Worst reasons that piracy is not "bad"

Worst reason I've ever seen anyone justify piracy is:

The developer sold out/dumbed down/took away features, etc etc etc, so that's why I'm pirating.

I mean why pirate it if you think it's going to be bad?

Piracy is wrong and takes the fun out of gaming IMO.

Best excuse.

It's Call of Duty.

I don't agree with piracy, but all your arguments are logically flawed. :D

A bad reason I find is that people pirate a game solely based on its DRM.

Worst reason is when people pirate a game just to get a "demo." When in reality they download the game, finish it, declare that the game sucks, and never purchase it despite going through the entire game.

I like it when people say they only download the game to "check it out" even though a demo is available...

I like it when people say they only download the game to "check it out" even though a demo is available...

subyman

I've found myself believing some of those at various points too, but your arguments are convincing. It's definitely worth rethinking about it all at least.

The common one is people saying they were not going to buy it in the first place so no one loses out, but sure if you don't have to buy something then you were never going to buy it, and even still it's against the law so people should just not support it.

Worst reason I've ever seen anyone justify piracy is:

The developer sold out/dumbed down/took away features, etc etc etc, so that's why I'm pirating.

I mean why pirate it if you think it's going to be bad?

Raymundo_Manuel

I don't promote piracy but I've come to realize that it's a necessary evil on PC in order to keep the publishers in check so they don't rape PC gamers' pockets like they do console gamers. We do hold our games to a higher standard and this gen has only come to show some publishers wanna take our standard down while they try to convince us that it's somehow better.

Mystic-G

Pretty much any pirates arguement can be shut down with this: Video games, or entertainment for that matter, are not necessities nor rights. Even if you feel that the developer ripped you off or that you would have never purchased the game in the first place, remember that the developer owes you nothing and you owe the developer nothing.

The only problem with the OP is that piracy isn't actually stealing.

My friend gave me the worst reason.

Friend: Microsoft should just tell everyone to pirate it that way they can make more money by selling more systems.

Me: They need to sell games too...

Friend: They can lose the money on the games but they would profit more from selling a lot more systems.

Me: Well what about third parties? They need to be able to sell their games.

Friend: Why should Microsoft even care about third parties? They could make a lot of money from selling more systems.

Me: No one would buy the 360 in the first place if the third parties didn't make games.

Friend: Yeah they would.

Me: alright.

My friend gave me the worst reason.

Friend: Microsoft should just tell everyone to pirate it that way they can make more money by selling more systems.

Me: They need to sell games too...

Friend: They can lose the money on the games but they would profit more from selling a lot more systems.

Me: Well what about third parties? They need to be able to sell their games.

Friend: Why should Microsoft even care about third parties? They could make a lot of money from selling more systems.

Me: No one would buy the 360 in the first place if the third parties didn't make games.

Friend: Yeah they would.

Me: alright.

nintendoman562

i cant believe this topic again, and i have no doubt that gamespot will close it again. The fact is, piracy is illegal, and ANY argument that piracy is not a bad thing needs to go educate themselves...

The only problem with the OP is that piracy isn't actually stealing.

DarkLink77

Explain that please, cause I the way see it, you are taking something that you are supposed to pay for, without actually paying for it. Which is stealing.

The only problem with the OP is that piracy isn't actually stealing.

DarkLink77

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

The only problem with the OP is that piracy isn't actually stealing.

EliteM0nk3y

Explain that please, cause I the way see it, you are taking something that you are supposed to pay for, without actually paying for it. Which is stealing.

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

The only problem with the OP is that piracy isn't actually stealing.

EliteM0nk3y

Explain that please, cause I the way see it, you are taking something that you are supposed to pay for, without actually paying for it. Which is stealing.

[QUOTE="Mystic-G"]

I don't promote piracy but I've come to realize that it's a necessary evil on PC in order to keep the publishers in check so they don't rape PC gamers' pockets like they do console gamers. We do hold our games to a higher standard and this gen has only come to show some publishers wanna take our standard down while they try to convince us that it's somehow better.

SaltyMeatballs

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

The only problem with the OP is that piracy isn't actually stealing.

EliteM0nk3y

Explain that please, cause I the way see it, you are taking something that you are supposed to pay for, without actually paying for it. Which is stealing.

Pirating =/= Stealing. Let's get that straight. When you pirate, you aren't paying for the labor and development that went into the game, so essentially the creators aren't rewarded for their work. Stealing is different. Say I steal a car from a Ford dealership, not only do you not pay for the development that went into engineering the car, but you also cause a monetary loss, for money was spent on the manufacture of that single car, in addition to the design as a whole. So pirating has one negative, while stealing has two.

[QUOTE="EliteM0nk3y"]

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"]

The only problem with the OP is that piracy isn't actually stealing.

SaltyMeatballs

Explain that please, cause I the way see it, you are taking something that you are supposed to pay for, without actually paying for it. Which is stealing.

I don't promote piracy but I've come to realize that it's a necessary evil on PC in order to keep the publishers in check so they don't rape PC gamers' pockets like they do console gamers. We do hold our games to a higher standard and this gen has only come to show some publishers wanna take our standard down while they try to convince us that it's somehow better.

Mystic-G

Piracy is wrong and takes the fun out of gaming IMO.

NaveedLife

Uh most pirates I know, just say it's because they're cheap, no justification needed.JigglyWiggly_

[QUOTE="SaltyMeatballs"][QUOTE="EliteM0nk3y"]

Explain that please, cause I the way see it, you are taking something that you are supposed to pay for, without actually paying for it. Which is stealing.

DarkLink77

Just a different type of theft I guess.

Either way it is wrong, I don't do it.

I don't agree with any excuse for piracy. I'd rather people just be honest and admit they don't want to pay for something. All of the BS reasoning in the world doesn't change what you are doing.

this is simply not a conversation worth having with a bunch of people that can't even be honest with themselves.

Worst reason #1: "Piracy helps hardware sales."

Worst reason #2: "I wasn't planning on buying it anyways, so technically the developer didn't lose a sale."

[QUOTE="DarkLink77"][QUOTE="SaltyMeatballs"] Lol, you don't want to get into that debate. Something to do with you're not taking something away, it's just a "copy". Does it make it right? No, so I don't get the point on why people like to be uptight about it.EliteM0nk3y

Just a different type of theft I guess.

Either way it is wrong, I don't do it.

Uh most pirates I know, just say it's because they're cheap, no justification needed.JigglyWiggly_

This or they can't afford it.

You can say this and that about piracy but neither side is totally right.

You are infringing copyright, not stealing.

Its a simple fact there are to many games that come out and half of them are far overpriced, 60 dollars for a 9 hr game is retarded when i can spend 60 on a game thats last 40 hrs. Until developers stop overpricing piracy will be just as strong.

This isn't killing the indusutry what so ever, the economy and the half done 60 dollar games is hurting it more. Heck even games like cyrsis sold more copies becuase of piracy.

The companies are not loosing actual money, every time a game is pirated its not like they just lost x number of dollars, a possible sale may have been lost, but no actual looses are taken. You can't loose money on something that has no cost to the company.

Any developer that complains about piracy and forces themselves to only work on consoles or go multiplat because of it needs to have their company disbanded (looking at your epic). Such a high level of stupidity shouldnt be allowed in the gaming industry.

PC isnt the only platform to have piracy problems and I'm sure everyone already knows this already because its been said many times before. The one thing that I dont see people talking about is the fact that PC games cant be rented/bought used. That my friends takes a MUCH larger dig into the developers pockets then piracy ever will. Games that are rented/bought used dont return any of the profit back to the developer much like piracy. I don't know about you but I'd rather a gamer enjoy my game for free then them paying somone else to play it and making them a profit.

The console market having to deal with both rented/bought used games on top of having a piracy problem causes a much larger profit lose then just piracy on the PC. Not only that but you also have to deal with having to develop for new hardware and losing your market to the next generation of consoles every few years. I've fairly sure Blizzard is still making money off diablo seeing as the Battle Chest is still selling at 40$. Can the same be said for nintendo with golden eye 64 or some other classic games we've grown up with on consoles?

Piracy is only slightly worse than used games/rentals in that there is no "original purchaser".

Comparatively, I suspect the impact of piracy is grossly exaggerated by most developers since the used and rental markets are perfectly legal.

The "pirates let friends check a game out, causing them to buy it" excuse is some of the most twisted logic I've ever heard.

However, some of your counter-arguements I don't agree with either. The whole 'stealing' analogy is flawed: when you pirate a game or a CD, you don't take away the original, you merely multiply it. You cannot do this with a car, which is why the whole 'you wouldn't steal a car' arguement makes no sense.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]Uh most pirates I know, just say it's because they're cheap, no justification needed.James161324

This or they can't afford it.

You can say this and that about piracy but neither side is totally right.

You are infringing copyright, not stealing.

Its a simple fact there are to many games that come out and half of them are far overpriced, 60 dollars for a 9 hr game is retarded when i can spend 60 on a game thats last 40 hrs. Until developers stop overpricing piracy will be just as strong.

This isn't killing the indusutry what so ever, the economy and the half done 60 dollar games is hurting it more. Heck even games like cyrsis sold more copies becuase of piracy.

The companies are not loosing actual money, every time a game is pirated its not like they just lost x number of dollars, a possible sale may have been lost, but no actual looses are taken. You can't loose money on something that has no cost to the company.

*bold part*Sorry, but if you pirate something that you consider to be bad then why bother pirate it in the first place? Besides it appears that you don't understand the basics economics.

*underline part* That statement is contractionary. A sale lost IS a lost.

Btw you should use the spellchecker that comes with this software.:P

Cost. I honestly don't blame gamers who resort to pirating here -- if they don't, they won't game, and I'd rather have them buying hardware, online subscriptions and virtual games than not buying them at all. Your average joe can't afford popping US$120,00 for a five year old game (in this case, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess costs US$120,00 new, at retail stores), not here at least.

*bold part*Sorry, but if you pirate something that you consider to be bad then why bother pirate it in the first place? Besides it appears that you don't understand the basics economics.

*underline part* That statement is contractionary. A sale lost IS a lost.

Btw you should use the spellchecker that comes with this software.:P

alexside1

I don't promote piracy but I've come to realize that it's a necessary evil on PC in order to keep the publishers in check so they don't rape PC gamers' pockets like they do console gamers. We do hold our games to a higher standard and this gen has only come to show some publishers wanna take our standard down while they try to convince us that it's somehow better.

Mystic-G

[QUOTE="Mystic-G"]

I don't promote piracy but I've come to realize that it's a necessary evil on PC in order to keep the publishers in check so they don't rape PC gamers' pockets like they do console gamers. We do hold our games to a higher standard and this gen has only come to show some publishers wanna take our standard down while they try to convince us that it's somehow better.

arto1223

[QUOTE="NaveedLife"]

Piracy is wrong and takes the fun out of gaming IMO.

AncientDozer

The "pirates let friends check a game out, causing them to buy it" excuse is some of the most twisted logic I've ever heard.

However, some of your counter-arguements I don't agree with either. The whole 'stealing' analogy is flawed: when you pirate a game or a CD, you don't take away the original, you merely multiply it. You cannot do this with a car, which is why the whole 'you wouldn't steal a car' arguement makes no sense.

DraugenCP

But because stealing is 1:1 and piracy is 1:any number it's so much worse.