Under what circumstances is it morally acceptable to pirate games?

[FAST6191]

My concerns are generally minimal but booting up the emulating human thought processes subroutine, maybe moral agent lawyer, to play with these.

Most of us here would say piracy is wrong but I do it anyway. Most of the time piracy is wrong but under certain circumstances it's ok. I've listed the ones I've thought of below.

- You have already paid for the game and are waiting for it to arrive
- You don't want to lower the resale value of a game you bought by opening it.
- You are genuinely too poor to afford to buy games
- The game is out of print and only available at an inflated price online
- You have to mess with VPNs and foreign credit cards because the game is unavailable in your country
- You want to try the game but no demo is available

Sure.
Potentially tricky in some aspects but sure.
As above this is a luxury good so that gets hard.
What is an inflated price? Similarly copyright allows for you to control distribution of new copies, and getting people well and truly pumped for something to return and limiting supply is a well known concept in sales/finance/economics.
Dubious again (free trade is a thing, just because shipping or something akin to it is expensive...) but getting somewhere I guess.
Are you morally obliged to be given demos?

on the other hand, don't pirate indie/small dev games

Already did the luxury good bit so snipped that. How do I define indie/small dev? Budgets, profits (how many "big" devs/devs with backing of EA and whatnot went pop because of running out of money?), staff count, most of those change with time (skybox animator not really being a dedicated thing in the commodore 64 era whereas today...). Does indie dev does it for fun on the weekend count in this?

Legally, it almost never can be justified. (Only for the preservation of very old software).

Morally, i would consider those scenarios to justify it:

• The normal game is worse than the cracked version, it could be caused by shitty DRMs such as Denuvo which degrades the legitimate experience by impacting performance, requiring online connectivity or affect game preservation. In that scenario it is definitely moral to want a better experience by pirating the game
• The game isn't available anymore, only sold by ebay scalpers or the devs don't profit from it anymore. Piracy would then be essential for game preservation.
• The game isn't accessible in your country, it may even be censured there.
• You already bought the game and want to play it earlier or on another platform.
• The game is expensive, but still has a shitload of microtransactions. It means you're treated like a pigeon and never get access to the complete game.
• The company behind it did some scummy moves and illegally took down a community project for their own profit. (Hey TakeTwo, how is it going?)
• Use it as a full demo when it's lacking.
• The game is just the same game as last year, but priced higher. That or if you don't have any money to buy your games, yeah it's a luxury but why would you prevent yourself from enjoying your hobby because you're too poor for it?

I have never bought the "devs don't profit" angle and pay little mind to it -- right of first sale is a thing and any dev whining about it knew the rules of the game when they started.
Is bypassing censorship a moral act? Personally fuck censorship and free speech is good shit but it would be a concern for some in this.
Were TakeTwo's actions illegal? You might also want to cover which of those it was -- mods, decompilations or similar.
"another platform"
If you are talking about the same work or functionally the same work then OK (though you might get into emulator legalities -- installing a WAD of a virtual console game still means you probably pirated Nintendo's emulator for instance, if said game was wrapped in a free to use homebrew emulator then different matter entirely). You might however run into the "does owning the VHS entitle me to a remastered 4k rip?" problem.

 

[rantex92]

My standpoint in a nutshell (take it with humor)

 

[MockyLock]

Well, i may offense some of you, but i consider it's legitimate to pirate a game when i bought it already.
Because i don't want to open the box, or because i want to play it on another console than the one that bought it. Or becasue i want it to be installed on the console, and don't want to use the cartridge/disc anymore.

Actually, i consider that for every physical game i buy, i should have a downloadable copy. About like the download code you can get for films. Or physical music album i could get on bandcamp.

 

[djpannda]

any and all

 

[Kwyjor]

the bobbies will still get you on it if they want to.

Seriously, "the bobbies"? You might as well invoke demons and evil spirits.

If you're compelled to conduct your affairs according to some arbitrary deontological framework, then that's your business, but don't think for a second that anyone in authority is going to bother to punish you if you stray in the slightest. (You're far more likely to wind up wrongly punished for something you didn't do.)

 

[smf]

What about when a game is no longer commercially available through official channels? Surely pirating it isn't affecting anyone. If anything its helping to preserve said content.

I want to preserve lamborghinis.

Thing is, downloading the game doesn't actually preserve them. Someone always owns them.

If you want to get into game preservation then you don't ever actually have time to play games (I have first hand experience of this).

Well, i may offense some of you, but i consider it's legitimate to pirate a game when i bought it already.
Because i don't want to open the box, or because i want to play it on another console than the one that bought it. Or becasue i want it to be installed on the console, and don't want to use the cartridge/disc anymore.

Actually, i consider that for every physical game i buy, i should have a downloadable copy. About like the download code you can get for films. Or physical music album i could get on bandcamp.

I'm not offended, but by downloading the game and leaving your game unopened then you have two games as the unopened box is worth more than the opened one.

If you downloaded the game because the original media broke then I'd find that more compelling.

Your opinion is irrelevant on whether you should have a downloadable copy, the copyright holder disagrees.

You can obviously do whatever you want, justifying it on an internet forum is kinda pointless.

 

[Kioku]

This question is as old as piracy itself. I'll be honest with you. You can't justify it, morally. No amount of "I own the game!" or "I'm a broke ass who can't afford $60-70 for a game I want to play" will make it morally okay.

That said, most of society couldn't care less if you pirate. If you do it? Great. Just don't brag about it like an idiot.

 

[Goku1992A]

It's two sides of the coin... you actually want to buy the game to support the devs who make it because if the game flops there are no more games... now on the other side people with CFW are the minority so the game sales would not be affected...

The downside of piracy you will never enjoy your video games because you have an abundance of them versus the guy who buy one game at a time and he beats them and repeat the cycle. It takes a lot of discipline to only play 1 game at a time when you have a modded console. Preservation mostly apply to retro games if you have like a NES/SNES collection getting the roms would be better for you because you can enjoy your classic titles on new equipment versus using old equipment.

People spend more time downloading versus playing games when they have a CFW unit which is why piracy is frowned upon. Nothing really to brag about

 

[The Catboy]

Just accept that piracy is always going to be frowned upon by some people and live with that. I save myself the mental gymnastics and proudly call myself a pirate with morals and justifications be damned.

 

[MohammedQ8]

well ..... no one is stopping me from pirating lol.

 

[proffk]

Piracy is a controversial subject but it really depends on how you see it. Its good for game preservation as we are currently heading towards a all digital future where games get delisted such as MGS & physical copies are going up in price or the game is digital only and we have no way to play it.

Personally speaking Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1&2 on PS4 are no longer available. They were digital only & they were never dumped. I have these games on my PS4 on 8.0 FW & their is a demand for them. If a eggsploit is released soon as current news suggests. Would you sit on them or let everyone else enjoy them,

 

[Kioku]

Piracy is a controversial subject but it really depends on how you see it. Its good for game preservation as we are currently heading towards a all digital future where games get delisted such as MGS & physical copies are going up in price or the game is digital only and we have no way to play it.

Personally speaking Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1&2 on PS4 are no longer available. They were digital only & they were never dumped. I have these games on my PS4 on 8.0 FW & their is a demand for them. If a eggsploit is released soon as current news suggests. Would you sit on them or let everyone else enjoy them,

"Game preservation" makes zero sense to me as an argument for piracy. The games are being archived, or backed up. That doesn't apply when people think they have free reign over them and get to avoid the legal route.


Really sounds like a cop out. Not every one of us needs to "preserve" these games.

 

[proffk]

"Game preservation" makes zero sense to me as an argument for piracy. The games are being archived, or backed up. That doesn't apply when people think they have free reign over them and get to avoid the legal route.


Really sounds like a cop out. Not every one of us needs to "preserve" these games.

I agree if it was a new game being released and it gets pirated its not right. Its like the recent Lost Judgement that was somehow dumped and backported to lower PS4 FW. Good sales means the company will release more sequels or spinoffs. Pirating will hurt its sales unless its a very big franchise and the company still makes profit.

 

[grey72]

Just don't brag about pirating like an idiot.

This needs to be this site's motto TBH

 

[grey72]

Just accept that piracy is always going to be frowned upon by some people and live with that. I save myself the mental gymnastics and proudly call myself a pirate with morals and justifications be damned.

amen

 

[godreborn]

I pirated oot on the pc, but I don't think I've ever loaded it. I've been playing the game on nso switch with one one of those n64 controllers and lovin' in. I just beat dodongo's cavern, got a little stuck trying to get to the second dungeon, but I'm figuring stuff out as I go. if I had pirated the nsp, the game probably wouldn't see any use. lol

 

[Xalusc]

Every circumstance.
It's always morally acceptable to pirate a video game.

Unless it's a new release from a small indie developer or something.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

When you get a copy of something in the digital world the owner of that thing loses nothing, just earns less money, and they (the developers and their companies) are way richer than me anyway, so I don't think it is immoral.

Also, I believe that most people who is getting pirated stuff is not a potential customer anyway. The decision of not spending with that thing was already made, regardless of being capable of pirating or not.

 

[HRudyPlayZ]

My concerns are generally minimal but booting up the emulating human thought processes subroutine, maybe moral agent lawyer, to play with these.



Sure.
Potentially tricky in some aspects but sure.
As above this is a luxury good so that gets hard.
What is an inflated price? Similarly copyright allows for you to control distribution of new copies, and getting people well and truly pumped for something to return and limiting supply is a well known concept in sales/finance/economics.
Dubious again (free trade is a thing, just because shipping or something akin to it is expensive...) but getting somewhere I guess.
Are you morally obliged to be given demos?


Already did the luxury good bit so snipped that. How do I define indie/small dev? Budgets, profits (how many "big" devs/devs with backing of EA and whatnot went pop because of running out of money?), staff count, most of those change with time (skybox animator not really being a dedicated thing in the commodore 64 era whereas today...). Does indie dev does it for fun on the weekend count in this?
I have never bought the "devs don't profit" angle and pay little mind to it -- right of first sale is a thing and any dev whining about it knew the rules of the game when they started.
Is bypassing censorship a moral act? Personally fuck censorship and free speech is good shit but it would be a concern for some in this.
Were TakeTwo's actions illegal? You might also want to cover which of those it was -- mods, decompilations or similar.
"another platform"
If you are talking about the same work or functionally the same work then OK (though you might get into emulator legalities -- installing a WAD of a virtual console game still means you probably pirated Nintendo's emulator for instance, if said game was wrapped in a free to use homebrew emulator then different matter entirely). You might however run into the "does owning the VHS entitle me to a remastered 4k rip?" problem.

Devs and game creators do deserve to be paid for what they produced (unless it's some FIFA shit and they were forced to release the same garbage as last year, but that's the publisher's fault). When talking about devs, i of course included publishers and everyone involved in the game creation.
Take the example of retro games, Nintendo doesn't profit at all from let's say the first Pokemon games, and a legal ROM usable on any hardware will be way harder to find. In that scenario i feel like it's moral to pirate it.

Bypassing country censorship is always moral, even if it's just self-censorship.
Some games like Postal 2 cannot be bought in France for example.

TakeTwo took down re3 and all of its components, where it didn't include any of their copyrighted assets. They also cyber bullied the FiveM creators to get their service to close down. For those reasons alone, i definitely pirate new TakeTwo games, that's their punishment.

For different platforms, i was mainly talking about straight ports, not remasters or remakes. I consider FFVII and FFVII Remake to be completely different games. Though, it also depends on how much difference there is between the two versions, like i see no problem in pirating Mario Kart 8 Deluxe if you bought the OG Mario Kart 8 for example. Emulators mainly use what's been done in the open-source community anyways.

 

[godreborn]

a large part of me is against piracy, but I'll still help people with piracy related questions. I just figure knowledge is knowledge; what you choose to do with it, is your business, not mine.