Gaming [Q] Why do people pirate?

[pikanag]

I've done quite a bit of pirating on my part, I have to admit, main reason being that when I first started I either couldn't access them otherwise(retro and imports) or there was no way I could afford the majority of the games I played. The prices of retail games in Iceland is absolutely insane ever since the economy crash that occurred around 2008. Now that I have a more steady spending cycle and play next gen games on PC, I buy almost every PC game I have on Steam, not pirating any but few. I've also started hunting down and buying games that I really like, such as ones for GBA, SNES, N64 etc. It may not support the developers but considering I don't own a next gen console anymore it's not like I could anyway.

I'm a gaming scavenger. I pick up where the last generation left off. A cheap and expandable alternative.

this is another reasonable alternative. i have never owned a ps3 before, and i actually am planning on buying one, now that they are much cheaper with the ps4 out. of course it will have a cfw with the rom loader haha

 

[andzalot55]

I don;t want to spend a lot of many for lots of games. I think of this cause when the Nintendo DS Lite was still around in 2008, I spent around 200$ on games.

 

[vayanui8]

What ?Ubisoft out of business ?I don't think so...

On youtube, according to some dude - "The company who produced CN when under business", don't take my word for it though.

Oh, so it must be true, after all, people can't lie on the internet, right? Right??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ubisoft_games#C

People are gonna pirate, no matter what laws are in their homeland.

Just felt like clarifying this. The company that developed did go out of business, but it wasn't ubisoft. Ubisoft was just the publisher. The devs went out of business and now ubi gets all the profits. That being said, AQ interactive didn't go out of business because of piracy, it was because their games were shit.

 

[Ra1d]

Yo - asshole, spend a few million on developing a game and try sell it while everyone pirates - bank rupt you'll be alright. Fucking D-Head. Wouldn't expect a poor individual such as yourself to understand, if you did - You'd either pay for your games or do something more productive with your life. Such a lazy individual - cheating life to play video games. Pathetic.

Well, there we go, just a rich kid trying to act like he's a defender of justice.

Your own government steals your hard earned money too, go and lecture them first.

 

[AmeenX]

Very easy to explain, where I live buying a game is like paying 400$ for it!
But for 900$ Gateway3DS was a single long-term purchase see!

 

[Lavanoid]

Just felt like clarifying this. The company that developed did go out of business, but it wasn't ubisoft. Ubisoft was just the publisher. The devs went out of business and now ubi gets all the profits. That being said, AQ interactive didn't go out of business because of piracy, it was because their games were shit.

Ah, so they basically went out of business because of a loss of sales. The point still stands - they weren't getting enough cash, so they closed down. What if everyone pirated other companies? Lack of cash = closing down. It'll happen in the years to come, unless companies finally stop all the dirty pirates.

 

[sarkwalvein]

Yo - asshole, spend a few million on developing a game and try sell it while everyone pirates - bank rupt you'll be alright. Fucking D-Head. Wouldn't expect a poor individual such as yourself to understand, if you did - You'd either pay for your games or do something more productive with your life. Such a lazy individual - cheating life to play video games. Pathetic.

Not everyone pirates. I think piracy is an exagerted problem.
As you say, the company that developed Cubic Ninja (AQ Interactive, not Ubisoft) went down; but the reasons for it are not piracy.
Right now many traditional games companies in Japan are in problems because they cannot compete with the Smartphone gaming market, that is diverting a lot of money out of their pockets.

Anyway, it is a logical thing to try to support a company that makes game you like, so that they make more games you like.

 

[Catastrophic]

this is another reasonable alternative. i have never owned a ps3 before, and i actually am planning on buying one, now that they are much cheaper with the ps4 out. of course it will have a cfw with the rom loader haha

Setting up a cfw on a console with an ofw of over 3.55 is a real pain in the dick though. Never got around doing it.

 

[eriols]

the games are not available in my home country (southeast asia) with local price. that's nintendo fault for not capitalizing the rising income in emerging markets. we are not that poor, but the price of imported games are too expensive for locals.

on the other hand, I haven't pirated pc games since the I got a steam account.

 

[Joe88]

Seriously, give me your honest opinion on why you pirate 3DS games (that's if YOU PIRATE THEM).

I personally think that pirating is a dumb route to take - think about it. Piration has a lot of flaws to it,

1. You have to mess around, getting your console to run unsigned code - too many steps
2. Online compatibility is NOT guaranteed - the game could have a unique ID and so, when you download the ROM - you'll be using the same ID as someone else.
3. You have to worry about emuNAND and "what if your system accidentally updated?" - Specific system version.
4. The game dev's gain nothing - possibility of going out of business, meaning no more games made.
5. You basically get free games from the people who spend hard-earned money on purchasing one - selfishness.
6. At risk of data loss - the risk of data loss is higher (you never know what could go wrong).

Honestly, what would you do if game devs completely gave up on developing games on specific platforms, because of their security flaws? You'd either find something else to do or buy games for a platform that is being supported.

It seems that most people are against Smealum's ideal of non-piracy - pathetic. Does anyone have any idea how much time and effort goes into developing games? Stupid. Homebrew is a great thing to have, but piracy - Hah, that's the true cheap skates route.

1) "too many steps", which equates to a simple exploit install and entering profile settings...

2) its pretty obvious nintendo does not check for cart ids, all my roms are using the mgs3 header and nothing has happened as far as getting banned to me or anyone else

3) emunand is optional for the most part, except for certain games, even if want to install it all you do is check to make sure it says GW3D next to the version number and update

4) the amount of people who pirate isnt enough to make an significant impact on game sales, I only bought the 3ds because I could pirate so none of the games I download equate to lost sales

5) the person who dumped and uploaded the game made that decision to share it for free with people online so this is an invalid argument

6) you mean backing up saves which is just popping the sd card in the computer and copying all the save files... emunand and nand saves can also be backed up fairly easily

 

[Lavanoid]

Well, there we go, just a rich kid trying to act like he's a defender of justice.

Your own government steals your hard earned money too, go and lecture them first.

Hhaha, that's funny - I too, cannot afford to buy any game that I desire, however - I know the difference between right and wrong, something which you obviously lack. If I can't afford something, I'll be determined to earn it. People who steal are just scums with no life - just spend it playing non-earned games. As for my government - yeah, his an asshole alright - especially considering that the twat lends money out to over countries which but us in debt.

However - what can I do? I'm not even old enough to vote! What can a teenager do, seriously? Many other people feel the same way - but they never get an opportunity to do anything about it.

 

[DaFixer]

I like to have 1 card for all my games I want to play, and I like all those rom hacks and translations.
I'm still using a old DSi XL with one of those R4 card's works great, i wait what gateway wil do with the new 3d

And if a game is dumped you can play it forever, look to all those games on the Wii Store.
Yep it is gone forever...Not

And I don't want to play big money for a rare game.

 

[Ra1d]

As for my government - yeah, his an asshole alright - especially considering that the twat lends money out to over countries which but us in debt.

Well, do something about it, being cool infront of us "poor" folks won't get you anywhere, the thread will get locked and I'ma keep screaming "Yohoho and a bottle of ROM!"

 

[Lavanoid]

1) "too many steps", which equates to a simple exploit install and entering profile settings...

2) its pretty obvious nintendo does not check for cart ids, all my roms are using the mgs3 header and nothing has happened as far as getting banned to me or anyone else

3) emunand is optional for the most part, except for certain games, even if want to install it all you do is check to make sure it says GW3D next to the version number and update

4) the amount of people who pirate isnt enough to make an significant impact on game sales, I only bought the 3ds because I could pirate so none of the games I download equate to lost sales

5) the person who dumped and uploaded the game made that decision to share it for free with people online so this is an invalid argument

6) you mean backing up saves which is just popping the sd card in the computer and copying all the save files... emunand and nand saves can also be backed up fairly easily

Again, not worth the hassle - hacking, copying crap and such. Well, try and say the same thing in about a decade or so.

 

[filfat]

I don't think the problem is the amount of pirating or the loss because that is rather small. However its the moral, its the inability to feel bad that you are "robbing"* the team of their deserved or undeserved income. Based on the average "pirate" he/she shares quite a lot of interesting traits as a psychopath but instead of in every field, the "pirate" just dont give a flipping coin about the online industry. That could easily be fixed by removing the anonymous aspect of the the internet.

*metaphorical speaking ofc.

 

[Lavanoid]

Well, do something about it, being cool infront of us "poor" folks won't get you anywhere, the thread will get locked and I'ma keep screaming "Yohoho and a bottle of ROM!"

Haha, again - if you pirate and I don't, it's pretty much saying that I have more cash than you - seeing as I'm able to save up and work for it. Pretty much makes me seem like a millionaire when compared to you.

 

[DinohScene]

Why do I pirate?
To play a game earlier then release?

1. I love running unsigned code on me consoles as well as the ability to modify games etc.
2. Don't care about online/got a 2nd console to go online with.
3. Yay hardware flashers (360 isn't an option but eh)
4. I glady pay the lot for a good game, hell I rather spend extra on a title that deserves it (Bioshock Infinite Songbird edition)
5. No, I also pay for me games.
6. Data loss? mate, I backup all me saves.

Hmm, if game devs give up?
I look at Ninty.
The DS and the Wii.
Shit, security is a thing they never even heard of it seems.
Altough I must say that Sony also has a pathetic stance on it.
MS is the only one that actually done it fairly well.
Even tho it's easy to flash your DVD drive, they atleast won't allow hardware hacked machines on XBL, reducing cheaters.
YES NWFC, I'M LOOKING AT YOU!

I know how much time and effort goes into developing games.
Years of work for indies.
Months of sloppy work for EA/Ubisoft.

 

[Catastrophic]

People who steal are just scums with no life

I've always found the "piracy is stealing" argument rather stale. It only works assuming that those who pirate would otherwise buy the games if they couldn't. This is definitely not the case. I fully understand where you're coming from and respect that you care so much for the developers, but piracy isn't exactly a criminal offense.

 

[Lavanoid]

I don't think the problem is the amount of pirating or the loss because that is rather small. However its the moral, its the inability to feel bad that you are "robbing"* the team of their deserved or undeserved income. Based on the average "pirate" he/she shares quite a lot of interesting traits as a psychopath but instead of in every field, the "pirate" just dont give a flipping coin about the online industry. That could easily be fixed by removing the anonymous aspect of the the internet.

*metaphorical speaking ofc.

Indeed. It seems that there are lots of immoral people out there - no sense of guilt. Seems like people would rather give up privacy on the net, by removing - as you say, the anonymous aspect of the net. *metaphorical speaking

 

[Nic333]

Because Nintendo left Brazil and importing shit here are expensive (Actually, living here are expensive, too much taxes)