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Forums - PC Discussion - Why is there so much negativity toward piracy?

 

Have you ever pirated anything?

Yes 124 73.37%
 
No 45 26.63%
 
Total:169
midrange said:
ps3-sales! said:

I don't understand it. And this includes everything. From PC games, to console games, to handheld, to music and movies. 

What's the big deal? Everybody (from this site at least) talks all high and mighty about "Oh piracy is terrible you aren't supporting the industry blah blah blah"

Oh please. 

With some things such as independent games/music; I can understand. Usually produced by a small amount of people they rely on sales to pay their bills. 

But for other things: mainstream music, movies, games ect. The stigma is silly. 

You can't sit there and tell me if I pirate the yearly Madden or Call of Duty game like that's actually going to make a difference. Or if I download Rihanna/Jay Z's new album. THOSE PEOPLE ARE RICH AS FUCK. 

These people are millionaires. Could I afford to pay for the 30+ GB of music on my computer? Um no. (However I do pay for Spotify because it's awesome)

What about Jailbreaking your Iphone? I would consider that piracy. Or modding any old console. Lke seriously. 

Some people act like it's the end of the world and the worst part is YOU PROBABLY HAVE DONE PIRACY AT LEAST ONCE.

Stop acting so high and mighty. Would the industry fail if everyone pirated things? Duh. Will that ever happen? No.

 

EDIT: Glad there is at least a discussion so far. I would like to clear up one issue. While I will emulate games, mod old consoles (Wii, Iphone, ect) I do not pirate new games. I buy all my Ps4 games (mostly digitally). I am not trying to excuse my pirating history. But I will say that I support my Ps4 and the video game industry as a whole. I never have any intention to buy/own any game/music/movie that I pirate. Just wanted to clear that up.


First things first, modding is not the same as pirating or stealing. It is not illegal since you bought a product and are allowed to do what you want with it (it may break warranty labels, but that's dependant on the company).

Second, why is it fair that I but a game at full price and you pirate it for free? To pirate a game is to steal it. Plain and simple. You are not excused from stealing just because you only steal from the rich.

"but what if I get hard to get games or old games from older consoles?" I'm sorry, but you are still in the wrong. Such company may have plans to announce backwards compatibility, remakes/remasters, or ports. Or they just want to end said franchise. Whatever the reason, they have every right to do so.

I admit, I have pirated before, but I don't try to excuse myself for it, nor do I plan to do so for major titles

why is it fair that people pay significantly less for games in some countries compared to others?

fact is in theory no one is stopping you bridging that fairness gap as you could also pirate. You just elect to own it legally. that is your personal choice.  I buy stuff because I either liked it and want to own it or I like having a neat little collection going.



 

 

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LuckyTrouble said:
Logic:

People assume piracy is some huge detriment to the entertainment industry as a whole. They picture millions of dollars being lost to those pesky pirates who chose to duplicate the product freely rather than pay for the original legitimately. They say that pirates are stealing and are taking sales away from developers. Of course, all of this ignores some pretty basic concepts.

1) Piracy is not theft. Theft is taking the original so that nobody else can use it any longer. Piracy is duplicating a product, maintaining the original, and taking a copy. Nothing is ultimately lost because nothing is actually taken except copied code. With that in mind, we're at the first level of why piracy is not lost sales.

2) People tend to assume that every pirated copy means one lost sale. What this doesn't acknowledge is that somebody who commonly pirates likely had no intention of buying the product to begin with. It isn't a lost sale if there was never intent to purchase. That's logic used to justify harsh DRM policies that people seem to think deter pirates. Having been a part of a couple of game system piracy scenes, I can safely say that a dedicated pirate will wait months for any anti-piracy efforts to be broken just so that they won't have to spend the money if they need to. In the end, all DRM really hurts is the people who legitimately purchase a game, being forced into an always online state or otherwise.

3) Piracy accounts for an exceptionally small percent of people. Such a small amount that even if every person who pirated a game purchased a physical copy instead, it would hardly impact sales. It would be hard to argue that anybody would notice the boost. Piracy is an insiginifcant part of the game and software industry that people are just really desperate to act as if it's something bigger because there is a lot of legal money in treating it that way.

In the end, piracy is blown way out of proportion and is used to justify terrible DRM policies by those that don't understand that it is completely and utterly pointless.


Wow, this has a lot of problems.

1) theft is taking something that does not belong to you. When you buy software (I.e. Game, music, etc.), you are not buying the code, you are buying the right to use said code. Pirating enables you to use the code without paying, aka stealing the ability to play the game. Piracy is theft.

2) sales have nothing to do with the fact that you piracy is taking something that does not belong to you.

3) the amount of people pirating will go up if nothing is done, so while it may not seem like a big deal now, it may be too huge to handle if left out of control.

in the end, DRM wouldn't be a problem without piracy, so if you want it to go away, do your part and don't pirate. If you can't do that then stop bitching about DRM policies



Cobretti2 said:
midrange said:


If you own the original published copy, then you are not pirating, you are emulating. This is the basic argument for keeping emulators as not illegal. When you buy a game, you buy the ability to play the code, so you are allowed to play said code on an emulator. However, you are not allowed to redistribute said code. Redistributing and recieving without the purchase of the game is pirating and then things become illegal. This is the basic argument against emulators.

as for your second hypothetical, apply it to a physical purchase. If you buy a game and it doesn't work, you bring it to the attention to the company (perhaps through a lawsuit). But you don't go stealing/pirating another copy


No saying you download the pirated copy. Just the crack to patch over the installed original exe.

If you are attaching a crack/mod/patch, then that is missing and nothing should be wrong seeing as how you own the copy. Just like you are allowed to scratch or clean a physical disc, you are allowed to fuck up or improve your software through modding.



ps3-sales! said:

You are the reason why the 1% laughs at people. 

If you want to fork over $15 for that new music album or movie to makes millionaires  more millions, have fun.


Who cares who's laughing. You asked a simple question and he gave the simple answer. And he's right. You can be okay with stealing, and you can justify it in your mind by saying the rich won't miss it as if you're Robin hood or something, but at the end of the day you're still stealing, which is still unethical, which is exactly why there is "so much negativity towards piracy." It's perfectly justified.

If you walked into the house of Bill Gates and stole his XBO, it isn't suddenly okay because "he's a billionaire who probably owns twenty of them."



Cobretti2 said:
midrange said:

First things first, modding is not the same as pirating or stealing. It is not illegal since you bought a product and are allowed to do what you want with it (it may break warranty labels, but that's dependant on the company).

Second, why is it fair that I but a game at full price and you pirate it for free? To pirate a game is to steal it. Plain and simple. You are not excused from stealing just because you only steal from the rich.

"but what if I get hard to get games or old games from older consoles?" I'm sorry, but you are still in the wrong. Such company may have plans to announce backwards compatibility, remakes/remasters, or ports. Or they just want to end said franchise. Whatever the reason, they have every right to do so.

I admit, I have pirated before, but I don't try to excuse myself for it, nor do I plan to do so for major titles

why is it fair that people pay significantly less for games in some countries compared to others?

fact is in theory no one is stopping you bridging that fairness gap as you could also pirate. You just elect to own it legally. that is your personal choice.  I buy stuff because I either liked it and want to own it or I like having a neat little collection going.

Because pricing is the decision of the company for reasons that include manufacturing, taxes, and distribution (look up the issues with Brazil).

If you are choosing to get something illegally, than so be it. Just don't go trying to justify it.



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Moonhero said:
It is theft. People who steal are nothing more than worthless thugs. I have never stolen anything in my life. It is wrong, period.


so you never used emulators for example? like on adroid? thats piracy too



KLAMarine said:

ps3-sales! said:

Why is there so much negativity toward piracy?

Because even though it isn't theft, it can still prove harmful.


It is theft. You are stealing the ability to use the code without the permission of the owner.



midrange said:
KLAMarine said:

ps3-sales! said:

Why is there so much negativity toward piracy?

Because even though it isn't theft, it can still prove harmful.

It is theft. You are stealing the ability to use the code without the permission of the owner.

Not exactly: stealing a car deprives the original owner of their car. Making a copy of something does not. It's still harmful regardless.



I'm not saying that I haven't or don't "find things on the side of the road" from time to time.

But I will say that, I'm sorry, piracy in general, but really especially for NEW things that are actively out and available to buy, is wrong. It's not about being "high and mighty". It's about common, practical sense. As someone else stated, if LOTS of people just decided to (openly as you do) pirate mainstream retail games from big companies, then that IS going to hurt those companies, and future game endeavors.

And regardless, at the end of the day, arguments like this one come off as nothing more than "Reasons why I want it to be okay that I steal stuff".



I'm not going to insult pirates or argue against it. I've just never understood the concept of, "I wasn't going to pay for this anyway, therefore I deserve to have it." Everyone seems to have a reason of why what they are doing is right. I don't care that you pirate, but you shouldn't need to try and justify something if you don't think it's wrong.