## T-hug (Jan 21, 2012)

I don't pirate games anymore anyway, movies I do, but I have the same stance as games, if I had to pay for movies, I wouldn't watch hardly any.
The age old argument still comes to light; 'they are not losing money as I wouldn't buy them if I had to, but as I can pirate them I try more out'. This relates to movies and games.
Truth is they are so overpriced that is why they are pirated.  I mean £20 for a 2 hour bluray movie? We know it probably costs around £1 to burn and package.
If games were say £10-£25, and movies £5-£10, I think both industrys would see a huge rise in sales, and consumers would be happy as they wouldn't feel like they are getting ripped off.
UK already has one of the highest tax brackets in the world, I think that it is £50k a year and over, you pay 50% tax, *50%*! That is absurd.  Where is the incentive to work and earn when you are just going to basically be legally robbed of half your money.


----------



## CCNaru (Jan 21, 2012)

ThugATRON said:


> I don't pirate games anymore anyway, movies I do, but I have the same stance as games, if I had to pay for movies, I wouldn't watch hardly any.
> The age old argument still comes to light; 'they are not losing money as I wouldn't buy them if I had to, but as I can pirate them I try more out'. This relates to movies and games.
> Truth is they are so overpriced that is why they are pirated.  I mean £20 for a 2 hour bluray movie? We know it probably costs are £1 to burn and package.
> If games were say £10-£25, and movies £5-£10, i think both industrys would see a huge rise in sales, and consumers would be happy as they don't feel like they are getting ripped off.
> UK already has one of the highest tax brackets in the world, I think that it is £50k a year and over, you pay 50% tax, *50%* that is absurd.  Where is the incentive to work and earn when you are just going to basically be legally robbed of half your money.



This is just ignorant. People always complain that they take too much profit, but clearly don't know where they need to spend and where they earn money. What about the cost to ship out the DVDs all over the US, money that original filmmakers get (rob) (directors, staffs, actors/actresses, drivers, etc - not all movies make up to margin and have to make money off dvd sales and stuff), license to publish, cover designs, all the money spent on advertising... do these companies pay these people out of their ass? they make a lot of money because they have a HUGE market. I'd be a millionaire too if our business was a chain store all over the US. There are a lot more than just a single dvd that you get. Why do theatres charge like $10 for a single viewing of a movie then? you don't even get to keep it, you're pressured to buy snacks which are at least 3x overpriced, and you have to pay gas to actually get to these theatres which should probably be well worth the price of the DVDs.

and loltax why? you guys have medicare i thought? it's Europe?


----------



## T-hug (Jan 21, 2012)

How is it ignorant? The fact is stuff is overpriced.  A film that costs £10,000 to make will cost the same to buy on a bluray as a film that cost £100,000,000.
If a company wants to make a good profit, then don't pay your actors tens of millions of dollars per movie and then sting the end consumer to get it back.
Cinemas are ludicrously overpriced, which is why I'll probably see one movie a year if that, only something that I am really interested in.

The UK comes under Europe (not for much longer, joining the EU was the biggest mistake in British history), but we do not use the same currency or have anywhere near the same tax rates, assuming so would also be _ignorant_.


----------



## Majorami (Jan 21, 2012)

It should be noted that Copyright Infringment and Piracy used to be two different things. It wasn't until Youtube and like-sites where sharing user generated content on a massive scale, that the media industry started melding Copyright infringement and piracy to be one in the same problem. Though Piracy IS Copyright infringement, Copyright Infringement isn't always piracy. Its only been in better half of the last decade, about a year or two before the viacom lawsuit against Youtube that people have been using these two different terms as one. Although it can be argued that the media industry has always considered them the same because all they care about is having all the sharing and creativity to stop.

Its because of the changing the meaning and phrase of "Copyright infringement isn't always piracy" into "Copyright infringement IS piracy" that videos like the following are demonized into "piracy" category/territory:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQuqeLBTetA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I0TRMGEIS8

^Pretty entertaining and creative if you ask me. It can be argued that they're original creations out of something old. However this is now considered piracy when piracy USED to mean the copying and unauthorized selling of copyrighted material for commercial purposes.

So if you asked "What if piracy disappeared" then the answer would be that the United States would be THE most oppressive country in the world. And if piracy dissapeared in the entire world, it'd be a pretty lifeless and joyess world to be in.

Besides, you can't stop piracy. even oppressive China and Korea just blatenly copy big and large branding, like all those "fake" Apple stores in China.


----------



## Zetta_x (Jan 21, 2012)

Just imagine a scenario where everyone for some reason got brainwashed and paid for everything they wanted to buy. What I mean about this is not pay for everything they would pirate but for some materials they legitimately were going to buy. Obviously it requires the mindset of humans to not want to pirate in order for piracy to disappear as many people said: there will always be a way for piracy.

I am just taking public opinions, it seems to be a general conscientious that the world would be in a worse place without piracy.


----------



## CCNaru (Jan 21, 2012)

ThugATRON said:


> How is it ignorant? The fact is stuff is overpriced.  A film that costs £10,000 to make will cost the same to buy on a bluray as a film that cost £100,000,000.
> If a company wants to make a good profit, then don't pay your actors tens of millions of dollars per movie and then sting the end consumer to get it back.
> Cinemas are ludicrously overpriced, which is why I'll probably see one movie a year if that, only something that I am really interested in.
> 
> The UK comes under Europe (not for much longer, joining the EU was the biggest mistake in British history), but we do not use the same currency or have anywhere near the same tax rates, assuming so would also be _ignorant_.



What are you gonna make with a $10k budget? Youtube movies? Eraserhead, an indie movie from 1977 had a $20k out of pocket budget. I don't really think it's possible to make a movie with $10k budget that will actually be made into a DVD that can turn to profit, unless it was a huge box-office/sleeper hit (very hard even for higher budget films), has a cult following or unless the producer was friends with the licensing company and made them have DVDs (lol). 

Also the DVDs prices drops soon if you wait a bit. Harry Potter 7 pt2 DVDs are like $15 right now, and Batman movies are like 7-10 bucks... unlike games which are like $30-40 bucks after 2-3 years, movies drop in prices by tons.

And you could say I'm ignorant, I've never visited UK or anywhere near Europe, and personally I don't think I could really care if I don't have any plans to even visit there soon; but what does piracy have to do with paying taxes, anyways?


----------



## Zetta_x (Jan 21, 2012)

CCNaru said:


> ThugATRON said:
> 
> 
> > How is it ignorant? The fact is stuff is overpriced.  A film that costs £10,000 to make will cost the same to buy on a bluray as a film that cost £100,000,000.
> ...



http://en.wikipedia....normal_Activity
Budget: $15k
Box Office: $193,355,800

I'm pretty sure a lot of the older movies were on low budget too. One reason why a movie requires such a high budget is because actors are paid ass tons... I mean just mounds of money for acting. Multiply that by half a dozen people and you get the worlds most expensive movie. They should get paid less than 80k a year. That's how you know the world is ass backwards when the most unimportant people are making the most amount of money. Then these media groups attempt to grab as much attention as possible to entertainment people so their next movie would be more popular. It's a sketchy field but they are successful in almost every way in captivating the average person into giving them their money.

The reason why budgets need to go so high in the first place is to compete with other movie producers. It's really all of the movie producer's fault for driving the price so high and yet they blame us when we pirate...

The government has this idea that people who pirate = less revenue for giant movie corporations = less items that are taxed = less money for the government.


----------



## T-hug (Jan 21, 2012)

CCNaru said:


> ThugATRON said:
> 
> 
> > How is it ignorant? The fact is stuff is overpriced.  A film that costs £10,000 to make will cost the same to buy on a bluray as a film that cost £100,000,000.
> ...



Paranormal Activity One of many examples.
Budget $15,000 (estimated)
Profit $193,355,800 (Worldwide)
Also it isn't just movies, even a TV show with 6 episodes will cost the same as a blockbuster movie on bluray, or a few £ less sometimes.
Sony charging £44.99 for Uncharted on Vita is another good example, it is just greed.

What does piracy have to do with paying taxes? Really? Taxation on a product in this country is 22.5%, that is GREED.  More profit and more tax which = high cost = FU I'll just pirate it.

I didn't call you ignorant.


[-EDIT-]
lol @ Zetta_x, great example ;p


----------

