120°

TALKING POINT: Video Game Piracy ~ The Good, the Bad, and the Excuses

As Master Yoda would say: "Sensitive topic, this is." If he ever did say that, he'd be right. When it comes down to the Video Game Industry, or even any part of the entire Entertainment industry ~ piracy is a very hot-topic. But we'll just keep the focus on Video Games.

So, how exactly does Piracy affect video games, developers and consumers? Let's take a look at some of the popular excuses made to try and justify piracy - and why they may hold water, or not . . .

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SuperSteve4007d ago

There's only two reasons to ever pirate a game:

One, the game is not available for purchase (for whatever dumbass reason) in your region of the planet.

Two, the game is no longer available for sale, anywhere.

DRM is NOT an excuse to pirate. Vote with your wallet and sooner or later, the foolish suits will get the message that it doesn't work and only hurts legitimate sales. Pirating is counter-productive in that it sends the message that you don't want to pay for the game, but still play it.

Dark_Overlord4005d ago (Edited 4005d ago )

"DRM is NOT an excuse to pirate."

I disagree

I purchased Dawn Of War 2 for PC (retail disc), from a market seller. When I tried to install the game, it said the code had already been used (Don't know how, the game was sealed), contacting Valve they requested the receipt, which I provided. However as it was just a basic till receipt (just cost and cash tendered etc) they wouldn't help, and as I'd opened it the seller wouldn't take it back. So I was stuck with a coaster I'd paid £20 for, so I headed straight to a torrent site and downloaded the game.

As far as I'm concerned, I brought that game legit and the DRM screwed me so IMO pirating it was justified. Funny thing is I don't have to have steam or GFWL running for it to work (Saves system resources) :)

Kratoscar20084006d ago

You cant compete with the word "free" so the best way to avoid your game being pirated is to offer incentives of buying your game and stablish a good relationship with your consumers.

Here the games costs too much to spend on them but if the product is good and i respect the company (ie SMT and ATLUS) then i buy them, if is a so so game and has Capcom on it then i would seriously consider to buy the game rather than pirate it (RE6 and Capcom).

MestreRothN4G4006d ago (Edited 4006d ago )

I pirate most games and buy the ones I like and think deserve my vote/money. Have bought more than 20 games in the last year.

My turn to say: #dealwithit.

And no, I don't care about your holier than thou attitude. The formula is very simple: good game + respect for gamers = certain buy.

jeeves864005d ago

You know you have really no way of proving what you say is true, right? You could just pirate every game and then 'claim' that you buy the ones that you like.

MestreRothN4G4005d ago (Edited 4005d ago )

Despite actually having easy ways to prove my purchases (pics for instance), it's completely irrelevant to me if you believe it or not.

Yes, I could. I could also say I am the pope. But why?

I have about 15k achievement points on X360, almost all of it on pirate games, and a level 16 PSN account, 100% of it with originals. Take it or leave it.

Geez, I wonder if you have seen a "you can't prove it" post on the internet and wanted to post it too as a random reply someday... smh...

jeeves864005d ago (Edited 4005d ago )

Why would you brag about the achievements on pirated games? Getting an achievement in a pirated game isn't an accomplishment at all. Getting an achievement in a game you actually paid for is something worth boasting about, which...you do. And good for you.

The thing about your original response is that it's just another excuse for pirating. "I pirate games that I don't like." That's still pirating. And then you follow it up by saying that you have 15k in achievements from pirated games. So either you have pirated a f*cktonne of games 'just to try them out' or you regularly pirate games and play them to completion, using the little 'I only pirate games I don't like' as an excuse to give yourself a 'holier than thou' attitude.

A game you didn't like - a completely subjective and useless descriptor. If you buy a game and don't like it, then don't buy again from that same publisher/developer. That's how you vote with your dollar. If you go to a store and don't like their cashiers, do you steal candybars and then go back and pay for the ones you liked?

MikeMyers4006d ago (Edited 4006d ago )

This was actually quite well thought out. The bottom line is this, gaming is a hobby not a right. Nobody owes you anything.

Of course the best way to counter piracy is to offer a better service. That can be quite hard to do with something like games that are often a one time purchase. If you can get the exact replica somewhere else for free how can you compete with that?

InTheLab4006d ago

So...if you don't like/respect a dev...you pirate?

The excuses just keep rollin in...lol

jeeves864005d ago (Edited 4005d ago )

Right...because how can you change your practices that people disagree with if you don't have any finances to change with?

40°

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