Motivation not to engage in piracy?

[Mister K]

Because large corps aren't over charging for games that are half finished or rehashed and on top of that they still make profit, piracy also produces advertisement.

More money is lost with pre-owned games then piracy = fact.

[Edge-]

I don't understand why people insist that piracy will stop future development. It won't, and it hasn't.

Maybe not, be it definitely has an effect on it. DRM that punishes paying customers is a direct result of it.

At worst piracy just forces companies to make different kinds of games and change their business model.

For some, yeah. Gabe Newell is of that opinion, but he's in the minority. Instead you get obnoxious DRM. They spend more time on that than they do figuring out why people are pirating (which is funny because the DRM gets broken anyways and just pisses off paying customers).

Why do you think almost every gaming company out there is so focused on MMO development right now? Because MMO developers can avoid most of the piracy related problems altogether. Instead of selling a disk in a box, you sell a service (access to servers for $15 a month, in game items, character transfer and renaming fees, etc). Selling a service makes piracy impossible in the traditional sense.

"Almost everyone" is not focusing on MMO development, but some big companies are getting into it now. It has nothing to do with piracy, and everything to do about making money. MMO's are a continual source of revenue. Between subscription fees (if the game has one) and microtransactions, they get a TON of bang for their buck. It's a more profitable form of DLC.

[xGLxAnubis]

Because I'm not a thief. If i don't agree with the price of something I don't buy it, therefore I don't own it.

It's not stealing.

Stealing is running up to a woman, taking her purse, and running away with the purse.
Piracy is running up to the woman, making an exact copy of her purse and all of it's contents, leaving her with her purse, then running away.

It's a moral gray area, at best.

My personal opinion is that if developers release a quality product, I pay for it. If the product was garbage, I delete it after pirating and don't bother with the game/movie anymore.

---------- Post added 2011-11-17 at 09:47 PM ----------

Because large corps aren't over charging for games that are half finished or rehashed and on top of that they still make profit, piracy also produces advertisement.

More money is lost with pre-owned games then piracy = fact.

This is a good point. As well, most of the studies done in regard to piracy say that Piracy reduces profits by a VERY small margin. Most people who pirate a lot are also the people who spend the most on Video games every year. The theoretical reasoning for this (And considering I and my friends do this, I believe it) is that a large portion of Pirates do it to 'demo' whatever it is they're pirating, paying for it if they like it afterwards. In Middle school we'd do the same thing, except instead of DLing a game, we'd borrow it from a friend to test it out. I'd imagine most pirates used to do the same thing, and with the advent of torrents simply find it easier to do that instead of waiting a day to borrow it from someone *Shrugs* Read some of the studies on pirating, it's all quite interesting especially considering the outcries of "PIRATING IS DESTROYING THE INDUSTRY RAWR RAWR IMMA BARE!"

[Edge-]

It's not stealing.

Stealing is running up to a woman, taking her purse, and running away with the purse.
Piracy is running up to the woman, making an exact copy of her purse and all of it's contents, leaving her with her purse, then running away.

It's a moral gray area, at best.

Sorry, but it is stealing.

[Caiada]

If you avoided paying for something, I'd call that stealing.

OT: All my motivations are moral and out of respect for devs (even if I do occasionally download stuff, it's either abandonware or something I owned already. That's something that unfortunately current services don't really work with so well.)

[Deleted]

Don't really pirate games, mainly tv programs I don't want to wait for the UK release date on, and I always make sure my sky box is set up to record them so the show still gets it's ratings from me.

Pirated Minecraft for about 10 mins before realizing it's awesome and purchasing it...can't think of any other games apart from really old ones I cant find anywhere else.

[Mister K]

Sorry, but it is stealing.

Depends how one defines stealing xP *BIG Grin*

Although the following may be hard to achieve in this current state of world (since you need money for living and paying the bills), it is still quite correct.

"If you enjoy doing something, you will do it for free."

While the "quote" is not exactly as it should be worded you get the idea. It was in one of the Jacque Fresco's videos.

Don't get me wrong, I buy games if they are good.

CSS, CS1.6, WoW, SWTOR, BF2, BFBC2, BF3, GTA SA, GTA IV but some games aren't worth the money, you gotta try it before buying it (i know we have demos for that).

Pirating will be here for some time, I am fine with it and even if its somehow (which wont happen) blocked by the governments around the world i still wont buy pointless crappy games.

It is here and it will stay, unless internet will be heavily censored (overtaken by the gov.), which I doubt really...

[Deleted]

*Snip*

Don't promote piracy. -Edge

[Edge-]

Depends how one defines stealing xP *BIG Grin*

Definition debates always end in tears.

FYI GUYS, KEEP DISCUSSION TO REASONS WHY NOT TO PIRATE. DON'T DISCUSS WHETHER OR NOT YOU PIRATE OR WHY PEOPLE SHOULD PIRATE. IT IS AGAINST THE RULES AND MAY GET YOU AN INFRACTION.

[bals]

Sorry, but it is stealing.

It's more counterfeiting than stealing. Stealing involves someone else losing property for you to gain it.

[Doylez]

Sorry, but it is stealing.

No it's not the same thing, neither from a legal nor from a moral point of view.

[Deleted]

Steam sales.

[Mister K]

Steam sales.

Yeah Glad they aren't money hungry [insert swear words] company (Valve, since Steam is a program .... obvsly). Valve is doing great job with Steam and its weekly deals and specially holidays.

Already saved like £50.

[Super Kami Dende]

In the distant past, Demo's used to give you a good idea of if the game was worth buying or not.

Most companies don't demo their games anymore, so you have to buy a game based on just reviews and hype, meaning a waste of money if you buy a shitty game.

I think many people use pirating as a demo.

[Edge-]

It's more counterfeiting than stealing. Stealing involves someone else losing property for you to gain it.

I agree to a certain extent. I actually think it's a bit of both. You are "stealing" potential profits from them by counterfeiting something that they own.

No it's not the same thing, neither from a legal nor from a moral point of view.

It might not have the same penalties as stealing proper, but it is definitely against the law, which is enough in my book.

[Dux]

I'm just going to use music as my main topic considering that's what most people pirate.

The way I see it, if you like a song/artist enough, you should be supportive of them and appreciate their work. Granted, if you buy a song on Itunes they make like 50 cents off it. But still, it all adds up. That's the main reason why I never pirate anything.

[Deleted]

The way I see pirating is a demo. 95% of pirated games these days WON'T work online and/or don't have working online features. 9/10 games I enjoy is because of multiplayer aspect. So basically I try before I buy... Portal 2 and MW3 most recently.

That's my 2 cents.

[Deleted]

I know the legal and moral reasons not to engage in piracy but are there really any selfish pragmatic reasons?

If there is an online multi-player component to a game then one misses out on pirating the software. That is where I think Blizzard got it right by requiring an internet connection to play Starcraft 2 at all.

However what is the motivation to go legit with single player titles with no online component?

I believe the legal reasons can also be the pragmatic reasons. You may have to face some unplesant consequences for pirating software. Obviously the risk is extremely low, but it is there. Another pragmatic reason could be, that you are interested in supporting the creators of the games that you enjoy, so that they will keep on working at new games, which you may perhaps also enjoy.

[Oneirophobia]

Please lock this. Stupid thread really. Dont promote piracy. We dont need to argue for reasons to or not to.

Now personally I havent downloaded 1 single thing in my life but maybe HOMM3 witch I bought later. You should support the game makers you play, else you proboaly dont even like the game enough?

Reading comprehension. ._.

Selfish pragmatic reason... hm.... Well, if you're one of the few that get "made an example of" you could certainly be in for some trouble. Does that count?

[omglazor]

I like to support good titles and companies. A deserving title deserves to be paid for.

I have a shit-list of publishers and developers that I will never buy or pirate from even if I find the title interesting. I believe the best way to combat shitty companies is to ignore them. Don't pirate it just because you don't like the DRM - they'll just use those numbers as a justification for their DRM. No, ignore it and make their wallets hurt.

Sadly, not enough people share my view, but may be some day... >_>