If I made an online game and had to shutdown the servers, I'd release ONE. LAST. UPDATE., to unlock a Server picker with IP addresses and release the server application's executable code so people can run the game's servers themselves for as long as they want.
Also, if the DRM for a game is ridiculous, and I bought the thing, but cracked it anyways to remove the DRM, does it count as a valid point that wasn't turned meaningless by me playing it anyways?
Of course, because I don't want people to unlock that themselves, the code involved would be ready, but not merged with the rest of the game until that one update.
Cosmin Metea Nice one. I turn my PC off everyday. I don't know if servers are supposed to be on all the time, but if I have to shutdown servers for good, then that's what I'd do. Now if they're off for maintenance purposes or some other reason that means they'll be back on sometime soon, then no.
I think extra credits made a good case for why they can be more trouble than they are worth. As much as I love demos, I can see the inherent flaws in them. Were we living in the days before the internet and widespread availability of playthroughs, reviews, and the like, I would say demos are pretty important (back in the day, blockbuster and other rental stores served this purpose for console games). Nowadays, demos just don't have the same commercial need they once did. Only on a few occasions would a demo have made a serious impact on my decision.
I was actually one of the "too poor" pirates, my brother gave me a decent laptop that he'd wiped when he upgraded and I had nothing to play on it. However, every game i pirated, if I played for more than an hour, I'd add it to my steam wishlist. I'm proud to say that now, since finding a job and such, the only games left on my wishlist i have copies I've bought or been given for a home console. I was a "too poor" pirate, now I've paid off that dept
I am one of those too poor pirates. I didn't 'afford' my pc or console; i was gifted the pc parts over time and my xbone was a christmas gift. friends pay my MMO subscriptions cause they want to play with me. we exist, EC.
***** Russia is in both, Europe and Asia. Your right about the fact that the famous failed invasions ocurred on the European front, but there's no reason to be an a**hole about it. Keep it civil.
I live in Venezuela, the first issue is the pricing here as the inflation in the country is currently completely out of control (We have the highest inflation rate - Period, in the entire world), and buying a single game (Not a console, a game) costs what would be equivalent to 300 dollars, which even most "rich" men on this country would hesitate to follow. This is something that's only really taken place in the past few years - Once upon a time, games and consoles were somewhat affordable, which is why I managed to get myself as PS3, although I needed the monetary input of more than just my parents, and I bought original games for it when I could which wasn't very often. But as the inflation continues to grow, it is no longer possible for me to afford games for it, because everyone in the country currently is going through a very difficult time and games simply aren't worth the price - No matter how fun the game is, we're not going to pay for an amusement over the ability to live comfortably (or TRY to live comfortably). But besides that, games simply aren't distributed here in a widespread way and the few that are distributed are generally the kind of bland family friendly shit that I've never been into because there's been a law here against "violent games" since around 2010, and it hasn't made the adquisition of new games any easier. But even worse than that, the few games that are actually distributed here don't get distributed for very long - You'll be EXTREMELY lucky to find a game that was released merely a year ago in the few stores that still sell original, non-pirated copies. Many of absolute favorite games from the ps2 era and before (Silent Hill 2, Psychonauts, Resident Evil 4, etc etc) are pretty much impossible to find, no matter how hard I try. They're not even on our ebay. I fully intend to support the industry whenever I manage to move unto a country where games are widely distributed and have reasonable prices (I have ALWAYS, always preferred having a physical, legit copy of something, because I'm something of a collector and owning something physically is always much more fun and satisfying than just downloading it, let alone downloading a pirated copy), but as it stands if I were to follow the anti-piracy stance, I would not be able to play almost anything.
Dude, I live in Venezuela too and, of course, have the same exact issues as you (just switch PS3 with Xbox 360 and we have the same exact situation, although I now own a PS3 because my 360 was stolen). You voiced our frustrations incredibly well and for that I applaud you. I only own a handful of original 360 games and I agree, there's no bigger satisfaction than owning an original game, especially if it's one you like. Not to mention that pirating a and playing with a pirated console it's a ginormous pain, for many reasons. Love from Maracaibo!
The12Simon I'm actually in Maracaibo as well! I think this is the first time something like this has happened to me (Meeting someone from my same town). I actually have a 360 as well, my parents preferred that one over the PS3 due to the fact that it was easier to acquire pirated games for it, and eventually my dad got himself one when he was out of the country. Since it's so much easier to get games for it, I've been using it a lot more than my PS3 for a while now - I haven't gotten a single new PS3 game since at least 2012, I just can't pay for them. Y ahora me doy cuenta que podria haber dicho todo esto en Español, pero bueno, no voy a escribirlo todo otra vez lol
Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade Wow! Es también la primera vez que me encuentro con alguien de Maracaibo, que pequeño es el mundo! Y si también me di cuenta de que pude haber escrito en español lol. Pues sí, es mucho más fácil "chispear" un 360 que en un PS3, es más es pura suerte que encontrara a alguien que me ponga juegos en el Play (y a tan sólo 300 Bs), y ya no tengo mi 360 así que con eso es que me entretengo. Pero igual, es una gran lástima tener que piratear juegos por la bendita inflación, hablaría más pero no quiero caer en la política XD.
The12Simon Pues incluso antes de la inflación yo nunca pude comprarme muchos juegos para el Play. Hoy en dia, es totalmente imposible, aunque bueno, ahora que hay PS4s y Xbones y verga ya no salen juegos nuevos pal Ps3. Mis padres de hecho al principio se molestaban cuando les comentaba que quería un PS3 por que ellos preferían al 360, como mencione, pero yo nunca cambie de opinión. La verdad es que me alegro que mi padre se pudiera conseguir un 360 cuando fue para Panama en el 2010, por que no habria podido jugar como la mitad de los juegos que tengo si no. Aunque no me arrepiento de comprar un Play - Mas me arrepiento de que no pude prevenir lo que esta pasando ahora que literalmente tendría que dar una pierna para conseguir no mas un juego. Oye, si quereis podemos vernos frente a frente. A lo mejor parece algo precipitado hablarle así a un extraño en el internet pero como esto nunca en la vida me a pasado pues a lo mejor puedo aprovecharme de ello y hacer un nuevo amigo, jajaja.
Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade Ya veo, tengo un primo que está en lo mismo, tiene un PS3 y ya no lo usa porque no salen más juegos para el, y quiere muy desesperadamente un PS4, pero majinate. No yo igual, el 360 me ha permitido jugar bastantes juegos, que además de ese tenía un Wii, un 3ds y un Dsi, los cuales todos fueron arrebatados (malayos malandros) Ah bueno no suena mal, habría que plantear algún día (preferiblemente como en 2 semanas ya que se acerca la semana de exámenes) pero tendría todo el placer, me hace falta hablar de juegos con alguien que no sea Call of Duty y FIFA por alguna vez XD.
There are two other scenarios that I believe justify piracy: 1. You owned a copy in the past but the disk broke or the game was corrupted. 2. The game is really old. Most of the time there is no legal path to get games that are 25 years old or more and it won't end up giving money to the developer anyways. Secondly, copyright laws are laws that can be argued to be just as irrational as the outright bans some more restrictive countries have. Having copyright laws that are for the life of the author are already absurd when the author is a studio of hundreds of people but 75 years after the death of the author is just ridiculous in a world of yearly releases that sell 99.9% of their total lifetime sales in the first 6 months.
In the United States, the copyright is until the death of the author + 95 years. That time frame was increased a couple of times, usually when Mickey Mouse was about to enter public domain. Expect that time frame to be extended to 115 year in 2024 if Disney as anything to say about it.
From Gabe Newell, the guy who quit making games and start making money: "In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable. For example, prior to entering the Russian market, we were told that Russia was a waste of time because everyone would pirate our products. Russia is now about to become our largest market in Europe."
+Emnos “Unlucky” M I used to pirate but after seeing my brother (younger) got a huge selection of games for the cheap, I tried out. Fuck I'm hooked. Steam did solved piracy for me. Of course, I will have to wait a year or two after release to get a game for 10 bucks, but it was worth it. For the games that I liked and played a lot, I even purchased it on Steam during a sale, despite never touching it again.
+Xuan Vinh To Steam is probably the best thing happened to the gaming industry saving bigger companies (khm steam copies...) and rising up smaller (Frictional games, the creators of amnesia for example, although their first games were published by Paradox), sometimes 1 man studios (greenlight). It offered something worth buying instead of disallowing anyone to pirate.
I stopped pirating games thanks to Steam. With so many great deals it has to offer, so often, i find it as a great value and occasionaly even pay 30 euro´s for a game if it´s really worth it. Most of the time the maximum for me is 20, but hey, Steam changed my point of view on the whole piracy thing and many games I bought provide a great service for the customer.
+Developers You see what I've been saying, you're actually causing piracy by making it as hard as possible to buy the game, just put it on Steam, stop letting the Pirates offer better prices, easier accessibility and better gameplay. You can just stop using DRM and put it on Steam, eventually video game piracy will be extinct.
+TomLehocky agreed, the only times i have prated in recent years has been, as he mentioned, games you just can't get...that being said when i receive a Mass Effect collectors edition box set and I can't play it because Origins seems to enjoy F*cking me over, i can play the second game from a Separate copy that i own but without the ability to influence my back story, or use some f the gear i SHOULD receive, it's VERY tempting to simply surf the pirate bay for an EXACT copy of something I own, but I still feel wrong for doing it, even though it seems to be the only way...
+Harry Swinchin piracy will never truly go away there will always be that one shady guy on the street corner but i do agree that software piracy will deteriorate overtime if we didnt have ridiculous uplay ect on our games
+TomLehocky Hell yes sir, Steam simply stopped me caring about pirated games. Pirated games are not updated automatically, have no support, and almost always have no multiplayer. With Steam, pirated games actually became a hassle. Granted, I have to wait until a game gets on sale (added benefit: it's thoroughly tested by the preorder chums), but when it does I simply buy it - no problem as I have a lot to do until then, thanks to older AAA games and great indie titles under 5-10$ on earlier sales.
Fun fact: due to sanctions you can not legally buy a game here in Iran. Still many people here buy the game legally from other countries and import the game just for being ethical.
My policy with emulation is that if a game is currently available for purchase from the original publisher don't emulate, it if a game isn't purchasable from the publisher and a used copy is prohibitively expensive then you can emulate it all you want.
there is a weird phenomenon in my country regarding piracy. In the late 90s, early 10s only a tiny fraction of the population had the internet. Among these, there were some entrepreneur sorts who pirated games and then set a booth on the side of the road (which was perfectly legal until a few years back) and sold these games to people who had no other ways of getting them, at like 10% of what the games actually cost. And then, when the big stores started getting games in stock, everyone was incredibly outraged at the prices, since we were used to see them so cheap. So as soon as the internet became more widespread, gamers just went nuts and pirated left and right. It's pretty much assumed everyone does it, so much so that once a colleague bought skyrim and people made fun of him for being a sucker. And now even though it technically illegal to pirate games, not only is everyone pretty ok with it, you will NEVER get the authorities knocking on your door to arrest you for pirating.
Hmm... strange. my country is exactly the same. in my country, we know games from ps1 and we bought it from pirated copy of it. but people don't know. the cost usually just 1 USD for a decent game. when ps3 came we were going nuts cause the games are like 10 times higher. until now, the 'master race' are console player cause they are rich and buy the games legally while PC guys usually pirate them
Nanda Raffi My first PS1 games were all pirated :P I still remember the completely generic disk with the marker title written on it that was the Rayman game. Not only did I not know they were not legal, I had no actual concept of what piracy was. I was paying money for it, how could it not be ok,right? :P
I used to pirate back when I was a teen. Now I just buy my games. If I REALLY want a game, I just pay full price for it... If not, then I just wait until it goes on sale since I'm in no rush to play it.
+The Rogue Gamer Agreed. I only got a single game on Humble bundle so far, I should probably get more from there... GOG, there I got 79 games (10 that have linux support so far, that's probably another reason to go Humble bundle, I hear they got quite a few Linux games there)
Robert R That might play a part, but honestly I think convenience in general plays more of a role then even that... I've seen plenty of eight year olds in my country with debit cards (and automatic transfer of the allowance from their parents account to theirs or transfers done on their parents bank app on the smartphone whenever some chores or others are done) The kids got everything from online banking to instant transfers. There's usually a cap on how much they're allowed to spend in a day though but that's usually not enough to be a problem when dealing with game purchases as long as they limit themselves to buying one or two games max in one day. Steam works just fine for that.
+Robert R Not really, I mean sure, if they're caught shopping highly violent games parents might react. But for the most part them using debit cards (it's illegal to give kids credit cards and even among adults there's plenty who choose not to use them) isn't really causing any problems that require all that much supervising. I'd also like to point out that over here a kid that age is expected to handle fairly well on their own. They might take the bus (alone of course) to the opposite side of the city changing bus downtown to get some say a karate class or other activities. Save up for a lot of their own gear. Sure they might not build their own 30 k NOK computer like a teen might, but saving up to buy their own laptop at that age isn't that uncommon although it's more common to share the cost with the parents. Say paying 1/3rd. (Back in 09 the average weekly allowance for a kid between 7 and 9 here was 35 NOK, the value of the the NOK has of course fallen since then, and the relative value of the NOK compared to the USD has also fallen quite a bit due to the fall in the oil prices, but 35 NOK of today is roughly equal to 4 USD now) Anyway, for the most part norwegians tend to opt for talking to kids as if not exactly equal then at least as intelligent people with valid opinions of their own and the sense to make their own decisions if provided the information they need in a way that is easy enough to digest. So we tend to talk to kids and try to teach them how to behave responsibly online and with money rather then monitor everything they do and limit them. Unlike in a lot of US homes we would not punish kids for doing something wrong but rather we tend to approach the problem with things like discussing why said activity is wrong and suggesting better ways to handling problems. And so one and so forth... We simply have a very different approach to child rearing. And part of that is kids being given the freedoms and responsibilities involved with handling a bank account with money that they own themselves. If they fail to handle that responsibly then they'll suffer the consequences caused by it themselves (like not being able to afford that new shiny game or that new laptop they want or those new soccer shoes or whatever) Ah, just found a new source (also this one in norwegian) Apparently in 2014 the average allowance pr week was 59 NOK for kids age 8-11, 117 NOK age 12-15, while 16-19 years old get 226 NOK on average (of course there's huge differences between different parents with one of the people in the article I'm quoting paying his daughter 1000 NOK or roughly 115 USD and 43/44 cent each week, or about 6 k USD in a year) About 65% of kids get an allowance of some kind, and it may or may not require chores to be done. (65% having an allowance does not equal the remaining 35% not having their own bank account and debit card, just that they don't get regular deposits to their account, they might still have irregular income from tasks done for the family or neighbors like say mowing the lawn or shuffling snow or selling something like say lemonade, delivering newspapers and so one and so forth, particular kids and teens above the age of 13 is allowed to take "light jobs" unlike younger kids) Ps. Yeah I know our system isn't perfect, there's things you guys do better, and other things we do better and I'm not at all sure what is best overall...
That whole "If you've got a console and a TV, you can afford to pay for games" bullshit just won't die. There are plenty of reasons a person might have those things but can't afford a game. Thankfully, I have the money for a console and a TV and games if I want them (and when I didn't, I didn't have any of the three), but speaking as a formerly poor person who had some nice stuff: 1. The items may have been a gift 2. The items may have been purchased used and required considerable saving 3. The items were purchased when things were good but circumstances changed (medical problem stops someone from working, for example) 4. Purchase was made with non-recurring windfall funds (tax refund, contest winnings) 5. The items may have been won in a raffle (I got my iPad mini for a $25 charitable donation when they had a raffle)
I have a friend who legitimately enjoys piracy. He likes the "Yo Ho Ho's" and the rum. So what he did in front of me was pirate Shovel Knight. When I asked him why he did that, he showed me his steam account complete with a purchase of Shovel Knight. He the said to me "Jacob, I'm a pirate. I enjoy what I do. I just do it a bit more legally than some of my colleagues"
+trip2themoon Doesn't matter to the trackers, if you download a game from any source thats not free, its probably against the law even if you bought the game.
As a Teen who doesn't have a Credit card (Even my parents), I pirated a LOT games since most of the games I pirated can only be bought digitally, and there aren't any Game Stops here in my country. I actually feel guilty but at the same time, satisfied. (But we're not poor though, my PC can actually run some good-quality games) TL;DR: I pirate games because I can't legally obtain them
I did the same, or to be more honest: I pirated a few games during my time in school, but I'm proud to say, that after I started earning money, I bought all those games which braught me so much joy over the years - even though I didn't play all of them after buying.
Do you live in Brazil? I heard it's really big there. Because games, legitly, are like 100+ usd. if you are lucky. I found it crazy that in some countries, you get a DS, pre-loaded with a ton of games.
cvc Nah, I'm from Argentina. I guess it's even worse here... As I said, games here are pirated in stores. You just won't find a legit copy there. Even PCs, laptops and netbooks come with cracked versions of Windows, cracked copies of MS Office and cracked AV software! Have you heard of Windows UE or something (modded pre-cracked versions of XP that try to replicate functionality of newer OS on old hardware)? I hear that every day. I bought a Wii used, and it came already with an external drive, 200+ games, cracked channels and a black Wii Menu theme. Sometimes you just can't escape! There's not a single PS2 I've seen without a modchip already in it. And my mom's laptop, the vendors didn't even bother formatting it. The thing was literally full (155 mb free in main HDD) of cracked PC games. Literally. And literally nobody cares. Even if you are a company and have pirated things and gain money using cracked software, nobody checks, and nobody cares.
So i used to live in venezuela, exchanging local currency for dollars (used to buy games) is absolutely astronomical, we bought pirated hard copies or just torrented out simply because circumstances out of our control meant that through hard work you either bought an original game or paid the bills. I'm out now, and sometimes I do piracy (i know its wrong, ok? old habits die hard) but generally I pay for my games, and sometimes I download a pirated game (that im reluctant about paying for) to realize its amazing and had a lot of heart put into it, then i uninstall when I have the money and buy it to support the devs :)
I live in Bolivia. Big deal; it does not affect my moral compass. I stopped pirating games and software when I was mature enough to realize it was unethical. Now I use Linux and buy games from Humble Bundle for like a cent. Stop making up excuses for yourself. It's not right or healthy. Moreover, your line of thinking is just around the corner of what our politicians do and have done to screw us all over, resulting in the odd circumstances we are in and you are well aware of. Quoting the video: don't be a dick.
+Dark-Senpai ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Hey at least you don't live up north or inland. Is the Brazilian government trying to break a world record for highest poverty rates or something. Wait I'm still typing aren't I?
+Gabriel Garcia Because it's so much better to actually cost a company money by paying only a cent to a company whose big goal is to raise money from charity...
+Asian Cheat Codes I always pay above the average in Humble Bundle. I can email you the receipts, if you like. I simply suggested a cheap, honest option instead of stealing.
I know the vid is old, but I disagree: 1. When the developers shut down their servers and the game becomes unplayable, it is the developer's fault for not implementing offline/LAN mode or releasing the server software for people to host their own servers. 2. In terms of DRM reasons for piracy, their perfectly valid. I tend to buy games that I like to support the devs, but when I can't get it on GOG, I usually play on pirated versions, even if I paid for a legit version because I don't want to deal with this always online bullshit going on now, and getting locked out when servers die or something. Steam died some time ago, I would not be able to play my singleplayer games if not for the SSELauncher I have prepared just for this. There are many people working on something like off shore oil rigs, they spend weeks without internet access so buying games makes no sense for them if they cannot be played offline. I also like to store my games on a backup HDD to be able to play them in the future. People are buying retro consoles to play 30 year old games today, so why would I not want to play my games after some time. But if steam or something turns out to be dead in 10-20 years, all the legal copies will become unplayable, so it makes sense to pirate.
@@laurasullivan77 Yeah, but servers aren’t cheap. Most of the time a game sunsets because it’s not bringing in enough revenue to justify the server cost, not because of a company forced them to. If cost weren’t a factor, though, it’s possible that most games wouldn’t shut down (for better or for worse).
Just a small addendum to the "can't afford it" bit... consider the fact that not all gamers are adults. Just because there's an Xbox or PC in the house doesn't mean you bought it. Maybe someone just games on dad's work computer, or maybe you actually just have a really old PC that's a hand-me-down. Speaking from what I've seen when I was younger, young people seem far more likely to pirate video games, simply because that $60 seems a whole lot more on a kid's pocket money than an adult's salary. Maybe companies could consider doing something about this. Maybe offer discounts for students (some restaurants or clubs do this too), or offer some sort of package or family deals so multiple kids can potentially get together and just buy a game to share!
I figure I might as well put this out there as a second addendum myself: I used to afford games is a phrase I think on more and more, hell, it's one I used to say between when the rental shop stopped carrying games and I got my first job. With the near collapse of the economy in america and most work now being done by sophisticated programs causing huge lay-offs and pay-cuts: you might've been able to buy that xbox brand new but now no one wants it and I'm struggling to pull in enough for food alone.
With all due respect, and I know that's an old comment, that's the silliest thing I've ever heard. Kids these days, especially those in countries such as the US, are far richer than people used to be. Hell, I managed to get a part time job at 14, earning more than enough to satisfy my gaming. Fact is, any younger than that, and the 'kids' have to understand that they're just that. Kids. They live under their parents roofs, they exist with their own means- they want luxury items, they either find work when they're old enough, or they discuss with their parents. You don't get a car just because you're a kid and you can't afford it. Same with a book, a magazine, a new toy. Kids have this funny idea that they deserve all this fancy stuff, video games included, without working for it. It's a poor mindset that will never do them good in the future.
Piracy can be beneficial. I feel like there should be some kind of unspoken agreement wherein, once a game has 'died off' like ten years after it's release or so, it's free for everyone. This would have hypothetically prevented some games from earlier consoles like the NES from disappearing. Companies should allow people to distribute their game once there stops being legitimate ways to buy a new copy. If an always online game's servers must be shut down, it should have it's DRM removed entirely, period. Video games are an art, it would be like if the Mona Lisa suddenly disappeared. We could lose valuable parts of gaming history forever to selfish companies.
mdilligaf I said "If an always online game's servers must be shut down, it should have it's DRM removed entirely, period." That way people who purchased it can still play.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ Yeah that's great, then you can install your MMO without problems, but that not terribly useful if there are no servers to play on, is it?
mdilligaf You can't really pirate MMOs anyway so it doesn't apply. Sadly there is not much I can say to it except: Make better life choices than spending several hundreds of dollars on things that only exist inside of a game, one that could go offline at any time.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ There are private servers for some MMO's, so you kind of can. (Also most people don't spend hundreds of dollars on most MMOs). Maybe companies should open-source games (client and server) if they're not interested anymore in monetizing them, but I doubt that's going to happen soon...
Bonnabelle LEMMONS! Ive pirated an ancient star trek game for pc that I couldn't have bought otherwise, as well as a certain older smash bros game that I used to own, before my console broke so I run it on a PC emulator now
Jesus, the people in the comments are disgusting. "I don't feel bad about pirating, so it's okay." Or "I don't want to spend money on games, so piracy is okay." You're all being assholes when you pirate a game, regardless of the publisher or quality - you're still taking money from people that already work in a low-income job. It's the same as walking into a bakery and just taking the bread on display, and leaving the store. "I'm hungry, so it's okay."
after reading your bullshit comment i pirated 3 games only to do somthin more than just wirting "fuck you" here :) and they were all low-budget indie games :)
Alalie Wanalue 1. fuck u 2. your proving your opponent in this debate right, by giving credibility to our idea of what you guys are like, by doing that.
Çerastes Well, "maybe that beef-steak wasn't going to be sold, so maybe I'm not stealing it. Maybe it's not a loss. No one can prove it". You can say that about anything so go on. Steal everything you need. The people you're taking stuff from have already worked on it so they won't see the difference. And if they don't have money anymore because people steal there stuff instead of paying for it, they can steal too.
***** I belive that no one in the developed world should pirate a game, but we ARE to poor in the developing world.. let me put it this way... here in my country the minimum wage is about 1.2 US dolars an hour or like 220 bucks after taxes and helth inshurence and such a month, many poor and middle wage families save all year just to be able to buy a PC or gaming console for their love ones, now all new game releases have the same $50-$60us dollar price, how could a person afford that... and internet acces is also not afortable for many of therese people. And since there is not a big demand for games there is really not a used game market, and eaven games at half price are still extreamly hard to buy. i think there are many solutions to this problem, so that the games become more afortable and the companies make more mony reducing piracy, but thats a topic for another time..
Download digital distribution like from Steam, PSN or Xbox Store all games globally cost the same, and you have a wifi to type this comment so there you go!
@@_vallee_5190 sorry mate, but that's only partly true. the actual cost in U$S *might* be the same, but compared to a monthly salary in other places of the world (wich mind you, they do exist) they fall WAY harder on the pockets. Consider the following: if you went to eat take-away in France and it costed you roughly two times what cooking that same food at your home would've cost, is one thing. If you went to eat that same take-away in Colombia, even if they cost the same amount of U$S, that meal will cost about five or six times as much as making it yourself. In that situation, would you go eat take-away in Colombia? I wouldn't Using U$S as an example since most internet purchasing platforms I use are financed in dollars
Exatamente pq eu sempre tô tentando conseguir as coisas de graça. Seja Lucky patcher, uTorrent ou sei la mais o que tem como usar. POR QUE DIABOS O DÓLAR TINHA QUE ESTAR TÃO ALTO!?
I'm from Brazil and I can confirm what you said. But a way to avoid this is buying the virtual copy of the game. It continues to be expensive but sometimes it can be way cheaper than buying the physical copy of the game
In America, it is possible to get a meal for 6 bucks (either fast food, or cooking it yourself and thus only using ingredient costs), so technically that could be applicable here too. Are you referring instead to the cost of a meal at a proper restaurant?
I know this video's a bit older, but I really don't agree with the rationale behind thinking that being able to afford a console means that you can afford games for it. Since I got into the working world, I've been screwed from every possible angle, making very little at times (now included) and having to save up for unemployment at others. And then just being unemployed. I have a Wii, a 3DS and a decent laptop. I should be able to afford tons of games, right? No. The Wii, I bought when I was making more money, toward the beginning of my career (ironic, I know, tell me 'bout it.) I could afford it then. That doesn't mean I could afford it if I wanted to buy one now, much less games to support it. The 3DS was a birthday present and the laptop, my parents were gracious enough to buy for me when my other one died. The computer was bought for me when I was unemployed, so I definitely couldn't justify buying it myself, even though having one would have helped me to find a new job, as well as serving a number of other functions to gain me more income. I've since become employed again, but I don't make very much. I've bought a few cheap games on Steam, but that's it. Even the 5 bucks I spent here and there felt like a major indulgence, and I'd still cut out other things in order to justify buying them. As things stand now, I worry whether I'm going to be able to eat at the end of some months. I rarely buy anything for myself anymore, much less new games. You don't know how badly I wanna play some games for the 3DS or get some of the games available on Steam. I can't justify buying them. When I have unpaid bills that I've bargained with myself, how could I? So, yes, I _have_ a 3DS. I _have_ a computer that can support games. I _have_ various systems. That doesn't mean that I can afford games. And I'm not saying that this justifies piracy. It's true that there are good free games out there. I just downloaded several RPGs, I found a few cool flash games I like and if I really wanted to, there are a bunch of free games on Steam. (Doesn't change the fact that I can't get Happy Home Designer, but whatever...) I believe piracy can often make media worse. If money's not coming into these companies, there's no money to be spent in order to develop better products. You're left with crappy, rushed, mechanical products that nobody likes. That's why I don't do it and why I think most people shouldn't. All I'm saying is that having the console in no way means that you have the money to support it. I'm proof of that.
I'm disabled and I'm currently living on $230 a month, plus what I can borrow from my mom every once in a while. I have a decent PC that can play most games well enough and a tablet. Both of those were gifts and are the only luxury items I own. I pay for games when I can but it's not feasible to actually buy anything for the time being. I try to stick to the bigger companies and buy the stuff I really liked when I can, I've bought Dark Souls more than once since launch, same with fallout, same with Mass Effect. I also play free to play as much as I can but the market for that currently is not appealing for the most part.
+Zexonyte Well I don't pirate, not games anyways I stream movies, but hay Im making myself unemployed doing so working selling tv channels so yey for me! think there needs to be a streaming site for all shows and stuff that you pay for and whit adds that gives the money legialy to the film makers, but Im off topic. I belive your right. you can make to litle money to justifbly buy games, (if you live in a contry whitout good social network) I live in sweden, where everyone CAN pay for their games, also we host piretbay. witch just is ironic as hell. I don't think pirets are good in any way and if you wanna play a game you should pay for it. but lets be realistic. you can't pay whit money you don't have. and the fact is simple. when there isn't other options. I would defenetly not be agienst priets. if you can afford a game, buy it. if you can ither buy the game or put food on your table, I am willing to look the other way. becose its not your foult that you can't pay. you don't have the money to give the developers. just like people who can't buy the game for where they live, you can't buy the game for your poor income. But as I said, don't piret a game if you can afford it and pay bills and food. (and no if you partyed away all your money or bougt 20 other games so now you can't afford it dosen't count) Just remember that People make games, People who need food, and money in order to keep making games. so just don't piret it if you wanna play it. buy it! mutch better. (unless you can't buy it ofcorse)
Ok. then how about pirating games, AND THEN, WHEN YOU HAVE THE MONEY, buying them. That shouldn't be a problem,but I'm also not saying "PIRATE AWAY". After all, you (and people who, unlike you, pirate games) and many others can't consider on buying game on the future (the uncertainty of employment and the problem that getting a big enought salary are), but as long as you have a game that you would really like to play, and that you would pay for (accounting everything else you may've done before), consider doing this. After all, if you pay for it on a term enought for the people that worked on it (and some leeches that don't let them get what they should) can benefit from it, and you find what they wanted to give you (entertainment, and in some cases, in what to "invest" your money), that should be morally almost-valid-but-quite-not-so way to get games. I know I am wrong in many points, and that some people might use this argument (or already do so) as a way to pirate every gane they crave for, but from an altruist point of view, I believe that what I'm saying isn't completely wrong (and that's how I'm doing right now...and as such, I haven't pirated any games, thought some MANY japanese songs I do (after all, where I live they don't bring them, I don't find them on the paly store, and is way out of what I could afford to pay for their shipping. Excuses, I know, but unfortunately they help me sleep. not as a baby,but at least enought for me)
Alejandro Vinasco My main problem with this is that you don't have any control over when you have money. Do you know how long I've been putting of doing or buying things, telling myself "I'll do it when I have more money," or "I'll do it when I get a better job?" Over 4 years, for some things. Does that mean I'll never get into a better situation? Of course not. But who knows when that'll be? Maybe this year will be the year that I finally get a decent job that's not interested in screwing me over and swindling me out of all my money. Or maybe it'll be another 4 years. And then by that point, who even knows what they were playing back then to go and buy the original game? Which, by the way, the developer is unlikely to be making any money off your purchase at that point, due to the fact that it's most likely no longer on the shelves. Not that there's anything wrong with buying games used, but in my opinion, it's a trade-off. You buy it used in lieu of having the immediate gameplay when everyone else is playing and talking about it. To me, it feels like a promise that I don't intend to keep. Aside from which, it gives you less incentive to buy it in the future. Why would you bother buying a game that you've already played before? Especially when there are other _new_ games that you likely want to play and at that point can actually afford. For me, if I were in a position where I could afford more than the essentials again, I'd probably be spending the majority of it on things other than games. Furniture or things like that. I don't know about other people, but for me, I would lose interest in purchasing a game if I'd pirated it. I probably wouldn't even bother. I'm not necessarily saying that nobody can or should do this. However, I'd be surprised if a lot of other people didn't feel the same way. I imagine that there would be some people out there who would hold themselves to this standard, and I think that that's admirable. However, I know that I wouldn't end up doing that, so for me personally, I think it's probably best that I not pirate stuff in the first place.
+Zexonyte you are on special case, maybe a special case that's not too rarre, but still a minority. They just didn't feel like putting special cases would add enough to the show justifying the longer length.
***** if a game is sold in the the US for 60$, and in Europe for 80 euro, its clear that the major reason is import taxes. i personally live in Israel. its so bad here that people are actually asking anyone they know if they are visiting the US soon to bring them more games.
I was just thinking that in the case of shutdown games, Pirates are literally one of the only groups that can keep them alive at some level. Vanilla Everquest anyone?
Getting back to this topic after a few years. If you were to make this video again, would your ideas be the same? I used to pirate a lot of games because... well, a teenager with no salary and parents that hate videogames is not the easiest way to get them. I am an animator now, although I'm just starting, and though my job right now is not related to games, I consider myself to be part of the industry. Do I buy every game? No, hell no. I still download a lot of them. And don't get me wrong, I'll buy every single one I liked or even many games I don't know if I will if I see a good sale on them. But honestly, I'd be absolutely insane if I payed 70€ for every game I want to try and then drop it 2 hours after. I do resort to piracy when I am not sure if I will like a game. And I learned this the hard way. After all the AAA blockbusters that turn shitty, after EA and Ubi constantly lying and slapping their customers with every release? I won't buy a single one of their games without trying first, then buy them if I plan on playing further. You don't get demos anymore, and very rarely do we get a free weekend or beta. We are expected to pay the full price of a game by just trusting a million dollar worth marketing campaign, some paid for 10/10 reviews and a few early gameplay videos. This is just not right.
Well, you had two roads to take. The high one and the normal one. Why not both? You could do this: Pirate the game, then mail the devs saying you didn't buy it due to lack of a demo. Then as more people start to do this, the companies will start releasing the demos for future games out.
There's a rather good video by the Extra Credits guys that explains pretty accurately why releasing a demo isn't exactly the smartest choice from a business point of view. It makes perfect sense, you can look for it, but the short version is that if you were going to buy the game you'll buy it anyway, and if you weren't the demo is not likely to change that. Now, companies wouldn't do this because it would mean making the game less profitable, and it doesn't make sense in terms of business. I understand. From a consumer point of view, it doesn't make sense to buy a game you're not going to play, throwing a quite substantial amount of money away. They would lose money by releasing a demo, and I would lose money by buying a game I don't really want. They don't release a demo, I play their game for free to see if it's worth it. Neither of us loses a thing, right? It's kind of dumb to say this, I know, there's quite a bit of sarcasm there. But the point is, they're making a choice that might not be in the consumers' best interest for the sake of profit, and I'm making a choice that is not in the developer's best interest for the sake of MY money. We're pretty much making the same choice, only ours is illegal, and theirs isn't. So no, I don't think e-mailing them would change much as the arguments against releasing a demo are quite strong indeed, so I'll stick to this method.
+3l H4ck3r C0mf0r7 I have NEVER tested a demo on an idea of 'meh, this doesn't look really good, but I'll try it anyways' and be like "WOW THIS IS SO AMAZING". Ever.
I think you make a lot of really salient points here, but your refutal of the "I'm too poor" argument doesn't really hold up for me. I own an xbox 360. I got it around 2011. I didn't buy it. It was handed down to me by my brother who didn't want it anymore. I also have a gaming PC. I got it in 2012 for about 700 bucks. This was all before I decided to go to grad school. I now live on the salary of a grad student. I think I can count myself a very good example of someone who owns a gaming console (one that was current gen when I first got it) and a PC that can run most games passably well, and can't afford to buy many games. Your point about free games is a good one. I get my gaming fix almost entirely from sales on places like GOG and Steam. I just wanted to point out my objection to your previous argument.
+SlightlyNotorious You kind of just supported his point with this story. You "get your gaming fix almost entirely" by buying games you can afford and not using your poorness as an excuse to pirate. Unless your main objection was to his point about your situation being rare and/or unlikely (owning a system but unable to afford games), In which case it sounds like you are right, Yours seems to be a story of why gaming is possible even on a budget. Either that, or his argument doesn't apply to you if you aren't pirating.
McSquidification It's the second case. I was just reacting to him implying that my situation is rare. I know a lot of people who own gaming machines and still don't have a lot of money. People's situations change. But yeah, I do fully believed that you can game on a tight budget. You just have to be alright with watching games you REALLY want to play come out and not being able to play them.
+McSquidification You could also have had a good job where you bought everything and always paid for the games, and had a great comp and consoles. Then got cancer had major surgeries, and now can barely afford a single meal a day much less $60 for a game and good enough internet for the all time drm.
The gifting is a minority thing and honestly if you are that poor you might as well just pawn off the console and use the money to pay for basic necessities. Usually people buy their own consoles and to not think ahead and budget money for gaming is poor planning. It's sort of like buying a car without realizing you don't have the budget for gasoline and car maintenance and decide to use scams and thievery to afford the bills.
I’d like to make an argument that piracy can also be justified for “I bought this game in the past, but my physical copy was stolen/has gone missing/can’t be run on the hardware I have”. For example, I recently downloaded a DS emulator and some ROMs for older Pokémon games, which I had copies of when I was younger, but which have since either gone missing thoroughly enough that I can’t find them, or which were stolen when I was much younger.
The problem is villanizing people that buys used copies. Many developers argue that used is equal piracy, when actually used may be used as a way to dimish piracy. Even worse is gaming rentals, wich should be the best option for easy to finish games, but again are villanized by the industry. Movie industry found a solution for rentals by making a more expensive copy that was intended for be rented, and the consumer copies for people to own. And I also think price scalation is needed. A game needs to have it`s prices dropped with time. I myself can`t pay full price for all the games I want, but Steam Sales for PC and discounted copies for consoles have kept me away from piracy. And one more thing that needs to be adressed, localize the prices to match the local reality. You can`t expect for a Brazillian or Indian gamer to have the same budget as an American or European, and just making the exchange rate for currency isn`t the best approach. In Brazil companies started localizing the prices with hot releases being priced at 149 BRL and sales exploded exponentially from the times games costed 300 BRL, games like soccer games and FPS are even getting to the million mark here.
Rodolfo Oliveira the problem with doing as you do with rented movies, that encourages people to pick up extra movies when they won't touch them anyway beyond 1 use. They don't want to rent if its more expensive when they can just buy it cheaper and set aside the DVD somewhere. So then its just wasted resources, which is not what we should be promoting.
@@Draconicdisciple -- They mean the initial price for the rental agency will be more. Basically, the renting rights are more expensive than a permanent copy.
I would say that there is a legitimate reason for pirating a video-game. Demonstrated with a case in point: Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect was one of my favourite series, and I like Bioware despite all their flaws. But then there's the problem with EA trying to milk me for every penny I've got, with such practices as day-one, on-disc DLC Javik. I want to know what happens with the most intriguing character in my favourite franchise, but I don't want to tolerate emotional blackmail. Too often have companies been doing this, trying to milk me of all the money they possibly can, turning good artistic endeavors into bland cashcows, a-la Assassin's Creed, and so on. But you're still a fan of the series, so you want to play it, but don't like "negotiating with terrorist" who hold your love of a franchise for ransom. In those cases piracy is, even if not noble, a necessary evil, and a needed one. Frankly I would shit my pants if piracy went away, because that way the abuses that companies are already forcing would go to extremes until the industry bursts it's own bubble and crashes. With piracy, at least there's something keeping them up at night. Also saying that just because you can't buy the game, can't afford it, means you cannot enjoy it, is rather uptight and sanctimonious. What difference does it make? Whether or not those people pirate the game makes no difference in terms of sales. If they couldn't pirate it, they wouldn't have bought it, so it's not an issue. And hey, the best advertisement a game can have is a fan of the game, and maybe they'll convince others to play it and actually buy it. Yeah, sure there are people who have the money, but pirate it anyway, because they're assholes, but that doesn't change the validity of this point.
***** no one said anything about the ending in relation to piracy.. I bought it, just to set the record straight... and read the comment before responding to it. Second online piracy is not theft, by any definition. It's copyright infringement. It's governed by different laws and governed by different moral standards. While technically you are taking money out of someone's pocket for not buying it(that's if you had the intention of buying it in the first place, cause most often you don't), it's not the creator of the game, nor the developer, it's the copyright holder... which most often tends to be the multi-billion $ publisher who sells the game, and I already explained the manipulations they use, so I won't do it again. If you want a detailed version of piracy's moral and law(-ful?) implications, watch Jimquisition's episodes(3 I think) on it. It's up on youtube. The guy portaris it very well, unlike Extra Credits, who kind of given the black and white version of things, which is rarely the case with anything.
***** again.. no. Piracy is copyright infringement.. any and all kinds of piracy comes under the "reproduce"section of c.i. When you pirate anything you make a copy of it, and you don't remove the original work. Piracy hasn't been defined as theft by any court I know of. Not that it matters, theft is also a complex moral dilemma, even if not so complex as modern day copyright laws. But I won't discuss this further. I have my own thoughts and moral reasonings on piracy and you have yours. I have no intention of convincing you otherwise, since it is still an illegal act. Again,If you want a good idea about the notion of piracy, I'll point again you to Jim Sterling's Jimquisition on this subject matter, because he explain the situation quite astutely. As for me, I have no vested interest in an argument about piracy.
What if you pirate a game but if you were to buy it you would have gotten it used where the publisher wouldn't have gotten any money. Where does that stand in this argument?
"saying that just because you can't buy the game, can't afford it, means you cannot enjoy it, is rather uptight and sanctimonious." THANK YOU ! Also, pirating a game in a country where it wasn't released or when the game isn't being sold anymore, isn't illegal.
majority of gamers are teens who have time to play, but no money to spend. their parents might not afford for his hobby and he might've bought pc for studying. what am i saying is that, it's difficult to determine the fairness of something, when the world we live in is in fact, unfair.
Giorgi Sabashvili yup. My parents are poor as f. I've never had a computer, console or good phone. Im forced to use phone emulators,and the ROMs are getting banned.
1:38 - I remember watching this episode when it came out and I specifically remember this line. Well, now it really HAS been a decade. And it turns out, online DRM is even more despised now than it was back then. A decade ago it was merely inconvenient to the buyer when a single player game required an always-on connection. Nowadays, it's become an insidious backdoor for massive corporations to collect data and push microtransactions on players. The culture of barely-regulated corporate capitalism has proved a cancer to anything it's infested.
Something about the refutations against piracy in this video has never stuck well with me, and it's not quite been the same as the countless examples in the comments here of people who might be able to buy or own gaming platforms but not really games themselves very often. Instead, it's the catch-all argument you make that because James was able to have plenty of fun/fulfilling game experiences for free, that that means that there's no justification for pirating games. Just play the free ones! Like, I can see the logic behind the argument, but here's my counterpoint: Games aren't mutually exchangable. And what's more, games aren't valuable to us purely as experiences in and of themselves. They're elements of culture. And for a lot of poor kids, they're one of THE elements of culture that define their relationships with their friends. Class comes into that! Not being able to keep up with The New Game or just generally access games that your friends really like and care about can degrade relationships. Not because people like you less for being poor or because everyone Must Like The Same Thing or anything. Just because it's one less experience you can share with people. I can see the argument being made that for a grown adult this isn't an acceptable excuse for piracy, I guess. But what about the kids out there who lack that kind of access? Should they necessarily be obligated to uphold that kind of morality when they don't even have the means to MAKE money, much less decide how they spend it? I dunno. It just seems reductive and overly simplistic. You can't talk about piracy without discussing both access and class, or you end up sounding like you're speaking from a soapbox and from a privileged position, at that. Gaming is James' professional life. It's fairly clear that what he can get out of free games isn't necessarily what just anyone can get out of them, or even what they're looking for.
@@user-cv8hg2ne6v Well, I think what he was saying is that you're missing out on an experience that you can share with your friends. Not that the friends like you less, but that you can't play games with them. My own friends don't care whether I understand the Marvel movies or not, but I still had to sit through a super boring (to me) discussion whenever the topic came up. Which leads to another question - is that experience worth it? I would say no. First, imagine your friends want to vandalize a small business together or do something else you consider morally wrong - spraying graffiti, catcalling women, whatever. Is it worth it to go along with the friends for "the experience?" Or your friends are all going to a new restaurant. You can't afford it. Should you steal to finance your trip? I would say that following the rules and getting your games ethically is more important than being able to interact with your friends, even in this wholesome way. I get that it's not costing the company anything, but I'm going to say that not breaking the law is important, just like not stealing or whatever other example you pick.
What is Whitebeard going to do with his devil friui? He's dead. Its the equivalent of taking a watch from a dead guy; its a damn cool watch, but dead men don't tell time.
Wish Make No it couldn't have. Once a person dies, usually the devil fruit reincarnates somewhere in the world. It would have been nearly impossible for them to find it due to the drastic loss of territory and power from Whitebeard's death. Blackbeard got it through some sort of special anomaly that's still a mystery I think.
Consider Diablo II. I bought a copy of it from the store. I now, thanks to recent Blizzard changes, cannot log onto their servers to play on Battlenet. Not unless I buy the 'digital version' which has the new codes that Blizzard uses for Battlenet. Great way to reward your paying customers. We were going to get together as a group to play diablo together, but can't. Also if your game requires an internet connection to play offline, you've just intrusively inserted yourself into my computer and my system. Thanks for showing us how much you value your customers. I'm happily playing away, offline on games I missed the first time around, like Oblivion which cost me 5 bucks at the discount store.
Case study 1: A kid (pre-teen) or teen lives of their parents' money. They get the hardware from their parents, but then parents refrain from setting aside more than 25$ per month. Tricky, as the most top selling games can reach for 75$. Outside of america it's even worse. I remember back in 2008 when GTAIV was launched at a price of 110€. Who pays that much for a game anyway? Of course you can wait for a price drop but then you would be massively delayed. For instance, i saw GTA:SA for sale 2 years ago at 19.99€. Nice price. But GTA:SA was launched (at the time) 7 years ago. In the same shelf, GTA3 @ 9.99€. SimCity 4, a game i highly anticipated as a kid. Saw that price drop down from 49.99€ in 2003 to 7.99€ in 2007 to 4.99 in 2011. And I bought it for 12.99 in 2006. Because SimCity. Not likely people will gather around in recess talking about it. I just like it. But COD, Assassin's Creed, GTA yes. Result: As i see it, the prices will drop to an affordable price if you wait, but then you'll have lost the train. And it hurts a bit when you're out of the band wagon. But take that as a sort of customized review. Back when i was a kid I used to play games I couldn't afford at friends' houses. Never saw anything wrong with that. Take that as a "demo" and then buy the game when you can. Remember, Steam saves us all... Case study 2: Expansions / DLC's. Why pay so much as half the LAUNCH price of a game just to get more stuff. More stuff is good, but prices need to reflect the amount of the content and the age of the game. No-one will buy Sims 3 expansions if they cost as much as the game. That's the most pirated game for a reason. Because for legal ownership of all the expansions you'd need hundreds of dollars. That's just impossible to pay. Result: You've charged hard money for the core game. Now cut those prices out of DLC's.
I get the idea that you don't get to be a part of the initial conversation about a new game release, and that talking about your experience in a given game is part of the fun. It's like discussing a heavily serialized TV show like Lost or Fringe or Pretty Little Liars in between episodes. Being part of something as it happens is fun, it makes you feel included, part of a social group. I get all that. That said, waiting for price drops is a very good way to maximize one's gaming dollar without pirating games. You don't get to be a part of the initial conversation, but you do get to have the same in-game experience as you would have months earlier at twice or three times the price. The Tomb Raider Bundle is currently $15 on PSN, $13.49 for PS Plus members, and comes with all the single player DLC and and probably a lot of multiplayer stuff I don't care about. I doubt my experience with The Last of Us in the last week was diminished much by my having waited months to get the game, and I haven't had the least problem finding multiplayer matches, which I didn't care for much, but they'd be there if I did. Wait a year and you get a big discount and generally most or all of the DLC in a complete or GOTY edition (most major games will win at least one "Game of the Year" award in some category from some publication). You also have guides for how to build a good character in an RPG, walkthroughs for collectibles and achievements/trophies, wikis for that one part of the game you just can't figure out, and so forth. And the conversation keeps going for good games for a long time. I could log on to the Gearbox forums with my free PSN or GOTY edition of Borderlands 2 with all the DLC included and find an active community still discussing the game. There are a lot of poor or thrifty gamers who wait for these discounted or special editions, and there's a new bump in the conversation when they come out. Gaming while poor or thrifty can be done without piracy. Even on a strict budget, I find I don't have enough time for all the games I can afford.
Kate M I used to pirate, then I found the wonderful world of steam sales.... I mean, 60 bucks, I got a plethera of games to the point I would just wait for steam sales rather than just pirate a game. I am even to the point of questioning piracy of games. I mean why pirate a game, so you could be in that bandwagon of people who talk about it? That being said... I still do pirate *cough*ADOBEPHOTOSHOPWHY*cough* but not games anymore.
Andre Cruz Very good example. Between Steam Sales, Good Old Games, free online games, freeware clones of popular games, freeware clones of productivity software (Open Office) and so forth, there is a crapload of cheap and free stuff available. On consoles, if you have one, there are weekly sales on both big consoles, holiday sales, back catalog bundles, and so on. Wanting to be in on the conversation when a game comes out, or simple impatience to play something you've been waiting for for a long time is understandable, but it doesn't excuse piracy. Poverty especially doesn't given that prices on any game will come down, and relatively quickly compared to other consumer goods.
Andre Cruz I think this will be the strength in PC games going forward and may be one of the dooming qualities of consoles. When you can buy a wheelbarrow load of games for 60 it resonates. This is also one of the more effective ways of combatting piracy, make it so ridiculously easy and safe to BUY the game and people won't pirate. It's like iTunes when they first started out, it was simply too cheap and easy to not do it.
What annoys me the most about "pro-piracy" arguments is how disingenuous they are. People make all kinds of excuses to try to justify how they are in the right for pirating, but they're just that; excuses. They always tip-toe around the real reason they pirate, (they are too cheap to pay for games), because they know it will make them look bad if they ever honestly said it. Of all the pro-piracy arguments I've ever heard, I've never had a solitary person step up and just say with unmasked honesty, "I want to play games without paying for them." Which is ironic because it's the only argument that makes the slightest amount of sense.
I wont pay for damn ripoffs of a game Were i live, damned viedogames tend to cost about 80 or 90 dolars, even 100, and in our national currency, a dolar costs 2.8 of our base currency, its a fucking ripoff, USA/Eu companies have most of the SA market forgotten, with little to no service or support of any kind, really the only company that has a decent support and prices is steam, and o, look, how curious, they are also the most profitable company, and the one that most people choose over piracy. In summary, i wont give assholes my money, for mediocre service , and the common "development countries get the leftovers of USA/EU" its really ridicoulus, and it needs to cahnge if they want the entire damn continent to download pirate games so hard.
That's another thing that drives me nuts, when pirates claim the are somehow "forced" to pirate a game. "I have to pirate the game because I can't afford it/too expensive/whatever". That argument makes no sense. You aren't "forced" to pirate. If you can't play it legally, you can simply *not play it*. No one is holding a gun to your head. This isn't like stealing food, where you have to because if you don't eat you will starve. You don't have to play a video game. If you can't play a game legally, it's not a big deal if you just don't play it. Again, it's another excuse, instead of just honestly saying, "I want to play games without paying for them", the pirate just somehow tries to rationalise that they're a victim.
of course in your "first world" "everything is developed for me" point of view is easy.What about the ridicoulus extra charge they put on games in other countries? i assure you, without piracy, gaming industry would have NEVER even been interesting around this part of the world.
cseijif It's not the fact you're in a developing country it costs more, it's because of the fact that a developing nation's currency tends to be worth less than in a developed country. As for the support, when the infrastructure for internet is bad, then support will be bad. You cannot say that it's the USA/EU's fault that your country isn't capable of supporting the same things as the USA/EU.
damaLwa than you cant be angry at him that hes searching for other ways to get games... O.o i myself used so many emulators... its exactly the same as pirating... non of you ever used an emulator?
A note: The reason Game Freak did not put out a demo for their latest games when they did so for their last 3DS titles is why they did not give any information on the starters until launch: Because people datamined the demos and found information that was supposed to be a surprise. That's why Game Freak doesn't do marketing for new games any more: Because they know people will just datamine the info and give leaks about their games. Game Freak has stopped caring about giving information and only gives three general trailers and says "bleh." Riddler Khu and the leakers are pirates who give out information instead of games, pure and simple.
Oriru Bastard Sometimes you have to make small sacrifices in order to not break the law. And I know that you will keep making excuses to keep pirating, no matter how stupid they are. All pirates do that.
I see pirating a game because it has no demo or trial as a perfect vaild reason, but this hold you to the moral standard of: I'll buy it if I like it, but if I play it for an hour and realize I hate it, I'm glad I didn't pay for it
I just torrented a game which I own a physical copy of that's sitting on my desk because I couldn't be bothered to get up and I wanted to play it in bed. That's the best reason ever, I do it with films I own all the damn time
I agree with everything you said, and I am still glad that OTHER people are pirating. Because piracy is one of the few forces that is working to keep the price of games down. The simple fact of the matter is that how much the larger game developers charge for a game is linked to a single metric: How much they believe people will pay for it (on a scale of cost-per-unit vs. total-units-sold). It's basic economics. If, during production, the costs of making the game increase the price at launch WILL NOT CHANGE. Because they have already decided how much to charge to maximise profit, so raising the price makes no sense. If something goes right during production and the game's development comes out cheaper then the price at launch STILL WILL NOT CHANGE. Because they have already decided how much to charge to maximise profit, so lowering the price makes no sense. Piracy comes in because the large developers know that they can't charge too much for their games because people who really want them and are angry at the price will just pirate them. I would argue that the fact that PC games are so easy to pirate is one of main reasons why PC games are cheaper than console games. People will say that the real reason is that console licensing fees are so high. But why are they so high? They are high because the console makers and the game developers have already decided what price to charge to maximise profit. It is the one metric that informs the pricing decisions of both parties. So yeah. I don't pirate any more. But I am very glad that other people do. Because it is one of the few factors working to keep the price of games down.
The only game i've ever pirated and am still pirating is minecraft because for some reason when my dad tried to buy the game for me, uhh, it for some reason just wouldnt let us buy it. I dont know the exact details all i know is that the website was bugging out, weird.
Yeah, a lot of games are way too expensive for the inflated economy we're delving into. Until companies are willing to pay living wages, a lot of things are going to be stolen for not just entertainment, but survival. Game devs deserve living wages, definitely. But so does everyone else.
The "I'm too poor" excuse is also damaged by the presence of Steam. I'm a college student who works at max part time at $8/hr. I can still afford to game and pick up new titles because of Steam sales and Humble Bundle packs (even if I ensure to pay at least $10 on a pack).Once you save up a little for a decent PC that can play current titles, PC gaming is cheap. Cheaper than many other hobbies and addictions people spend their money on, at any rate.
***** Took a whole month's paycheck to upgrade my graphics card, so I know the feeling :P Though generally if you don't have the rig to be able to run the game, what use is pirating the game anyways?
Scipi I live in a fucking state, where the top salary is 180$, yeah, a month, not a week, now, 90% of that goes to electricity, water, food Etc, which are more expensive than in the rest of Europe for some reason, and i live in a village, living off agriculture, so its harder, it took me, 10 years, to buy a new pc, i had the one since 2004, i just bought a new one 3 months ago, for 400$ yeah, not that much, probably shit PC by your standards, but it does its job well, now you ask me,to pay 60$ or even 20$ on a video game, that has potential to suck badly, just like aliens colonial marines, i was hyped for that, and we saw how that turned out. i cant aford that, i cant afford mistakes when it comes to money. not everybody can be free to buy games, some of us have to pirate in order to play....its not like i dont want to pay for a game, i mean, i bought L4D2 when it was 5$...i just cant buy the games on the market...especially in my shit hole state...
Lord Inquisitor Ninoslav Note I said damaged, not defeated. Naturally there are going to be less well off individuals who absolutely must pirate in order to game at all. However, with the titles that can be afforded, there are a myriad of ways to determine if it's a good investment or not. The best ways, beyond piracy, being user reviews, forums, and lets play videos. I don't have much money to invest in games either, the vast majority of my paycheck goes to bills so bad investments are a concern for me as well. Simply reading user reviews have saved me from many bad investments because while the game looked good in the screenshots and descriptions, the reviews laid out exactly what is good and bad about the game.
Scipi reviews sometimes are not trustworthy, IGN for example gives high scores to shit EA games, lice C&C4, and users are trustworthy, but i need to see the game for myself. and i try to pirate as little as i can, usually i pirate the big games, like watch_dogs, or GTAV when it arrives on PC, cause those games made a lot of money, and wont feel a sting of piracy on them. I also have emulators for PS1, NES, SEGA, etc, to provide me with fun, and i make due. Hell, when i finish my university and go to the EU embassy and possibly get a job in EU, i will more then gladly pay for games to play with other people online, like in l4d2, and i will buy the games i pirated now, i want to support the devs. Not all pirates are dicks that just want to download the game, not caring what happens to the company. i kinda feel responsible for THQ, i pirated their wh40k games, because i am great wh40k fan, i even bought their Dawn of War original for 9$, cause i wanted to support them, but i guess it wasn't enough.
How to fix DRM that does occasional server checkups, but the company has to shutdown the server: Release an update that removes it. I mean, if you can't even maintain the game anymore, what's the point of even protecting it? Am I right?
Just today Nintendo is cutting off online capabilities to anyone that has been running around with a pirated version of Pokemon Sun/Moon. Ive been running back and forth between Reddit and 4Chan, and its amazing the excuses Ive seen from hackers. Ive even seen one comment along the lines of "never buying from Nintendo again" and Im like, "its not as if you were buying the game anyway!" There's really no excuse for pirating when you are well within your means to pay for it, whether it's buying it on launch day or saving up for a few months. Hell, you don't even have to leave the house when you want to buy a game.
There are a few excuses. I wouldn't need to pirate if there still were demos around. I'm not defending the Sun/Moon scenario you mentioned, but just saying that, in my opinion, there are some legit reasons to temporarily resort to piracy. Besides, big companies have been abusing their power lately with this whole issue, and while they have the cash to support their malpractice, we as customers have little to use besides our decision to buy.
As much as not paying for a game you play is wrong, a couple of times I found myself pirating a game that I had *bought* just to get rid of the obnoxious drm. I'm not saying it was the case with pokemon (I don't know) but the industry is doing all it can to make piracy more compelling.
Sauron I guess that's the most ironic part of it. You'll get that with big AAA releases, and even more from studios (or publishers, rather) that have complete financial stability and have great benefits, while smaller studios that are actually struggling to make money won't fall for that.
...you *do* realize that for a lot of people, they *stay* broke right? it's not 'I spent all my extra cash on X thing, so i have to wait until *next* month to get it!' it's 'I got a second hand system as a gift for Christmas, but i'll have to wait for my birthday if i want to get a couple second hand games to play on it.'. there are plenty of people who agonize over a $15 second hand purchase of a game they've had on their wishlist for a long time. 'only spare $60 a month' my as$
NiyuuVAMPIRE I want to pirate but im afraid my computer might get virus either way im waiting for Christmas for a cheap $10 game cuz im Asian and my parents told me to save
bowie33333 are you trying to be cute? i'm in my 20s, but even i'm doing well compared to a lot of people. this is a universal problem that hits people of all ages. News Flash - the economy is horrendous and just because you Learn a Trade doesn't mean you have any chance of getting a job, and even if you *have* a solid job - and i don't mean some minimum wage burger flipping gig but a full on career job thats considered respectable that you're expected to live off of - doesn't mean you wont be flat broke after you've paid your bills.
+NiyuuVAMPIRE Why would someone buy you a games console if you cant afford games? Also if you cant afford games then you wouldn't care. You would have never played games before except for free to play so you would do the logical choice and sell the console or just ask your relatives for money instead to buy what you want. Which wouldn't be games (they aren't gamers).
yeah and the weekend deals sometimes make games free such as even though i've bought metro 2033 before it was on xbox so when i saw it for free on steam i was like *SCOOOP*
I and my friend have no PayPal or any other payment method to buy Minecraft with, so we pirated it (and Notch even said that he doesn't have a problem with people pirating it). We showed it to a friend and he liked it and bought it, so basically we increased their revenue by pirating it. Also, I like how Mojang rewards legit buyers by allowing them to have skins and play on Premium servers. This is how game developers should work against pirating.
Nicy30941 Actually it is possible to be a grownup with a credit card that can't buy games on the global market. I have the money to buy certain games, but I cant because my parents don't have a credit card to buy those games with and their not being sold in my country.
2017... DRM still punish legit players, Some single-player games require internet connection to play as drm so now drm is also way to take away game, still no demos or demos that avaliable for little time and etc. etc.
Nice video but you failed to address one final side to the issue on the pirates' end: Those who pirate and later legitimately buy the game. (Not talking about the guys who say they plan to later and never do, I mean the ones who really do buy them)
How if they actually do buy the game when they have the money? Saying that is like saying people who get tabs at a bar and then successfully pay them off later are robbing the tavern
GameAW1 Because they're getting the benefit of playing a game while it's at peak value but only paying for it when it's worth much less. When you pay off a tab you're paying what you owe. When you wait for a game's price to plummet you're definitely not paying what you owe
I never said anything about waiting for a price drop, but even assuming that is the case, peak value isn't the only income here. If they chose to drop the price, they are responsible for selecting a price that still benefits them enough, and unless the game is bought used, they still receive the profits from the purchase.
In general, the only games I pirate are old games that you can't buy today. I like collecting physical copies of games I enjoy, so I always try to get them or course, not like it matters when the game isn't in production anymore and you have to buy used. If it's way too expensive to buy a physical copy and a digital one exists on PSN, I'll buy that. If it's not available digitally, I'll pirate it. The one game recently I've pirated is Skyrim. I had bought it for PS3 brand new and been unable to play it because of the freezing issue. I waited months and no fix, so I said screw it and pirated it for PC. And later when I realized how awesome the modding community is, I ended up buying the game and all the DLC off Steam (for full price, I didn't even wait for a crazy 80% sale or what ever).
Alright, new plan. Pirate the game for 30 min as a demo, send the devs an email that they need a demo then buy the game if good, delete if bad. EDIT: You forgot another reason for piracy, one that I've used several times. I own the game, but for X or Y reason I cannot instal anymore. Like rise of nations, I lost the key for it... so I cannot instal. So I pirated the game with the disk copy sitting right next to me.
If you purchased the game, but can't play it for some reason (like DRM issues), then I say that it's OK. What you're playing could be considered a back-up or something, since you legally own the game right there.
Really, with the level of discounts offered during steam sales, why would you even need to pirate? Plus you get that warm fuzzy feeling for supporting an industry whose products you enjoy. I still shamelessly pirate DVDs and music though :
And I shamelessly pirate Touhou Project because I can't get it over here for a decent price. All the import stores charge over 60 bucks per game in an INDIE GAME SERIES that isn't nearly big enough in any sense to warrent that much money being charged. I bet if I went to Japan I could get a Touhou game for 3000 Yen, half the price. If ZUN did online purchases for his titles for normal Indie Game prices I'd actually go buy every one of the games right now. I love him, I wanna support him, but I'm not going to support price gougers like PlayAsia.
Steam has a customer friendly non-invasive form of DRM that actually grants the same utility a pirated copy would and has frequent sales to both combat piracy and to emulate the effective price reduction of buying used games would give you. They attacked piracy as a customer service problem and not criminal activity they needed to stop out by force and it worked extremely well for their image and business model.
It's really sad that so many people came to this video and either didn't watch it or didn't understand the point it was trying to make. So many commentors trying to justify pirating games. Like the video said, the only legitimate case for piracy is if you literally cannot purchase the game legally. Either because it cannot be bought physically or online. In that situation, the developer literally could not have been making any money anyways because they weren't selling any product.
apotheos1s I think you missed my point. I only want to try "play 5 - 20" minuets to see if the game is as good as all the paid for advertising says it is. This dose not mean I want to play all 5 games to the end and pay for one. If as stated in this video there were demo's for each of these games then I would simply play them first. What I say only apply to games with no trial/demo available.
Pharozos Lets say there are no demos for any of those five games. you still should not pirate them. Lets say a person pirated a game just to to "play 5 - 20 minutes to see if the games is good". Now lets say that person really likes all five games. What are the chances of him actually buying any of the games. He already has a full version he just pirated to "demo the game". Why would he buy a copy? Because it is the right thing to do? No, he would, in the majority of cases, just keep the pirated games and never spend money.
@@kasperdedeyne5293 There are some countries where things are cheaper and earnings are smaller, but games are still the same price as in the other countries.
Only reason I ever pirate games is because the game isn't out anymore, the console for it isn't distributed anymore, etc. I'm looking at you Nintendo. If I can get a legal copy, I always do. Bethesda has released TES: Arena and TES II: Daggerfall both for free with use of a DOSBox Emulator. Therefore, I got the legal copies they released.
That's true. There are lots of games that just can't be acquired legitimately. Oh, you wanna play "Kirby's Dream Land 3", but live in Northern Europe, where the game wasn't even released? Oh what's that? You think that paying 60-70€ for a used copy and a NTSC-region SNES to play it on your TV is a bit too much money for your budget? Oh my god, are you just gonna download a ROM of it and are you just gonna play it on your emulator? That's terrible! And do i need to talk about those long-forgotten, almost extinct multiplayer-games, that isn't playable through the original servers? Then i say you can pirate it. Buying the game at that state won't bring the developers any more profit.
"if you can budget 60$ for gaming a month" oh fuck off da fuck are they talking about?! Some people would be luck if they had 20$ a month to buy anything other than what they really need.
I've bought games on ps3 that I want on PC . I spent 80 euro on skyrim for the game and dlc. There's no way to rationalise that price especially if you can buy the legendary edition for 25 euro
Frisbie147 Skyrim was good and the money was spent to make the online. I think the dlc-s were a bit rough, but the normal game was pretty worthy of the price.
+Frisbie147 www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Skyrim-Legendary-Playstation-3/dp/B00CJ7IUI6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444009940&sr=8-1&keywords=skyrim+legendary+ps3 Skyrim legendary edition is $30 (26.7 euro) plus shipping on ps3 right now. If you spent 80 euro on skyrim and the dlc separately you had to have bought them all individually.. and around the time they were released. Games drop in price over time regardless of platform
+Frisbie147 the lowest price I've seen for the PC legendary edition is like 40 or so CNY, around 6 euro, although that sale only lasted for 12 hours and is China exclusive. Outside China, if not saying RU/CIS blackmarket games, the lowest price is like 15 USD or less I think? 80 euros for the game, really?
Here we go: Piracy Done Right! BEGIN: 1. try-before-you by: if the game doesn't have a demo writing to the dev won't fix it for that game. Sure, go ahead and write, it'll fix it in the future, but you'll still need to try the one without a demo. I do this all the time and I've bought almost every game I tried 2. DRM dodging: If the DRM is truly that bad, all you gotta do is buy the game then DL a pirated non-DRM copy. Now you have paid for it and can still enjoy a copy with no DRM or other bull 3. Poorness/Unable to Pay: I cannot pay online as I do not have a credit card (yet) and I know plenty of others who have this issue. In this case pirating PC-only games should be considered OK (ESPECIALLY if you can buy it later or do as I do and give the money IRL to someone who can buy it online for you)
***** 1. No it doesn't, as lack of previews will make it more possible to be swindled if the game's quality is non-existent. 2. Again, no, because an actual purchase was made and supports the developer. 3. Not really; clearly he's a younger player compared to others, and money is still given to devs via proxy.
I can't speak for games, but in the app world, piracy has been a net positive for me. Many, many years ago, back when I was still making and selling my own software, I decided to try something "crazy" and release my own app on torrent sites, with a working product key and everything. Lots of people used it, my forums gained a bunch of new participants, and my sales went up after a month. People were discovering my work through the pirate sites and some liked it so much that they bought a proper license. It was the cheapest form of marketing I'd ever tried and it worked very well, so I kept on doing it. I boiled it down to a pithy little catchphase: "Pirates are the oldest and largest social network on the internet".
I know a freind who pirated Ass creed unity. He pirated it to see if it was as bad as people said it was. Turns out, he really shouldn't have bought it. To run the game at 40-50fps, he had to run it in 320x240 (Meaning he couldn't read his objectives) He's also pirated Far Cry 4. Dunno how that went for him but his computer is decent so he shouldn't be having problems. Also, I feel hating the publisher is a valid reason. After all, it's only "Half stealing" or not even stealing at all. Let's think. It costs them NOTHING to lose a game sale. And nothing to have a copy stolen. It's not a physical product. Hence piracy is the same as Boycotting.
It's arguable that the amount of people who pirate physical copies is negligible, but unless you only pirate it to see how crappy it is and uninstall it, then the game was worth playing, and therefore worth money. Anything that is worth having is worth paying money for. If you don't like the $60 price tag, buy used. It still gets the point across because the devs see little to no money from that, and you save money.
Most pirates wouldn't have gotten the game anyways. So the developers didn't really lose money. With piracy, more people can "enjoy" or at least experience a game that they otherwise wouldn't have. I for example would never have gotten watchdogs, but I can experience it without the DRM bullshit, with piracy. It is also a way to punish the developers if and/or when they do something dumb.
Wyhdis I got watchdogs because I wanted to see how it was. I don't want to pay 50-60 bucks just to try it out. Then I might buy it later if I liked it and it was on sale for like 10 bucks.
Did you even watch the video? This is exactly what they talked about when they said 'Pirates will use any excuse they can to justify theft'. If you want to punish the developers then just DON'T BUY THE GAME. But if you pirate the game then all you've done is justify Ubisoft's shitty DRM.
"I for example would never have gotten watchdogs, but I can experience it without the DRM bullshit, with piracy." That's a reason to not buy the game. "It is also a way to punish the developers if and/or when they do something dumb." ....So is not buying it.... In fact, these companies are so gung-ho about this DRM shit because they think it will help prevent piracy. What experience tends to show us is that all they do as a response to more piracy is to make the paying customer's life more like a grind...In reality, you're part of the reason my games are getting harder to play!
Wyhdis DRM does exist because of pirates, but guess what? The pirates win because of DRM. You and everyone else make no sense saying that pirates should stop pirating to stop DRM. You know what happens to pirates if companies keep making DRM? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Pirates don't have to deal with it, so it's stupid to tell pirates "Stop pirating you're forcing DRM on those of us who pay for the game." You know which side should back down in this case? The developers. If they make more DRM they make more pirates. If pirates pirate more theres more DRM, but again this doesn't affect pirates, it effects everyone else, and then those people become pirates to avoid DRM. TL:DR DRM is stupid, doesn't not serve its purpose, and the video agrees. Stop complaining to pirates about it.
....That made absolutely no sense. The reason they enforce these DRMs is because of you. It does cause honest consumers to become pirates, but that doesn't absolve the pirates of any responsibility. You're still the root of this. DRM is stupid. We're not really arguing about that, but you trying to act like it's all the publishers fault is asinine because you're the one instigating them. The video also agrees that no side is really in the right...Both of you are perpetuating the problem. It's just a matter of who wants to step up first to be a part of the solution rather than being the soul of the issue. *I'm not going to waste too much time proofreading this, but I said "you" to refer you as a pirate...That was a stupid assumption on my part that wasn't realized until I posted the comment. Just replace them all with "they" or whatever third person indicator you want to use...
When i was younger, I had access to my mothers computer, it was a nice one, it could play a lot of games out there, but since I had no money and my parent would not pay for the games, I had no money for payed games, if I knew how to pirate then, I might have, as I had NO means to pay, but I didn't. Instead I played the immense amount of games out on the free market. It was a blast, and even now when I can play for games, I still go back to some of those amazing free games.
I think the 'I am too poor' excuse isn't that bad. I used to play a ton of pirate GTA when I was a middle school student, simply because I do not have the money to buy them. Now I am in a better financial situation and I am proud to say that now I buy all games I play.
The writing in to ask for a Demo argument is amusing when you consider your other video in which you break down all the reasons why making a Demo is actually bad for business.
xseth1 Doesn't matter, making a suggestion you know is unsound and/or unlike to yield any real results is nothing more than a token gesture. Politicians do it all the time.
The demo video was created in response to statistical information regarding the impact of demos that they simply weren't aware of at the time this video was made.
However, they suggested game companies make demos without actually knowing the impact of it, and they haven't been back to this topic to fix their mistake.
That's just how I see it: You don't pay the game. You pay the next game the company makes. If you want more games from the company, pay for the current one. If you don't the game probably wasn't very good anyways.
living in lebanon, I didn't know what piracy was really, every corner shop sells pirated games, wasn't until my first year of college that I learned about steam, just deleted all the pirated stuff I had and bought them progressively again, 385 games later I really don't have any regret.
I have heard friends say they pirated like say the sims cuz of all the prices you have to pay for each individual addon(which should no longer be named as such) as it won't feel complete. Looking at amazon right now I see most addons around 20-30€. I once made a joke out of it and counted the money to an other friend and it was high up in the 3 digits...does this have to be? Now, I don't care about sims since I fell for that fad with Sims 2 but do they REALLY expect us to pay 200-300 even more to get the full experience? This is something I could get behind. Generally if you can't get it in your country without paying outragous prices(try to get a legal, original copy of certain visual novels which I love for example Fate/Stay Night...I dare you to find some I can buy in Germany for under 100€...HECK I can't even get some of the DVDs/Blu-Rays of the show). Most of the money won't even get to the developers in these cases but rather to people buying them and selling them to you to gain a huge profit. There should be accessability with any currency and method to pay for almost anything for an affordable price(which goes to the devs) and obviously translated in case it's from Japan. People wouldn't pirate(I sure as hell would rather invest so I can see new stuff in the west..doesn't have to be german I know english well enough to be able to read all I get presented), the industry could grow and consumers could find things they usually would not have found at all..if it weren't for the Anime I once saw I would have never played the visual novel which is one of my all time favorite fictional works.
Piracy benefits the gaming industry IMO, notch (minecraft creator) has said it on twitter, and i have many examples were people bought a game only because the pirated it first, and wouldn't have done it otherwise. In fact i bought minecraft after playing it for a couple weeks.
Jhok Twenty The people who buy a game after they pirate it (like yourself) is an incredibly incredibly small group. yes, those people benefit the industry. but the other 99% of pirates do not. Please don't glorify a whole group of people, simply because a tiny portion of them do not cause harm.
triplesc00p None of it causes harm. Most pirates wouln't pay for the game anyways so the more people who play and enjoy it, the better. After all videogames are art. What i mean is, since they weren't going to buy it anyways, if they get a pirated copy they don't harm the development team. In fact it not only doesn't harm them but it benefits them (not as much as if they had bought it, but that wasn't going to happen anyway) because the game gets more famous and maybe that pirate didn't buy it, but he recommends it to a friend and he does etc etc. It's not like they are stealing because in fact they are getting a copy from someone who bought the game.
Jhok Twenty Your presumption that most pirates wouldn't buy the game anyway is false. If piracy were non-existent, and there were no way to torrent any medium, your assumption suggests that the huge portion of the gaming community who pirate, would not be gamers at all. That's like saying the people who torrent movies would never watch movies if they had no option to pirate them. With a lack of the option, almost all pirates would still purchase games. With that, harm is most certainly caused by piracy. Basic economics states that those who take the products for free, who would have purchased it otherwise, force the publishers to charge more, per paying customer, so that they can make the same margins. I'm not suggesting that the small group of people like you who purchase game after torrenting it are causing this, but the people who pirate without purchasing the games are indeed causing video games to be more expensive. Not to mention the fact that future games will be of a lower quality due to the fact that the developers have less money to invest in their next title. You suggest that when pirates torrent games, they can then encourage their friends to also play the games, who then purchase them. I ask you this; if pirates successfully influence their friends to play certain games, how could they not be also influencing them to pirate those games? surely they wouldn't say "I torrented this new game. It's so good! you should try it. but make sure you pay full price for it.". Of course the people who play the games based on what their friends play would also be influenced to get those games through the same channels that their friends do. And even if these pirates are directing traffic to a certain game, they are also directing traffic to Pirate Bay (or your service of choice) and supporting these illegal organisations to an even greater degree. Finally, you suggest that it's not stealing since the developers aren't losing anything. That's just justifying breaking into a concert to listen to your favourite band, by saying "They aren't losing anything from my attendance". I would hope that you find this situation morally wrong, and I ask you how piracy is any different. Piracy without a doubt harms that industry. The torrenting industry leads to paying customers having to pay more, for lower quality games. The argument that it is beneficial to the industry is a poorly constructed justification of something that is undoubtedly harmful
Usually pirates buy a game before they crack it. Since one person cannot have enough money to afford a copy, regardless of job revenues/salaries, and cracking requires a lot of time and effort, especially if the game or a software has intense DRM, that's why they unite in release groups and crack together. People who download games via torrents simply don't know how to crack and if they had enough money they could potentially buy it. They also are not members of the release scene either. The whole point of piracy is that you buy a game once, crack it, and distribute a cracked copy for free.
If I made an online game and had to shutdown the servers, I'd release ONE. LAST. UPDATE., to unlock a Server picker with IP addresses and release the server application's executable code so people can run the game's servers themselves for as long as they want.
Also, if the DRM for a game is ridiculous, and I bought the thing, but cracked it anyways to remove the DRM, does it count as a valid point that wasn't turned meaningless by me playing it anyways?
You payed for it, so I don't see any problem with that.
Of course, because I don't want people to unlock that themselves, the code involved would be ready, but not merged with the rest of the game until that one update.
huh. so i guess if you turn things off. you never turn them back on. guess you never turned your computer off then.
Cosmin Metea Nice one. I turn my PC off everyday. I don't know if servers are supposed to be on all the time, but if I have to shutdown servers for good, then that's what I'd do. Now if they're off for maintenance purposes or some other reason that means they'll be back on sometime soon, then no.
"Demo"
Now that's a word I haven't heard in ages.
Before the dark times.
Now only Nintendo really does demos, that’s why I’m loyal.
I see a LOT of demos right now on PlayStation store
how greedy is a usa
I think extra credits made a good case for why they can be more trouble than they are worth. As much as I love demos, I can see the inherent flaws in them. Were we living in the days before the internet and widespread availability of playthroughs, reviews, and the like, I would say demos are pretty important (back in the day, blockbuster and other rental stores served this purpose for console games). Nowadays, demos just don't have the same commercial need they once did. Only on a few occasions would a demo have made a serious impact on my decision.
USA average salary - 40000 $. Balkan average salary - 200 $. Games in Us and Balkans - 60 $.
People should be able to make more than 40.000 tbh.
Balkans make 200$ a year???????
How do you guys get a super good pc's to run these pirated games?
What?! Maybe it's 200$ in a month?
@@BeastMaster-ct1vq Who said they're super good?
I made my PC from scratch
I was actually one of the "too poor" pirates, my brother gave me a decent laptop that he'd wiped when he upgraded and I had nothing to play on it.
However, every game i pirated, if I played for more than an hour, I'd add it to my steam wishlist.
I'm proud to say that now, since finding a job and such, the only games left on my wishlist i have copies I've bought or been given for a home console.
I was a "too poor" pirate, now I've paid off that dept
My parents didn't make that much food so I just pirated everything to have a bit of extra snack with the money I saved.
@@mushroomcrepes4780 i have a feeling most too poor pirates live with family
@@MsXmaster666 You sir, Are very correct.
Yea u right
I am one of those too poor pirates. I didn't 'afford' my pc or console; i was gifted the pc parts over time and my xbone was a christmas gift. friends pay my MMO subscriptions cause they want to play with me. we exist, EC.
"Do not tangle with the kind of people that install Linux on their playstations" lol
best quote.
Rule 1: Never start a land war in Asia
Rule 2: Do not tangle with the kind of people that install Linux on their playstations
+Mrdavid Russia is in Asia.
"Never start a land war in Asia" includes russia.
***** Russia is in both, Europe and Asia. Your right about the fact that the famous failed invasions ocurred on the European front, but there's no reason to be an a**hole about it. Keep it civil.
***** I was just quoting the Princess Bride.
You could also throw in there:
Never go against a Sicilian when DEATH IS ON THE LINE!
I live in Venezuela, the first issue is the pricing here as the inflation in the country is currently completely out of control (We have the highest inflation rate - Period, in the entire world), and buying a single game (Not a console, a game) costs what would be equivalent to 300 dollars, which even most "rich" men on this country would hesitate to follow. This is something that's only really taken place in the past few years - Once upon a time, games and consoles were somewhat affordable, which is why I managed to get myself as PS3, although I needed the monetary input of more than just my parents, and I bought original games for it when I could which wasn't very often. But as the inflation continues to grow, it is no longer possible for me to afford games for it, because everyone in the country currently is going through a very difficult time and games simply aren't worth the price - No matter how fun the game is, we're not going to pay for an amusement over the ability to live comfortably (or TRY to live comfortably).
But besides that, games simply aren't distributed here in a widespread way and the few that are distributed are generally the kind of bland family friendly shit that I've never been into because there's been a law here against "violent games" since around 2010, and it hasn't made the adquisition of new games any easier.
But even worse than that, the few games that are actually distributed here don't get distributed for very long - You'll be EXTREMELY lucky to find a game that was released merely a year ago in the few stores that still sell original, non-pirated copies. Many of absolute favorite games from the ps2 era and before (Silent Hill 2, Psychonauts, Resident Evil 4, etc etc) are pretty much impossible to find, no matter how hard I try. They're not even on our ebay.
I fully intend to support the industry whenever I manage to move unto a country where games are widely distributed and have reasonable prices (I have ALWAYS, always preferred having a physical, legit copy of something, because I'm something of a collector and owning something physically is always much more fun and satisfying than just downloading it, let alone downloading a pirated copy), but as it stands if I were to follow the anti-piracy stance, I would not be able to play almost anything.
Dude, I live in Venezuela too and, of course, have the same exact issues as you (just switch PS3 with Xbox 360 and we have the same exact situation, although I now own a PS3 because my 360 was stolen). You voiced our frustrations incredibly well and for that I applaud you. I only own a handful of original 360 games and I agree, there's no bigger satisfaction than owning an original game, especially if it's one you like. Not to mention that pirating a and playing with a pirated console it's a ginormous pain, for many reasons. Love from Maracaibo!
The12Simon I'm actually in Maracaibo as well! I think this is the first time something like this has happened to me (Meeting someone from my same town).
I actually have a 360 as well, my parents preferred that one over the PS3 due to the fact that it was easier to acquire pirated games for it, and eventually my dad got himself one when he was out of the country. Since it's so much easier to get games for it, I've been using it a lot more than my PS3 for a while now - I haven't gotten a single new PS3 game since at least 2012, I just can't pay for them.
Y ahora me doy cuenta que podria haber dicho todo esto en Español, pero bueno, no voy a escribirlo todo otra vez lol
Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade Wow! Es también la primera vez que me encuentro con alguien de Maracaibo, que pequeño es el mundo! Y si también me di cuenta de que pude haber escrito en español lol.
Pues sí, es mucho más fácil "chispear" un 360 que en un PS3, es más es pura suerte que encontrara a alguien que me ponga juegos en el Play (y a tan sólo 300 Bs), y ya no tengo mi 360 así que con eso es que me entretengo. Pero igual, es una gran lástima tener que piratear juegos por la bendita inflación, hablaría más pero no quiero caer en la política XD.
The12Simon Pues incluso antes de la inflación yo nunca pude comprarme muchos juegos para el Play. Hoy en dia, es totalmente imposible, aunque bueno, ahora que hay PS4s y Xbones y verga ya no salen juegos nuevos pal Ps3.
Mis padres de hecho al principio se molestaban cuando les comentaba que quería un PS3 por que ellos preferían al 360, como mencione, pero yo nunca cambie de opinión. La verdad es que me alegro que mi padre se pudiera conseguir un 360 cuando fue para Panama en el 2010, por que no habria podido jugar como la mitad de los juegos que tengo si no. Aunque no me arrepiento de comprar un Play - Mas me arrepiento de que no pude prevenir lo que esta pasando ahora que literalmente tendría que dar una pierna para conseguir no mas un juego.
Oye, si quereis podemos vernos frente a frente. A lo mejor parece algo precipitado hablarle así a un extraño en el internet pero como esto nunca en la vida me a pasado pues a lo mejor puedo aprovecharme de ello y hacer un nuevo amigo, jajaja.
Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Heart-Under-Blade Ya veo, tengo un primo que está en lo mismo, tiene un PS3 y ya no lo usa porque no salen más juegos para el, y quiere muy desesperadamente un PS4, pero majinate.
No yo igual, el 360 me ha permitido jugar bastantes juegos, que además de ese tenía un Wii, un 3ds y un Dsi, los cuales todos fueron arrebatados (malayos malandros)
Ah bueno no suena mal, habría que plantear algún día (preferiblemente como en 2 semanas ya que se acerca la semana de exámenes) pero tendría todo el placer, me hace falta hablar de juegos con alguien que no sea Call of Duty y FIFA por alguna vez XD.
"Do not tangle with the kind of people who install Linux on their Playstations."
One of my favorite phrases ever.
ikr
Hence "Do not tangle with the kind of people who install Linux on their Playstations."
Yea, maybe in chernoyble...
We are Linux. We are powerful. We will EAT you AND your puny PlayStation.
Everyone should have a right to install the OS they want to install.
There are two other scenarios that I believe justify piracy:
1. You owned a copy in the past but the disk broke or the game was corrupted.
2. The game is really old. Most of the time there is no legal path to get games that are 25 years old or more and it won't end up giving money to the developer anyways. Secondly, copyright laws are laws that can be argued to be just as irrational as the outright bans some more restrictive countries have. Having copyright laws that are for the life of the author are already absurd when the author is a studio of hundreds of people but 75 years after the death of the author is just ridiculous in a world of yearly releases that sell 99.9% of their total lifetime sales in the first 6 months.
Pretty sure EC said #2 is okay.
For some reason Nintendo doesn;t listen to rule #2. What's wrong with getting Pokemon Fire Red Leaf Green on PC? Nobody sells those anymore.
In the United States, the copyright is until the death of the author + 95 years. That time frame was increased a couple of times, usually when Mickey Mouse was about to enter public domain. Expect that time frame to be extended to 115 year in 2024 if Disney as anything to say about it.
3. I dont care.
From Gabe Newell, the guy who quit making games and start making money:
"In general, we think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate's service is more valuable.
For example, prior to entering the Russian market, we were told that Russia was a waste of time because everyone would pirate our products. Russia is now about to become our largest market in Europe."
Xuan Vinh To Steam solved piracy for me :D
waterlubber Not all games are on steam though, but they have a huge ass selection and a lot of discounts.
Emnos M
Indeed it is true. Though the ones that aren't are typically cheap enough and good enough I don't pirate them.
+Emnos “Unlucky” M I used to pirate but after seeing my brother (younger) got a huge selection of games for the cheap, I tried out.
Fuck I'm hooked. Steam did solved piracy for me. Of course, I will have to wait a year or two after release to get a game for 10 bucks, but it was worth it. For the games that I liked and played a lot, I even purchased it on Steam during a sale, despite never touching it again.
+Xuan Vinh To Steam is probably the best thing happened to the gaming industry saving bigger companies (khm steam copies...) and rising up smaller (Frictional games, the creators of amnesia for example, although their first games were published by Paradox), sometimes 1 man studios (greenlight). It offered something worth buying instead of disallowing anyone to pirate.
I stopped pirating games thanks to Steam. With so many great deals it has to offer, so often, i find it as a great value and occasionaly even pay 30 euro´s for a game if it´s really worth it. Most of the time the maximum for me is 20, but hey, Steam changed my point of view on the whole piracy thing and many games I bought provide a great service for the customer.
+Developers
You see what I've been saying, you're actually causing piracy by making it as hard as possible to buy the game, just put it on Steam, stop letting the Pirates offer better prices, easier accessibility and better gameplay.
You can just stop using DRM and put it on Steam, eventually video game piracy will be extinct.
TomLehocky I must agree.
+TomLehocky agreed, the only times i have prated in recent years has been, as he mentioned, games you just can't get...that being said when i receive a Mass Effect collectors edition box set and I can't play it because Origins seems to enjoy F*cking me over, i can play the second game from a Separate copy that i own but without the ability to influence my back story, or use some f the gear i SHOULD receive, it's VERY tempting to simply surf the pirate bay for an EXACT copy of something I own, but I still feel wrong for doing it, even though it seems to be the only way...
+Harry Swinchin piracy will never truly go away there will always be that one shady guy on the street corner but i do agree that software piracy will deteriorate overtime if we didnt have ridiculous uplay ect on our games
+TomLehocky Hell yes sir, Steam simply stopped me caring about pirated games. Pirated games are not updated automatically, have no support, and almost always have no multiplayer. With Steam, pirated games actually became a hassle. Granted, I have to wait until a game gets on sale (added benefit: it's thoroughly tested by the preorder chums), but when it does I simply buy it - no problem as I have a lot to do until then, thanks to older AAA games and great indie titles under 5-10$ on earlier sales.
Fun fact: due to sanctions you can not legally buy a game here in Iran. Still many people here buy the game legally from other countries and import the game just for being ethical.
My policy with emulation is that if a game is currently available for purchase from the original publisher don't emulate, it if a game isn't purchasable from the publisher and a used copy is prohibitively expensive then you can emulate it all you want.
there is a weird phenomenon in my country regarding piracy. In the late 90s, early 10s only a tiny fraction of the population had the internet. Among these, there were some entrepreneur sorts who pirated games and then set a booth on the side of the road (which was perfectly legal until a few years back) and sold these games to people who had no other ways of getting them, at like 10% of what the games actually cost. And then, when the big stores started getting games in stock, everyone was incredibly outraged at the prices, since we were used to see them so cheap. So as soon as the internet became more widespread, gamers just went nuts and pirated left and right. It's pretty much assumed everyone does it, so much so that once a colleague bought skyrim and people made fun of him for being a sucker.
And now even though it technically illegal to pirate games, not only is everyone pretty ok with it, you will NEVER get the authorities knocking on your door to arrest you for pirating.
Hmm... strange. my country is exactly the same. in my country, we know games from ps1 and we bought it from pirated copy of it. but people don't know. the cost usually just 1 USD for a decent game. when ps3 came we were going nuts cause the games are like 10 times higher. until now, the 'master race' are console player cause they are rich and buy the games legally while PC guys usually pirate them
Nanda Raffi My first PS1 games were all pirated :P I still remember the completely generic disk with the marker title written on it that was the Rayman game. Not only did I not know they were not legal, I had no actual concept of what piracy was. I was paying money for it, how could it not be ok,right? :P
@@dune3001 which continent do you live in, if you don't mind me asking?
@@zephyr6927 Europe. We are even in the EU now, but still the authorities don't care about stuff like this 😂
@@dune3001 ah, thnx
I used to pirate back when I was a teen. Now I just buy my games. If I REALLY want a game, I just pay full price for it... If not, then I just wait until it goes on sale since I'm in no rush to play it.
Yeah, best place to do this is on Steam, piracy is a convenience issue after all, and it's cheap on Steam as well sooo...
+The Rogue Gamer Agreed.
I only got a single game on Humble bundle so far, I should probably get more from there...
GOG, there I got 79 games (10 that have linux support so far, that's probably another reason to go Humble bundle, I hear they got quite a few Linux games there)
Robert R That might play a part, but honestly I think convenience in general plays more of a role then even that...
I've seen plenty of eight year olds in my country with debit cards (and automatic transfer of the allowance from their parents account to theirs or transfers done on their parents bank app on the smartphone whenever some chores or others are done)
The kids got everything from online banking to instant transfers.
There's usually a cap on how much they're allowed to spend in a day though but that's usually not enough to be a problem when dealing with game purchases as long as they limit themselves to buying one or two games max in one day.
Steam works just fine for that.
+Robert R Not really, I mean sure, if they're caught shopping highly violent games parents might react.
But for the most part them using debit cards (it's illegal to give kids credit cards and even among adults there's plenty who choose not to use them) isn't really causing any problems that require all that much supervising.
I'd also like to point out that over here a kid that age is expected to handle fairly well on their own.
They might take the bus (alone of course) to the opposite side of the city changing bus downtown to get some say a karate class or other activities.
Save up for a lot of their own gear.
Sure they might not build their own 30 k NOK computer like a teen might, but saving up to buy their own laptop at that age isn't that uncommon although it's more common to share the cost with the parents.
Say paying 1/3rd.
(Back in 09 the average weekly allowance for a kid between 7 and 9 here was 35 NOK, the value of the the NOK has of course fallen since then, and the relative value of the NOK compared to the USD has also fallen quite a bit due to the fall in the oil prices, but 35 NOK of today is roughly equal to 4 USD now)
Anyway, for the most part norwegians tend to opt for talking to kids as if not exactly equal then at least as intelligent people with valid opinions of their own and the sense to make their own decisions if provided the information they need in a way that is easy enough to digest.
So we tend to talk to kids and try to teach them how to behave responsibly online and with money rather then monitor everything they do and limit them.
Unlike in a lot of US homes we would not punish kids for doing something wrong but rather we tend to approach the problem with things like discussing why said activity is wrong and suggesting better ways to handling problems.
And so one and so forth...
We simply have a very different approach to child rearing.
And part of that is kids being given the freedoms and responsibilities involved with handling a bank account with money that they own themselves.
If they fail to handle that responsibly then they'll suffer the consequences caused by it themselves (like not being able to afford that new shiny game or that new laptop they want or those new soccer shoes or whatever)
Ah, just found a new source (also this one in norwegian)
Apparently in 2014 the average allowance pr week was 59 NOK for kids age 8-11, 117 NOK age 12-15, while 16-19 years old get 226 NOK on average (of course there's huge differences between different parents with one of the people in the article I'm quoting paying his daughter 1000 NOK or roughly 115 USD and 43/44 cent each week, or about 6 k USD in a year)
About 65% of kids get an allowance of some kind, and it may or may not require chores to be done.
(65% having an allowance does not equal the remaining 35% not having their own bank account and debit card, just that they don't get regular deposits to their account, they might still have irregular income from tasks done for the family or neighbors like say mowing the lawn or shuffling snow or selling something like say lemonade, delivering newspapers and so one and so forth, particular kids and teens above the age of 13 is allowed to take "light jobs" unlike younger kids)
Ps. Yeah I know our system isn't perfect, there's things you guys do better, and other things we do better and I'm not at all sure what is best overall...
ThunderCats
Right, insulting sexual minorities by using a word used for them as an insult...
And insulting the thread started as well...
Lovely...
That whole "If you've got a console and a TV, you can afford to pay for games" bullshit just won't die. There are plenty of reasons a person might have those things but can't afford a game. Thankfully, I have the money for a console and a TV and games if I want them (and when I didn't, I didn't have any of the three), but speaking as a formerly poor person who had some nice stuff:
1. The items may have been a gift
2. The items may have been purchased used and required considerable saving
3. The items were purchased when things were good but circumstances changed (medical problem stops someone from working, for example)
4. Purchase was made with non-recurring windfall funds (tax refund, contest winnings)
5. The items may have been won in a raffle (I got my iPad mini for a $25 charitable donation when they had a raffle)
Indeed. In other words: life.
Free games are still an option
Free games are still an option
Then don't play games you can't afford,
They aren't a necessity.
Get ahead financially and then play them.
"In a decade we'll be able to provide Functional Non-Intrusive DRM"
Jesus, that aged poorly LMAO
I have a friend who legitimately enjoys piracy. He likes the "Yo Ho Ho's" and the rum. So what he did in front of me was pirate Shovel Knight. When I asked him why he did that, he showed me his steam account complete with a purchase of Shovel Knight. He the said to me "Jacob, I'm a pirate. I enjoy what I do. I just do it a bit more legally than some of my colleagues"
+Jacob Andrews wat
+Jacob Andrews that's just stupid
Basically he download the game from a piracy site after he already owned it because it's fun
+Jacob Andrews It's not really piracy if you paid for it in the first place.
+trip2themoon Doesn't matter to the trackers, if you download a game from any source thats not free, its probably against the law even if you bought the game.
"Do not tangle with the people who install Linux on their PlayStations"
Ah, fond memories of trying to get into Linux.
Those guys are freakin' crazy.
And this potato.
I expected to learn something. And I did.
hey
Sony : *yeets linux out window*
Linux users: *uses power of nerd* "WRYYYYYYYUY!!!"
As a Teen who doesn't have a Credit card (Even my parents), I pirated a LOT games since most of the games I pirated can only be bought digitally, and there aren't any Game Stops here in my country. I actually feel guilty but at the same time, satisfied. (But we're not poor though, my PC can actually run some good-quality games)
TL;DR:
I pirate games because I can't legally obtain them
Not Really. This may be valid in some places, but I don't remember ever seeing a steam card being sold anywhere where I live (in this case, in Brazil)
***** I've never paid attention, but I think these aren't for sale either
@Vitor Dias Souza Via Boletos é foda mlk ksksksksk
@@pedroff_1 we actually have gift cards for steam LOL. I also live in Brazil btw
@@delapizza5260 I mean, we for sure have now. Back when I wrote this, I'd never seen any in my town. Brazil is a pretty large country, my fellow
I pirate as a "free trial". If I like the game, I pay to support the devs. If I don't like it, I delete it
you can't spell STEAL without EA
And by extension not supporting good companies like Bioware, um ok?
*ST* DHASJKFCAHKJC *L* o fk another bug
I did the same, or to be more honest: I pirated a few games during my time in school, but I'm proud to say, that after I started earning money, I bought all those games which braught me so much joy over the years - even though I didn't play all of them after buying.
+MWB Gaming Its you can't eat your cake and have it to.
Stores where I live only sell pirated games.
Buying games digitally is the only way.
I don't pirate, unless for demo reasons
I only mod.
+3l H4ck3r C0mf0r7 I MOD HARD THO
Do you live in Brazil? I heard it's really big there. Because games, legitly, are like 100+ usd. if you are lucky. I found it crazy that in some countries, you get a DS, pre-loaded with a ton of games.
cvc Nah, I'm from Argentina.
I guess it's even worse here...
As I said, games here are pirated in stores. You just won't find a legit copy there.
Even PCs, laptops and netbooks come with cracked versions of Windows, cracked copies of MS Office and cracked AV software! Have you heard of Windows UE or something (modded pre-cracked versions of XP that try to replicate functionality of newer OS on old hardware)? I hear that every day.
I bought a Wii used, and it came already with an external drive, 200+ games, cracked channels and a black Wii Menu theme. Sometimes you just can't escape!
There's not a single PS2 I've seen without a modchip already in it.
And my mom's laptop, the vendors didn't even bother formatting it. The thing was literally full (155 mb free in main HDD) of cracked PC games. Literally.
And literally nobody cares.
Even if you are a company and have pirated things and gain money using cracked software, nobody checks, and nobody cares.
So i used to live in venezuela, exchanging local currency for dollars (used to buy games) is absolutely astronomical, we bought pirated hard copies or just torrented out simply because circumstances out of our control meant that through hard work you either bought an original game or paid the bills.
I'm out now, and sometimes I do piracy (i know its wrong, ok? old habits die hard) but generally I pay for my games, and sometimes I download a pirated game (that im reluctant about paying for) to realize its amazing and had a lot of heart put into it, then i uninstall when I have the money and buy it to support the devs :)
Welcome to Brazil, where the dollar is super high, inflation and corruption everywhere, where is hard to be a gamer
+Dark-Senpai ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) dude, it's hard to survive here, let alone be a gamer
I live in Bolivia. Big deal; it does not affect my moral compass. I stopped pirating games and software when I was mature enough to realize it was unethical. Now I use Linux and buy games from Humble Bundle for like a cent. Stop making up excuses for yourself. It's not right or healthy. Moreover, your line of thinking is just around the corner of what our politicians do and have done to screw us all over, resulting in the odd circumstances we are in and you are well aware of. Quoting the video: don't be a dick.
+Dark-Senpai ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Hey at least you don't live up north or inland. Is the Brazilian government trying to break a world record for highest poverty rates or something. Wait I'm still typing aren't I?
+Gabriel Garcia Because it's so much better to actually cost a company money by paying only a cent to a company whose big goal is to raise money from charity...
+Asian Cheat Codes I always pay above the average in Humble Bundle. I can email you the receipts, if you like. I simply suggested a cheap, honest option instead of stealing.
Server check-ins? So, once the server goes down, so does my game?
That's the exact problem Denuvo has
@@munchlax633 cd game machine turned into pile garbage
@@nichsa8984 What?
I know the vid is old, but I disagree:
1. When the developers shut down their servers and the game becomes unplayable, it is the developer's fault for not implementing offline/LAN mode or releasing the server software for people to host their own servers.
2. In terms of DRM reasons for piracy, their perfectly valid. I tend to buy games that I like to support the devs, but when I can't get it on GOG, I usually play on pirated versions, even if I paid for a legit version because I don't want to deal with this always online bullshit going on now, and getting locked out when servers die or something. Steam died some time ago, I would not be able to play my singleplayer games if not for the SSELauncher I have prepared just for this. There are many people working on something like off shore oil rigs, they spend weeks without internet access so buying games makes no sense for them if they cannot be played offline.
I also like to store my games on a backup HDD to be able to play them in the future. People are buying retro consoles to play 30 year old games today, so why would I not want to play my games after some time. But if steam or something turns out to be dead in 10-20 years, all the legal copies will become unplayable, so it makes sense to pirate.
Issue with point 1
The devs might just flat not be allowed to if they had free reign the game wouldn't be being shut down period
@@laurasullivan77 Yeah, but servers aren’t cheap. Most of the time a game sunsets because it’s not bringing in enough revenue to justify the server cost, not because of a company forced them to.
If cost weren’t a factor, though, it’s possible that most games wouldn’t shut down (for better or for worse).
Just a small addendum to the "can't afford it" bit... consider the fact that not all gamers are adults. Just because there's an Xbox or PC in the house doesn't mean you bought it. Maybe someone just games on dad's work computer, or maybe you actually just have a really old PC that's a hand-me-down.
Speaking from what I've seen when I was younger, young people seem far more likely to pirate video games, simply because that $60 seems a whole lot more on a kid's pocket money than an adult's salary.
Maybe companies could consider doing something about this. Maybe offer discounts for students (some restaurants or clubs do this too), or offer some sort of package or family deals so multiple kids can potentially get together and just buy a game to share!
I figure I might as well put this out there as a second addendum myself:
I used to afford games is a phrase I think on more and more, hell, it's one I used to say between when the rental shop stopped carrying games and I got my first job. With the near collapse of the economy in america and most work now being done by sophisticated programs causing huge lay-offs and pay-cuts: you might've been able to buy that xbox brand new but now no one wants it and I'm struggling to pull in enough for food alone.
With all due respect, and I know that's an old comment, that's the silliest thing I've ever heard. Kids these days, especially those in countries such as the US, are far richer than people used to be. Hell, I managed to get a part time job at 14, earning more than enough to satisfy my gaming.
Fact is, any younger than that, and the 'kids' have to understand that they're just that. Kids. They live under their parents roofs, they exist with their own means- they want luxury items, they either find work when they're old enough, or they discuss with their parents. You don't get a car just because you're a kid and you can't afford it. Same with a book, a magazine, a new toy.
Kids have this funny idea that they deserve all this fancy stuff, video games included, without working for it. It's a poor mindset that will never do them good in the future.
Piracy can be beneficial. I feel like there should be some kind of unspoken agreement wherein, once a game has 'died off' like ten years after it's release or so, it's free for everyone. This would have hypothetically prevented some games from earlier consoles like the NES from disappearing. Companies should allow people to distribute their game once there stops being legitimate ways to buy a new copy.
If an always online game's servers must be shut down, it should have it's DRM removed entirely, period.
Video games are an art, it would be like if the Mona Lisa suddenly disappeared. We could lose valuable parts of gaming history forever to selfish companies.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ What about online games that shut down?
mdilligaf I said "If an always online game's servers must be shut down, it should have it's DRM removed entirely, period."
That way people who purchased it can still play.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ Yeah that's great, then you can install your MMO without problems, but that not terribly useful if there are no servers to play on, is it?
mdilligaf You can't really pirate MMOs anyway so it doesn't apply. Sadly there is not much I can say to it except: Make better life choices than spending several hundreds of dollars on things that only exist inside of a game, one that could go offline at any time.
Jesus Tapdancing Christ There are private servers for some MMO's, so you kind of can. (Also most people don't spend hundreds of dollars on most MMOs). Maybe companies should open-source games (client and server) if they're not interested anymore in monetizing them, but I doubt that's going to happen soon...
Speaking of piracy and copyright, I would love to see you guys do an episode addressing the recent debate between Nintendo and fans about fan games.
The perfect DRM you described wouldnt work. It would require you go be online to play your game.
That's the sad part, all games would require to be online
well maybe be online atleast once each month
I only pirate games that I can no longer buy directly from the company.
I do this as well
If the company isn't selling it, it probably won't feel motivated to sue you anyway.
I pirated Dungeon Keeper 2 because I couldn't find it and lost my old disk. BUT as soon as I found it being sold on Origin, I bought it.
pretty much
Bonnabelle LEMMONS! Ive pirated an ancient star trek game for pc that I couldn't have bought otherwise, as well as a certain older smash bros game that I used to own, before my console broke so I run it on a PC emulator now
Jesus, the people in the comments are disgusting. "I don't feel bad about pirating, so it's okay." Or "I don't want to spend money on games, so piracy is okay." You're all being assholes when you pirate a game, regardless of the publisher or quality - you're still taking money from people that already work in a low-income job. It's the same as walking into a bakery and just taking the bread on display, and leaving the store.
"I'm hungry, so it's okay."
Çerastes
Isn't it still a loss?
after reading your bullshit comment i pirated 3 games only to do somthin more than just wirting "fuck you" here :) and they were all low-budget indie games :)
Alalie Wanalue
1. fuck u
2. your proving your opponent in this debate right, by giving credibility to our idea of what you guys are like, by doing that.
Çerastes Well, "maybe that beef-steak wasn't going to be sold, so maybe I'm not stealing it. Maybe it's not a loss. No one can prove it".
You can say that about anything so go on. Steal everything you need. The people you're taking stuff from have already worked on it so they won't see the difference. And if they don't have money anymore because people steal there stuff instead of paying for it, they can steal too.
***** I belive that no one in the developed world should pirate a game, but we ARE to poor in the developing world.. let me put it this way... here in my country the minimum wage is about 1.2 US dolars an hour or like 220 bucks after taxes and helth inshurence and such a month, many poor and middle wage families save all year just to be able to buy a PC or gaming console for their love ones, now all new game releases have the same $50-$60us dollar price, how could a person afford that... and internet acces is also not afortable for many of therese people.
And since there is not a big demand for games there is really not a used game market, and eaven games at half price are still extreamly hard to buy. i think there are many solutions to this problem, so that the games become more afortable and the companies make more mony reducing piracy, but thats a topic for another time..
would you pay $250 for an triple Á game? welcome to brazil. i currently own only indie games because of that.
Glitchwork games welcome to piracy! Start by downloading torrent
Download digital distribution like from Steam, PSN or Xbox Store all games globally cost the same, and you have a wifi to type this comment so there you go!
@@_vallee_5190 sorry mate, but that's only partly true. the actual cost in U$S *might* be the same, but compared to a monthly salary in other places of the world (wich mind you, they do exist) they fall WAY harder on the pockets.
Consider the following: if you went to eat take-away in France and it costed you roughly two times what cooking that same food at your home would've cost, is one thing. If you went to eat that same take-away in Colombia, even if they cost the same amount of U$S, that meal will cost about five or six times as much as making it yourself.
In that situation, would you go eat take-away in Colombia? I wouldn't
Using U$S as an example since most internet purchasing platforms I use are financed in dollars
Exatamente pq eu sempre tô tentando conseguir as coisas de graça. Seja Lucky patcher, uTorrent ou sei la mais o que tem como usar. POR QUE DIABOS O DÓLAR TINHA QUE ESTAR TÃO ALTO!?
İts worse here. We pay 560 dollars for a fucking fifa game
any game here in Argentina is x10 times more expensive than it is somewhere else. paying the equivalent of 10 meals for a game isnt worth it
Pablo Leon
Almost the same situation here in Brazil :/
I'm from Brazil and I can confirm what you said. But a way to avoid this is buying the virtual copy of the game. It continues to be expensive but sometimes it can be way cheaper than buying the physical copy of the game
Chrona Mew
And even with the Virtual Stuff it's still unacessible for most part of the people,especially for the kind of the kind of gamer I am.
In America, it is possible to get a meal for 6 bucks (either fast food, or cooking it yourself and thus only using ingredient costs), so technically that could be applicable here too. Are you referring instead to the cost of a meal at a proper restaurant?
Robert R 600-1000 pesos, aside the country is going to the shitter
I know this video's a bit older, but I really don't agree with the rationale behind thinking that being able to afford a console means that you can afford games for it. Since I got into the working world, I've been screwed from every possible angle, making very little at times (now included) and having to save up for unemployment at others. And then just being unemployed.
I have a Wii, a 3DS and a decent laptop. I should be able to afford tons of games, right? No. The Wii, I bought when I was making more money, toward the beginning of my career (ironic, I know, tell me 'bout it.) I could afford it then. That doesn't mean I could afford it if I wanted to buy one now, much less games to support it. The 3DS was a birthday present and the laptop, my parents were gracious enough to buy for me when my other one died. The computer was bought for me when I was unemployed, so I definitely couldn't justify buying it myself, even though having one would have helped me to find a new job, as well as serving a number of other functions to gain me more income.
I've since become employed again, but I don't make very much. I've bought a few cheap games on Steam, but that's it. Even the 5 bucks I spent here and there felt like a major indulgence, and I'd still cut out other things in order to justify buying them. As things stand now, I worry whether I'm going to be able to eat at the end of some months. I rarely buy anything for myself anymore, much less new games. You don't know how badly I wanna play some games for the 3DS or get some of the games available on Steam. I can't justify buying them. When I have unpaid bills that I've bargained with myself, how could I?
So, yes, I _have_ a 3DS. I _have_ a computer that can support games. I _have_ various systems. That doesn't mean that I can afford games.
And I'm not saying that this justifies piracy. It's true that there are good free games out there. I just downloaded several RPGs, I found a few cool flash games I like and if I really wanted to, there are a bunch of free games on Steam. (Doesn't change the fact that I can't get Happy Home Designer, but whatever...) I believe piracy can often make media worse. If money's not coming into these companies, there's no money to be spent in order to develop better products. You're left with crappy, rushed, mechanical products that nobody likes. That's why I don't do it and why I think most people shouldn't. All I'm saying is that having the console in no way means that you have the money to support it. I'm proof of that.
I'm disabled and I'm currently living on $230 a month, plus what I can borrow from my mom every once in a while. I have a decent PC that can play most games well enough and a tablet. Both of those were gifts and are the only luxury items I own.
I pay for games when I can but it's not feasible to actually buy anything for the time being. I try to stick to the bigger companies and buy the stuff I really liked when I can, I've bought Dark Souls more than once since launch, same with fallout, same with Mass Effect.
I also play free to play as much as I can but the market for that currently is not appealing for the most part.
+Zexonyte Well I don't pirate, not games anyways I stream movies, but hay Im making myself unemployed doing so working selling tv channels so yey for me! think there needs to be a streaming site for all shows and stuff that you pay for and whit adds that gives the money legialy to the film makers, but Im off topic.
I belive your right. you can make to litle money to justifbly buy games, (if you live in a contry whitout good social network) I live in sweden, where everyone CAN pay for their games, also we host piretbay. witch just is ironic as hell. I don't think pirets are good in any way and if you wanna play a game you should pay for it. but lets be realistic. you can't pay whit money you don't have. and the fact is simple. when there isn't other options. I would defenetly not be agienst priets. if you can afford a game, buy it. if you can ither buy the game or put food on your table, I am willing to look the other way. becose its not your foult that you can't pay. you don't have the money to give the developers. just like people who can't buy the game for where they live, you can't buy the game for your poor income.
But as I said, don't piret a game if you can afford it and pay bills and food. (and no if you partyed away all your money or bougt 20 other games so now you can't afford it dosen't count)
Just remember that People make games, People who need food, and money in order to keep making games. so just don't piret it if you wanna play it. buy it! mutch better. (unless you can't buy it ofcorse)
Ok. then how about pirating games, AND THEN, WHEN YOU HAVE THE MONEY, buying them. That shouldn't be a problem,but I'm also not saying "PIRATE AWAY". After all, you (and people who, unlike you, pirate games) and many others can't consider on buying game on the future (the uncertainty of employment and the problem that getting a big enought salary are), but as long as you have a game that you would really like to play, and that you would pay for (accounting everything else you may've done before), consider doing this. After all, if you pay for it on a term enought for the people that worked on it (and some leeches that don't let them get what they should) can benefit from it, and you find what they wanted to give you (entertainment, and in some cases, in what to "invest" your money), that should be morally almost-valid-but-quite-not-so way to get games. I know I am wrong in many points, and that some people might use this argument (or already do so) as a way to pirate every gane they crave for, but from an altruist point of view, I believe that what I'm saying isn't completely wrong (and that's how I'm doing right now...and as such, I haven't pirated any games, thought some MANY japanese songs I do (after all, where I live they don't bring them, I don't find them on the paly store, and is way out of what I could afford to pay for their shipping. Excuses, I know, but unfortunately they help me sleep. not as a baby,but at least enought for me)
Alejandro Vinasco My main problem with this is that you don't have any control over when you have money. Do you know how long I've been putting of doing or buying things, telling myself "I'll do it when I have more money," or "I'll do it when I get a better job?" Over 4 years, for some things. Does that mean I'll never get into a better situation? Of course not. But who knows when that'll be? Maybe this year will be the year that I finally get a decent job that's not interested in screwing me over and swindling me out of all my money. Or maybe it'll be another 4 years. And then by that point, who even knows what they were playing back then to go and buy the original game? Which, by the way, the developer is unlikely to be making any money off your purchase at that point, due to the fact that it's most likely no longer on the shelves. Not that there's anything wrong with buying games used, but in my opinion, it's a trade-off. You buy it used in lieu of having the immediate gameplay when everyone else is playing and talking about it.
To me, it feels like a promise that I don't intend to keep. Aside from which, it gives you less incentive to buy it in the future. Why would you bother buying a game that you've already played before? Especially when there are other _new_ games that you likely want to play and at that point can actually afford. For me, if I were in a position where I could afford more than the essentials again, I'd probably be spending the majority of it on things other than games. Furniture or things like that.
I don't know about other people, but for me, I would lose interest in purchasing a game if I'd pirated it. I probably wouldn't even bother. I'm not necessarily saying that nobody can or should do this. However, I'd be surprised if a lot of other people didn't feel the same way. I imagine that there would be some people out there who would hold themselves to this standard, and I think that that's admirable. However, I know that I wouldn't end up doing that, so for me personally, I think it's probably best that I not pirate stuff in the first place.
+Zexonyte you are on special case, maybe a special case that's not too rarre, but still a minority. They just didn't feel like putting special cases would add enough to the show justifying the longer length.
Talking about ethics and morality when in Italy games are sold at 80 EUR.....that's piracy
That's not piracy, that's theft.
''IVA''
***** if a game is sold in the the US for 60$, and in Europe for 80 euro, its clear that the major reason is import taxes.
i personally live in Israel. its so bad here that people are actually asking anyone they know if they are visiting the US soon to bring them more games.
Jonathan Deutsch what do you think IVA is? but this isn't an european problem, it's italy's
meant for midgardeagle, as is written in my comment.
There's a EU study that shows piracy actually improves games sells.
Your profile picture fits what you said
oh pe-
I like your profile photo
wouldve been nice if you to atache the source :d
@@damn754 yes fact modder save too
I was just thinking that in the case of shutdown games, Pirates are literally one of the only groups that can keep them alive at some level.
Vanilla Everquest anyone?
Getting back to this topic after a few years. If you were to make this video again, would your ideas be the same?
I used to pirate a lot of games because... well, a teenager with no salary and parents that hate videogames is not the easiest way to get them. I am an animator now, although I'm just starting, and though my job right now is not related to games, I consider myself to be part of the industry.
Do I buy every game? No, hell no. I still download a lot of them. And don't get me wrong, I'll buy every single one I liked or even many games I don't know if I will if I see a good sale on them. But honestly, I'd be absolutely insane if I payed 70€ for every game I want to try and then drop it 2 hours after.
I do resort to piracy when I am not sure if I will like a game. And I learned this the hard way. After all the AAA blockbusters that turn shitty, after EA and Ubi constantly lying and slapping their customers with every release? I won't buy a single one of their games without trying first, then buy them if I plan on playing further. You don't get demos anymore, and very rarely do we get a free weekend or beta. We are expected to pay the full price of a game by just trusting a million dollar worth marketing campaign, some paid for 10/10 reviews and a few early gameplay videos. This is just not right.
Well, you had two roads to take. The high one and the normal one. Why not both? You could do this: Pirate the game, then mail the devs saying you didn't buy it due to lack of a demo. Then as more people start to do this, the companies will start releasing the demos for future games out.
There's a rather good video by the Extra Credits guys that explains pretty accurately why releasing a demo isn't exactly the smartest choice from a business point of view. It makes perfect sense, you can look for it, but the short version is that if you were going to buy the game you'll buy it anyway, and if you weren't the demo is not likely to change that.
Now, companies wouldn't do this because it would mean making the game less profitable, and it doesn't make sense in terms of business. I understand. From a consumer point of view, it doesn't make sense to buy a game you're not going to play, throwing a quite substantial amount of money away. They would lose money by releasing a demo, and I would lose money by buying a game I don't really want. They don't release a demo, I play their game for free to see if it's worth it. Neither of us loses a thing, right?
It's kind of dumb to say this, I know, there's quite a bit of sarcasm there. But the point is, they're making a choice that might not be in the consumers' best interest for the sake of profit, and I'm making a choice that is not in the developer's best interest for the sake of MY money. We're pretty much making the same choice, only ours is illegal, and theirs isn't.
So no, I don't think e-mailing them would change much as the arguments against releasing a demo are quite strong indeed, so I'll stick to this method.
truer words have never been spoken mate.
+aWinterCrow Damn, you're right...
+3l H4ck3r C0mf0r7 I have NEVER tested a demo on an idea of 'meh, this doesn't look really good, but I'll try it anyways' and be like "WOW THIS IS SO AMAZING". Ever.
I think you make a lot of really salient points here, but your refutal of the "I'm too poor" argument doesn't really hold up for me.
I own an xbox 360. I got it around 2011. I didn't buy it. It was handed down to me by my brother who didn't want it anymore. I also have a gaming PC. I got it in 2012 for about 700 bucks. This was all before I decided to go to grad school. I now live on the salary of a grad student. I think I can count myself a very good example of someone who owns a gaming console (one that was current gen when I first got it) and a PC that can run most games passably well, and can't afford to buy many games.
Your point about free games is a good one. I get my gaming fix almost entirely from sales on places like GOG and Steam. I just wanted to point out my objection to your previous argument.
+SlightlyNotorious
You kind of just supported his point with this story. You "get your gaming fix almost entirely" by buying games you can afford and not using your poorness as an excuse to pirate. Unless your main objection was to his point about your situation being rare and/or unlikely (owning a system but unable to afford games), In which case it sounds like you are right, Yours seems to be a story of why gaming is possible even on a budget. Either that, or his argument doesn't apply to you if you aren't pirating.
McSquidification It's the second case. I was just reacting to him implying that my situation is rare. I know a lot of people who own gaming machines and still don't have a lot of money. People's situations change.
But yeah, I do fully believed that you can game on a tight budget. You just have to be alright with watching games you REALLY want to play come out and not being able to play them.
+McSquidification You could also have had a good job where you bought everything and always paid for the games, and had a great comp and consoles. Then got cancer had major surgeries, and now can barely afford a single meal a day much less $60 for a game and good enough internet for the all time drm.
OK since the second portion was your point then I completely agree. Haha carry on then!
The gifting is a minority thing and honestly if you are that poor you might as well just pawn off the console and use the money to pay for basic necessities. Usually people buy their own consoles and to not think ahead and budget money for gaming is poor planning. It's sort of like buying a car without realizing you don't have the budget for gasoline and car maintenance and decide to use scams and thievery to afford the bills.
I’d like to make an argument that piracy can also be justified for “I bought this game in the past, but my physical copy was stolen/has gone missing/can’t be run on the hardware I have”. For example, I recently downloaded a DS emulator and some ROMs for older Pokémon games, which I had copies of when I was younger, but which have since either gone missing thoroughly enough that I can’t find them, or which were stolen when I was much younger.
Yea but you forget this is the real world where people like to lie
The problem is villanizing people that buys used copies. Many developers argue that used is equal piracy, when actually used may be used as a way to dimish piracy. Even worse is gaming rentals, wich should be the best option for easy to finish games, but again are villanized by the industry. Movie industry found a solution for rentals by making a more expensive copy that was intended for be rented, and the consumer copies for people to own.
And I also think price scalation is needed. A game needs to have it`s prices dropped with time. I myself can`t pay full price for all the games I want, but Steam Sales for PC and discounted copies for consoles have kept me away from piracy.
And one more thing that needs to be adressed, localize the prices to match the local reality. You can`t expect for a Brazillian or Indian gamer to have the same budget as an American or European, and just making the exchange rate for currency isn`t the best approach. In Brazil companies started localizing the prices with hot releases being priced at 149 BRL and sales exploded exponentially from the times games costed 300 BRL, games like soccer games and FPS are even getting to the million mark here.
Rodolfo Oliveira the problem with doing as you do with rented movies, that encourages people to pick up extra movies when they won't touch them anyway beyond 1 use. They don't want to rent if its more expensive when they can just buy it cheaper and set aside the DVD somewhere. So then its just wasted resources, which is not what we should be promoting.
@@Draconicdisciple -- They mean the initial price for the rental agency will be more. Basically, the renting rights are more expensive than a permanent copy.
Well said 🤝
I would say that there is a legitimate reason for pirating a video-game. Demonstrated with a case in point: Mass Effect 3. Mass Effect was one of my favourite series, and I like Bioware despite all their flaws. But then there's the problem with EA trying to milk me for every penny I've got, with such practices as day-one, on-disc DLC Javik. I want to know what happens with the most intriguing character in my favourite franchise, but I don't want to tolerate emotional blackmail. Too often have companies been doing this, trying to milk me of all the money they possibly can, turning good artistic endeavors into bland cashcows, a-la Assassin's Creed, and so on. But you're still a fan of the series, so you want to play it, but don't like "negotiating with terrorist" who hold your love of a franchise for ransom. In those cases piracy is, even if not noble, a necessary evil, and a needed one. Frankly I would shit my pants if piracy went away, because that way the abuses that companies are already forcing would go to extremes until the industry bursts it's own bubble and crashes. With piracy, at least there's something keeping them up at night.
Also saying that just because you can't buy the game, can't afford it, means you cannot enjoy it, is rather uptight and sanctimonious. What difference does it make? Whether or not those people pirate the game makes no difference in terms of sales. If they couldn't pirate it, they wouldn't have bought it, so it's not an issue. And hey, the best advertisement a game can have is a fan of the game, and maybe they'll convince others to play it and actually buy it. Yeah, sure there are people who have the money, but pirate it anyway, because they're assholes, but that doesn't change the validity of this point.
***** no one said anything about the ending in relation to piracy.. I bought it, just to set the record straight... and read the comment before responding to it. Second online piracy is not theft, by any definition. It's copyright infringement. It's governed by different laws and governed by different moral standards. While technically you are taking money out of someone's pocket for not buying it(that's if you had the intention of buying it in the first place, cause most often you don't), it's not the creator of the game, nor the developer, it's the copyright holder... which most often tends to be the multi-billion $ publisher who sells the game, and I already explained the manipulations they use, so I won't do it again. If you want a detailed version of piracy's moral and law(-ful?) implications, watch Jimquisition's episodes(3 I think) on it. It's up on youtube. The guy portaris it very well, unlike Extra Credits, who kind of given the black and white version of things, which is rarely the case with anything.
***** again.. no. Piracy is copyright infringement.. any and all kinds of piracy comes under the "reproduce"section of c.i. When you pirate anything you make a copy of it, and you don't remove the original work. Piracy hasn't been defined as theft by any court I know of. Not that it matters, theft is also a complex moral dilemma, even if not so complex as modern day copyright laws. But I won't discuss this further. I have my own thoughts and moral reasonings on piracy and you have yours. I have no intention of convincing you otherwise, since it is still an illegal act. Again,If you want a good idea about the notion of piracy, I'll point again you to Jim Sterling's Jimquisition on this subject matter, because he explain the situation quite astutely. As for me, I have no vested interest in an argument about piracy.
I fully support your opinion. I believe we both think the same way.
What if you pirate a game but if you were to buy it you would have gotten it used where the publisher wouldn't have gotten any money. Where does that stand in this argument?
"saying that just because you can't buy the game, can't afford it, means you cannot enjoy it, is rather uptight and sanctimonious." THANK YOU !
Also, pirating a game in a country where it wasn't released or when the game isn't being sold anymore, isn't illegal.
majority of gamers are teens who have time to play, but no money to spend. their parents might not afford for his hobby and he might've bought pc for studying.
what am i saying is that, it's difficult to determine the fairness of something, when the world we live in is in fact, unfair.
internetperson TV you are an honest person. Keep yourself this way, don't slip to the dark side of piracy
Giorgi Sabashvili yup. My parents are poor as f. I've never had a computer, console or good phone. Im forced to use phone emulators,and the ROMs are getting banned.
Either that or their Parents' card keeps getting Declined.
I moderate an abandonware community and still come back to the points you guys make sometimes. Damn good video.
1:38 - I remember watching this episode when it came out and I specifically remember this line. Well, now it really HAS been a decade. And it turns out, online DRM is even more despised now than it was back then. A decade ago it was merely inconvenient to the buyer when a single player game required an always-on connection. Nowadays, it's become an insidious backdoor for massive corporations to collect data and push microtransactions on players. The culture of barely-regulated corporate capitalism has proved a cancer to anything it's infested.
02:26 best 10 words in the world
well, 14
+xPuffin IKR? Seems pretty obvious when put that way :P
+xPuffin Nah, the first 11 words are more than enough for most companies. ;)
sarysa haha
Something about the refutations against piracy in this video has never stuck well with me, and it's not quite been the same as the countless examples in the comments here of people who might be able to buy or own gaming platforms but not really games themselves very often.
Instead, it's the catch-all argument you make that because James was able to have plenty of fun/fulfilling game experiences for free, that that means that there's no justification for pirating games. Just play the free ones!
Like, I can see the logic behind the argument, but here's my counterpoint: Games aren't mutually exchangable. And what's more, games aren't valuable to us purely as experiences in and of themselves. They're elements of culture. And for a lot of poor kids, they're one of THE elements of culture that define their relationships with their friends. Class comes into that! Not being able to keep up with The New Game or just generally access games that your friends really like and care about can degrade relationships.
Not because people like you less for being poor or because everyone Must Like The Same Thing or anything. Just because it's one less experience you can share with people. I can see the argument being made that for a grown adult this isn't an acceptable excuse for piracy, I guess.
But what about the kids out there who lack that kind of access? Should they necessarily be obligated to uphold that kind of morality when they don't even have the means to MAKE money, much less decide how they spend it? I dunno. It just seems reductive and overly simplistic.
You can't talk about piracy without discussing both access and class, or you end up sounding like you're speaking from a soapbox and from a privileged position, at that. Gaming is James' professional life. It's fairly clear that what he can get out of free games isn't necessarily what just anyone can get out of them, or even what they're looking for.
So you're saying pirating is like a poor kid stealing nice shoes to fit in with his classmates, right?
Those people are not your friends its a good thing you are no longer friends with those people if they only care if you have the hit new game.
@@user-cv8hg2ne6v Well, I think what he was saying is that you're missing out on an experience that you can share with your friends. Not that the friends like you less, but that you can't play games with them. My own friends don't care whether I understand the Marvel movies or not, but I still had to sit through a super boring (to me) discussion whenever the topic came up.
Which leads to another question - is that experience worth it? I would say no.
First, imagine your friends want to vandalize a small business together or do something else you consider morally wrong - spraying graffiti, catcalling women, whatever. Is it worth it to go along with the friends for "the experience?"
Or your friends are all going to a new restaurant. You can't afford it. Should you steal to finance your trip?
I would say that following the rules and getting your games ethically is more important than being able to interact with your friends, even in this wholesome way. I get that it's not costing the company anything, but I'm going to say that not breaking the law is important, just like not stealing or whatever other example you pick.
Here I was thinking you guys were gonna talk about Blackbeard
Yea douchbag killed whiteboard and stole his devil fruit.
What is Whitebeard going to do with his devil friui? He's dead. Its the equivalent of taking a watch from a dead guy; its a damn cool watch, but dead men don't tell time.
MAD Master001 It still should have been inherited by a crew member or something.
Wish Make
No it couldn't have. Once a person dies, usually the devil fruit reincarnates somewhere in the world. It would have been nearly impossible for them to find it due to the drastic loss of territory and power from Whitebeard's death. Blackbeard got it through some sort of special anomaly that's still a mystery I think.
MAD Master001 Actually tje devill fruit spawns in the nearest fruit. I think it polinates the fruit through the air.
Consider Diablo II. I bought a copy of it from the store. I now, thanks to recent Blizzard changes, cannot log onto their servers to play on Battlenet. Not unless I buy the 'digital version' which has the new codes that Blizzard uses for Battlenet. Great way to reward your paying customers. We were going to get together as a group to play diablo together, but can't. Also if your game requires an internet connection to play offline, you've just intrusively inserted yourself into my computer and my system. Thanks for showing us how much you value your customers. I'm happily playing away, offline on games I missed the first time around, like Oblivion which cost me 5 bucks at the discount store.
Case study 1: A kid (pre-teen) or teen lives of their parents' money. They get the hardware from their parents, but then parents refrain from setting aside more than 25$ per month. Tricky, as the most top selling games can reach for 75$. Outside of america it's even worse. I remember back in 2008 when GTAIV was launched at a price of 110€. Who pays that much for a game anyway? Of course you can wait for a price drop but then you would be massively delayed. For instance, i saw GTA:SA for sale 2 years ago at 19.99€. Nice price. But GTA:SA was launched (at the time) 7 years ago. In the same shelf, GTA3 @ 9.99€. SimCity 4, a game i highly anticipated as a kid. Saw that price drop down from 49.99€ in 2003 to 7.99€ in 2007 to 4.99 in 2011. And I bought it for 12.99 in 2006. Because SimCity. Not likely people will gather around in recess talking about it. I just like it. But COD, Assassin's Creed, GTA yes.
Result: As i see it, the prices will drop to an affordable price if you wait, but then you'll have lost the train. And it hurts a bit when you're out of the band wagon. But take that as a sort of customized review. Back when i was a kid I used to play games I couldn't afford at friends' houses. Never saw anything wrong with that.
Take that as a "demo" and then buy the game when you can. Remember, Steam saves us all...
Case study 2: Expansions / DLC's. Why pay so much as half the LAUNCH price of a game just to get more stuff. More stuff is good, but prices need to reflect the amount of the content and the age of the game. No-one will buy Sims 3 expansions if they cost as much as the game. That's the most pirated game for a reason. Because for legal ownership of all the expansions you'd need hundreds of dollars. That's just impossible to pay.
Result: You've charged hard money for the core game. Now cut those prices out of DLC's.
I get the idea that you don't get to be a part of the initial conversation about a new game release, and that talking about your experience in a given game is part of the fun. It's like discussing a heavily serialized TV show like Lost or Fringe or Pretty Little Liars in between episodes. Being part of something as it happens is fun, it makes you feel included, part of a social group. I get all that.
That said, waiting for price drops is a very good way to maximize one's gaming dollar without pirating games. You don't get to be a part of the initial conversation, but you do get to have the same in-game experience as you would have months earlier at twice or three times the price. The Tomb Raider Bundle is currently $15 on PSN, $13.49 for PS Plus members, and comes with all the single player DLC and and probably a lot of multiplayer stuff I don't care about.
I doubt my experience with The Last of Us in the last week was diminished much by my having waited months to get the game, and I haven't had the least problem finding multiplayer matches, which I didn't care for much, but they'd be there if I did.
Wait a year and you get a big discount and generally most or all of the DLC in a complete or GOTY edition (most major games will win at least one "Game of the Year" award in some category from some publication). You also have guides for how to build a good character in an RPG, walkthroughs for collectibles and achievements/trophies, wikis for that one part of the game you just can't figure out, and so forth.
And the conversation keeps going for good games for a long time. I could log on to the Gearbox forums with my free PSN or GOTY edition of Borderlands 2 with all the DLC included and find an active community still discussing the game. There are a lot of poor or thrifty gamers who wait for these discounted or special editions, and there's a new bump in the conversation when they come out.
Gaming while poor or thrifty can be done without piracy. Even on a strict budget, I find I don't have enough time for all the games I can afford.
Kate M I used to pirate, then I found the wonderful world of steam sales....
I mean, 60 bucks, I got a plethera of games to the point I would just wait for steam sales rather than just pirate a game. I am even to the point of questioning piracy of games. I mean why pirate a game, so you could be in that bandwagon of people who talk about it?
That being said... I still do pirate *cough*ADOBEPHOTOSHOPWHY*cough* but not games anymore.
Andre Cruz
Very good example. Between Steam Sales, Good Old Games, free online games, freeware clones of popular games, freeware clones of productivity software (Open Office) and so forth, there is a crapload of cheap and free stuff available. On consoles, if you have one, there are weekly sales on both big consoles, holiday sales, back catalog bundles, and so on.
Wanting to be in on the conversation when a game comes out, or simple impatience to play something you've been waiting for for a long time is understandable, but it doesn't excuse piracy. Poverty especially doesn't given that prices on any game will come down, and relatively quickly compared to other consumer goods.
Andre Cruz I think this will be the strength in PC games going forward and may be one of the dooming qualities of consoles. When you can buy a wheelbarrow load of games for 60 it resonates. This is also one of the more effective ways of combatting piracy, make it so ridiculously easy and safe to BUY the game and people won't pirate. It's like iTunes when they first started out, it was simply too cheap and easy to not do it.
What annoys me the most about "pro-piracy" arguments is how disingenuous they are. People make all kinds of excuses to try to justify how they are in the right for pirating, but they're just that; excuses. They always tip-toe around the real reason they pirate, (they are too cheap to pay for games), because they know it will make them look bad if they ever honestly said it.
Of all the pro-piracy arguments I've ever heard, I've never had a solitary person step up and just say with unmasked honesty, "I want to play games without paying for them." Which is ironic because it's the only argument that makes the slightest amount of sense.
I wont pay for damn ripoffs of a game Were i live, damned viedogames tend to cost about 80 or 90 dolars, even 100, and in our national currency, a dolar costs 2.8 of our base currency, its a fucking ripoff, USA/Eu companies have most of the SA market forgotten, with little to no service or support of any kind, really the only company that has a decent support and prices is steam, and o, look, how curious, they are also the most profitable company, and the one that most people choose over piracy. In summary, i wont give assholes my money, for mediocre service , and the common "development countries get the leftovers of USA/EU" its really ridicoulus, and it needs to cahnge if they want the entire damn continent to download pirate games so hard.
That's another thing that drives me nuts, when pirates claim the are somehow "forced" to pirate a game. "I have to pirate the game because I can't afford it/too expensive/whatever".
That argument makes no sense. You aren't "forced" to pirate. If you can't play it legally, you can simply *not play it*. No one is holding a gun to your head.
This isn't like stealing food, where you have to because if you don't eat you will starve. You don't have to play a video game. If you can't play a game legally, it's not a big deal if you just don't play it.
Again, it's another excuse, instead of just honestly saying, "I want to play games without paying for them", the pirate just somehow tries to rationalise that they're a victim.
of course in your "first world" "everything is developed for me" point of view is easy.What about the ridicoulus extra charge they put on games in other countries? i assure you, without piracy, gaming industry would have NEVER even been interesting around this part of the world.
cseijif It's not the fact you're in a developing country it costs more, it's because of the fact that a developing nation's currency tends to be worth less than in a developed country. As for the support, when the infrastructure for internet is bad, then support will be bad. You cannot say that it's the USA/EU's fault that your country isn't capable of supporting the same things as the USA/EU.
damaLwa
than you cant be angry at him that hes searching for other ways to get games... O.o
i myself used so many emulators... its exactly the same as pirating...
non of you ever used an emulator?
A note: The reason Game Freak did not put out a demo for their latest games when they did so for their last 3DS titles is why they did not give any information on the starters until launch: Because people datamined the demos and found information that was supposed to be a surprise. That's why Game Freak doesn't do marketing for new games any more: Because they know people will just datamine the info and give leaks about their games. Game Freak has stopped caring about giving information and only gives three general trailers and says "bleh."
Riddler Khu and the leakers are pirates who give out information instead of games, pure and simple.
This video still holds up it's argument after 9years
To all PC gamers (where piracy is a major issue) you have refunds now so you have no reason to pirate in order to "try out" the game.
monkeycaboose dont you only get 3 of those? or am i thinking of something else
busterbackster1
You get infinity.
Oriru Bastard But if your on Steam (which you should be if your a PC gamer) then you have Refunds so how about you try out the game that way.
Oriru Bastard Sometimes you have to make small sacrifices in order to not break the law. And I know that you will keep making excuses to keep pirating, no matter how stupid they are. All pirates do that.
Oriru Bastard Well I can't afford a Lamborghini, doesn't mean I can steal it.
I see pirating a game because it has no demo or trial as a perfect vaild reason, but this hold you to the moral standard of: I'll buy it if I like it, but if I play it for an hour and realize I hate it, I'm glad I didn't pay for it
Question: if you buy it, and than download a "pirate" version to avoid the draconian drm, would that be okay?
I think so.
Even better, if the developer has a patreon, send the money directly to them! (applies to small indie games)
If the company doesn’t care about the consumer, the consumer shouldn’t care about the company
I just torrented a game which I own a physical copy of that's sitting on my desk because I couldn't be bothered to get up and I wanted to play it in bed.
That's the best reason ever, I do it with films I own all the damn time
I agree with everything you said, and I am still glad that OTHER people are pirating.
Because piracy is one of the few forces that is working to keep the price of games down.
The simple fact of the matter is that how much the larger game developers charge for a game is linked to a single metric: How much they believe people will pay for it (on a scale of cost-per-unit vs. total-units-sold).
It's basic economics.
If, during production, the costs of making the game increase the price at launch WILL NOT CHANGE.
Because they have already decided how much to charge to maximise profit, so raising the price makes no sense.
If something goes right during production and the game's development comes out cheaper then the price at launch STILL WILL NOT CHANGE.
Because they have already decided how much to charge to maximise profit, so lowering the price makes no sense.
Piracy comes in because the large developers know that they can't charge too much for their games because people who really want them and are angry at the price will just pirate them.
I would argue that the fact that PC games are so easy to pirate is one of main reasons why PC games are cheaper than console games.
People will say that the real reason is that console licensing fees are so high.
But why are they so high?
They are high because the console makers and the game developers have already decided what price to charge to maximise profit. It is the one metric that informs the pricing decisions of both parties.
So yeah. I don't pirate any more. But I am very glad that other people do.
Because it is one of the few factors working to keep the price of games down.
keeping the price *reasonably* low.
i disagree, just buy the actual version of something
The only game i've ever pirated and am still pirating is minecraft because for some reason when my dad tried to buy the game for me, uhh, it for some reason just wouldnt let us buy it. I dont know the exact details all i know is that the website was bugging out, weird.
It's hard to argue against piracy when single game asks 1/3 of your month's salary
Yeah, a lot of games are way too expensive for the inflated economy we're delving into. Until companies are willing to pay living wages, a lot of things are going to be stolen for not just entertainment, but survival. Game devs deserve living wages, definitely. But so does everyone else.
The "I'm too poor" excuse is also damaged by the presence of Steam. I'm a college student who works at max part time at $8/hr. I can still afford to game and pick up new titles because of Steam sales and Humble Bundle packs (even if I ensure to pay at least $10 on a pack).Once you save up a little for a decent PC that can play current titles, PC gaming is cheap. Cheaper than many other hobbies and addictions people spend their money on, at any rate.
Yeah, but it took me almost a year to save up for a pc :P
***** Took a whole month's paycheck to upgrade my graphics card, so I know the feeling :P
Though generally if you don't have the rig to be able to run the game, what use is pirating the game anyways?
Scipi I live in a fucking state, where the top salary is 180$, yeah, a month, not a week, now, 90% of that goes to electricity, water, food Etc, which are more expensive than in the rest of Europe for some reason, and i live in a village, living off agriculture, so its harder, it took me, 10 years, to buy a new pc, i had the one since 2004, i just bought a new one 3 months ago, for 400$ yeah, not that much, probably shit PC by your standards, but it does its job well, now you ask me,to pay 60$ or even 20$ on a video game, that has potential to suck badly, just like aliens colonial marines, i was hyped for that, and we saw how that turned out. i cant aford that, i cant afford mistakes when it comes to money. not everybody can be free to buy games, some of us have to pirate in order to play....its not like i dont want to pay for a game, i mean, i bought L4D2 when it was 5$...i just cant buy the games on the market...especially in my shit hole state...
Lord Inquisitor Ninoslav Note I said damaged, not defeated. Naturally there are going to be less well off individuals who absolutely must pirate in order to game at all. However, with the titles that can be afforded, there are a myriad of ways to determine if it's a good investment or not. The best ways, beyond piracy, being user reviews, forums, and lets play videos. I don't have much money to invest in games either, the vast majority of my paycheck goes to bills so bad investments are a concern for me as well. Simply reading user reviews have saved me from many bad investments because while the game looked good in the screenshots and descriptions, the reviews laid out exactly what is good and bad about the game.
Scipi
reviews sometimes are not trustworthy, IGN for example gives high scores to shit EA games, lice C&C4, and users are trustworthy, but i need to see the game for myself. and i try to pirate as little as i can, usually i pirate the big games, like watch_dogs, or GTAV when it arrives on PC, cause those games made a lot of money, and wont feel a sting of piracy on them.
I also have emulators for PS1, NES, SEGA, etc, to provide me with fun, and i make due. Hell, when i finish my university and go to the EU embassy and possibly get a job in EU, i will more then gladly pay for games to play with other people online, like in l4d2, and i will buy the games i pirated now, i want to support the devs. Not all pirates are dicks that just want to download the game, not caring what happens to the company. i kinda feel responsible for THQ, i pirated their wh40k games, because i am great wh40k fan, i even bought their Dawn of War original for 9$, cause i wanted to support them, but i guess it wasn't enough.
How to fix DRM that does occasional server checkups, but the company has to shutdown the server: Release an update that removes it. I mean, if you can't even maintain the game anymore, what's the point of even protecting it? Am I right?
Heck, even EA has done it (doubt that they do it now, *scumbags* )
Even Overkill software uses stupid DRM...
Please dont kill piracy we poor gamers can't afford a game 'cries'....
Just today Nintendo is cutting off online capabilities to anyone that has been running around with a pirated version of Pokemon Sun/Moon. Ive been running back and forth between Reddit and 4Chan, and its amazing the excuses Ive seen from hackers. Ive even seen one comment along the lines of "never buying from Nintendo again" and Im like, "its not as if you were buying the game anyway!" There's really no excuse for pirating when you are well within your means to pay for it, whether it's buying it on launch day or saving up for a few months. Hell, you don't even have to leave the house when you want to buy a game.
There are a few excuses. I wouldn't need to pirate if there still were demos around. I'm not defending the Sun/Moon scenario you mentioned, but just saying that, in my opinion, there are some legit reasons to temporarily resort to piracy.
Besides, big companies have been abusing their power lately with this whole issue, and while they have the cash to support their malpractice, we as customers have little to use besides our decision to buy.
Whats funny is cutting off online services for pirates/cfw users is NOTHING NEW!
PS, and XBOX have been doing that FOR YEARS
Sun and Moon had a demo, so there goes the only half-way reasonable justification.
As much as not paying for a game you play is wrong, a couple of times I found myself pirating a game that I had *bought* just to get rid of the obnoxious drm. I'm not saying it was the case with pokemon (I don't know) but the industry is doing all it can to make piracy more compelling.
Sauron I guess that's the most ironic part of it. You'll get that with big AAA releases, and even more from studios (or publishers, rather) that have complete financial stability and have great benefits, while smaller studios that are actually struggling to make money won't fall for that.
i buy games and i pirate games, when i have money i buy games, when i dont i pirate it
dont.
m1ksu I TF2 well, thats only on pc. On my xbox and ps vita i buy the games.
beer van de ende dont use xbox.
m1ksu I TF2 i use whatever i want.
But Xbox is good
...you *do* realize that for a lot of people, they *stay* broke right? it's not 'I spent all my extra cash on X thing, so i have to wait until *next* month to get it!' it's 'I got a second hand system as a gift for Christmas, but i'll have to wait for my birthday if i want to get a couple second hand games to play on it.'. there are plenty of people who agonize over a $15 second hand purchase of a game they've had on their wishlist for a long time. 'only spare $60 a month' my as$
NiyuuVAMPIRE I want to pirate but im afraid my computer might get virus either way im waiting for Christmas for a cheap $10 game cuz im Asian and my parents told me to save
NiyuuVAMPIRE What are you, 12? Learn a trade.
bowie33333 are you trying to be cute? i'm in my 20s, but even i'm doing well compared to a lot of people. this is a universal problem that hits people of all ages. News Flash - the economy is horrendous and just because you Learn a Trade doesn't mean you have any chance of getting a job, and even if you *have* a solid job - and i don't mean some minimum wage burger flipping gig but a full on career job thats considered respectable that you're expected to live off of - doesn't mean you wont be flat broke after you've paid your bills.
+NiyuuVAMPIRE I was born cute baby ;)
+NiyuuVAMPIRE Why would someone buy you a games console if you cant afford games? Also if you cant afford games then you wouldn't care. You would have never played games before except for free to play so you would do the logical choice and sell the console or just ask your relatives for money instead to buy what you want. Which wouldn't be games (they aren't gamers).
Legit reason to Pirate #2: You bought the game and the DRM is fucking with your computer.
Harde-
Steam sales made me even buy games I dont want! Buh ugh, that -75% tag, I cant resist!
yeah and the weekend deals sometimes make games free such as even though i've bought metro 2033 before it was on xbox so when i saw it for free on steam i was like *SCOOOP*
gamestop retail the big brain
the comment about the servers going down is my argument to why companies need to bring back out the server files so people can host it themselves.
I and my friend have no PayPal or any other payment method to buy Minecraft with, so we pirated it (and Notch even said that he doesn't have a problem with people pirating it). We showed it to a friend and he liked it and bought it, so basically we increased their revenue by pirating it. Also, I like how Mojang rewards legit buyers by allowing them to have skins and play on Premium servers. This is how game developers should work against pirating.
If you don't have paypal, you are most likely still under your parents care surely they should would be able to pay for it?
Nicy30941 Actually it is possible to be a grownup with a credit card that can't buy games on the global market. I have the money to buy certain games, but I cant because my parents don't have a credit card to buy those games with and their not being sold in my country.
Alar Rõigas Ok
"Do not tangle with the kind of people that install Linux on their playstations" is still one of the funniest lines on RUclips. Words to live by.
2017...
DRM still punish legit players, Some single-player games require internet connection to play as drm so now drm is also way to take away game, still no demos or demos that avaliable for little time and etc. etc.
Iron man game in eu4....
"Don't be a dick"
*Picture of Wil Wheaton*
lol
Nice video but you failed to address one final side to the issue on the pirates' end: Those who pirate and later legitimately buy the game. (Not talking about the guys who say they plan to later and never do, I mean the ones who really do buy them)
Those people wreck the market
How if they actually do buy the game when they have the money? Saying that is like saying people who get tabs at a bar and then successfully pay them off later are robbing the tavern
GameAW1 Because they're getting the benefit of playing a game while it's at peak value but only paying for it when it's worth much less. When you pay off a tab you're paying what you owe. When you wait for a game's price to plummet you're definitely not paying what you owe
I never said anything about waiting for a price drop, but even assuming that is the case, peak value isn't the only income here. If they chose to drop the price, they are responsible for selecting a price that still benefits them enough, and unless the game is bought used, they still receive the profits from the purchase.
In general, the only games I pirate are old games that you can't buy today. I like collecting physical copies of games I enjoy, so I always try to get them or course, not like it matters when the game isn't in production anymore and you have to buy used. If it's way too expensive to buy a physical copy and a digital one exists on PSN, I'll buy that. If it's not available digitally, I'll pirate it.
The one game recently I've pirated is Skyrim. I had bought it for PS3 brand new and been unable to play it because of the freezing issue. I waited months and no fix, so I said screw it and pirated it for PC. And later when I realized how awesome the modding community is, I ended up buying the game and all the DLC off Steam (for full price, I didn't even wait for a crazy 80% sale or what ever).
Alright, new plan. Pirate the game for 30 min as a demo, send the devs an email that they need a demo then buy the game if good, delete if bad. EDIT: You forgot another reason for piracy, one that I've used several times. I own the game, but for X or Y reason I cannot instal anymore. Like rise of nations, I lost the key for it... so I cannot instal. So I pirated the game with the disk copy sitting right next to me.
If you purchased the game, but can't play it for some reason (like DRM issues), then I say that it's OK. What you're playing could be considered a back-up or something, since you legally own the game right there.
Keep Up the Great Work! You are doing a Really fantastic job!
Really, with the level of discounts offered during steam sales, why would you even need to pirate? Plus you get that warm fuzzy feeling for supporting an industry whose products you enjoy. I still shamelessly pirate DVDs and music though :
***** What about indies? You ARE supporting them if you buy their game.
***** Like Phil Fish? He's a minority, a very, VERY loud minority. Seriously, he is the only example I can think of.
don't worry. we all do that
And I shamelessly pirate Touhou Project because I can't get it over here for a decent price. All the import stores charge over 60 bucks per game in an INDIE GAME SERIES that isn't nearly big enough in any sense to warrent that much money being charged. I bet if I went to Japan I could get a Touhou game for 3000 Yen, half the price. If ZUN did online purchases for his titles for normal Indie Game prices I'd actually go buy every one of the games right now. I love him, I wanna support him, but I'm not going to support price gougers like PlayAsia.
Steam has a customer friendly non-invasive form of DRM that actually grants the same utility a pirated copy would and has frequent sales to both combat piracy and to emulate the effective price reduction of buying used games would give you. They attacked piracy as a customer service problem and not criminal activity they needed to stop out by force and it worked extremely well for their image and business model.
It's really sad that so many people came to this video and either didn't watch it or didn't understand the point it was trying to make.
So many commentors trying to justify pirating games. Like the video said, the only legitimate case for piracy is if you literally cannot purchase the game legally. Either because it cannot be bought physically or online. In that situation, the developer literally could not have been making any money anyways because they weren't selling any product.
What if you want 5 games one month and you can only afford one is it still wrong to try before you buy?
Yes... Just because you want more of something doesn't mean you can just take more for yourself.
apotheos1s I think you missed my point. I only want to try "play 5 - 20" minuets to see if the game is as good as all the paid for advertising says it is. This dose not mean I want to play all 5 games to the end and pay for one. If as stated in this video there were demo's for each of these games then I would simply play them first. What I say only apply to games with no trial/demo available.
Pharozos Lets say there are no demos for any of those five games. you still should not pirate them. Lets say a person pirated a game just to to "play 5 - 20 minutes to see if the games is good". Now lets say that person really likes all five games. What are the chances of him actually buying any of the games. He already has a full version he just pirated to "demo the game". Why would he buy a copy? Because it is the right thing to do? No, he would, in the majority of cases, just keep the pirated games and never spend money.
Ivan Thonosi I disagree from experience.
Sorry, but I am not spending 15% of my monthly income for a single game.
you only earn 400 a month wtf?
@@kasperdedeyne5293 There are some countries where things are cheaper and earnings are smaller, but games are still the same price as in the other countries.
You still don't have the right to pirate games. Thieves deserve to die.
How are you going to stop me?
Then why do you have a video game console if you "can't afford games?"
Dang, you guys mentioned Starflight in this video, probably one of the best old school space exploration games out there
Only reason I ever pirate games is because the game isn't out anymore, the console for it isn't distributed anymore, etc. I'm looking at you Nintendo.
If I can get a legal copy, I always do. Bethesda has released TES: Arena and TES II: Daggerfall both for free with use of a DOSBox Emulator. Therefore, I got the legal copies they released.
That's true. There are lots of games that just can't be acquired legitimately. Oh, you wanna play "Kirby's Dream Land 3", but live in Northern Europe, where the game wasn't even released? Oh what's that? You think that paying 60-70€ for a used copy and a NTSC-region SNES to play it on your TV is a bit too much money for your budget? Oh my god, are you just gonna download a ROM of it and are you just gonna play it on your emulator? That's terrible!
And do i need to talk about those long-forgotten, almost extinct multiplayer-games, that isn't playable through the original servers? Then i say you can pirate it. Buying the game at that state won't bring the developers any more profit.
Piracy is outdated because of Steam sales.
meh, i like getting games before they r on steam
Alalie Wanalue And I like people not being dicks. So yeah, I don't like you.
HPGmaphax and since when do i give a fuck about what u like?
Alalie Wanalue
Considering most people don't like jerks, it would probobly be in your best interest to give atleast a few fucks.
HPGmaphax dude, thats best life lesson ever u so superior im ashamed
Ah yes, advice on spending money from people who probably never have been poor in their lives.
"if you can budget 60$ for gaming a month" oh fuck off
da fuck are they talking about?! Some people would be luck if they had 20$ a month to buy anything other than what they really need.
If I could budget $20 a month I would seriously reconsider if buying gaming console for $400 or gaming PC for $1500 is a wise choice in a first place.
False equivalence, who buys such pcs in the first place?
Good overview. I liked you mentioning "A game worth playing is a game worth buying."
I've bought games on ps3 that I want on PC . I spent 80 euro on skyrim for the game and dlc. There's no way to rationalise that price especially if you can buy the legendary edition for 25 euro
Frisbie147 Skyrim was good and the money was spent to make the online. I think the dlc-s were a bit rough, but the normal game was pretty worthy of the price.
Károly Németh its still pricey though
Károly Németh also the online isnt that good
+Frisbie147 www.amazon.com/Elder-Scrolls-Skyrim-Legendary-Playstation-3/dp/B00CJ7IUI6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1444009940&sr=8-1&keywords=skyrim+legendary+ps3
Skyrim legendary edition is $30 (26.7 euro) plus shipping on ps3 right now.
If you spent 80 euro on skyrim and the dlc separately you had to have bought them all individually.. and around the time they were released. Games drop in price over time regardless of platform
+Frisbie147 the lowest price I've seen for the PC legendary edition is like 40 or so CNY, around 6 euro, although that sale only lasted for 12 hours and is China exclusive. Outside China, if not saying RU/CIS blackmarket games, the lowest price is like 15 USD or less I think?
80 euros for the game, really?
Here we go: Piracy Done Right! BEGIN:
1. try-before-you by: if the game doesn't have a demo writing to the dev won't fix it for that game. Sure, go ahead and write, it'll fix it in the future, but you'll still need to try the one without a demo. I do this all the time and I've bought almost every game I tried
2. DRM dodging: If the DRM is truly that bad, all you gotta do is buy the game then DL a pirated non-DRM copy. Now you have paid for it and can still enjoy a copy with no DRM or other bull
3. Poorness/Unable to Pay: I cannot pay online as I do not have a credit card (yet) and I know plenty of others who have this issue. In this case pirating PC-only games should be considered OK (ESPECIALLY if you can buy it later or do as I do and give the money IRL to someone who can buy it online for you)
*****
1. No it doesn't, as lack of previews will make it more possible to be swindled if the game's quality is non-existent.
2. Again, no, because an actual purchase was made and supports the developer.
3. Not really; clearly he's a younger player compared to others, and money is still given to devs via proxy.
One3673241 Not actualy younger, I just didn't have a card (do now)
But yeah, your points are mine against his XD
gamermanh
That just generally seems to be the case with not having a credit card; how old are you now?
I can't speak for games, but in the app world, piracy has been a net positive for me. Many, many years ago, back when I was still making and selling my own software, I decided to try something "crazy" and release my own app on torrent sites, with a working product key and everything. Lots of people used it, my forums gained a bunch of new participants, and my sales went up after a month. People were discovering my work through the pirate sites and some liked it so much that they bought a proper license. It was the cheapest form of marketing I'd ever tried and it worked very well, so I kept on doing it.
I boiled it down to a pithy little catchphase: "Pirates are the oldest and largest social network on the internet".
Wow, to hear Fallen London’s name spoken is interesting. Especially because here they are still referring to it at “Echo Bazaar.”
I know a freind who pirated Ass creed unity. He pirated it to see if it was as bad as people said it was.
Turns out, he really shouldn't have bought it. To run the game at 40-50fps, he had to run it in 320x240 (Meaning he couldn't read his objectives)
He's also pirated Far Cry 4. Dunno how that went for him but his computer is decent so he shouldn't be having problems.
Also, I feel hating the publisher is a valid reason. After all, it's only "Half stealing" or not even stealing at all.
Let's think. It costs them NOTHING to lose a game sale. And nothing to have a copy stolen. It's not a physical product. Hence piracy is the same as Boycotting.
It's arguable that the amount of people who pirate physical copies is negligible, but unless you only pirate it to see how crappy it is and uninstall it, then the game was worth playing, and therefore worth money. Anything that is worth having is worth paying money for. If you don't like the $60 price tag, buy used. It still gets the point across because the devs see little to no money from that, and you save money.
Most pirates wouldn't have gotten the game anyways. So the developers didn't really lose money. With piracy, more people can "enjoy" or at least experience a game that they otherwise wouldn't have. I for example would never have gotten watchdogs, but I can experience it without the DRM bullshit, with piracy. It is also a way to punish the developers if and/or when they do something dumb.
Wyhdis I got watchdogs because I wanted to see how it was. I don't want to pay 50-60 bucks just to try it out. Then I might buy it later if I liked it and it was on sale for like 10 bucks.
Did you even watch the video? This is exactly what they talked about when they said 'Pirates will use any excuse they can to justify theft'.
If you want to punish the developers then just DON'T BUY THE GAME. But if you pirate the game then all you've done is justify Ubisoft's shitty DRM.
"I for example would never have gotten watchdogs, but I can experience it without the DRM bullshit, with piracy."
That's a reason to not buy the game.
"It is also a way to punish the developers if and/or when they do something dumb."
....So is not buying it....
In fact, these companies are so gung-ho about this DRM shit because they think it will help prevent piracy. What experience tends to show us is that all they do as a response to more piracy is to make the paying customer's life more like a grind...In reality, you're part of the reason my games are getting harder to play!
Wyhdis DRM does exist because of pirates, but guess what? The pirates win because of DRM. You and everyone else make no sense saying that pirates should stop pirating to stop DRM. You know what happens to pirates if companies keep making DRM? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Pirates don't have to deal with it, so it's stupid to tell pirates "Stop pirating you're forcing DRM on those of us who pay for the game." You know which side should back down in this case? The developers. If they make more DRM they make more pirates. If pirates pirate more theres more DRM, but again this doesn't affect pirates, it effects everyone else, and then those people become pirates to avoid DRM.
TL:DR DRM is stupid, doesn't not serve its purpose, and the video agrees. Stop complaining to pirates about it.
....That made absolutely no sense. The reason they enforce these DRMs is because of you. It does cause honest consumers to become pirates, but that doesn't absolve the pirates of any responsibility. You're still the root of this. DRM is stupid. We're not really arguing about that, but you trying to act like it's all the publishers fault is asinine because you're the one instigating them. The video also agrees that no side is really in the right...Both of you are perpetuating the problem. It's just a matter of who wants to step up first to be a part of the solution rather than being the soul of the issue.
*I'm not going to waste too much time proofreading this, but I said "you" to refer you as a pirate...That was a stupid assumption on my part that wasn't realized until I posted the comment. Just replace them all with "they" or whatever third person indicator you want to use...
When i was younger, I had access to my mothers computer, it was a nice one, it could play a lot of games out there, but since I had no money and my parent would not pay for the games, I had no money for payed games, if I knew how to pirate then, I might have, as I had NO means to pay, but I didn't. Instead I played the immense amount of games out on the free market. It was a blast, and even now when I can play for games, I still go back to some of those amazing free games.
I think the 'I am too poor' excuse isn't that bad. I used to play a ton of pirate GTA when I was a middle school student, simply because I do not have the money to buy them. Now I am in a better financial situation and I am proud to say that now I buy all games I play.
The writing in to ask for a Demo argument is amusing when you consider your other video in which you break down all the reasons why making a Demo is actually bad for business.
LMAO right
The Demo episode came out a few months after this one.
xseth1
Doesn't matter, making a suggestion you know is unsound and/or unlike to yield any real results is nothing more than a token gesture. Politicians do it all the time.
The demo video was created in response to statistical information regarding the impact of demos that they simply weren't aware of at the time this video was made.
However, they suggested game companies make demos without actually knowing the impact of it, and they haven't been back to this topic to fix their mistake.
That's just how I see it: You don't pay the game. You pay the next game the company makes. If you want more games from the company, pay for the current one. If you don't the game probably wasn't very good anyways.
living in lebanon, I didn't know what piracy was really, every corner shop sells pirated games, wasn't until my first year of college that I learned about steam, just deleted all the pirated stuff I had and bought them progressively again, 385 games later I really don't have any regret.
Yo, I’m Lebanese, but I live in America
How are you these days my friend?
And Sony, a word to the wise:
DO NOT TANGLE WITH THE KIND OF PEOPLE WHO INSTALL LINUX ON THEIR PLAYSTATION
I have heard friends say they pirated like say the sims cuz of all the prices you have to pay for each individual addon(which should no longer be named as such) as it won't feel complete. Looking at amazon right now I see most addons around 20-30€. I once made a joke out of it and counted the money to an other friend and it was high up in the 3 digits...does this have to be? Now, I don't care about sims since I fell for that fad with Sims 2 but do they REALLY expect us to pay 200-300 even more to get the full experience?
This is something I could get behind. Generally if you can't get it in your country without paying outragous prices(try to get a legal, original copy of certain visual novels which I love for example Fate/Stay Night...I dare you to find some I can buy in Germany for under 100€...HECK I can't even get some of the DVDs/Blu-Rays of the show). Most of the money won't even get to the developers in these cases but rather to people buying them and selling them to you to gain a huge profit.
There should be accessability with any currency and method to pay for almost anything for an affordable price(which goes to the devs) and obviously translated in case it's from Japan. People wouldn't pirate(I sure as hell would rather invest so I can see new stuff in the west..doesn't have to be german I know english well enough to be able to read all I get presented), the industry could grow and consumers could find things they usually would not have found at all..if it weren't for the Anime I once saw I would have never played the visual novel which is one of my all time favorite fictional works.
Piracy benefits the gaming industry IMO, notch (minecraft creator) has said it on twitter, and i have many examples were people bought a game only because the pirated it first, and wouldn't have done it otherwise. In fact i bought minecraft after playing it for a couple weeks.
Jhok Twenty The people who buy a game after they pirate it (like yourself) is an incredibly incredibly small group. yes, those people benefit the industry. but the other 99% of pirates do not. Please don't glorify a whole group of people, simply because a tiny portion of them do not cause harm.
triplesc00p None of it causes harm. Most pirates wouln't pay for the game anyways so the more people who play and enjoy it, the better. After all videogames are art.
What i mean is, since they weren't going to buy it anyways, if they get a pirated copy they don't harm the development team.
In fact it not only doesn't harm them but it benefits them (not as much as if they had bought it, but that wasn't going to happen anyway) because the game gets more famous and maybe that pirate didn't buy it, but he recommends it to a friend and he does etc etc.
It's not like they are stealing because in fact they are getting a copy from someone who bought the game.
Jhok Twenty Your presumption that most pirates wouldn't buy the game anyway is false. If piracy were non-existent, and there were no way to torrent any medium, your assumption suggests that the huge portion of the gaming community who pirate, would not be gamers at all. That's like saying the people who torrent movies would never watch movies if they had no option to pirate them. With a lack of the option, almost all pirates would still purchase games.
With that, harm is most certainly caused by piracy. Basic economics states that those who take the products for free, who would have purchased it otherwise, force the publishers to charge more, per paying customer, so that they can make the same margins. I'm not suggesting that the small group of people like you who purchase game after torrenting it are causing this, but the people who pirate without purchasing the games are indeed causing video games to be more expensive. Not to mention the fact that future games will be of a lower quality due to the fact that the developers have less money to invest in their next title.
You suggest that when pirates torrent games, they can then encourage their friends to also play the games, who then purchase them. I ask you this; if pirates successfully influence their friends to play certain games, how could they not be also influencing them to pirate those games? surely they wouldn't say "I torrented this new game. It's so good! you should try it. but make sure you pay full price for it.". Of course the people who play the games based on what their friends play would also be influenced to get those games through the same channels that their friends do. And even if these pirates are directing traffic to a certain game, they are also directing traffic to Pirate Bay (or your service of choice) and supporting these illegal organisations to an even greater degree.
Finally, you suggest that it's not stealing since the developers aren't losing anything. That's just justifying breaking into a concert to listen to your favourite band, by saying "They aren't losing anything from my attendance". I would hope that you find this situation morally wrong, and I ask you how piracy is any different.
Piracy without a doubt harms that industry. The torrenting industry leads to paying customers having to pay more, for lower quality games. The argument that it is beneficial to the industry is a poorly constructed justification of something that is undoubtedly harmful
triplesc00p Like anything piracy has good and bad points. Im just saying that it isn't the tremendously bad thing everyone believes it is.
Usually pirates buy a game before they crack it. Since one person cannot have enough money to afford a copy, regardless of job revenues/salaries, and cracking requires a lot of time and effort, especially if the game or a software has intense DRM, that's why they unite in release groups and crack together. People who download games via torrents simply don't know how to crack and if they had enough money they could potentially buy it. They also are not members of the release scene either. The whole point of piracy is that you buy a game once, crack it, and distribute a cracked copy for free.
Love this episode! Best quote ever in it :)
5:54
Oh my god, it's like... Nuzlocke: VIDEO GAME EDITION