@zexen_lowe

I didn't say it was, I was just trying to hi-lite the bad issues that would occur if topic and link and general info was past around on the site.

You are right rules don't allow it.

From the out side looking in the site needs to be seen to prohibit it as well as having rules.

That does not mean that an alarm will or should sound if it is mentioned in passing comment.

I don't think anyone cares, I mean, I doubt it's illegal to say "I pirated Crysis" as a passing comment on IGN or Gamespot (I'm not sure, though). As long as the site doesn't promote it (and by not allowing links to warez they clearly don't), no one will care.

I mean, if a Sony rep doesn't allow VGC an interview at E3 just because twesterm didn't ban me when I said as a passing comment that I got the leaked version of The Sims 3....then the world is really fucked up

In a way it is really funny and really sad to reach this thread...

So many people pirating trying to take the moral high grounds....

And?

Can we ban the people who do copyright infringement via AVATARS? I'm one of the few in the clear...

I was just trying to get someone's attention... People ignore me here... Can we ban people who don't pay attention?

My opinion is this: piracy is an important part of the game industry, and often takes many forms. Banning people for it won't cut down on it, only hurt discussion, and lead to a more restricted debate.

That being said, I very much don't like piracy for the purpose of getting free stuff. I can't say I've *never* done that (mostly when I was around 11-14 and had no money), but my collection of 200+ console and handheld games would say I'm a pretty active game consumer.

However, not all piracy is bad, much is quite neutral. Ways that I've pirated stuff in recent memory include:
Platform shifting (own a game on one system, pirate it for another)
When I've lost discs
When discs are scratched to hell
When I'm too lazy to find my discs (my personal main reason, heh)
To try it (I recently bought a 360 game as a direct result of a pirated PC version)
Emulation (oftentimes, I'll download a ROM of a VC game I own, to play on my laptop

Or the stupidest case ever: Spore. I bought a copy of it, the DRM hated me, after screwing with it, I decided to just get a pirated copy. It worked better than the one I paid for. GG EA.

In my opinion, yes! All pirates should be banned! (no irony at all here!)

Well I'm sorry but I live in Venezuela where game prices can be three times of what you pay in the US, even then I only pirate handheld games (I own a DS and a PSP). I buy original games for my PS3 and Wii although I'm thinking about modding the latter because I can't afford current game prices in my country...

But isn't that ignoring, which is defeating the very purpose of ignoring them for ignoring/not paying attention?