Games Piracy - What's your take on it?

BlackDragon · 16 Jan 2008 at 08:01

After reading an article on Fudzilla about how Infinity Ward weren't too happy about having so many people playing CoD4 with pirated versions, it has sickened me that little bit more.

I despise piracy. I despise people who steal games even more. Why? When you consider how much effort and money goes into making a game, if people are just gonna steal the game then they just aren't going to make it for the PC anymore, or you'll get more DRM **** that ship with your software.

I find it such an selfish act when films, games, etc and never bother buying stuff. It hurts the industry, and it's going to hurt you more in the long run.

So who does this then, and why do you do it? And don't give me that **** that you're testing the game to see whether you like it or not because that is utter bull. You can find out a lot about the game by playing the demo and reading the kazillion reviews that you can find on the net. And sorry, the excuse "It was a bad game anyway, so it doesn't matter" doesn't cut it either. If you can't afford it, then save up and buy it later, it's really not that hard.

Anim · 16 Jan 2008 at 08:48

How much of the income from a game/film do you think the developer/script writer/actor gets? If anything is selfish its the way the publishers and producers act.

FYI i dont have any pirated games.

Tripnologist · 16 Jan 2008 at 08:51

BlackDragon said:
And don't give me that **** that you're testing the game to see whether you like it or not because that is utter bull.

Get off your horse. You don't know everyone here so how can you claim to know as such.

I've bought nearly every game I've played. If it's a game I know I'll like, I'll preorder it. The only time I ever download a game is if I'm not sure about it and there is NO demo (to be honest, this rarely happens and therefor, I download very little and not very often). I've ended up buying a few of those games but the rest have been uninstalled and removed within a couple hours as I didn't like them. I realise this is still wrong but I just don't care. I'd rather save myself the money than buy a game that I dislike.

Also, you bring up the argument of reviews but games are subjective. Just because the reviewers like a game, it doesn't mean I will. Take TF2 for instance, everyone raves about how great it is but for whatever reasons, I really don't care for it.

malachi · 16 Jan 2008 at 08:51

I thought Punk Buster stopped pirated copies of COD2/4 from being played online or was that to prevent cheats only?

Raves · 16 Jan 2008 at 08:53

Firstly, I buy the games I play on a regular basis.

Regarding 'full demos':

When a decent demo has been released for a game, I'm satisfied to try that and make my decision.

However, if there is no demo, or a limited demo i.e. single player demo for an online FPS, then I think it is reasonable to find other ways to try before I buy. I buy 2 copys of each game I buy (one for me, one for the missus) so I want to make sure I'm getting a decent game.

In regards to game reviews on the net: rarely do I find an unbiased review. Most reviews are extensions of marketing deptartments. I find reading the forums here much more accurate in terms of gauging game quality. However, all reviews are subjective, and as such I still think it is important to try before you buy.

Other examples of things I try before I buy that are in the same price range of games: wine, whisky, shoes, and clothes. If it is reasonable to try all these things before I buy them, why is a game any different?

aeT · 16 Jan 2008 at 08:54

Tripnologist said:
Get off your horse. You don't know everyone here so how can you claim to know as such.

I've bought nearly every game I've played. If it's a game I know I'll like, I'll preorder it. The only time I ever download a game is if I'm not sure about it and there is NO demo (to be honest, this rarely happens and therefor, I download very little and not very often). I've ended up buying a few of those games but the rest have been uninstalled and removed within a couple hours as I didn't like them. I realise this is still wrong but I just don't care. I'd rather save myself the money than buy a game that I dislike.

Also, you bring up the argument of reviews but games are subjective. Just because the reviewers like a game, it doesn't mean I will. Take TF2 for instance, everyone raves about how great it is but for whatever reasons, I really don't care for it.

Win!

Yeggstry · 16 Jan 2008 at 08:56

Tripnologist said:
Get off your horse. You don't know everyone here so how can you claim to know as such.

I've bought nearly every game I've played. If it's a game I know I'll like, I'll preorder it. The only time I ever download a game is if I'm not sure about it and there is NO demo (to be honest, this rarely happens and therefor, I download very little and not very often). I've ended up buying a few of those games but the rest have been uninstalled and removed within a couple hours as I didn't like them. I realise this is still wrong but I just don't care. I'd rather save myself the money than buy a game that I dislike.

Also, you bring up the argument of reviews but games are subjective. Just because the reviewers like a game, it doesn't mean I will. Take TF2 for instance, everyone raves about how great it is but for whatever reasons, I really don't care for it.

Pretty much the same here, except I love TF2

snowdog · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:12

malachi said:
I thought Punk Buster stopped pirated copies of COD2/4 from being played online or was that to prevent cheats only?

No, not random generated keys pirates use, one key in a popular release group their instructions got banned because some noob used cheats ( pb bans per cd-key) and banned 20-40 k people that way.

Gimpymoo · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:17

Anim said:
How much of the income from a game/film do you think the developer/script writer/actor gets? If anything is selfish its the way the publishers and producers act.

That is why I buy from STEAM whenever possible

Teaf · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:26

Trouble is these days very few games warrant buying for the PC, you'd probably find it hard to name 10 from last year. I rarely play games these days, only Football Manager 2008 and Team Fortress... both which I fully own.

Piracy wouldn't be anywhere near as bad if games were scaled to a point where they cost based on how good they are, although the max should be £10 - £15 for a game, not £30+ in some cases.

Rezident · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:31

malachi said:
I thought Punk Buster stopped pirated copies of COD2/4 from being played online or was that to prevent cheats only?

No, Punkbuster just stops people who paid for the game (like me) from playing it every now and then.

There's not a chance it'll ever stop piracy, although hopefully it does stop a few cheaters.

Teknobry · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:31

My bro is 17, full time at college, not able to work many hours. He doesn't have a lot of money. He'll download pirate games, simply because with his limited funds he has more important things to spend money on, i.e bus fares for college and food.

Now, as he was never going to buy the game in the first place, how is it hurting the industry if he downloads it? There is nothing tangible to actually take, its just data, therefore the games company aren't losing money as nothing physical is being taken, and as he wouldn't buy the game anyway they aren't losing lost revenue.

This is NOT the same as walking into a shop and taking a copy, as that is losing something tangible that cost to produce.

I realise his case is a very specific example, but I don't see anything wrong in his situation, as when he finishes college and does start full time work, he will buy games legitimately.

Rezident · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:33

Raves said:
In regards to game reviews on the net: rarely do I find an unbiased review. Most reviews are extensions of marketing deptartments. I find reading the forums here much more accurate in terms of gauging game quality.

This is true, some of the reviews I've read over the last six months have been so utterly wrong and shamelessly biased that I just don't don't look at them anymore.

eekfek · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:38

tut tut, the OP puts forward his opinion regarding piracy and is told to 'get off his high horse' amongst other insightful pathetic responses like 'win' . Regarding 'i try food, wine , clothes etc etc before i buy' is totally different, your are offered that service whereas illegally distributed copyrighted material isn't .

its the same as buying stolen goods, just because you don't see the consequences of obtaining illegal goods doesn't make it right but the effects cause millions in lost revenue which in turn kills off companies.

i'm not naive in this matter nor am i telling anyone what to do, but just because someone wants to vocally condemn this act doesnt warrant smart arse' comments, and yes i am a saint.

Neil79 · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:38

Whinging about piracy again hmmmm , Galactic civilization 1 and 2 sold incredibly well that was pirated The Witcher got voted best rpg of 2007 that got pirated but sold very well.

They Wonder Why People Don't Make PC Games Any More

Maybe because many of them are Crap and people don't want to buy Crap? , not saying cod4 is crap but you cant use this piracy excuse for many other games. Console games get pirated , handheld's get pirated , if a person can pirate pc titles they will pirate console / handheld games aswell but that goes unmentioned

Anyhoo piracy has been around since the days of the squeeling loading machine , amstrad e.t.c. So complaining about it now will never make it go away whatever platform is out. I don't justify piracy but shut up about it , nothing's going to change and don't make excuses for other crap games not selling because of piracy

Raves · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:48

eekfek said:
Regarding 'i try food, wine , clothes etc etc before i buy' is totally different, your are offered that service whereas illegally distributed copyrighted material isn't .

Demos of games are offered, and when available I use them.

I believe this should be standard practice, as is with all the other products I previously mentioned.

However, when game demos are not offered, or are not representitive of the way I will use the software, then I will find alternative means to sample the quality of the product prior to purchase.

mark_t50 · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:51

I haven't used pirated games since I was a kid and we used to copy each others spectrum games using a double tape boogie box thingy. Even then it was a pain to get them working, always having to tweak the head allignment to get them to work properly. In my defence I was only about 13 at the time, and honestly didn't think it was wrong.

I just wouldn't do it nowadays, not really from a morale standpoint (although I do think it is wrong), it's more that if I want to play a game I'd rather just buy it and can't be bothered to go through the hassle of downloading them from dodgy sites, mess on getting weird image cloning utilities to work, or worry that they might have some virus in that might nick my steam passwords or something.

I do think it's a shame that piracy seems to be such a problem on PC games and worry that it might be a contributing factor to the possible decline in PC gaming though

Neil79 · 16 Jan 2008 at 09:58

mark_t50 said:
I do think it's a shame that piracy seems to be such a problem on PC games and worry that it might be a contributing factor to the possible decline in PC gaming thoguh

It isn't , console games get pirated just as much so do handheld games.. PC games have been pirated since the days of dos , the witcher sold really well even with piracy so did galactic civ 2!

andshrew · 16 Jan 2008 at 10:02

Teknobry said:
My bro is 17, full time at college, not able to work many hours. He doesn't have a lot of money. He'll download pirate games, simply because with his limited funds he has more important things to spend money on, i.e bus fares for college and food.

Now, as he was never going to buy the game in the first place, how is it hurting the industry if he downloads it? There is nothing tangible to actually take, its just data, therefore the games company aren't losing money as nothing physical is being taken, and as he wouldn't buy the game anyway they aren't losing lost revenue.

This is NOT the same as walking into a shop and taking a copy, as that is losing something tangible that cost to produce.

I realise his case is a very specific example, but I don't see anything wrong in his situation, as when he finishes college and does start full time work, he will buy games legitimately.

The game cost the developers to produce, just because your brother doesn't have a physical copy of the game doesn't mean its ok. If you genuinely believe that what he's doing isn't wrong then that really is a sad thing.

He doesn't want to pay for the game but clearly wants to play them because he's downloading them. If your going to pirate software atleast have the balls to admit it and not hide behind the pathetic excuse of 'oh I've not taken anything physically therfore its ok'.

m4cc45 · 16 Jan 2008 at 10:03

I think a really good idea would be to release the full game but time limited. That way you could play the full game without hurting the industry.

My personal view is that they charge too much for games and I rarely buy a new game much preferring to wait until the game comes out on budget.

M.