Gaming [Q] Why do people pirate?

[Öhr]

As for me, regardless of the medium (movie, game, whatnot):
Demos are becoming rare lately, trailers dont show much and without DRM, they tend to be more convenient. So once I came to know it and liked it even, I tend to buy it asap.

Judging from how often I buy stuff after I tried or finished it already, I must say that I wouldn't even have bought half as much if I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the free try. After all, spending 20 bucks or more on something you don't even really know is a risk, I am not willing to take.

My latest excursion into the pirate's sea lead me to "The Talos Principle", which I bought after merely 2hours playing. Worth every frigging penny.

 

[Kioku]

you are just dividing intellectual theft/"stealing" with the physical act of stealing
they are both the same

there is also the act of pirating movies / mp3's / books / other digital goods which are all a sort of (intellectual theft/"stealing") you are basically stealing their creativity , time , scripting knowledge ( as i said earlier i also pirate stuff but just making things clear, i do not sugar coat things -.- )

I wouldn't call the loss of a sale physical theft. No money gained to have lost.

... And you're not stealing the idea of creativity.. Now you're getting weird.

 

[Gruntzer]

I wouldn't call the loss of a sale physical theft. No money gained to have lost.

... And you're not stealing the idea of creativity.. Now you're getting weird.

it isn't about the loss of copies sold
it is about the act of "hijacking" "copying " "stealing" "using" call it what ever you want , other peoples work without their direct consent,

and for "stealing peoples creativity" , i can't explain this any further sorry .

 

[Haterbait]

Personally, I do music and make recordings. They sometimes take a lot of work, especially when considering the years of practice that contribute to the final products. I do it because I like to. I make no money from it. It's a passion. Mostly, I would like many people to hear and enjoy what I make. If I were a successful recording artist, I don't imagine my POV changing too drastically. It would be a huge compliment to have people actually want to pirate my music. I think that people who make games also do it because they enjoy it. There's plenty of other jobs out there, and pirating software has been around for a while, so it's not surprising to these employees when their work gets copied. The ones who care, the "developers", as they're called, are the business majors that seek profit. Their job isn't to make games, it's to run a company and make cash. They'll just move on to different business if video games become unprofitable. Also, if they didn't know that their software was being illegally copied and distributed, then they'd never notice, unless everyone only pirated, which is unrealistic.
Also, whose place is it to tell people what they do and do not deserve. Would someone, in real life (not the Internet), go up to another person playing a 3ds and tell them that they shouldn't play games if they can't afford them? Would someone go up to a starving African and tell them that they don't deserve food because they can't afford it? Kind of a dick move. Now, it's not the greatest analogy, as video games are luxury items, but the point is that just because people dont have the money for something doesn't mean they shouldn't have access. Healthcare? If someone wants something, and can't afford it, but has access to the thing without hurting anyone, then I have no problem with it. Laws don't dictate morals, nor do morals dictate laws. In this case, they protect money from not being made on a luxury item. Not exactly cancer or rape... There's plenty of people to feel sorry for out there besides people who own video game production companies.
Personally, I wouldn't even own a 3ds had someone not sold it to me for $20 when they upgraded to the xl. I'm one of those that never would have bought the games anyway. But, since owning the 3ds I've bought a few games. Haven't jumped on a flashcart yet. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But I certainly don't care what other people do, concerning piracy of software. It's not my place. This conversation is a fruitless, as minds won't be changed. It is a nice conversation to come back to every now and then. People have been mostly polite. So, maybe those against piracy can try to pirate a game or 2, and maybe those who support piracy can buy a game or 2. If you don't like it, go back to doing what makes you happy. After all, I don't think anyone is actively trying to take away something that people love, are they?

 

[sarkwalvein]

it isn't about the loss of copies sold
it is about the act of "hijacking" "copying " "stealing" "using" call it what ever you want , other peoples work without their direct consent,

and for "stealing peoples creativity" , i can't explain this any further sorry .

Don't mix concepts, because it only leads to bad things.
Think about that famous phrase from Goebells: "repeat a lie many times and it becomes truth"
(Fuck me, who the hell I am quoting)

The thing is by mixing terms you are only telling a lie to yourself and to everyone else, painting all with the same brush, and in the end you will be so confused and delusional that you will think stealing and raping perhaps are the same thing.
Piracy is a crime, piracy is not good, but piracy is not stealing.
They are different crimes, that have different consequences and that should be treated in different ways.

 

[Nightwish]

it isn't about the loss of copies sold
it is about the act of "hijacking" "copying " "stealing" "using" call it what ever you want , other peoples work without their direct consent,

and for "stealing peoples creativity" , i can't explain this any further sorry .

It's because of this mentality that as we approach a technological breakpoint that will allow us to stop being a scarcity based society poverty is spiralling out of control. Regretfully, that will likely push the transformation date pass my lifetime and make the interim... bloody.

 

[MarioFanatic64]

Piracy isn't stealing, but if you're not paying for it someone's not getting the money they're entitled to- and that's the problem.

It doesn't even matter whether or not you would have bought it if you didn't have access to piracy. If you weren't going to buy it anyway, why do you feel compelled to risk a hefty fine and potentially even a prison sentence to play it? Developers offer a service by making games for a profit. By playing a game without paying for it, the developers didn't get their money, but you still got their service.

If you're going to pull the old "I wanted to try before I buy" excuse, (and then proceed to not buy it because a. "I didn't like it", or b. because you were lying) it's becoming more and more irrelevant in the days of free trials, store kiosks, let's plays and trying out friends' copies. In the internet age, we get to know everything there is to know about every game ever. There's plenty of options to research a game out before buying it without becoming a criminal.

 

[XDel]

For the love of parrots, peg legs, and the high seas?

 

[Drak0rex]

For the love of parrots, peg legs, and the high seas?

And booty. Must not forget plunderin that precious booty.

 

[loco365]

Why do people pirate? It's simple. When I was a kid, $40 was the standard price for a new console game. $45 if it was extra fancy. Nowadays, new games are easily $60, and in some exceptional cases, $75 or even $85 for a new release. Nobody has the money for that. In fact, working in Target's electronics section, a lot of parents are shocked that new games are so incredibly expensive. It's also these prices that drive people to pirate because they aren't willing to shovel out $75 for a new game. Hell, Hyrule Warriors is $65 where I live, and $65 is a fairly hefty purchase. If it were $40 or something, it wouldn't be as bad, but when it's almost double that, that's quite a bit of money you're putting towards a game, and you probably won't get your full amount out of it, ever, unless that game has expansion packs. When I got Mario Kart 8, it was rather hefty, I'll admit, but the amount of replay value and the DLC made up for it, imo.

If gaming companies want to reduce the amount of piracy that their games are subject to, they should look back at themselves and perhaps lower prices a bit. It might incline buyers to actually not have to second-guess themselves when buying games and worrying about their wallets.

 

[jayjay123]

Speaking for PC gaming, companies like Ubisoft encourage pirating by releasing games waaaaay too early and full of bugs. Just read up on far cry 4 and assassins creed to see how many months legit buyers had to wait to play what they bought because of incompatibilities and bugs. We bought far cry 4 and still have to play it with a crack to get it started - uplay causes it to crash. Next time I 'try before I buy'

If you're going to pull the old "I wanted to try before I buy" excuse, (and then proceed to not buy it because a. "I didn't like it", or b. because you were lying) it's becoming more and more irrelevant in the days of free trials, store kiosks, let's plays and trying out friends' copies. In the internet age, we get to know everything there is to know about every game ever. There's plenty of options to research a game out before buying it without becoming a criminal.

see my post above!
Also, Google "far cry 4 black screen startup"
None of those patches worked for us and there's no money back on these things. A crack by reloaded sorted it out for me.
Never again will I go through that thank you - very expensive Christmas present that we now can't play online as intended.
Also, a hack team found a fix to play it on dual core or tri core CPUs- and it plays just fine! You have to apply an unofficial patch tho. Now why can't Ubi do that?? Even AFTER the patch release? I reckon the software houses and hardware guys are in it together... Why else do Nvidia get airtime during the intro...

 

[Jayro]

I pirate for a magnitude of reasons.

1.) At $60 per console and PC title, that's just absurd bullshit that I can't afford.

2.) I pay for internet access, so that means anything I can get my hands on is free.

3.) Fuck you, I'm Jayro.

4.) Until the gaming industry stops being faggots about region locking, the "big three" can suck my dick.

5.) Convenience of having all my favorite games in one cartridge usually means it stays in my console at all times.

6.) USB harddrive/flash memory loaders keep my DVD/UMD drives from wearing out pre-maturely, saving me money in the long-run. (Wii/Old Xbox/PSP)

7.) Optical media is too easy to damage, and has slow load times compared to a harddrive.

8.) Playing games I can no longer find in stores, like certain Gamecube and DS games. (reliving the glory days, without the cumbersome hardware)

9.) It's easier to download and install a torrented game than it is to go out and buy a physical copy, so convenience and laziness play a big factor here.

10.) Admit it, paying for DLC is bullshit, especially when it's already on the disc. Beating a game and unlocking more stuff doesn't count, as it doesn't cost real money to unlock.

11.) Developers create "open world" games because they're lazy, not because they think the player deserves more freedom. This laziness infuriates me, and pirating their games helps me feel justified.

12.) Pirating and cracking a game teaches you how to use torrents, and replace executable files with pre-cracked ones. Most games are this simple to get working, yet others may require additional steps, such as setting up a fake offline Origin account first (i.e. Sims 4). So overall, you gain a learning experience in how to become a pirate.

13.) See rule 3.)

 

[ody81]

I pirate to try non-cut down versions, if I like it, I'll know in the first five minutes and buy it. If not then I junk it, why hoard shit I'll never use or play.

And sometimes I'm just BROKE

No big deal.

And there's some shit you just can't buy or at least not easily...

 

[blinkzane]

piracy? because screw big billion dollar corporations.hell I wish I could sue someone for 1.5 million for downloading a file I uploaded, I would never have to work again.

 

[Jayro]

If I can't seem to purchase a game I WANT to buy LEGIT from either Origin or Steam, then FUCK THEM, I'll pirate the shit out of it. (By the way, "Blur" is the game I'm referring to)

But if I pirate a game and like it enough to keep it for years to come, I'll eventually buy it on Steam when it's cheap enough, usually during the Summer sale when most things I want are 75% off. I'll buy the game that way, and then completely delete the pirated version, after backing up my saves of course.

 

[ody81]

If I can't seem to purchase a game I WANT to buy LEGIT from either Origin or Steam, then FUCK THEM, I'll pirate the shit out of it. (By the way, "Blur" is the game I'm referring to)

But if I pirate a game and like it enough to keep it for years to come, I'll eventually buy it on Steam when it's cheap enough, usually during the Summer sale when most things I want are 75% off. I'll buy the game that way, and then completely delete the pirated version, after backing up my saves of course.

Gabe Newell did say something like this in an interview, that all that was needed to stifle piracy was DECENT DISTRIBUTION. It's amazing companies are <just> catching on to this now.

Steam in particular give me a much better service than I can provide myself through piracy.
Updates? Automatic, sorted. Multiplayer? Done, works when I want it without needed a LAN client like Tunngle or Hamachi. And the sales are a great chance for me to do some catching up to those 'maybe' games I didn't have the time or cash for before.

They say even in Russia piracy has dropped since Steam's been available despite Steam being told there was "no market in Russia".

Edit: I will say though, as much as I dislike 'monopolies', companies caught up way too late with way to little. I cannot stand Origin, I played BF3 for a bit and stopped because of Origin being a pain in the ass. To change my Origin password I had to go to the Old Republic site to do it, despite not even owning that game. There support system sucks sooo bad. Look it up and you'll see it's still a very common problem two years later, and the last I checked, that's still the popular fix for it

And for the record, I used to pirate absolutely everything quite proudly before Steam. Living in a dinky country town you have two places to shop for games and it's pretty barren. Not a problem now, if I have internet, then I'm all set.

 

[Jayro]

Gabe Newell did say something like this in an interview, that all that was needed to stifle piracy was DECENT DISTRIBUTION. It's amazing companies are <just> catching on to this now.

Steam in particular give me a much better service than I can provide myself through piracy.
Updates? Automatic, sorted. Multiplayer? Done, works when I want it without needed a LAN client like Tunngle or Hamachi. And the sales are a great chance for me to do some catching up to those 'maybe' games I didn't have the time or cash for before.

They say even in Russia piracy has dropped since Steam's been available despite Steam being told there was "no market in Russia".

Edit: I will say though, as much as I dislike 'monopolies', companies caught up way too late with way to little. I cannot stand Origin, I played BF3 for a bit and stopped because of Origin being a pain in the ass. To change my Origin password I had to go to the Old Republic site to do it, despite not even owning that game. There support system sucks sooo bad. Look it up and you'll see it's still a very common problem two years later, and the last I checked, that's still the popular fix for it

Well that's unsettling. :/ I like me some good support. Steam support sucks too, when I had my main account hijacked in the great hijacking of 2008, I sent them pictures of my game keys, and they never gave my account back, even with the proof of the orange box and other games I bought retail and registered through them. Lost about close to $400 or so in games because of that, and I've been slowly buying those games back again over the months.

 

[ody81]

Well that's unsettling. :/ I like me some good support. Steam support sucks too, when I had my main account hijacked in the great hijacking of 2008, I sent them pictures of my game keys, and they never gave my account back, even with the proof of the orange box and other games I bought retail and registered through them. Lost about close to $400 or so in games because of that, and I've been slowly buying those games back again over the months.

That does suck, and support is slow, I guess my point is that I can get on my Bank or Steam account, anything really, and change my details in 2 minutes. It's a pretty basic requirement for any service and they couldn't seem to grasp the importance of it for the customer.

I've had one problem with Steam, I couldn't remember an old account name or the email I used for it, anything really. Still, 3 days later and a couple of photo's of my old keys and they tracked it down for me and helped update the details. Job done, good enough for me, haven't needed them since.

As for the hijacking, did they give you anything for the drama? I never heard about mass hijacking or anything on Steam before.

 

[FAST6191]

Why do people pirate? It's simple. When I was a kid, $40 was the standard price for a new console game. $45 if it was extra fancy. Nowadays, new games are easily $60, and in some exceptional cases, $75 or even $85 for a new release. Nobody has the money for that. In fact, working in Target's electronics section, a lot of parents are shocked that new games are so incredibly expensive. It's also these prices that drive people to pirate because they aren't willing to shovel out $75 for a new game. Hell, Hyrule Warriors is $65 where I live, and $65 is a fairly hefty purchase. If it were $40 or something, it wouldn't be as bad, but when it's almost double that, that's quite a bit of money you're putting towards a game, and you probably won't get your full amount out of it, ever, unless that game has expansion packs. When I got Mario Kart 8, it was rather hefty, I'll admit, but the amount of replay value and the DLC made up for it, imo.

If gaming companies want to reduce the amount of piracy that their games are subject to, they should look back at themselves and perhaps lower prices a bit. It might incline buyers to actually not have to second-guess themselves when buying games and worrying about their wallets.

I was just playing on http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/ and between 1994 and today that is about in line. Granted if you are 19 then going from 2000 it would be more like you are out $8 today. We might have to debate relative purchasing power (many games being imports, or at least effectively imports), http://www.oanda.com/currency/historical-rates/ would indicate a considerable difference over similar timeframes.

On the $85 stuff have many games actually got there, everything I see there seems more like bundle packs or versions for collectors, granted I do not know Canada's setup and looking at some news articles it appears some things are heading that way. Not knowing Canada's setup is making it hard -- I can argue US and UK stuff (both of which had fairly high shelf prices) but that matters little.

 

[DaFixer]

1: I'm lazy and I don't care
2: I don't have the money to buy all those games, I have a wife so you know where all my money go
3: I like to have 1 cart for all my games.
4: I don't want to pay insane alot of money for great rare games.
5: I really like homedrew rom/iso hacks and translations.
6: Also I like to do mods/changes to my console/handhelds to my needs.
7: I want to play games forever, also when a eshop like Wiiware store is offline. Still I can play those games.