Pirating is indeed bad but I have to agree with the poster from Brazil. For us Americans or for the Japanese and Europeans, games are relatively cheap so we have no reason to pirate but for people in Brazil, China and other developing countries, things are different. In China the piracy rate is about 90% while it's about 10-15% in North America. I have the exact numbers somewhere but I'm too lazy to search them.

For them, it's really hard to buy a computer + windows + office + photoshop, etc. It's why most western companies do not really try to fight piracy in those country and put their effort on the 10-15%.

I will admit that I have a few ROM sets and EMUs sitting around -- for out-of-print items.For the most part though, I will buy try to buy the actual game and get rid of the copy when I can.

I never pirated a PSX, though I did once play a friend's warez copy of Thrill Kill. I also used one of my Saturn units to play a copied game -- once -- but decided it was not worth the effort.

My ex-brother-in-law did not any problem copying games and once game me about a couple of dozen disks with photocopied instructions. I never played them and eventually pitched them. (I did use some "acquired" software while in graduate school -- Word Perfect 5, SuperCalc 4 -- but now I purchase all of my productivity items.)

Finally, I have bought Brazilian pirated carts for the Atari 2600. Nothing like getting a 32-in-1 cart which included X-Man (an adult game, not the comic book game) for $6 (USD).

Mike from Morgantown

(1000 POSTS!)

Regardless of what your opinion is on pirates. I would like to know the deep psycholigical values of why you think pirating is bad or good?

Is pro pirate opinions akin to Robin Hood syndrome? Do anti Pirate opinions equate that morals are based on government laws? What evidence and line of psyche growth led you to either outcome?

I have found often that many peoples beliefes are set by a series of laws or religous beliefes that are before their own time. Leading that personal ethics are then derived by government laws or religous views, becuase there parents enfornced living to these stanards. So generations move on incorporating into the mind. Much like Americas anti sex or Europes anti violence.

So are your opinions your own or someone elses?

As for pirates what drives you to pirate games. What are you personal justifications. Why do you believe that Pirating is ok? do you believe pirating is ok. What would change your ways and purchase the games in question?

I also pirated games when I was a teenager... But I wasn't really hurting the industry back then, as I wouldn't have bought these games otherwise (no money).

Piracy is not like stealing... it only hurts the companies involved if it prevents you from buying games you would otherwise have bought. That's a fundamental difference which is often ignored.

I will admit I pirated a few zx spectrum games at 8 or 9 years old. Since then I have used emulators to play a few spectrum and amiga games I had owned in my youth.

Now the real question is, who has actually stolen physical copies of games from stores? haha

Thieves vs. Pirates
Gamecock, make it happen!!

I don't I hate pirated games. I like to have originals.  I like emulators :P of which I have the originals ;)

Anti-piracy people are funny. Economically speaking game piracy is a non-factor. If the pirates didn't "steal" their games, then they'd buy used, rent, borrow, or simply not play at all 9999 times out of 10000. The game developers still wouldn't earn more, even if piracy were non-existant.

Firstly, Piracy is not theft. If I had a magic beam that copied somebody's car and made a copy of a sports car would that be me 'stealing' one? No. It would be me acquiring one without paying, but nobody would go deprived of a sports car because of me.

Secondly, using the 'stealing money from poor starving programmers/artists' doesn't really work in the music industry (because musicians get payed shit for royalties) and doesn't work at all for the video game industry. Most of the time there are NO royalties for video game developers, who usually don't see another cent once the game goes gold.

Note: I've never pirated a console game, because that usually requires modchipping/hacking the system, and therefore it's easier to just buy the damn game. However, I've bought I think 3 CDs in the last 6 years, and that's solely because they were CDs I couldn't find anywhere on the net. Also, I've found that when I pirate PC games, it's usually because I've heard good things about them and after installing them I find out they're quite bad and play for less than an hour and then uninstall. And no, I'm not going to pay 50$ for that.

Ninja Edit: When you pirate a game that is no longer in print, you're not taking any money from the publisher, just from seedy stores like gamestop that make a living buying used games for 5$ and reselling them for 45$.

I'm not condoning the act of piracy here, but you really have no place as an American to tell someone from Brazil whether they should pirate games or not. Brazil gets screwed royally up the ass in game prices and I personally give anyone from that country my blessing to pirate, because they don't have the same priviliges Americans have with game prices.