Motivation not to engage in piracy?

[Ragora]

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.



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

That's basically the same argument that murder is stealing someone's life. Well, except for the bit where murder is obviously more heinous than theft.

[Phatsamurai]

Requiring an internet connection is the simplest, and the most retarded way to encourage people to buy your game.

Especially for games like Assassins Creed 2, where there was NO online gameplay, yet you still had to log into the Uplay or whatever it's called just to play.

You're right, we're not supposed to talk about it like that. -Edge


Trying to force people to adhere to your rules so that you get the money you deserve is fine. But in such a pointless way as to require internet connectivity for a FULLY offline game, too far.


Just my two cents.

Thanks for not infracting me Edge, I figured it would get removed, but I really felt it had to be said to make my point.

[Specops]

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.

How is it stealing a potential profit if the person never planned to buy the game?

[Deleted]

Yeah the statistics show piracy actually does very little to damage the big corperations. In fact in some cases its shown to increase sales due to advertisement. There has been a ton of propaganda though and thats why theres so much hostility towards pirating of late. This business with SOPA being one of em. Total exageration of the damage it causes and the media are just fueling the fire as usual.

[Samin]

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?

To me it's "selfish pragmatic" to be able to sleep well. Okay that's exaggerated but for titles like Skyrim, Portal or (the maybe not so well known) Risen I simply can't justify NOT buying this. Especially because I do have the money to do so. I used to think different when I was younger and didn't have any real income. And from people I talked to I heard the same. There is no reason to pirate software if you could buy it without having to starve next week because you don't have any money left. If you have to watch out very closely to your spendings it's easier for you to justify pirating software.
Actually "if you can't afford it, don't use it" isn't a proper argument. It simply doesn't work that way in REAL LIFE. Especially for entertainment articles.

But, in other cases it actually gives me sleepless nights because I want to punch myself for paying for such garbage...like Dungeon Siege 3 Don't ever buy this game, there is no game style/genre preference that could justify buying this game. There is a very fitting german saying for this "sein Lehrgeld zahlen" literally meaning to pay to learn something (Lehrgeld=apprenticeship fee, zahlen=to pay).
But to stay on topic, there is actually also no reason to even pirate that game. It's that disappointing.
And I think it's actually a very small portion of cases where piracy leads to a purchase because of the "try it out" aspect. I only experienced that once (with the Gothic series, started with a pirated copy of the first game, bought the second one and later I also bought the first one because it was so great..oh also Arcania is a complete waste of money too like Dungeon Siege 3 while we're at it v.v)
But with friends it was more often the case that they went from pirated to legit because of multiplayer i.e. playing with friends. (Minecraft, Borderlands come to mind) - so again the very obvious multiplayer aspect is always the best reason for not pirating software - and I mean real multiplayer, not forced internet connection for single player games.

[Doylez]

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

Protesting in Iran is illegal. In Saudia Arabia it's illegal for a woman to drive a car. In the US drinking alcohol is illegal if you're younger than 21. Many things are illegal, but that doesn’t automatically make them wrong or even immoral.

[Deleted]

On the subject of offline games requiring internet to install/play, it only effects the people that actually buy the games.

Whilst i was offline waiting for my connection to be sorted by my ISP I went to my local game shop to buy something to fill the gap so to speak, virtually every game I looked at required some sort of internet connection so I couldn't play them. Yet I saw SC2 on torrent less than 12 hours after release. To be honest the game company's need to stop using this to try and stop piracy, it simply does not work.

[BlackMagicMarkel]

I like physical representations of things. Goes for games, books, music, etc. I'll always prefer having the box and disc next to me, or the hardcover/paperback, than a digital copy I got for "free". Call me old fashioned.

[Phatsamurai]

And I think it's actually a very small portion of cases where piracy leads to a purchase because of the "try it out" aspect. I only experienced that once (with the Gothic series, started with a pirated copy of the first game, bought the second one and later I also bought the first one because it was so great..oh also Arcania is a complete waste of money too like Dungeon Siege 3 while we're at it v.v) but with friends it was more often the case that they went from pirated to legit because of multiplayer i.e. playing with friends. (Minecraft, Borderlands)

I "borrowed" Skyrim "from a friend" and after only 45 minutes or so of playing through it, I bought my own copy.

It was the same for Minecraft, Mirrors Edge, Homefront and many others.

If a game is good, I will buy it, simple as that. It may not always be the day of release, sometimes I'll even be done with the "borrowed" copy and buy the game anyways just to support the company that made such a great game.

[Darkdruidelf]

There are certain ones I would, in particular, say, Call of Duty, if I wanted to play it. This is just because the developers are getting enough money as it is.

However, something like Skyrim, I absolutely respect Bethesda and want them to get all the support they possibly can, so I'd buy it.

That said, the only game I've ever got illegally was fire emblem: path of radiance, and thats only cus I once owned it and lost the disc and there are literally no copies anywhere that wont cost you 60ish quid. The way I see it, I'd already paid for it, and I just wanted to dedicate like a week to playing that and radiant dawn straight after. Fucking fantastic games.

Same thing goes with music, especially smaller/local bands. ALWAYS buy music from local bands, never download it. They really need the support.

[Phatsamurai]

On the subject of offline games requiring internet to install/play, it only effects the people that actually buy the games.

Whilst i was offline waiting for my connection to be sorted by my ISP I went to my local game shop to buy something to fill the gap so to speak, virtually every game I looked at required some sort of internet connection so I couldn't play them. Yet I saw SC2 on torrent less than 12 hours after release. To be honest the game company's need to stop using this to try and stop piracy, it simply does not work.

Instead of working like they want (You can't play our single player game with no internet because we have trust issues)

It has the opposite effect (Pft, you don't get to tell me when I can and cannot play the game I payed for, so fuck you, I'm not going to pay for it)

[Edge-]

This thread has gone too far off topic (I'm probably a bit at fault here to) and there has been too much discussion of actual piracy, so I'm closing it down.