In defence of piracy

[Ganoncrotch]

Baalzamon said:

mZuzek said:

Yeah, but that's the thing... if someone can't afford a game, they won't buy it. At that point, what difference does it make whether they play it ilegally or don't? The only difference it makes is to the enjoyment of that particular person, and nothing else. You can say "oh but that person would've otherwise bought the game when they had the money", and well, that's not always true. There's loads of people who wouldn't buy the game anyway... it's not about feeling "entitled" to play it, it's just about having a good time. I'm not saying piracy is okay, of course it's not. There's a lot wrong with it. But there are good things that can come from it, too.

Of course, in your extreme example, no good would come out of it, but reality isn't extreme.

You're totally right.

If one person makes $40,000 a year and can afford 5 games, and another person makes $30,000 a year and cannot afford any games, the ONLY solution to this is the $30,000 person should be able to illegally download these games and still play them. After all, what difference does it make.

It is their right in life to live the exact same lifestyle (including which video games are available to them) as the person who makes more money than them.

While society has deemed certain things a right for all people to enjoy (we certainly strive to assist the poor so they can afford food, housing, healthcare, but are by no means perfect in this venture). But I believe the mass majority of people would say we have no business including video games in these buckets.

The difference it makes it is nullifies a giant chunk of how the economy runs, which is that people who make more money can buy more things (obviously there are lots of variables to this). It also is completely and totally unfair to people like myself who actually save up money for every single game that I purchase. Meanwhile, you just go and download the game, and never had to think twice about saving for it.

I completely and totally understand being jealous of those who make more and have more than you'll ever have. I've seen those people around me my entire life, and occasionally had thoughts that it just doesn't seem fair.

What I won't deal with though, is somebody trying to tell me that their theft doesn't make a difference. It absolutely steals from the creator of the game who isn't being compensated in any way for that copy of the game. It absolutely is unfair to the people who choose not to break the law and have to save up for the games that they buy.

Go on pirating your games, but for crying out loud, stop saying it has no impact on anybody else.

If you take a game like say.... GTAV and via illegal means it is torrented to an alien planet of 50 billion Klingons, and they all pass it around and play it.... How does that impact the game creator or you?

Even in your scenario of "person A has the money to pay for the item" "Person B does not" Person B never has money... he has the same amount of money as a planet full of billions of Aliens, there is no magic $60s that are in their pockets that are somehow not going into Activisions pocket when they play it, I'll put it like this man... I've worked with and around a lot of people who are on the line of not having anything, and the choices some people have is either sit back and play a few games in their spare time or spend it on things like drink/drugs and honestly I've directed people towards things like a R4 card for the Nintendo DS as a way that they could spend their spare time doing something that isn't constructive but at least would be less harmful than the alternative, and this isn't people who don't have jobs I'm talking about people who either have familys or dependants who consume all or most of their income so yeah, don't jump on the "well those losers should go get a job rather than playing games" There are a lot of people whos savings go to things like medical issues or yeah... the care of loved ones in their families. I'm never going to tell someone who has spent the day minding a family member and not earning a penny for it that they're not entitled to sit down at the end of the day and play a video game because what they done didn't give a remuneration.

Bit of a tangent there... but aye tell me just how does it impact you playing the game if some poor sap in his room is also playing that game but hasn't paid for it.... but would never have been able to pay for it? Does it make you feel worse as you play the game to think that someone else might be enjoying the same title but you're worrying they didn't pay the entry fee... what about when the game goes on sale, do you lose a little sleep or fun of the game if you paid 60 but I pick it up a month later for 20 does that get to you that I don't fully deserve to play it?