Lol i dont do anything at work, i "supervise" bro its ok attack all you want
The ethics of stealing video games
- Thread starter TecKnoe
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Utnayan
I Love Utnayan he’s awesome
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Quaid
Trump's Staff
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Utnayan
I Love Utnayan he’s awesome
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I huge thing for me is also convenience, I think the price of a game is usually worth the ease of just clicking it on steam instead of trying to scour torrent sites and fight with crackers and updates and all types of bullshit. If I spend more then one hour dealing with that shit then I've lost money.
Dandain
Trakanon Raider
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When it comes to entertainment media, which has no bearing on life or death, any justification as to why its ok to steal is standing on pretty thin ground from my perspective. Its not as if any artist is withholding medicine from anyone's sick family member. At which point perhaps stealing becomes the greater good.
I buy the complaint that certain companies practice highly abusive business practices combined with really shady quality control. However, saying the "entire industry" does this is just a clever way of allowing the obfuscation of personal responsibility. Some or even most studios might very well be assholes, but not all. And because not all studios are assholes, if you steal from the ones who aren't then you become an asshole too. Not some crusader of consumer justice as some of the posts above have implied.
If you PC game with access to digital distribution, I feel there is little excuse for piracy. If a game is not worth your money, then it is not worth your time. You can look to GoG, Steam, Origin and even some studios with direct purchase options (like Elite Dangerous). If you realize you are 35 and not 10, you don't need to tell your buddies that you beat the newest baddest single player the day after it launched to be cool. With weekly daily and bi-annual mega sales being the norm almost any game can be purchased on sale. A years after most AAA titles launch you can buy the GOTY edition with an expansions worth of DLC, tons of fixes or tweaks, perhaps community content for 15 bucks shortly after.
We all understand quite clearly that if our society was full of theft that it would not function. As long as human effort is required to produce this entertainment, when you steal it is actually taking potential value from those individuals. You would detest being in such a situation in your life, and just because you do not physically interact with the creator of this content doesn't mean that they are not real and do not exist just like the rest of us. Being used is a pretty universally accepted shitty way to feel. I personally play games 1-2 years after they launch, I buy them in the 5-15 dollar range on sale when they get there. A few titles - such as the Witcher 3 I actively chose to pay full price for. This is my way of supporting the studios proportionally to how I value their products. If a game isn't worth 60 bucks, it certainly is worth more than zero dollars. And piracy is just that - a zero dollar theft. With sales you can chose when a game hits a value point. And again, if its not worth your money, its not worth your time either.
I buy the complaint that certain companies practice highly abusive business practices combined with really shady quality control. However, saying the "entire industry" does this is just a clever way of allowing the obfuscation of personal responsibility. Some or even most studios might very well be assholes, but not all. And because not all studios are assholes, if you steal from the ones who aren't then you become an asshole too. Not some crusader of consumer justice as some of the posts above have implied.
If you PC game with access to digital distribution, I feel there is little excuse for piracy. If a game is not worth your money, then it is not worth your time. You can look to GoG, Steam, Origin and even some studios with direct purchase options (like Elite Dangerous). If you realize you are 35 and not 10, you don't need to tell your buddies that you beat the newest baddest single player the day after it launched to be cool. With weekly daily and bi-annual mega sales being the norm almost any game can be purchased on sale. A years after most AAA titles launch you can buy the GOTY edition with an expansions worth of DLC, tons of fixes or tweaks, perhaps community content for 15 bucks shortly after.
We all understand quite clearly that if our society was full of theft that it would not function. As long as human effort is required to produce this entertainment, when you steal it is actually taking potential value from those individuals. You would detest being in such a situation in your life, and just because you do not physically interact with the creator of this content doesn't mean that they are not real and do not exist just like the rest of us. Being used is a pretty universally accepted shitty way to feel. I personally play games 1-2 years after they launch, I buy them in the 5-15 dollar range on sale when they get there. A few titles - such as the Witcher 3 I actively chose to pay full price for. This is my way of supporting the studios proportionally to how I value their products. If a game isn't worth 60 bucks, it certainly is worth more than zero dollars. And piracy is just that - a zero dollar theft. With sales you can chose when a game hits a value point. And again, if its not worth your money, its not worth your time either.
I don't do this anymore. Did it as a kid. Copied games on floppies when those were a thing and proceeded to download games and burn them to CD-roms back when you could fit 10 games on a CD. Also did it a bit in college for my PS2. Basically they rarely/ever "lost" money from me, because I would never have bought them anyways with the financial situation as a kid / student.
Now that I have a job, I buy all my games.
That said, let's take an example using the Witcher 3, a game I already have on pre-order.
If I had been one of the people who had been very hyped for the game to the point of upgrading my PC to get the max experience of ultra pc graphics as hyped up by the devs. Then the dev changes that and downgrades the game to the point where my old computer could have done they trick. If a developer deliberately withheld information about a downgrade to their customers, and also said "there are no downgrades", for a reason most likely to keep up their contract/appearances with a company (nvidia in this case), then... Well if I had spent $3-500+ for an upgrade that was not necessary at all, I might not feel entirely guilty pirating their next $60 game.
That said, as to piracy, I just can't be bothered to hassle with it anymore. 9/10 games are nearly broken at launch these days, with 4+ major patches within the first month or two. Paying for a game and having it auto update without the hassle of torrenting patches is worth it to me. My morals might be broken though, because I honestly do think of it in a "less of a hassle" way than "omg I am stealing!". Except small indie games. Those I'd feel bad for pirating.
Now that I have a job, I buy all my games.
That said, let's take an example using the Witcher 3, a game I already have on pre-order.
If I had been one of the people who had been very hyped for the game to the point of upgrading my PC to get the max experience of ultra pc graphics as hyped up by the devs. Then the dev changes that and downgrades the game to the point where my old computer could have done they trick. If a developer deliberately withheld information about a downgrade to their customers, and also said "there are no downgrades", for a reason most likely to keep up their contract/appearances with a company (nvidia in this case), then... Well if I had spent $3-500+ for an upgrade that was not necessary at all, I might not feel entirely guilty pirating their next $60 game.
That said, as to piracy, I just can't be bothered to hassle with it anymore. 9/10 games are nearly broken at launch these days, with 4+ major patches within the first month or two. Paying for a game and having it auto update without the hassle of torrenting patches is worth it to me. My morals might be broken though, because I honestly do think of it in a "less of a hassle" way than "omg I am stealing!". Except small indie games. Those I'd feel bad for pirating.
I really don't torrent many video games, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because games are so cheap that I really don't bother.
I torrent the fuck out of everything else.
I torrent the fuck out of everything else.
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Vorph
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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Faith
Useless lazy bastard.
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I am guilty of that excuse, but to my defense I buy any game I play a pirated version of for more then 2 hours. Before I pay $60 for a game I want to make sure I will actually play it and today piracy is the only real option for that. Most games dont have demos anymore, and review sites are a fucking joke ( Call of Duty XXXIIII! 10/10 BRO! ). On the other hand, some games I support like a fanatic (Fallout 3/New Vegas, Im looking at you and my PS3, PC and Xbox copies of both games), but they are few and far between.
Gavinmad
Mr. Poopybutthole
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I haven't in a while, but that's mainly because there hasn't been anything I wanted to play. I absolutely was doing the 'demo' thing for a while, but I ended up buying probably 75% of the games I torrented.
I know that it's theft, and I just don't give a damn. If a game comes out that I really feel like playing, I'll torrent it and not lose a moments sleep.
I know that it's theft, and I just don't give a damn. If a game comes out that I really feel like playing, I'll torrent it and not lose a moments sleep.
Izo
Tranny Chaser
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Noodleface
A Mod Real Quick
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I made it because the Witcher 3 thread was being shitted up. I pulled his posts directly from that thread, he is not trolling