When is pirating ok? (discussion)

[pwsincd]

its ok , i dont mind.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I love how gamers today are so self entitled that they think paying $60 for a game is "ridiculous". It's a hobby, grow up.

 

[Haloman800]

It's not immoral, stealing takes from somebody else, piracy makes a copy.

If you wouldn't buy the game anyway, the big corporations don't lose any profit if you download it.. That's not to say it's legal though, but there are many things that are legal that are wrong in my opinion (Abortion being a big one, but that's an entirely different discussion..)

Even if every single member of this forum pirated every piece of digital content they "owned", the big businesses wouldn't even see a microscopic dent in their paychecks.

tl;dr Piracy is fine.

 

[DaniPoo]

I pirate because I can.

End of.

With other words "Because you dont really care if its wrong or not"

 

[Guild McCommunist]

With other words "Because you dont really care if its wrong or not"

Which I wish people just said instead of trying to pass off a clearly illegal activity as "perfectly just".

I do pirate and I use this exact reasoning. I know it's morally wrong but I'm a cheap bastard and don't care.

 

[osaka35]

It's not immoral, stealing takes from somebody else, piracy makes a copy.

If you wouldn't buy the game anyway, the big corporations don't lose any profit if you download it.. That's not to say it's legal though, but there are many things that are legal that are wrong in my opinion (Abortion being a big one, but that's an entirely different discussion..)

Even if every single member of this forum pirated every piece of digital content they "owned", the big businesses wouldn't even see a microscopic dent in their paychecks.

tl;dr Piracy is fine.

I find it very useful to imagine the same scenario, but with something a bit more tangible. Just replace "download/pirate" with "photocopying". So, rephrase the situation as, "Is taking a photocopied copy of a book from a friend wrong?"

Can you honestly say you see absolutely nothing wrong with photo-copying a book and giving it out to everyone who wants it? either for free or a fee?

 

[the_randomizer]

On the moral side of things, I believe that if you're in legal possession of a disc (DVD, game, etc) and it gets scratched to the point of being unreadable, downloading a copy isn't a big moral issue, but legally, it's a big no-no. Removing DRM I don't have a problem with either, as it affects legit users as well; Ubisoft's UPlay anyone? I don't believe that music should have DRM if you bought it legally, I should be able to do whatever the hell I want with my music. I'm not going to distribute it, I want to be able to use it as many times as I want without having to repurchase it. As for legacy games (pre 32-bit), that's hard to justify. Granted, games are available on PSN and the VC, but they don't always have the games we REALLY want, and as such, they're no longer being produced. The only people making money off of those are greedy second-hand retailers, and why should I have to pay $100+ for Chrono Trigger or Star Ocean? What's more wrong, downloading a ROM of a game no longer being produced or paying with your blood for an overpriced cartridge that no longer retains in-game saves from some seedy dude on eBay?

I've no moral issue with downloading ROM files from games no longer generating revenue to their respective companies. Those greedy second-hand retailers can bugger off.

 

[rupok93]

Piracy is always wrong. ALWAYS! You are basically stealing as in the sense of not paying for something, not literally doing it. Stop trying to justify it because while I hate words like "entitled" in this case the word fits perfectly if you are trying to justify piracy. However just because its wrong doesn't mean you can't do it. I am looking forward to the 3ds hack. I use piracy as a way to sample games, its still wrong but a little less than outright just pirating everything.


I accept that its wrong but that doesn't mean Ill stop doing it.

 

[porkiewpyne]

I find it very useful to imagine the same scenario, but with something a bit more tangible. Just replace "download/pirate" with "photocopying". So, rephrase the situation as, "Is taking a photocopied copy of a book from a friend wrong?"

Can you honestly say you see absolutely nothing wrong with photo-copying a book and giving it out to everyone who wants it? either for free or a fee?

^Technically it is. There are laws (at least here in Aus) which limits you to photocopying max 10% of a book or something along those lines. Which is fair imho.

Looking through the other comments, I find it funny how some people take it as their sworn duty to lead the crusade against the evils of making large sums of money. If you don't agree to a company's policy, you boycott it. Not steal from it. Two wrongs don't make a right (Yes I know I am pushing it). If their devious money-making schemes are a "crime" you do not commit another crime to set it straight. Just sayin'.

Now where did I put my Ferrari which I took from them evil people who charge too much for a four-wheeled vehicle?

 

[Maxternal]

Hmm, I kinda wonder if this thread will be left open as a place for people to rant rather than having this same subject constantly sidetracking other threads as it has in the past ... or if mods will just close it out of principle.

Only time will tell.

 

[Kikirini]

Personally, I really want to support game companies. I have no issue with buying games new, or paying again to get an old game on my new system. I have the money to do that, and if I don't, it's as simple as waiting until I do have cash again.
Sometimes, though, the stuff I want isn't something I can pay for. Games I was really looking forward to that never made it to America, I pirate. Old games I owned but no longer can find the system for them, I pirate.

Nintendo still doesn't like it, but... if they make games I want available for purchase, I will buy them. And that's my two cents.

 

[jakeyjake]

Saying you pirate to stop the big mean corporations over a completely luxury product is the largest load of bullshit anyone can peddle.

It's a luxury, if you don't like the price don't play it. There's about a thousand other hobbies out there.

Also, implying Halo is a "free money" game. Halo 4 cost what, $60 million to make? Regardless of how you like it, the games have effort put into it. Like whether you like the games or not, I think it's pretty spiteful to say that they're not made with care. Good graphics, fun level design, fun multiplayer, and a great soundtrack. These aren't slapped together in a couple of months.

so you cant buy a $60 game so you steal it

That's not what I was saying. I'm saying that they are killing each other off by having too many companies making too many games, cutting down their own businesses. Like I said, I bought kingdoms of amalur, and I liked it. I don't pirate on console, I only pirate on handheld, where I don't even really play the games I pirate. It's more of a forced demo, in my personal situation.

And yes, it's not technically free money, but, there are too many companies making games trying to get the blockbuster status of halo/cod.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

That's not what I was saying. I'm saying that they are killing each other off by having too many companies making too many games, cutting down their own businesses. Like I said, I bought kingdoms of amalur, and I liked it. I don't pirate on console, I only pirate on handheld, where I don't even really play the games I pirate. It's more of a forced demo, in my personal situation.

And yes, it's not technically free money, but, there are too many companies making games trying to get the blockbuster status of halo/cod.

Also, "blockbuster" is rather subjective. Yeah, CoD and Halo sell well, but so does Mario Kart or Just Dance. What can constitute a "blockbuster" is so diverse that it isn't really strangling creativity in the industry.

Not to mention there's still plenty of people who cater to a smaller niche. It's what Atlus makes a living off of.

What's wrong if games want to gain a status like CoD/Halo anyway? Who doesn't want a successful game?

 

[rupok93]

The only way piracy has any sort of justification is when they are unavailable in the market. Such as really old games that you can't find anywhere, in other media these things become public domain so I think in that case piracy is justified.

Any other justification for piracy is complete bs. Its wrong and you know it, you try to justify it cause you feel the need to make yourself feel better.

 

[Chaossaturn]

I said it before and I will say it again, there's only one thing I don't like about this forum and that's all the official idiot mummy boys, that are on here. To you official people, people pirate games, fucking live with it. If you have a problem with it buy your fucking games and stop trying to force your ideas on to others, I don't care if you think it morally wrong, that's your problem.

There's the facts people, pirates don't like official mummy boys and official mummy boys don't like pirates, that's how it is, thread closed.

 

[the_randomizer]

Personally, I really want to support game companies. I have no issue with buying games new, or paying again to get an old game on my new system. I have the money to do that, and if I don't, it's as simple as waiting until I do have cash again.
Sometimes, though, the stuff I want isn't something I can pay for. Games I was really looking forward to that never made it to America, I pirate. Old games I owned but no longer can find the system for them, I pirate.

Nintendo still doesn't like it, but... if they make games I want available for purchase, I will buy them. And that's my two cents.

This goes along with the 3DS and Nintendo's dick decision to region lock it. If games don't make it out of Japan, I'd have to buy it from another region, so here's to hoping region locking will be removed in the near future, otherwise, I'd have to find a way to load 3DS ROMs on a flash cart. Piracy is an issue, yes, but for older, no-longer-being-produced-or-sold games, I have no issue with. If Nintendo doesn't like it, they should put more games on the Virtual Console, and not be a wanker by removing games.

 

[rupok93]

I said it before and I will say again, there's only one thing I don't like about this forum and that's all the official idiot mummy boys, that are on here. To you official people, people pirate games, fucking live with it. If you have a problem with it buy your fucking games and stop trying to force your ideas on to others, I don't care if you think it morally wrong, that's your problem.

There's the facts people, pirates don't like official mummy boys and official mummy boys don't like pirates, that's how it is, thread closed.

I think piracy is morally wrong but I still do it, but I completely hate it when people try to justify piracy as if its a god given right or some other bs.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

I said it before and I will say it again, there's only one thing I don't like about this forum and that's all the official idiot mummy boys, that are on here. To you official people, people pirate games, fucking live with it. If you have a problem with it buy your fucking games and stop trying to force your ideas on to others, I don't care if you think it morally wrong, that's your problem.

There's the facts people, pirates don't like official mummy boys and official mummy boys don't like pirates, that's how it is, thread closed.

The Mummy was a good enough movie to get fanboys?

 

[porkiewpyne]

The Mummy was a good enough movie to get fanboys?

Well The Rock was in it and he seemed pretty badass back in the days when I was still a wittle boy XD

 

[omgpwn666]

Pirating is never ok. But I do it all the time.