Pirating vs. Purchasing

[BlackNeedle]

And as you say, they weren't so spread out..

What's that talk about flashcards not beeing aviable to everyone? You think of piracy becoming kind of a privilege? And who do you think those privileged guys should be? You?
That's just pointless gossiping.

And for the argument of games beeing only aviable at very high prices (and they for sure are, even croatia must have a mail delivery service, so get yourself some imports): does that change a thing? It's just a spin-off of the general "I-won't-buy-that-expensive-shit" argument.

What I found to be a lot more interesting is how you showed that the game developers actually have the money to make better games. I checked, and it's actually the same for many of them, i.e. Square Enix, who have a growing net income as well as they just took over Eidos.
~BlackNeedle

 

[Lily]

Warning: This is probably going to be a bit of a long post. If you don't like reading long posts, move to the next post!

#1. You're on a forum chock full of pirates. You're not going to have a reasonable discussion about the morality of pirating in such a place. At best you're going to get lots of justification, because many people feel guilty or called out when you try and impress the belief upon them that piracy is flat out wrong. There's a lot of automatic defensiveness, because most people know that they're doing something that's (not right/not legal/whatever). They don't need or want the morality police coming around and raining on their parade. You're more than welcome to your opinion, but remember where you are. What you're doing is like being a black person and walking into a KKK convention to say: "Hey guys, what's up?". You have to know your audience.


#2. Everyone has a different reason for pirating:

-Games are too expensive in their native country, or aren't available at all;
-Import costs are unbearable;
-It's easier and faster to download than it is to walk to the store and purchase it;
-Can't afford to buy what they want;
-Demo isn't available (and no, specially edited videos and screenshots are not enough);
-Don't see the value of a game on a particular platform (i.e. people see DS games as being worth less than games on other platforms);
-DRM hinders the games experience, and the cracked version is free of that DRM;
-Want to be able to take more than one game with you comfortably on the go;
-Want to preserve the original copies they do buy;
-Just want free games;
-Have kids that destroy everything they touch, and a pirated copy removes that worry.

There are tonnes more. The point is, it doesn't matter what your reasoning is, as long as your own personal moral compass isn't offended by your choices. You may not agree with any reason for pirating, but you are not everyone, and most people really hate the person that comes around and tries to force their opinion down everyone's throat, like it's the only opinion that matters. The spectrum of reasons why people pirate is awfully large and many shades of gray. There is never going to be a single right and single wrong answer.


#3. My personal opinions: I've pirated just about everything my entire life. The very first 'online' access I had was to bulletin board systems, and the private sections were full PC software and games, pictures of nekkid ladies, etc. It's learned behaviour. I was literally the kid in the candy store, who suddenly realized she could have anything she wanted for free. That's a hard (if not downright impossible) pattern to break. I download movies, music, books, games, whatever I feel like partaking in. It's easier and faster to download these things. To buy a phsyical copy of something leaves me needing to store it somewhere. I don't care about collectables and art books and all that nonsense. If I really wanted to see the art book or listen to the soundtrack, guess how I would do it? A $50 modchip gives me access to a system's game library for free? Done. A $12 cartridge gives me access to all the DS games for free? Done. There is no incentive for me personally to buy anything, when a quick search on the internet brings up what I want. Why am I going to buy it when I can get it for free, and have the same (or better) experience as the person who bought it? Most of the time, movies are available before their DVD release date, games are available before their street date, music albums are available sometimes months before their street date. Why wait? It's there, ready for the watching/playing/listening with a couple of clicks.

However, I will note some exceptions to my pirate everything rule. I buy the PC games I'm interested in on Steam now. It's easier than waiting for a crack, (there really aren't too many active PC groups with great crackers these days) and it's better than waiting for a proper of that crack. I have access to any of the games I purchased on any computer I'm on, as long as I have access to an internet connection. I can download them as many times as I want. I don't have to store them on my shelf, on discs, or on an external hard drive. The prices (in North America) are more than fair, and undercut retail stores pretty heavily most of the time, most definitely during their weekly sales. I don't have to worry about keeping a disc in the drive to satisfy some anti-piracy check. The convenience of pirating the game has been brought to me in a package where I have to dole out a few bucks for each game. That's OK. PC game piracy has been a pain the past few years. I also now have time to play the PC games that I spend money on. As a dirty rotten pirate, I used to download everything that looked remotely interesting. I'd play maybe 25% of what I downloaded, burn and store the rest, and maybe finish 3% of the 25% I bothered to play. Now that I've decided to fork out some money, I pay greater attention to my choices, and play each one through to the end. I've actually regained my enjoyment of PC games, go figure. Now if it's not on Steam, I won't buy it.

The other exception is eBooks. I've always been a Palm person, and they have a piece of software called eReader. The Fictionwise book store is a great place to buy eBooks for eReader, with frequent sales, discounts, rebates, etc. I used to pirate books (i.e. JPG scans, poorly typed copies), but with Fictionwise, I've been able to buy the books I want to read and be able to read them how I prefer--on my Palm Treo. I just load up my SD card with the books, and away I go. I can download the books I've puchased whenever I want, as long as I have an internet connection. Convenient. Easier (and way better quality) than pirating.

Everything else though, I still pirate. It's all about convenience for me. It's too easy to pirate nearly everything. I don't make excuses for it, I don't try to justify it. I don't care if anyone else likes it or not. I don't feel entitled to any of the things I download, or that it's my right to have them. I don't feel that if they're too expensive, I'm entitled to steal a copy because I still want to play. I personally pirate because it's easier and more convenient than the alternative. It's not about right or wrong for me. If we end up in a situation where there are laws preventing pirating, and the ISPs, etc comply, I simply won't play the new games or watch the latest movie. I wasn't going to buy them anyway. The end.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

And as you say, they weren't so spread out..

What's that talk about flashcards not beeing aviable to everyone? You think of piracy becoming kind of a privilege? And who do you think those privileged guys should be? You?
That's just pointless gossiping.

And for the argument of games beeing only aviable at very high prices (and they for sure are, even croatia must have a mail delivery service, so get yourself some imports): does that change a thing? It's just a spin-off of the general "I-won't-buy-that-expensive-shit" argument.

What I found to be a lot more interesting is how you showed that the game developers actually have the money to make better games. I checked, and it's actually the same for many of them, i.e. Square Enix, who have a growing net income as well as they just took over Eidos.
~BlackNeedle

Haha, no..

Flashcars were always available for everyone, but only if you knew where to look....Now, you can find them anywhere, and in my opinion, it kinda ruins the whole thing..
I'm not saying it's a privilege, I'm saying it's too easy....

And you are aware that shipping costs $20 from any place to Croatia AT VERY BEST!
Name me one game that is worth paying $60 (no matter where I buy it)..Not to mention risk of getting it lost during the shipping, or waiting for a game for two weeks or more..

Any anything I said above isn't exaggerating.....It's really how things are..

And after all that said, I'm not even trying to justify me being a pirate..I would pirate even if I had games here at the price of $30..Because in my opinion, it's still too much..
If games are priced $10-$15, of course I'd buy them..

And besides, we have no strong laws against piracy.....I could literally approach a police officer and show him my DVD collection or NDS with a flashcart, and he'd probably ask me where could he get the same thing for his kids..

 

[Cermage]

you can't possibly have a decent reason for pirating anything. a try-before-you-buy reasoning okay if the publishers don't release a demo but then most of the time they release adequate in game videos and screenshots. if it has bad controls or the controls are just bad most reviews will cover it so you can expect bad controls.

only reason you don't buy games is simply cause you dont want to pay for them. simple as that. there is no reinforcing the fact you dont want to spend money on games.

then there is also the downside to everyone buying full marked retail game. a reasonable amount of sales is okay but if too much the dev's get a bit greedy and think that they can pass off half-assed sequels and still make a tonne of money. and which most of the time, they do.

I really don't like how people think, if they have everything available for them, then it must be the case with the whole World..
Let me explain, I live in Croatia, we don't have Nintendo stores here, we don't have GameStops, and we don't have any "official" Nintendo resellers..Stores that do have something from Nintendo brand are extremely expensive (approximately twice the price that Americans pay)..Games cost from $60 and up! NDS Lite handheld costs $240, and that's a regular price!

Games that are offered here have nothing to do with a good games, we never had any Final Fantasy games, Fire Emblem, Advance Wars even Pokemon games aren't available..
In case that some game could be imported in or local stores, we would have to wait for Europe release, and that is months (if not more then a year) waiting after the U version is already released..

So don't you (or anyone else) try to speak for everyone, you can state your opinion, and talk for yourself, but you don't know what are conditions in the rest of the World..

the Price and unavaliability of games still doesnt justify pirating. You just dont want to fork out your money to buy the game. you do have options of importing from other countries, which is what i do when i can't wait or a game doesnt came out to PAL terrotries. But you don't take that option, instead choose the easier, cheaper choice of piracy. bottom line is people just don't want to shell out the money, regardless of how much it is when they can pirate it instead.

 

[Minox]

the Price and unavaliability of games still doesnt justify pirating. You just dont want to fork out your money to buy the game. you do have options of importing from other countries, which is what i do when i can't wait or a game doesnt came out to PAL terrotries. But you don't take that option, instead choose the easier, cheaper choice of piracy. bottom line is people just don't want to shell out the money, regardless of how much it is when they can pirate it instead.

You see, most people here don't try to justify pirating. They know that what they're doing is wrong, but they still choose to do so anyway due to many kind of different reasons. Now if you don't feel like pirating stuff and buying everything then sure, do so. I don't care, that guy over there don't care in fact I'm pretty sure that most people here don't care if you buy your games or not. And if you think that pirating is wrong then just avoid doing it yourself and stop trying to force others to stop with what they're doing. Then you'd at least feel somewhat good for not doing something you see as wrong while others can continue to do what they do without having to be annoyed by preachers such as you.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

bottom line is people just don't want to shell out the money, regardless of how much it is when they can pirate it instead.

I would agree completely......Only, I'm saying (and that's just my opinion) if one game is $10-$15 I'd buy games no thinking twice..

But there is no way I'm giving $60 for a game..

And again, I'm not justifying my habit of pirating..There is no need, I love pirating..

 

[da_head]

i don't try to justify pirating. i know it's wrong, but i do it anyways

 

[Cermage]

the Price and unavaliability of games still doesnt justify pirating. You just dont want to fork out your money to buy the game. you do have options of importing from other countries, which is what i do when i can't wait or a game doesnt came out to PAL terrotries. But you don't take that option, instead choose the easier, cheaper choice of piracy. bottom line is people just don't want to shell out the money, regardless of how much it is when they can pirate it instead.

You see, most people here don't try to justify pirating. They know that what they're doing is wrong, but they still choose to do so anyway due to many kind of different reasons. Now if you don't feel like pirating stuff and buying everything then sure, do so. I don't care, that guy over there don't care in fact I'm pretty sure that most people here don't care if you buy your games or not. And if you think that pirating is wrong then just avoid doing it yourself and stop trying to force others to stop with what they're doing. Then you'd at least feel somewhat good for not doing something you see as wrong while others can continue to do what they do without having to be annoyed by preachers such as you.

This is an discussion about piracy/purchasing no? what i originally did was put my opinion across stating you cant justify piracy by any means. but Toni put out the point that pricing/unavailability or the conditions the person is living is a (sorry if i took it wrong) a valid reason for them to pirate. i just further stated the only reason people really pirate is because they dont want to pay for it =\.

 

[Domination]

If the opportunity is right in front of your eyes... why not grab it? I'm not saying piracy is good but buying games can take a toll on your wallets.

We'll talk about buying games when KH, spirit tracks, soul silver are released in english

Oh and next month when I have $ (starfy is worth a purchase)

 

[zuron7]

What should I do in a country like mine.

 

[Toni Plutonij]

This is an discussion about piracy/purchasing no? what i originally did was put my opinion across stating you cant justify piracy by any means. but Toni put out the point that pricing/unavailability or the conditions the person is living is a (sorry if i took it wrong) a valid reason for them to pirate. i just further stated the only reason people really pirate is because they dont want to pay for it =\.

Well, I'm just saying that it's easier to pirate then spend too much money, on the item, wait for it two or more weeks (risk of not getting it at all), and then in the end realize that game is crap!

 

[Minox]

the Price and unavaliability of games still doesnt justify pirating. You just dont want to fork out your money to buy the game. you do have options of importing from other countries, which is what i do when i can't wait or a game doesnt came out to PAL terrotries. But you don't take that option, instead choose the easier, cheaper choice of piracy. bottom line is people just don't want to shell out the money, regardless of how much it is when they can pirate it instead.

You see, most people here don't try to justify pirating. They know that what they're doing is wrong, but they still choose to do so anyway due to many kind of different reasons. Now if you don't feel like pirating stuff and buying everything then sure, do so. I don't care, that guy over there don't care in fact I'm pretty sure that most people here don't care if you buy your games or not. And if you think that pirating is wrong then just avoid doing it yourself and stop trying to force others to stop with what they're doing. Then you'd at least feel somewhat good for not doing something you see as wrong while others can continue to do what they do without having to be annoyed by preachers such as you.

This is an discussion about piracy/purchasing no? what i originally did was put my opinion across stating you cant justify piracy by any means. but Toni put out the point that pricing/unavailability or the conditions the person is living is a (sorry if i took it wrong) a valid reason for them to pirate. i just further stated the only reason people really pirate is because they dont want to pay for it =\.

You can have your reasons for downloading copyrighted material illegally without justifying it at all, that is what I'm trying to get through to you

 

[MaHe]

I have been pirating games as long as I can remember, but recently stopped. What was becoming an increasingly larger problem was the pirate syndrome. I had so many games for my DS and my Xbox 360, I couldn't decide what to play - and the moment I got bored or frustrated, I switched to another game. And that's where metaphorical shit hit the fan. I only finished the games I really, really liked from the start (for instance, Call of Duty series and GTA), but gaming was eventually no fun at all.
Then I got banned on Live! and I just decided to try and play bought games for a while. I had original Mass Effect, that I've hated the first time I tried it. Today, I've replayed it three times already and am in my fourth run. It just grew on me (maybe it was also the fact I spent 70 € on it, which was a highway robbery). I still pirate movies and TV shows, but there's no pirate syndrome there.

 

[ThatDudeWithTheFood]

Once everyone adopts a system like Steam (and no, WiiWare doesn't count) I think the piracy rate would be moot.

Steams been cracked for about along time and then theres always nonsteam versions of games somebodies going to find a way just like they did with steam and the cracking servers than the vac attacks

 

[Da Foxx]

The only games I pirate are the ones that I'm not sure are worth the money. Also, reviews don't really help nowadays because they are all bias so you always get to sides of opinions on the game. I buy games that I think are worth to add to my collection. Same goes for my DVD's.

 

[leiger]

BlackNeedle
you missed out the "I-only-try-those-games-out"-argument. For me, that always sounded like a dull excuse, because if you follow the line most of those guys would actually never have enjoyed any game, because they never bought one. I actually only know of very few people who stated "I bought that game after I realized it's enjoyable while playing it off my flashcard.". Of course no offense meant, there ARE some of those honourable men.[/quote]

Exactly - that was the one I'd forgotten!

Toni Plutonij

People that pirate games just annoy me, because they have more of an effect on the market than they suspect.
says person with this sig:
1 x DSLite, 1x DSPhat, 1x CycloDS Evo, 1x Acekard 2i, 1x EZ Flash V 3-in-1 Plus
Stop being hypocrite and sharing your opinion on forum full of pirates..

I use those to play the games that I personally dumped, as well as for homebrew when I'm bored with those. How is that hypocritical?

EDIT:And just to point out, I agree that flashcarts should be more expensive, and not accessible to everyone!

Price is the big issue. If they were more expensive, people might be more willing to pay for games. In that respect, I agree.

Guild McCommunist
I really fail to see the relevance of this post. A good portion of this site is dedicated to info about flashcarts, emulators, roms (not downloads, of course). So, honestly, if you're trying to go on some white knight crusade to destory evil, you're at the wrong place. And welcome to the internet. A good portion of people who have half a brain about using the internet pirate things. That's life.

I'm merely making a point and stating my opinion. This thread is called "Pirating vs. Purchasing", not "Purchase your games!! 1337 haxxors burn in hell!!" ... I wanted a discussion.

UltraMagnus
Honestly, how much of the money you pay for a game actually goes to the people that programmed it? I would be very surprised if more than 1% did, with the rest going to corporate fat cats and lawyers.
not to mention, us pirates get games earlier, get games that don't come out in our region at all, and don't have to faff around with carrying dozens of easily losable little cartridges.


True, the developers get very little. That makes my point about supporting them more important, as they need every bit of income they can get if they're going to be convinced to continue developing games.

As someone posted below you, there is evidence that these developers are rich yet still not producing better games. Well, what's the point when creating a better game will just mean more pirates to download it? All I'm trying to say is that piracy is definitely a big business decision with developers and the big N, and influences the types of games they create. When creating a better game will result in the same amount of income or less, some don't bother. Thankfully, there are still good quality games being developed, so I haven't lost hope in the industry.

IchigoK2031
I literally have like a bajillion ds boxes in my room, I've probably spent like 3-4 hundred on ds games but only on ones that were gud, if I try them out at all I use an emulator, then if they're good, go to gamestop and buy them, then I go home and download and play, the game might not ever be opened but its gud for the developers.


Some people (including anti-piracy law) would disagree with that, but I can see the point. The actual decision to buy the game, despite having a pirated copy already, is the action of someone that is not a pirate, in my opinion. I was doing this myself for a few weeks at one point, then decided to just go back to reading reviews as the temptation to keep them was too much. And I'd already made the decision that I would buy anything that was good enough.

I can always sell the games I don't like on eBay as "like new with manual and box" and get back almost what I paid for it.

Law
These threads should be locked the second they're made, not only have we had hundreds of them but they always end the same way. People trying to justify, people flaming nonsensically, and everybody thinking that what they believe is what everybody should believe.
People that pirate games just annoy me, because they have more of an effect on the market than they suspect.
No they don't, and please just stop this nonsense because nobody really cares. This may be a gaming forum (which was originally a rom site), but we still have discussions on things such as flash carts, and because of this there will be pirates. Nobody cares what you think of them, don't complain about them here. If you want to talk about how piracy is wrong then go to GameFAQs, where all of the zealots will agree with you and you will have a huge fun party and a lot of cake.


The cake is a lie! (portal reference for those that don't realise)

Anyway... I'm not trying to force my opinion on people. I'm explaining why I don't pirate, and I'm explaining why you shouldn't pirate either. If you continue to do it that's your choice, we'll just agree to disagree on this.

Moots
Why I pirate.
-Game quality for all platforms has diminished significantly over the past 10 years.
-Game Companies are putting out games that are practically unfinished (Next gen mostly) (Leaving game modes out until later, see fable, and Bad company I believe)
-Game prices in no way shape or form represent a games quality. I refuse to pay 70 dollars on a game I play once and can't even stomach finishing.

I've given my reasons for game quality being so low. And as for the price reflecting the game - consider that different people have different tastes. Those games are marketed based on popularity, so some little kiddy game that is popular will have a much higher price tag than a good, quality game that noone knows about.

So if you want to fight for the people who make games, so they can make more quality games (Which astill wouldn't happen if we stopped pirating) fight companies like GS or EB. They do more damage than piraters do.

True, EB Games and Gamestop and a ton of other stores are in the preowned games market and are making a killing off of it. And true, that money doesn't touch the developer's wallet at all. Obviously that doesn't apply to the point I made because it doesn't give the developers anything -you're right.

Note:I do buy certain games, especially of franchises I am a fan of (Ex CT, FF, NHL, etc)

Then I won't be sitting here wishing you'd burn in hell or something then will I?

 

[Maktub]

I definitely would buy DS games if they weren't so god damn expensive, but as the pricing is set atm a completely new PC game is much cheaper than let's say a 3 year old DS game. There's something wrong with that logic.

When it comes to PC games however I tend to buy most if not all games I find enjoyable/awesome.

I think I'll be voting PiratPartiet, min vän

 

[leiger]

lilsypha

#1. You're on a forum chock full of pirates.

#2. Everyone has a different reason for pirating:
(...)
There are tonnes more. The point is, it doesn't matter what your reasoning is, as long as your own personal moral compass isn't offended by your choices. You may not agree with any reason for pirating, but you are not everyone, and most people really hate the person that comes around and tries to force their opinion down everyone's throat, like it's the only opinion that matters. The spectrum of reasons why people pirate is awfully large and many shades of gray. There is never going to be a single right and single wrong answer.

#3. My personal opinions: I've pirated just about everything my entire life. (...) It's learned behaviour. (...) That's a hard (if not downright impossible) pattern to break. However, I will note some exceptions to my pirate everything rule. I buy the PC games I'm interested in on Steam now. (...) Now that I've decided to fork out some money, I pay greater attention to my choices, and play each one through to the end. I've actually regained my enjoyment of PC games, go figure. Now if it's not on Steam, I won't buy it. The other exception is eBooks.(...) I can download the books I've puchased whenever I want, as long as I have an internet connection. Convenient. Easier (and way better quality) than pirating.

Everything else though, I still pirate. It's all about convenience for me. It's too easy to pirate nearly everything. I don't make excuses for it, I don't try to justify it. I don't care if anyone else likes it or not. I don't feel entitled to any of the things I download, or that it's my right to have them. I don't feel that if they're too expensive, I'm entitled to steal a copy because I still want to play. I personally pirate because it's easier and more convenient than the alternative. It's not about right or wrong for me. If we end up in a situation where there are laws preventing pirating, and the ISPs, etc comply, I simply won't play the new games or watch the latest movie. I wasn't going to buy them anyway. The end.


Wow lilsypha, and amazing post! Wish everyone would write like this.

1. I get your point, so if people that pirate feel morally wrong then they should do something about it. Either contribute to the discussion as you have (without flaming or mindlessly using CAPS in their post), just read along and follow what's said, or rethink the way they do things.

2. Reasons for pirating:

-Games are too expensive in their native country, or aren't available at all;
-Import costs are unbearable;
-Can't afford to buy what they want;

Okay, I can see the point that some people are making here. Obviously the gaming companies don't like any excuse, but this is one they can fix by having a greater presence in those countries, I suppose. If it's a good game, I'd suggest importing it whatever the cost may be. If it's just a maybe, would pay for it if I could afford it, etc ... then I can see why the games are pirated. Half tempted to agree that I might do the same thing in that situation.

-It's easier and faster to download than it is to walk to the store and purchase it;
-Just want free games;

I'll be blunt. That just sounds lazy. I'll admit that I've been in the situation where I've suddenly decided to buy a game but it's in the middle of the night,when everything's closed. Pirating the game is only a short download away. Sometimes I've pirated it,then went out and got it the next day, or the day after. So I can understand certain reasons for downloading vs. buying, but not because it's "easier" than walking or driving to the store.

-Want to be able to take more than one game with you comfortably on the go;
-Want to preserve the original copies they do buy;
-Have kids that destroy everything they touch, and a pirated copy removes that worry.

Which is the reason I use flash carts. I back up my games for the simple reason that it's convenient, don't need to carry all of the games with me, just the flash cart and that's it. There's something very satisfying about buying a game, and about knowing that you're playing on a rom that you personally dumped from your own cartridge. Guess my consience (spelling?) is at work there.

I think the point you're making is that doing this is still considered "pirating". Well, true, it is in places such as the USA. Yet I put that down to idiots trying to take away what you should rightfully be allowed to do (I mean.. you bought the game .. why not make backups? The US law states that as game cartridges aren't as volatile as the older memory storage methods, backups aren't needed - but that fails to take into account what I believe is a right to make copies of your own games so that you can use them all on one flash cart)

As an example to that last point, I know someone that runs on a similar ethical stand-point as me. He buys his games (and a lot of them, rich bastard

) and backs them up. Immediately after that the originals are locked away where they can't be touched by anyone unless he needs to re-dump the game onto the flash cart. A "pirated copy" as you put it. Well, like I said I don't consider that to be piracy, even if US law does. I don't live in the US, and pity any gamer that does feel threatened by those laws.

3. Okay, I've already responded to most of that. I agree somewhat with what you say and have mentioned where I don't. No intend to flame anyone or make them feel guilty, but if guilt does come up people seriously should think about why they pirate games, and whether they'll consider buying a few good quality games brand new (not preowned from EB/Gamestop)

mishra
This is an discussion about piracy/purchasing no? what i originally did was put my opinion across stating you cant justify piracy by any means. but Toni put out the point that pricing/unavailability or the conditions the person is living is a (sorry if i took it wrong) a valid reason for them to pirate. i just further stated the only reason people really pirate is because they dont want to pay for it =\.


And some of those arguments about the conditions someone is living in make sense. I agree somewhat. Good points.

Although I'm definitely not rich, I'm not as poor or as unfortunate as some (ie. I actually have access to games in my country). Brand new price here is about $65 AUD each (that's $51 USD). I buy what I can afford to try, and the rest I rely on a gaming community and review websites to try out. If they don't like the game, I won't buy it.



Thank you to those that posted about their country not having proper support from nintendo. Having to rely on stores to import then sell at exceedingly high prices, I can see where you're coming from. Don't know enough to make a proper opinion on what I think about that reason for piracy though, so I won't comment much.

x.domination
If the opportunity is right in front of your eyes... why not grab it? I'm not saying piracy is good but buying games can take a toll on your wallets.


Then buy what you can afford, and miss out on the rest? I mean, who needs a collection of 10+ games when they only play a few of them at a time? Buy a handful, play them, then buy some more once you're able to afford them. That's my opinion (and it's open to discussion, not trying to force it onto people)

Jeez, all of these disclaimers are giving me a headache

edge199715
What should I do in a country like mine.


I don't know, what is a country like India like?
- Do you have game stores? What price do they sell the games for?
- Do the game stores offer games such as final fantasy, mario kart on DS, and GTA, etc?

Da Foxx
The only games I pirate are the ones that I'm not sure are worth the money. Also, reviews don't really help nowadays because they are all bias so you always get to sides of opinions on the game. I buy games that I think are worth to add to my collection. Same goes for my DVD's.


Good point. Though if you can find some good, honest reviewers (not the main websites like IGN or GameFAQs), I find that it's usually a good guide to read those and see what they think.

 

[leiger]

the Price and unavaliability of games still doesnt justify pirating. You just dont want to fork out your money to buy the game. you do have options of importing from other countries, which is what i do when i can't wait or a game doesnt came out to PAL terrotries. But you don't take that option, instead choose the easier, cheaper choice of piracy. bottom line is people just don't want to shell out the money, regardless of how much it is when they can pirate it instead.

You see, most people here don't try to justify pirating. They know that what they're doing is wrong, but they still choose to do so anyway due to many kind of different reasons. Now if you don't feel like pirating stuff and buying everything then sure, do so. I don't care, that guy over there don't care in fact I'm pretty sure that most people here don't care if you buy your games or not. And if you think that pirating is wrong then just avoid doing it yourself and stop trying to force others to stop with what they're doing. Then you'd at least feel somewhat good for not doing something you see as wrong while others can continue to do what they do without having to be annoyed by preachers such as you.

I'm not trying to "preach" anything, and it seems to me that Minox is just explaining why people pirate (well, maybe a bit of preaching too once I re-read it

).

I think that however many times this discussion has already been started, it needs to be done again. The most important issue relating to flash carts and mod chips is anti-piracy laws. That's why I created this thread.

 

[juggernaut911]

I has teh long postzorz 2 gaiz!11.1.1 Skip ahead if you can't read. dun worry, it's in teh Impact!! jk


My pirating policies are the following:
-If it is a decent multilayer game or a game developed by Valve, purchase via Steam.
-If it is a decent single player game, purchase via GameStop or whatever as I like to share my games with my brothers, saves us moneez!
-If it is a game with bad reviews but appeals to me, find a demo. If there was no demo (which pisses me off because companies either don't make a demo, the demo sucks by lasting 5 minutes, or it is better than the full, legit game.) Pirate. If the demo was good and I enjoyed it, got feedback, etc., purchase it via whatever means.
-If it is crap game that is just the common shovelware, pirate if I'm bored, which usually doesn't happen.

Nowadays, games have really lost their touch. The only games That I have purchased recently (via Steam or other means) were Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Left 4 Dead (but that's because it had a Valve logo on it which means SERIUS BIZNUS!!!). I even pirated an indie game (which I plan on purchasing when I get money) called Braid. Braid was a fantastic puzzle/time-bending game that I have yet to beat. I simply love it. The sad part is that Braid is better than most of the trash titles that are published today *cough* EA *cough*.

Speaking of coughing, they are one of the biggest video game cash cow companies around. They suddenly jump on the "Mac is a gaming platform too!

" bandwagon which consists of Mac users too arrogant to use a Windows OS or game publishers or developers looking to port junk for more moneez. Now looking at the Windows OS point, there are actual games whether it be from a flash site or the "Windows Ultimate Extras". Better yet, there are actual not crap companies (barely, which reverts back to the "rushing of the games of the shovel of the ware of the wha'chu talkin' abou', Willis?!" point.) such as Bethesda, Valve, Bungie (kinda pushing it), and more. Mac has a couple ports that look like junk on the "beautiful Mac" (wtf is that fagballs?!). The EA ports are mainly shovelware in themselves, but when it is not a shovelware game, it is just a cruddy one, especially after the porting process causes it to looking like the color palette was assembled from raccoon turd (RA3 Mac water details, hello?). /end mac mini-rant. /end EA mini-rant.

But yeah, I only pirate when I have to or feel like it... which is self-contradicting in a way. I like to purchase games with the boxes and manuals and junk because it is satisfying. I buy single player games because I share with my brothers (if you call that illegal distribution, suck my balls!). Lastly, I buy games because they are entertaining. I hate buying a PC game that you can't return only to find it sucked because a bias reviewer gave it a 8/10 and there wasn't a demo, but there was some tweaked out footage of the best scenes from the game, only to find out that it was a bigger lie than the cake. What crap is that?! It is basically false advertising the way they do it. They stage it to look good, take all your money, then slap you in the face and tell you to go home.

Hitting the false advertisement point, IIRC, Madden release a commercial of one of their lame games that quickly hits the $5 bin at your local gas station that basically showed PS3 (or 360, I don't remember nor do I care) footage, scaled to the PSP to make up for the scrotum licking graphics. This was uncovered but the people who wanted the game didn't care, they either loved the game and were too stingy to return it or knew they could return it because it was NOT a PC game scam. Now I don't know of any PC games that screw their commercial hard enough to make Mario Wars look like Crysis but I bet there is that marketing business going on. You know, where they totally steal your money by releasing crappy balls and then topping it off with Douche Retainment Malware (DRM, lolz, cleverness). Well, I'm not going to point any fingers but frick, EA.

Now I'm not going to try to be bias but... Just forget I just said that... My hatred for EA comes from their DRM which is a reason for piracy (more of a newer excuse). My brother was obsessed with Mass Effect, which he had a good reason to be, it has a great plot, great graphics (minus the annoying lens flare), and to top it off, well the first two points covered it in a small proportional way, it was a quality game. It good over the neck shooter that banged an RPG who's baby was the gorgeous Mass Effect. He convinced me to buy it. Cool, but soon after I learned about the DRM for Mass Effect, nearly constant internet connection required to frikin play offline?! No way. Well thankfully, EA fixed that by removing the unlimited install limit to a 5 install limit that still required internet to activate (after that you're fine). I lucked out and they patched the activation before I bought so I just used one of my installs without minding, but not wanting to share. Now my hard drive died on me, cool...

EA was kind enough to release a "Deauthorization" tool for the other games that were punished by DRM. The thing is, it was about 2 years after the initial release. Now after reinstalling my game, I had only 3/5 installs left. They way I understood is that the No-CD patch (I love those dearly!!!!!) bypassed the online activation as well. Too late, it also had a lot of flaws such as crashing on the entrance to the galaxy map. After a dispute with the EA customer support demanding my activation limit be replenished to 4/5 to recover from my HD death, they said no can do. I used the leash removal tool/Deauthorizer on my Mass Effect which it then told me I had 5 installs available. WTF EA, can you tell me when you be semi-honest?!

But yeah, I have laundry to do, peace out!
Hurray Pirates!
Juggernaut911