If piracy disappeared

[PriMieon]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[Veho]

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

 

[xist]

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]

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]

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.

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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.

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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.
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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]

"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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

@[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]

@[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]

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]

@[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]

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]

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]

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.