No Xmas cheer from CD projekt-pirates are getting legal letters now for Witcher2

Neil79 said:
What if

You illegally downloaded the game thought the game was AWESOME went out and instantly purchased a copy, would you still have to pay $900?
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valid point, a know a few have admitted on this very board to downloading some games as a sort of demo to see if the game runs well, they like it etc before buying for the online features or just being decent and paying for a game they are enjoying..

Again, is it really moral? But then few companies release demos nowadays.. Witcher 2 has quite high hardware demands. Was there a witcher 2 demo? edit, appears there was a demo.. Been answered in an above post..
 
The RPS article says the letters have been initiated in Germany, thought the game was banned in Germany so maybe its something to do with that rather than pure piracy?
 
Gimpymoo said:
I said BAD JOURNALISM.

Lets break down the quote

If you are reporting something, at least verify the facts to avoid any "apparently" scenarios.

They imply only users of Bit-Torrent are implied, LOL.
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Your statements in the thread imply you support any means to track and catch alleged pirates.

http://torrentfreak.com/witcher-2-drm-dumped-but-cd-projekt-is-watching-torrents-110527/

IIRC this is the original source, TorrentFreak say they contacted CDP about the issue and provided a quote from the company. There's also precedent because the same tactic was used with the first Witcher (albeit a different publisher).
 
The net result of this will be alienating existing and potential customers rather than gaining new ones. This is the problem the entertainment/content industries just don't seem to grasp.

One piece of bad publicity like this will wipe away all pieces of good publicity that came before it, and will take a long time to repair.

There are really four groups of people:

1. Those who will buy or may buy the product anyway (probably those that are in favour of these proceedings because they feel that because they paid for it/are willing to pay for it, why shouldn't everyone else).

2. Those who bought the product but will be ****ed off that the company acted this way and may thing twice about supporting them in future. You may lose future sales here.

3. Those who didn't buy the product, and probably won't in future because of all the bad publicity they've heard lately. Possible lost sales here.

4. Those who were never going to buy it anyway, you are not going to convert these into a sale.

They may get a few people to cough up the 900 space bucks but it's becoming a PR nightmare, and this will hurt profits more than piracy ever did.
 
I dont buy this PR nightmare idea. Modern Warfare proved to me forever that no matter how badly a company screws over their buyers, if the perception is that the game is 'good' they'll lap it up with a spoon.

So sue away, if Witcher 3 is any cop im sure it'll be swallowed whole.
 
Gimpymoo said:
I said BAD JOURNALISM.

Lets break down the quote



If you are reporting something, at least verify the facts to avoid any "apparently" scenarios.

They imply only users of Bit-Torrent are implied, LOL.
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RPS aren't a news source that get paid for writing these articles. Should they fly to Germany to investigate this single article? :)

The Bit-Torrent part could be because it's mentioned in the letters?


Anyway, I'm all for fining pirates, but sending out these letters because they think they have downloaded the game is a tad silly.
 
iv-tecman said:
I purchased Assassins Creed II for the PC back in 2010, which in itself was fine until I installed the game to my laptop and realised (I knew this anyhow but forgot about it) that the game had ridiculous DRM meaning without a net connection I couldn’t play the game… Fantastic when I was stuck on a hotel room where my mobile phone internet tethering failed to work.

Torrent search for a crack was in order for me when got back home, as darned if I was going to be denied access to a game I’d paid good money for whilst I was working away… I’ve also had the same with Steam titles or games purchased from Steam, if I don’t log into Steam with a valid net connection before I disconnect my laptop offline mode never works.

I ended up downloading an entire copy of Batman Arkham due to this, as I couldn’t get a no DVD crack to work with my Steam copy… It was very unfair I couldn’t play a game I’d purchased from a digital provider due to lack of internet connection if in a hotel room with a weak 3G connection.

So, I’ve cracked two games should I expect to be fined?

I'm just using this as an example as to why I've used torrents for games in the past... Although the witcher 2 is DRM free so no reason for downloading... But there are valid (maybe not moral??) reasons for some torrent downloads.
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I believe you're allowed to download torrents of games you already own. It's the licence you own, rather than the physical copy (or files, in this case).
 
TBH I don't support piracy but some of these developers/publishers make me laugh. Sending out these letters trying to scare folk into saying money.

Witcher 2 with no Drm shouldn't be pirated anyway. I hate drm in most forms as all it does is damage the end user experience. No excuse to pirate there...

However companies such as EA, Ubisoft with recent games like BF3 and anno 2070 which need constant net connection to even start the game is bs. Also all programs like origin and steam checking system data etc is pretty bad. Imagine the amount of market research they can gather from peoples machines and I bet you they do.

also when said companies get hacked your left in the dark if your details have been stolen. I have no sympathy for these companies and piracy.

The developers are the ones that get hurt but that's what happens when you get into bed with the devil.
 
hardkore said:
Also all programs like origin and steam checking system data etc is pretty bad. Imagine the amount of market research they can gather from peoples machines and I bet you they do.
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Do you not use facebook? Do you use false details when purchasing online? Do you use false details when setting up a bank account? Do you have any store cards (Nectar card, Clubcard)? Do you only ever use cash and only ever get paid cash in hand?

Otherwise I have news for you: EVERYONE WHO WANTS THAT INFO ALREADY HAS IT.
 
Still doesn't make it alright though does it?

another thing... I want to be able to play my games when I want. I don't pay top dollar for games and dlc and be the victim of Crappy servers that when they go offline they cripple my games.
 
hardkore said:
TBH I don't support piracy but some of these developers/publishers make me laugh. Sending out these letters trying to scare folk into saying money.

Witcher 2 with no Drm shouldn't be pirated anyway. I hate drm in most forms as all it does is damage the end user experience. No excuse to pirate there...
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Just as an FYI, retail disc copies used Securom. GOG was the only DRM-free publisher.

Back to the letters:

http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/solicitors-fined-20000-sending-intimidating-letters

It seems the Davenport Lyons types got themselves into trouble over the previous instances.

CDP seem to have all but admitted doing it now:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ing-nearly-and-8364-1000-from-alleged-pirates
 
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hardkore said:
Still doesn't make it alright though does it?

another thing... I want to be able to play my games when I want. I don't pay top dollar for games and dlc and be the victim of Crappy servers that when they go offline they cripple my games.
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I must say last night was the first time I have ever experienced Steam server downtime and I have had an account since 2004. I was able to enter offline mode and play my games though so it didnt really affect me.

No it doesn't make it ok but the issue you have with that is a wider issue with modern society not with game publishers.
 
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No matter what way you look at it, 900 is just a stupid amount. Just ask them to pay for the price of the game, simples. I bought both Witcher games because I know they are a small company and I support any company giving PC the amount of love they have.
 
Gimpymoo said:
Surely those who did pirate the game deserve no sympathy?

Sure, take chances but be a man about it when you get caught instead of moaning like a *****.

Just a load of butt hurt kids who think P2P is "l33t".

Just like VAC bans, everyone moans about how unfair it is when they get caught but nobody cheats apparently.
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Congrats on not reading the OP. Many people who have never pirated a thing in their lives are getting threatening letters.
 
avec said:
To those of you thinking this practice is somehow ok on some grounds you've conjured up, you're really missing what's actually going on here.

They're sending letters to people who's computers they 'think' have downloaded a small piece of the game online based entirely upon IP Addresses harvested from a Torrent swarm.

They have no evidence or proof of who did it, yet they're still demanding a huge sum of money from people in the exact same ludicrous and what should be illegal way that Davenport Lyons did some years back.

As with Davenport Lyons, they're also sending letters to people who don't play games, or have never even heard of The Witcher 2. But this is all ok right? Just because some people downloaded their game?

They're going to lose practically all of the good will they generated with their relatively sensible DRM policy when they released The Witcher 2. Now more people will download their games, more people will regret giving them money and more people will look away when their next big release comes out.

Scaring people into paying fines for things they may not have done is ridiculous and should not be allowed.
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Entirely this.

The RPS article isn't debating the merits of pirating, it's bemoaning the use of these letters to get money off households (solely identified by IP addresses) without any attempt to establish or prove the identity of the pirates.

This is extortion. Faced with a £900 'fine', a family where a child may or may not have pirated a game would have to make the choice to taking time off work, paying to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in court, or paying up. For many people in the USA, the legal route simply was not feasible.

As courts have repeatedly established in America, these letters are nothing more than blackmail.
 
So some people are saying if you steal something physical and aren't caught for 6 months it's np as long as you pay back what it cost lol???
 
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